Private Equity Moris Beracha Wuani

By Max Yakubowski     A South Korean financial authority has warned two major domestic banks about their lack of management of cryptocurrency transactions and Anti-Money Laundering ( AML ) regulation, local online media outlet The Daily reports Dec. 4. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has reviewed Kookmin Bank and Nonghyup Bank and found “unreasonable elements related to virtual [currency] handling business.” However, the article notes that the regulation standards are not clear, and the FSS’s order applies only to some accounts that have been contracted with a real-name verification service, not crypto counterparty (exchange) accounts. The banks have also received orders for improvement and must submit the measures to the FSS within three months. The article notes: “If the FSS considers that the content is insufficient, the FSS will be able to impose more direct sanctions in the future.” In addition, the article states that there is a prob...

Central banks should issue their own digital currencies to replace a crisis-prone banking system and shut out cryptocurrencies By Nouriel Roubini T he world’s central bankers have begun to discuss the idea of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and now even the International Monetary Fund and its managing director, Christine Lagarde , are talking openly about the pros and cons of the idea. This conversation is past due. Cash is being used less and less, and has nearly disappeared in countries such as Sweden and China. At the same time, digital payment systems – PayPal, Venmo, and others in the west; Alipay and WeChat in China; M-Pesa in Kenya; Paytm in India – offer attractive alternatives to services once provided by traditional commercial banks. Most of these fintech innovations are still connected to traditional banks, and none of them rely on cryptocurrencies or blockchain . Likewise, if CBDCs are ever issued, they will have nothing to do with these...

courtesy of Shutterstock By Lubomir Tassev Draft laws employing alternative approaches to regulating digital currencies have been introduced in Ukraine and Russia. In Kiev, a bill that classifies cryptocurrency as an asset, unit of exchange and store of value has been filed in the Rada and it’s supported by both deputies and representatives of the industry. In Moscow, the managers of leading Russian enterprises have prepared their own version of the law on digital financial assets which contains the legal term “cryptocurrency” and differentiates it from tokens. New Crypto Bill Filed in the Ukrainian Rada Alternative Crypto Bills Presented in Ukraine and RussiaA bill that leaves crypto-to-crypto trade outside of the scope of government regulation has been filed in the Ukrainian parliament. The draft has been signed by 23 members of the Verkhovna Rada and is prepared in cooperation with representatives of the industry. News about the filling was announced during a crypto...

By Rachel Wolfson  The cryptocurrency market and initial coin offerings (ICOs) have carved out a grey area for regulatory efforts in the United States. For example, utility tokens (user owned tokens that are not created as investment vehicles and hold a claim that they are exempt from federal laws that govern securities) are the primary tokens circulating most ICOs. Owners of utility tokens can’t use the coins outside of the platform without exchanging them; they can send tokens person to person within the network. ICOs must evolve to become self-regulatory, in order to advance the crypto market and become attractive to institutional investors. It’s not uncommon to find that the majority of companies selling utility tokens don’t have token economics. Therefore, most listed utility tokens are not real utility tokens, but rather, these companies are actually selling security tokens. Due to this problem, many institutional investors have been bearish...

By Helen Partz A former Deutsche Bank trader has joined Japanese crypto exchange-startup FXcoin Ltd., Bloomberg reports September 3. According to the announcement, Yasuo Matsuda, an institutional trader from Deutsche Bank, will join FXcoin as a senior crypto strategist starting in September 2018. The strategist position includes providing analysis of crypto markets and daily reports on the market’s activity. The newly appointed 49-year old Matsuda worked as foreign-exchange dealer at the German bank from 2012 until this June. FXcoin Ltd., founded in September 2017, is currently seeking regulatory approval from Japan’s financial regulator the Financial Services Agency (FSA) in order to operate “virtual currency-related business.” The startup has reportedly applied with the regulator to exchange cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) under a licensing system that was adopted last year. FXcoin’s founder and CEO Tomoo Onishi is a veteran employee at Deutsche ...