Regulation

During a virtual seminar earlier this week, deputy governor Kuben Naidoo revealed the South African Reserve Bank’s plans to proceed with crypto regulation. Naidoo says the bank rather sees cryptocurrencies as "assets" rather than as conventional currencies. The institution will roll out somewhat crypto-friendly laws within the next 12-18 months. Crypto Adoption in South Africa South Africa’s crypto community is thriving significantly. According to research from exchange Luno, roughly 13% of the nation’s residents hold digital assets of some kind.…

A representative of Russia’s Central Bank recently denounced private stablecoins in favor of a possible digital ruble. He claimed that the former is unsafe because its owners do not control the assets backing their value. CBDC VS Stablecoins As reported by local media on Monday, the unnamed representative argued that stablecoins are not in fact “stable” in value. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that attempt to circumvent industry volatility by pegging their value to relatively stable, real-world assets. They typically rely on…

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka says crypto poses too much legal and financial security risk.   In a public release this Tuesday, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has once more retained its anti-crypto stand. It publicly warned Sri Lankans that the government does not consider digital currencies a viable investment option. The release stated that the central bank has no regulations to protect crypto investors in place. Furthermore, the government had not authorized any exchanges to operate…

Lael Brainard – Vice Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve – said the latest crypto market bloodbath “highlights the urgent need” for industry regulation. She claims it must begin to comply with existing financial regulations, mirroring the views of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  Ensuring Financial Stability Brainard made her comments during a speech at the Bank of England Conference in London on Friday.  “Future financial resilience will be greatly enhanced if we ensure the regulatory perimeter encompasses the crypto…

Panelists conclude Digital Dollars would add very little to the US economy.   Following a recent conference held by the United States Federal Reserve, it appears that the country’s key economists might not be too keen on CBDC development yet. The Fed Comes Together to Discuss the USD The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York hosted the event together. The conference mainly centered around the International Roles of the U.S. Dollar and featured top Reserve…

Amidst the current downturn in the crypto market, crypto skeptics and critics have banded together to hold an anti-crypto conference. The event will give those in attendance a chance to voice their crypto-related grievances to government administrators and policymakers.  Educating Lawmakers Dubbed the Crypto Policy Symposium, the conference will take place in London over two days in the first week of September. The forthcoming anti-crypto event contrasts with other gatherings with ties to the industry. Typically pro-crypto, these events discuss…

The Argentinian government has ordered the seizure of 1,269 cryptocurrency wallets of taxpayers with outstanding debt obligations, according to iProUP. The announcement comes after the country’s Federal Administration of Public Income outlined plans to crack down on cryptocurrency wallets of the tax evaders in May. Furthermore, the regulator ordered the digital assets exchanges and crypto firms to submit monthly user reports. Crypto service providers now must run KYC processes and maintain a register of their users. The companies must also…

Russia’s apex bank, the central bank of Russia is currently undergoing a test for its proposed digital Ruble with 12 different commercial banks. There are suggestions that Russia could be fast-tracking the development of a virtual currency to evade sanctions. The latest move signals the intention of the major bank to start the pilot phase in 2023, rather than the 2024 initial date.  Evading SWIFT Sanctions The state-controlled news agency CBR reports that the central bank's digital currency (CBDC) may…

UK amends proposal to bind only private crypto wallets with high risk of illegal finance.   The government of the United Kingdom has backtracked on a controversial proposal that requires private data collection.  Previously, the rule indicated that fund senders must ID all receiving crypto-asset wallets before completing transactions. However, an amendment on Monday has restricted the proposal to only transactions that pose a risk of illegal finance.   Background on UK's KYC Proposal July 2021 saw the UK government pass…