Schlagwort: crypto regulation

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Nayib Bukele slams the US for being ‘afraid’ of El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law

El Salvador president Nayib Bukele on Wednesday expressed disappointment at the US government for what he termed as fear of the country’s work around its Bitcoin Law.

Bukele’s comments came after news that the US Senate was set to vote on a bill touching on El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption.

The bill dubbed “Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act,“ passed the committee stage and would go to a vote before the US Senate.

‘ACES’ was introduced in February and is being fronted as a buffer against any would-be risks associated with El Salvador’s adoption of BTC as legal tender.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the US Government would be afraid of what we are doing here,” Bukele said in a comment.

Per the legislation,  US lawmakers are ‘worried’ El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law could pose risks to the US financial system. Promoters of the bill are reportedly pushing it as part of a regulatory framework to help mitigate the potential risks, including criminal organisations and even the empowerment of China.

If voted into law, the State and Treasury Departments will be expected to look into ways to prevent such from happening.

The US Senate’s vote is yet another mark on the increasingly expanding circle of those to express concern or look to oppose El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender. The IMF and World Bank have previously spoken about it, with the IMF earlier this year asking El Salvador to “drop” its Bitcoin Law.

But despite all these, the country continues to march forward with the ‘experiment’, including the launch of a $1 billion Bitcoin bond.

The post Nayib Bukele slams the US for being ‘afraid’ of El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law appeared first on Coin Journal.

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India’s crypto tax law clarification is ‘a step backwards’, says CEO of CoinSwitch

India’s proposed crypto taxation law will take effect on 1 April this year.

Ashish Singhal, the co-founder and CEO of India’s largest crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber, says the country’s crypto tax law signals a “step backwards.”

Singhal expressed his disappointment on Monday following clarification from authoirities regarding a crypto tax law that’s set to take effect on 1 April 2022.

India announced its cryptocurrency tax law in February, revealing a 30% tax levy on any digital asset transfer. There was also to be 1% deduction applicable to all crypto payments, with this levied at the source.

While the crypto community pointed out the high taxes, it acknowledged the country’s ‘recognition of cryptocurrencies’. But on Monday, most crypto investors were shocked by the Ministry of Finance’s clarification notice.

According to the ministry, India will look to tax each crypto investment separately, reiterating the fact that gains in one investment cannot be used to offset losses in another. It also specified that infrastructure costs related to crypto mining will not count as cost of acquisition.

It’s „detrimental“ to crypto investors

The founder of crypto news platform Coin Crunch India summed the community’s frustrations in his tweet.

“This is detrimental for India’s crypto industry and the millions who have invested in this emerging asset class,” the CoinSwitch CEO noted of the Finance Bill 2022.

He added that India had “taken a step backwards,” in reference to the February Budget Bill that had “recognised virtual digital assets (VDAs) as an emerging asset class.”

He said he expected the country to have progressively worked towards ensuring crypto regulations were “at par with other asset classes.”

He also opined that such regressive provisions being applied to the equities market would definitely discourage retail investors. It is a scenario he believes could materialise in the burgeoning crypto investment community.

“We fear the lack of provision to offset losses will drive away users from KYC-compliant exchanges and platforms to the underground peer-to-peer grey market, which would defeat the purpose of the tax,” he said.

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Ripple CEO: Denying SEC’s Motion to Strike Fair Notice defense is a ‘huge win for Ripple’

  • Brad Garlinghouse says Ripple is confident the SEC’s case will ultimately „be dismissed.“
  • XRP price shot up nearly 8% after the news
  • Ripple has maintained that its XRP token is not a security, earlier questioning a SEC official’s comments on Bitcoin and Ethereum

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has called the latest decision by a New York judge in the Ripple vs. US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) case as a “huge win” for the blockchain company.

“If you weren’t paying attention then, you should be now. Huge win for Ripple today!” Garlinghouse said.

His comment followed an order by US District Judge Analisa Torres denying the SEC’s motion to strike down Ripple’s Fair Notice defense.

Part of Judge Torres’ order reads:

“The SEC does not contend that Ripple’s affirmative defense is untimely, and the Court shall not conclude, at this early stage of the case, that Ripple’s defense is invalid. Accordingly, the SEC’s motion to strike Ripple’s fair notice affirmative defense is DENIED,”

Garlinghouse ‚confident‘ SEC’s case will be dismissed- ultimately

The SEC sued Ripple and top executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen for what it called the illegal sale of unregistered securities related to the XRP token. The case has been active since December 2020, with Ripple maintaining that XRP is not a security.

Commenting on the cases against him and Larsen, the Ripple chief noted:

“While we would have preferred the cases against Chris and me to end now, the SEC must now prove its claims. We are confident that ultimately all of them will be dismissed.”

Stuart Alderoty, General Counsel at Ripple said that Friday’s court order “makes it clear there’s a serious question whether the SEC ever provided Ripple with fair notice that its distributions of XRP – since 2013 – would ever be prohibited under the securities law,”

He lauded the judge’s decision and added that it might be time “the sun sets on the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement” approach.”

XRP price jumped nearly 8% following the news before the token pared some of the gains late afternoon.

The post Ripple CEO: Denying SEC’s Motion to Strike Fair Notice defense is a ‘huge win for Ripple’ appeared first on Coin Journal.

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SEC rejects NYDIG, Global X spot Bitcoin ETF proposals

SEC’s latest move adds to a string of others seen over the years, with the US market’s wait for a spot Bitcoin ETF set to go on.

The US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again rejected applications seeking to list spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US market.

In its latest move, the securities watchdog has denied the NYDIG Spot Bitcoin ETF and the Global X Bitcoin Trust applications.

The two funds sought to list and trade physically settled Bitcoin ETFs. However, filings dated 10th March 2022 now put all that into an expanding basket of rejected applications.

And with it, another shot at having the regulator allow a spot BTC product has ended- at least for now (other proposals are pending the SEC’s decision).

SEC’s argument is…

NYDIG filed an application to list the spot Bitcoin ETF on NYSE Arca, Inc. on 30th June 2021, while Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. filed Global X’s proposal on 30 August 2021.

The SEC’s orders disapproving the applications cite issues around fraud and manipulative acts, noting that the rejections are merited in the interest of protecting consumers and “public interest.”

In 2021, the regulator approved the first of two Bitcoin futures ETFs. The move saw the crypto industry’s excitement towards a spot ETF rise. But in the period since the ProShares and Valkyrie ETFs, the SEC has disapproved applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs by Van Eck, Fidelity, Wisdom Tree, and First Trust.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF proposal is pending the regulator’s decision.

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Coinbase CEO says Russian oligarchs won’t use crypto to evade sanctions

Russia, sanctions, crypto– yes, three words that have this week informed one of the most discussed topics in the crypto space. 

We know Russia attacked Ukraine and a war is going on. This has in turn attracted tough sanctions from across European nations and the United States.

And in the middle of all these, there’s a simple hypothesis that crypto could provide Russian oligarchs a way to circumvent sanctions. Of course crypto should be able to do this, given characteristics inherent to the burgeoning technology.

But it won’t be won’t be easy and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has shared his views on why not.

Why Coinbase thinks crypto will not be ideal Russian oligarchs

According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, it’s possible a wealthy Russian close to President Vladimir Putin might try to evade US sanctions by using crypto. 

Yet, looking at the prevailing circumstances around Russia, crypto may not be what an oligarch trying to remain anonymous or discrete would look to use in “sneaking” huge amounts of money around.

And it even gets tougher given that the liquidity one might need to facilitate this on the biggest exchanges- most of them available in the US and other major countries looking to enforce sanctions.  As such, crypto businesses in these countries will likely follow the law and make it difficult for Russia or the sanctioned individuals.

Sharing his thoughts on this very topic, the Coinbase chief noted:

“Every US company has to follow the law – it doesn’t matter if your company handles dollars, crypto, gold, real estate or even non financial assets. Sanctions laws apply to all US people and businesses. So it would be a mistake to think crypto businesses like Coinbase won’t follow the law. Of course we will.”

He added that screening of customers is part of the law and that global watchlists provide useful information that helps the exchange block flagged individuals, IP addresses, accounts or transactions.

Armstrong then explains why he doesn’t think “there’s a high risk of Russian oligarchs using crypto to avoid sanctions.”

Why?

“Because it is an open ledger, trying to sneak lots of money through crypto would be more traceable than using U.S. dollars cash, art, gold, or other assets,” he said.

Blockchain traceability and following the law won’t make it easy for anyone looking to use cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions.

Coinbase won’t block all Russians

Calls to ban all Russians from accessing services on crypto exchanges have also been made, including from officials in Ukraine. But Armstrong says Coinbase won’t take that step.

“We are not preemptively banning all Russians from using Coinbase. We believe everyone deserves access to basic financial services unless the law says otherwise,” he noted.

According to him, doing so will impact people for whom crypto is a buffer in these times when the ruble has deflated massively.

“Many of them [ordinary Russians] likely oppose what their country is doing, and a ban would hurt them, too,” he opined.

But like other regulated companies and businesses, Coinbase follows the law and if the US government asks it to block or ban certain users, the firm will follow the said laws.

Armstrong summarised his view of the whole issue by saying that Coinbase will also work towards helping Ukrainians access the crypto services they need.

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