Malta Might Be ‘Blockchain Island’ But Don’t Try Opening a Crypto Bank Account

Malta has been hyped up as the happy ending for crypto business who have trouble operating elsewhere, but there’s a problem: banks are reluctant to grant crypto startups business accounts until they’re properly licensed with the MFSA. This process can take up to six months for a first-round response, leaving many businesses unable to operate … Read more

New Pwc Report on Crypto Insolvency Captures the ICO Chaos

Accounting firm Pwc’s Hong Kong branch recently released a crypto insolvency report guiding crypto business owners on what to do “when things start to go wrong.” News.Bitcoin.com spoke to the crypto head of Pwc’s Asia operations, part of the team who released the report, on how he views the current cryptocurrency landscape, the factors that … Read more

How Crypto Compliance Requests Strip User Privacy

Money transmitting services that enable users to switch from crypto to fiat are a valuable resource. There’s still a shortage of cryptocurrency off-ramps, and thus reliable services that offer a reasonable exchange rate are to be cherished. But the convenience that crypto debit cards and other crypto-fiat exchanging services offer comes at a high price … Read more

South Africa Wants to Mandate Registration of Crypto Service Providers

A regulatory working group in South Africa, which includes the country’s central bank, has released a consultation paper on crypto assets this week. According to the document, all exchanges, wallet providers, Bitcoin ATMs and payment processors will have to register with the government in 2019.  Also Read: Bitpay Reports Processing Over $1 Billion Transactions in … Read more

Celebrity ICO Endorsers Face Legal Blowback Over Alleged Fraud

Boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather and rap producer DJ Khaled face a legal battle for serving as celebrity endorsers to an initial coin offering (ICO) accused of fraud. The founders of the allegedly fraudulent ICO were arrested by American criminal authorities back in April. Also Read: The Daily: Goldman Sachs Invests in Wallet, Institutional Traders Borrow … Read more

Credit Card Cartels Landed With $6.2 Billion Bill

Visa and Mastercard have run up the mother of all credit card bills. The monopolistic payment providers had been embroiled in a long-running lawsuit instigated by merchants protesting their excessive fees. The credit card giants have now conceded defeat and agreed to settle the price-fixing case for a whopping $6.2 billion. Also read: Raising the Dead: … Read more

8 Surprising Findings from New York’s Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative

A lot of cryptocurrency traders are sick of hearing about “manipulation”. They just want to buy and sell bitcoin in peace, without Twitter accounts such as Bitfinexed banging on about unnatural market movements. It was thus with some dismay that New York’s Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative was greeted. The report, which dropped yesterday, predictably contains … Read more

India Crypto Exchanges: Supreme Court Hearing to be Inconsequential

While expectations and fears are mounting on an imminent Supreme Court decision about the regulator’s ban concerning cryptocurrency trade in India, the big day may not exactly be a defining one for the future of bitcoin in the country. Other questions and bypass-routes will snowball (or hairball) no matter which way the ruling swings. Crypto … Read more

US Government to “Aggressively Pursue” Unregulated Services Around the World

Two common complaints among crypto traders are that platforms which didn’t before are now demanding identification documents and that more venues close their doors to residents of some countries. While users naturally lash out at the companies, it is important to remember that this is often done under coercion or threat by regulators. The US … Read more

Philippine SEC Approves Draft Rules for ICOs and Crypto

The Philippine SEC (Security and Exchange Commission) approved draft rules for initial coin offerings (ICOs), ABS CBN News reported. This official approval will pave the way for the legal sale of cryptocurrencies in the Philippines. The Securities and Exchange Commission has released, for public comment, the proposed rules to govern the registration of initial coin … Read more