Compliance Insight Weekly Update

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This week in the regulatory update, we have seen some interesting developments. El Salvador passed a Digital Securities Law to issue tokenized bonds and Nigeria issued a strategy report touching upon CBDCs and stablecoins. Chairman Patrick McHenry of House Financial Services Committee also announced the new subcommittees for the 118th Congress which will oversee crypto assets.

🇺🇸 USA

New Crypto Asset Panel announced 

Chairman Patrick McHenry of House Financial Services Committee announced on January 12 the new subcommittees, chairs, and jurisdictions for the 118th Congress.

One of these subcommittees will oversee crypto assets. The scope of its jurisdiction will include:

  • “Providing clear rules of the road among federal regulators for the digital asset ecosystem
  • Developing policies that promote financial technology to reach underserved communities
  • Identifying best practices and policies that continue to strengthen diversity and inclusion in the digital asset ecosystem”

🇸🇻 El Salvador

A new Digital Securities Law was passed in El Salvador

The passage of the “Volcano Bond” (“Bono Volcán”) bill was announced on January 11 by the National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador on Twitter.

Its objective is to issue tokenized bonds denominated in U.S. dollars that will help the jurisdiction pay its sovereign debt and fund the construction of the “Bitcoin City”, a special economic zone, and create Bitcoin mining infrastructure. The bonds would also have a ten-year maturity date and an annual interest rate of 6.5%.

Bitfinex will provide the necessary technology to issue said bonds. The goal is to raise 1B USD, half of which will be dedicated to constructing the Bitcoin city. 

🇳🇬 Nigeria 

Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a strategy report touching upon CBDCs and stablecoins

Nigeria is one of the countries which have adopted its own CBDC. With this report, “Nigeria Payments System Vision 2025”, the need for a regulatory framework for:

  1. Stablecoins are discussed as part of the country’s acceptance of the existence of private stablecoins and their popularity within the country.  
  2. ICOs – regulating ICOs would solve the issue of losses for investors and expand opportunities for fundraising, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding.