Despite a tumultuous 2020, one investment stood head and shoulders above all others: bitcoin. The largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap has more than quadrupled in value over the trailing-12-month period through Jan. 17. It’s up a cool 9,310% over the trailing five years. Bitcoin blows pretty much […]
Cryptocurrency
FCA issues coronavirus cryptocurrency scam warning
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned investors to avoid coronavirus-related cryptocurrency schemes that may seem too good to be true. Crypto scams are on the rise to exploit investors In a warning published on its website, the regulator says criminals and scammers are trying to take advantage of […]
Sweden is now testing its digital version of cash, the e-krona
The Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, has announced the launch of a year-long pilot project of its proposed e-krona. The project will use distributed ledger technology inspired by the blockchains that run cryptocurrencies. Cashless in Sweden: Physical cash is headed toward obsolescence in Sweden. Nearly everyone uses a mobile payment application […]
Municipality of Zermatt Now Accepts Payments in Bitcoin
The municipality of Zermatt, in cooperation with Bitcoin Suisse, announced that it will accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for local taxes and official transactions with immediate effect. A point-of-sale solution provided by Bitcoin Suisse has been installed in the Zermatt town hall, so that fees for services from […]
Taxman unearths £200m in joint operation
M Revenue & Customs has helped uncover £200m worth of suspected tax evasion and money laundering in the UK. The action — which occurred as part of a series of investigations in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the US and the UK — is centred around a Central American financial institution […]
Former U.S. regulator leads effort to create digital dollar
The project will explore how a cryptocurrency could produce a more efficient and safer means of cross-border trade, clearance and settlement. The former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has partnered with Accenture to create the non-profit Digital Dollar Project, which plans to explore the creation of a U.S. […]
UK Financial Watchdog Now Supervises AML/CTF Compliance For Businesses
The well known and popular UK financial watchdog which is the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is now actively supervising the anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) compliance for companies which are carrying out crypto-related activities. The Bitcoin and altcoin news feature an official announcement published on January 10 which […]
Spotting suspicious transactions: Why automation is the future of compliance
The compliance side of Fintech is Regtech, and the same automation technology can drive the growth of safe, legal digital payments. Southeast Asia’s Internet economy—the fastest and largest growth in the world—is primed for explosive growth. A report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company found the region’s Internet economy […]
Payments Regulation – Restriction or Growth Opportunity?
The platform economy and cryptocurrency spaces are booming global industries. But as a result of regulatory changes, they’re not easy spaces to penetrate. PSD2 was introduced in January 2018, dictating that non-regulated businesses who held customer funds were no longer acting compliantly. Prior to this, businesses had been able to […]
New Zealand just became the first country to legalize salary payments in cryptocurrencies
New Zealand now legally allow companies to pay salaries in cryptocurrency starting September 1, becoming the first nation to do so, according to a Financial Times report. The country requires the preferred cryptocurrency to be pegged to a standard currency and directly convertible into a normal form of payment. This […]