Category: Crypto News

Leading cryptocurrency exchange CryptoCom announced today it has signed pre-registration undertakings with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in Canada. The pre-registration signed with OSC is acknowledged by all Canadian jurisdictions through a joint Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) initiative.

CryptoCom Secures Pre-Registration in Canada

According to the announcement, the agreement makes CryptoCom the first major crypto exchange to operate “in line with this regulatory undertaking in Canada.”

While the pre-registration undertaking is still under review, CryptoCom said it is committed to working with OSC to offer a full suite of services in compliance with Canadian regulations.

“Compliance underscores everything that we do at Crypto.com. The North American market, and Canada specifically, represent a significant area of potential growth for the crypto market, and we are proud to work with the OSC and the CSA in providing Canadian customers access to a safe, secure, and reliable global platform,” Kris Marszalek, CEO of CryptoCom, said.

The latest development adds to CryptoCom’s existing regulation in the country overseen by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) of Quebec.

CryptoCom Continues Expanding

Meanwhile, CryptoCom has continued to aggressively expand into new markets in recent times. In June, the crypto exchange secured provisional approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) to offer its services to investors in the Emirate.

In July, CryptoCom received registration and regulatory approval from the Italian regulator, Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM), to offer services in the country. That same month, CryptoCom received approval in Cyprus, Singapore, and Greece. Just recently, the exchange expanded into South Korea through new acquisitions. 

In a recent interview, CryptoCom CEO Marszalek discussed the company’s aggressive expansion in recent times, saying that the expansion is part of the company’s broader strategy. He noted that CryptoCom is working with regulators to comply with local laws in every market that is important for the crypto industry.

Directorate of Enforcement (ED), a law enforcement agency focused on investigations of financial crimes in India, announced on Friday, the seizure of $46.4 million (equal to Rs 370 Crore) worth of funds from crypto lender Vauld, labeling them as “proceeds of crime derived from predatory lending practices.” 

ED Freezes $46.4M Fund Belonging to Vauld 

ED revealed in a statement that Flipvolt, a legal entity of Vauld in India, deposited the aforementioned amount into the custody of a private Indian company, Yellow Tune Technologies, via 23 entities. After tracing the funds sent to Yellow Tune for two days, ED was able to recover only $290,000 (equal to Rs 2.31 Crore) worth of funds from the private company.

Among several offenses of Flipvolt, ED accused the platform of having a “lax” know your customer (KYC) process, aiding the transfer of funds to foreign wallets without “reason/ declaration/ KYC”, and  “non-recording of transactions on Blockchains to save costs”.

After several attempts to make Flipvolt comply with the authority in giving information as to the whereabouts of the remaining funds, ED proceeded to confiscate other assets and properties in the custody of Flipvolt.

“. . . equivalent movable assets to the extent of Rs 367.67 Crore [$46.17 million] lying with Flipvolt Crypto-exchange in the form of Bank and Payment Gateway Balances worth Rs 164.4 Crore and Crypto assets lying in their pool accounts worth Rs 203.26 Crore, are frozen under PMLA, 2002, till complete fund trail is provided by the crypto-exchange.” the statement added.

Vauld Goes Bankrupt 

In July, the heat of the crypto market downtrend affected the parent company of Flipvolt, crypto lender Vauld, as it declared itself “financially incompetent,” and then halted withdrawals of users’ funds around the same time. 

Shortly thereafter, the Singapore-based lending platform signed an indicative term sheet with its rival crypto lender Nexo, which was targeted at the acquisition of the troubled lender.

It is also noteworthy that Vauld filed for six months of bankruptcy protection from its Singapore users while waiting for Nexo’s acquisition.

Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of global investment firm SkyBridge Capital, has predicted the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to reach $300,000 in the next six years. Speaking in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Friday, the financier stated that the cryptocurrency is a long-term investment and when it reaches that price, it won’t matter if anyone purchased the asset at $60,000.

Scaramucci Predicts $300K Per BTC

“In the next six years, if BTC goes to $300K a coin, it will not matter whether you bought it at $20K or $60K. And I am just cautioning people that the future is upon us. It’s happening sooner than I thought,” he said.

During the interview, Scaramucci also noted that when stuff such as investment banking giant BlackRock offering Bitcoin services to its institutional clients happens, it’s a good sign that Bitcoin is going to have such high value in the future.

According to the financier, Bitcoin is going to see more commercial activities due to the development of the lightning network, increase in applications, and ease of transactions on the network.

Scaramucci noted during the interview that although SkyBridge has its largest position in Bitcoin and Ethereum, the company is not only focusing on those two coins as it also has a position in other smaller coins including Algorand (ALGO). He also noted that SkyBridge is interested in Solana (SOL).

Scaramucci Cautions Users Over Ethereum Merge

Aside from his predictions on Bitcoin, Scaramucci also discussed the upcoming Ethereum Merge. 

The Merge is a major software upgrade that will shift Ethereum from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus model to proof of stake (PoS), which is rumored to lower transaction fees on the network.

Scaramucci said a lot of people are probably buying that rumor, and that they’ll probably sell on the news of that Merge, which is scheduled to happen in mid-September. The financier said he would caution against selling as ETH is a great long-term investment.

Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish is anticipating its debut in the second quarter of 2022 after regulatory delays in its merger agreement with Far Peak Acquisition Corp late last year. 

The merger was aimed to establish Bullish as a publicly-traded company in the New York Stock Exchange with a pro forma equity value of $9 billion at $10 per the company’s share.

Bullish Extends March Deadline to May

As the partnership continues to await approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bullish extended the deadline for the  $9 billion deal with Far Peak Acquisition Corp. The agreement, slated for March, has been moved to May due to regulatory delays. 

Tom Farley, the chief of Far Peak who previously served as president of the New York Stock Exchange, commented on how difficult it has been to close the deal. 

“Since July we’ve been working on a number of ambitious promises and we have achieved them all with the exception of closing the SPAC transaction,” he said.

Farley further hinted that the exchange grew more quickly than any other crypto platform within a period of six months. 

Bullish has obtained authorization to operate in  40 jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific, as well as Latin America, Europe and Africa. The company allows both institutions and retail customers to trade cryptocurrencies such as BITCOIN, ETHER, EOS and USDC. 

The exchange was launched in November by Block.one with backing from billionaire investors Peter Thiel and Richard Li.

Not the First

Meanwhile, Bullish is not the only crypto exchange that has been stalled  from merging with SPACs due to regulatory issues. Other companies such as stablecoin issuer Circle and Israeli social trading company eToro Group have faced similar challenges in the past. 

SPAC is a special purpose acquisition company focused on bringing leading financial and fintech companies to the public.

The United States Treasury Department has launched a new crypto education campaign to create awareness among the investing public about the potential risks associated with cryptocurrencies.

U.S. Treasury to Provide Crypto Education

The initiative will focus on those who have limited access to the mainstream financial services, as many of them invest in crypto assets without having enough knowledge about how crypto works.

The Treasury’s Financial Literacy Education Commission is tasked with providing crypto educational learning resources as well as organizing the outreach to teach them how cryptocurrency works and what makes it different from other digital assets.

“We’re hearing more and more about investors and households who are purchasing crypto assets, and we recognize the complexity of how some of these assets operate,” Nellie Liang, the Treasury undercover for domestic finance, said in an interview.

In line with the increasing concerns among financial regulators that crypto assets could constitute risks to the financial system as they grow in popularity, the Treasury Department believes that creating more awareness could help combat such risks.

The Treasury’s education unit consists of 20 different agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Gary Gensler, the SEC chairman, referred to the crypto industry as the “wild west” of finance “rifled with fraud, scams and abuse.”

Biden Issues Executive Order on Crypto

Meanwhile, the crypto education campaign comes just a few days after U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order to all  government agencies in the country asking them to develop policy recommendations centered on protecting U.S. investors, consumers and businesses engaging in the cryptocurrency industry.

To alleviate the risks posed by misuse of digital assets,  crypto platforms, exchanges and intermediaries whose services may increase the risks of financial instability should be forced to comply with the financial watchdogs and regulatory standards that rule the market infrastructure and financial institutions with the traditional principle of “same business, same risks, same rules.”

The Biden administration also believes that creating responsible payment platforms would help reinforce the United States leadership in the global financial system as well as maintain its position as world leader.

As Russia continues to intensify its “unprovoked” attack on Ukraine, global regulators have imposed financial sanctions on the country to weaken its forces.

But Russia has been able to reduce the effect of the sanctions due to continued support from allies such as Belarus. 

EU Sanctions Russia’s Allies

However, the European Union (EU) has moved to impose its own sanctions on Russia and its allies, and has included crypto as part of the sanctions imposed on them. 

According to an official press release from the EU, the commission noted that cryptocurrencies fall under the category of “transferable securities” and that the asset class can be used to issue loans and credits.

In addition, the EU imposed other forms of financial sanctions, including prohibition of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) services to Belarus’s Belagroprombank, Bank Dabrabyt, and its subsidiary, restriction of transaction with Central Bank of Belarus, banning the supply of euro denominated banknotes to Belarus and more.

Can Russia Use Crypto to Evade Sanctions? 

With crypto aiding the Ukrainian armed forces in their ongoing war against Russia, governments and regulators are viewing the asset class as a means for Russia to invade financial sanctions.

However, owners of the two largest crypto exchanges including Binance’s Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong have clarified that the claims that crypto can be used to bypass sanctions are not true and more focus should be channeled to financial institutions instead.

“The truth is, crypto is too small for Russia. If we look at the crypto adoption today, there is probably about 3% of the global population with some kind of crypto exposure (ie, owning some crypto). Of those, most only have a small percentage of their net worth in crypto. Less than 10% on average. So, there is probably only less than 0.3% of the global net worth in crypto today. This percentage applies equally to Russia,” CZ said.

He added: 

“Another reason Russia would not want to use crypto is that it is too traceable. And governments around the world are already very adept at tracking it.” 

Armstrong also made similar statements to one of CZ, saying that trying to sneak large amounts of money via crypto is more detectable than the U.S. dollar and other asset classes.

Meanwhile, both exchanges, including Kraken, said they will not block Russian crypto users following the government and regulators’ call to do so, adding that crypto serves as a life saver for ordinary Russians in these tough times.

Leading payment protocol technology company Ripple is now one of the official partners of Modulr, a payment services platform registered in England.

Ripple Partners with Modulr

Per the announcement, the partnership is to enable the integration of blockchain-based digital payment and transfer protocol, RippleNet, into Modulr so as to enable its customers to make seamless international payments.

By adopting the RippleNet protocol, Modulr’s business customers will be able to run much faster, more reliable and cost-effective real-time payment transactions into the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe.

Commenting on the partnership, Sendi Young, Managing Director of Ripple in Europe, said:

“Ripple is thrilled to partner with Modulr, who has a deep knowledge and expertise of the payments landscape, as well as unrivaled connections to critical payment infrastructure in the UK.”

Myles Stephenson, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Modulr is also excited about the partnership, stating that the company shares similar goals with Ripple, hence the reason for the collaboration.

“We’re excited to partner with Ripple – we share the same fundamental goal which is to make it easier to send and control global business payment flows by removing the hidden inefficiencies plaguing international payments today. This partnership lays the groundwork for even bigger things to come.”

Stephenson and Young mentioned that their companies are both looking forward to working with each other in delivering simpler and more reliable payment services into the UK and Europe, and then globally in the coming months.

Upon integrating the RippleNet payment protocol into their platform, Modulr has seen one of its customers, Trust Payments, become the first to directly benefit from it.

Financial Firms Continue to Adopt RippleNet

The latest development is a plus one for the number of financial institutions in several countries that have integrated the RippleNet protocol into their platforms.

Last month, Attijariwafa Bank, the largest multinational commercial bank in Morocco with $53.3 billion Assets Under Management also adopted the RippleNet protocol to enable the conducting of instantaneous transactions for its customers.