Global Regulations, 20 November – Coinfirm does a quick take on the week’s global compliance and regulatory news affecting our stakeholders.
FATF Deputy Wants More Travel Rule Implementation
David Lewis, executive secretary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), gave an overview of how implementation and business response have gone so far on the organization’s ‘Travel Rule’ at the V20 conference on Monday. He was not overarchingly positive.
Lewis stated that cryptocurrency firms have been lax to adopt the Travel Rule and wider FATF recommendations into their platforms, saying that they had “not yet being implemented globally or effectively”. He also zeroed in on so-called “jurisdiction hoppers” – companies that move frequently owing to positive or negative changing national guidelines on cryptocurrency that take advantage of ‘jurisdiction arbitrage’. – READ MORE
Japan’s Three Largest FIs to Trial CBDC Yen
More than 30 major Japanese firms will begin experiments next year towards issuing a common, private digital currency to promote digitalization in one of the world’s most cash-loving countries. Amongst them will be Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group – the three largest financial institutions in Japan.
“Japan has many digital platforms, none of which are big enough to beat cash payments,” Hiromi Yamaoka, who chairs the group, said in an online briefing Thursday. Yamaoka is also a former executive of the Bank of Japan, the country’s central bank. – READ MORE
Thai SEC Revises Rules
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission has revised its net capital rules regarding digital assets. Thailand-based cryptocurrency firms dealing with crypto and blockchain-based assets will now be able to include their value when calculating the net capital funds, paving the way for more acceptance of this asset class in the country.
The ruling comes hot on the heels of a surge in volume on Thai stock exchanges. The Bangkok Post states that, following the United States presidential election, the Stock Exchange of Thailand saw one-day trading volume hit $5.5 billion while futures contracts on the Thailand Futures Exchanges increased to 1 million per day.
These added regulations look to provide for a further rise of trading volumes by allowing securities and derivatives brokers to update their liquidity caps. – READ MORE
US SEC Takes No Action Against Social Media’s Stablecoin
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issues no-action letter in response to a request from a blockchain-backed platform over the issuance of their stablecoin.
The SEC letter on Thursday stated its Division of Corporation Finance would “not recommend enforcement action” against avatar social platform IMVU issuing its VCOIN digital asset under certain conditions. The commission will allow the firm to offer the token without registering it as a security.
Crypto firms issuing their own tokens often have to abide by the SEC’s regulatory framework, which some have cited as difficult to navigate. Classification of a “security” is for the assets dependent on the work of a third party to gain profit. To follow the no-action letter, IMVU will have to avoid the new stablecoin from appearing like an investment opportunity. – READ MORE
Belarus’ State-Owned Bank Launches Crypto Exchange
Belarus’ state-owned bank, Belarusbank, has launched the first legal cryptocurrency exchange service in Belarus, through its partnership with White Bird, a local cryptocurrency firm.
From this launch, citizens of Belarus and Russia can now buy and sell crypto. The bank plans to expand the list of countries whose citizens will be able to exchange cryptocurrencies for fiat in the future, according to the head of the bank’s digital transformation department, Viktor Bezrukov. – READ MORE
