Circle Joins Industry Body for Developing Global Crypto Standards

Crypto finance company Circle has joined the Global Digital Finance (GDF) industry body as a founding member to develop a global “Code of Conduct” for crypto, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Wednesday, Oct. 31.

Circle has confirmed participation with the GDF on Twitter, stressing the company’s commitment to developing standards for the industry in order to promote the acceleration and adoption of digital assets. Other industry players in the group purportedly include Coinbase, ConsenSys, DLA Piper, Diginex, and others.

Today the GDF released the Code of Conduct and Taxonomy for Cryptographic Assets after approval by the GDF community in a series of global mini-summits held in Asia, Europe and the U.S., according to the press release. The Code also underwent a 60-day consultation with contributions from over 200 firms from the global crypto industry and community.

The “Code of Conduct” will be the start of a “shared rulebook” of standards pertaining to money handling, risk management, interaction with customers and regulators, and market practice.

GDF co-founder Lawrence Wintermeyer said that the industry body intends to build a global self-regulatory model for the industry, aiming to make “digital assets work seamlessly across borders which challenges current jurisdictional models.”

Companies can register with the GDF as Code-compliant starting in the first quarter of 2019. Per the press release, the organization is still developing a registration scheme.

Last week, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) granted self-regulatory status to the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA). The JVCEA is an organization of crypto exchanges registered in Japan, which collaborate on rules to protect client assets, contribute to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policy, and provide work process standards for crypto exchanges.