FinTech Industry & Regulation – Page 9 – FinTech and Blockchain Law Watch

International FinTech Watch: China Announced Positive Stance on Blockchain Technology

Nov 26 2019

On 24 October 2019, China President Xi Jinping expressed strong support for blockchain, which was depicted as “a core technology” to promote China’s industry innovation and digital economy development. In his speech, he also noted that blockchain technology has already been applied in a number of sectors like digital finance, internet of things, intelligent manufacturing and supply chain management, and that since China has a solid foundation of blockchain technology, it should seize the opportunity to build up blockchain industrial ecology and accelerate the integration of blockchain, AI, big data and other cutting edge technologies.

Open super in Australia: The Consumer Data Right could be extended to the superannuation industry

Nov 08 2019

By Jim Bulling and Rebecca Gill

On 23 October 2019, the Senate Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology (Committee) published an issues paper regarding its comprehensive inquiry into fintechs and regtechs in Australia. One aspect of the inquiry looks into the possibility of extending the Consumer Data Right (CDR) to the superannuation industry.

Rhode Island & Nevada Enter the Cryptocurrency Fray

Aug 28 2019

Jeremy McLaughlin and Dan S. Cohen

Effective January 1, 2020, Rhode Island will join the growing list of states that require entities to obtain a money transmitter license to provide certain services involving cryptocurrency (a.k.a. virtual currency). The Rhode Island General Assembly recently amended the state’s money transmitter law to require licensing for “currency transmission,” which is defined to include “maintaining control of virtual currency or transactions in virtual currency on behalf of others.” Similar to other states, the revised statute defines “control” as “the power to execute unilaterally or prevent indefinitely a virtual currency transaction.”

To regulate or not to regulate? That was the question: UK FCA provides its Final Guidance on regulation of crypto-assets

Aug 22 2019

By Jim Bulling and Rebecca Gill

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its Feedback and Final Guidance (Guidance) on crypto-assets, specifying when certain types of crypto-assets fall under existing categories. The Guidance is in response to the FCA’s consultation paper from January 2019 on crypto-assets. As we have previously blogged, the consultation paper looked at whether crypto-assets could be considered ‘specified investments’ under the Regulated Activities Order (RAO) and other instruments, and therefore should be regulated.

When Does “Actual Delivery” of a Purchased Cryptocurrency Occur? U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Sheds Some Light

Aug 07 2019

By Judith Rinearson

Back in 2018, four different courts in the U.S. held that cryptocurrencies were commodities. This did not cause a huge ripple in the cryptocurrency community because the Commodity Exchange Act does not apply to retail commodity sales if the “actual delivery” of the commodity occurs within 28 days after the execution of the transaction, and generally cryptocurrencies are delivered in merely a few days or less.

A Future without Crypto Futures?

Jul 19 2019

By Jim Bulling, Felix Charlesworth and Charles McDonald

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has touted further regulation of cryptocurrency markets. In their Consultation Paper (Paper) published on 3 July 2019, the FCA has announced it will begin the consultation process on its proposed move to ban the sale, marketing, and distribution to retail consumers of derivatives and exchange traded notes (ETNs) that reference certain types of cryptoassets.

The RBA Gets Punitive: Penalties Recommended for Delaying New Payments Platform Participants

Jun 28 2019

By Jim Bulling and Charles McDonald

On 13 June 2019, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its paper into the New Payments Platform’s Functionality and Access (Paper). In it, the RBA expressed disappointment with the slow roll out of New Payments Platform’s (NPP) services and functionality. As a consequence, the RBA will continue to push the major banks to prioritise the roll-out of services to their customers to address functionality gaps as quickly as possible. The Paper also recommends that NPP Australia Ltd (as operator of the platform) should:

”A lot of water to flow under the bridge”: central banks around the world provide their initial response to Facebook’s Libra

Jun 27 2019

Jim Bulling and Felix Charlesworth

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) along with several other central banks, have provided their initial responses to the recent announcement by Facebook (in conjunction with businesses such as MasterCard, Spotify and PayPal) of its plans to create a new blockchain based currency and payment system known as Libra.

New FATF Guidance Will Significantly Impact the Crypto Industry

Jun 27 2019

By Jeremy McLaughlin and Judie Rinearson

The Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), an intergovernmental organization aimed at combatting money laundering and thwarting terrorist financing, recently issued final recommendations for the regulation of cryptocurrencies. Although the recommendations are not binding on members–it will be up to each of FATF’s 37 member countries to determine whether to enact the recommendations through legislation or regulation–it is expected that they will have widespread adoption and significant implications for the cryptocurrency industry.

Crypto-asset Regulation Attracts the Attention of Global Securities Regulators

Jun 20 2019

By Jim Bulling, Edwin Tan and Andrew Fay

On 28 May 2019, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published Consultation Paper CR02/2019 (Paper), which identifies the risks and regulatory considerations associated with the trading of crypto-assets on crypto-asset trading platforms (CTPs). The Paper seeks input from industry participants amid a growing demand for an international approach to the regulation of crypto-assets, recently illustrated by the G20’s joint request for global regulators to monitor risks and consider multilateral responses in relation to crypt-assets as needed.

Category:FinTech Industry & Regulation