The Dubai Financial Services Authority, the financial regulatory agency for the special economic zone, the Dubai International Financial Centre, is looking to enhance local cryptocurrency-related regulations. The DFSA is planning to introduce a regulatory framework for diverse digital assets as part of its 2021–2022 business plan released on Jan. 18. According to the DFSA, the upcoming crypto framework will further expand the DFSA’s regulation of digital asset issuers and associated trading platforms. The framework will include a number of digital asset types like tokenized securities and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC): “We will build upon recent achievements in this space over …

Bakkt, one of the biggest cryptocurrency companies in the United States, will not support XRP as part of its further product development, according to the CEO. On Jan. 11, Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael sat down with the Axios Re:Cap podcast to discuss the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets. Michael said that Bakkt is planning to roll out support for a number of altcoins on its platform in the future, but XRP is not one of them. Michael declined to comment on whether the company decided to stay away from XRP due to Ripple’s legal issues sparked …

Shinhan Bank, the oldest banking institution in South Korea, continues its efforts to introduce digital-asset custody services with a new investment. According to a Thursday report by news agency Yonhap, Shinhan Bank has invested in Korea Digital Asset Trust, or KDAC, an industry consortium of businesses that provide digital-asset custody. The initiative was launched by Korbit in collaboration with blockchain startup Blocko and digital-asset research company Fair Square Lab. With the new investment, Shinhan Bank moves closer to offering its own cryptocurrency custody business. In August 2020, Shinhan Bank announced its plans to introduce crypto custody alongside another major South …

A crypto-powered freelancing platform has attracted a wealth of positive testimonials from businesses that have bought professional services through the site. AnyTask connects entrepreneurs with thousands of talented designers, photographers, writers and developers worldwide — and prices start from as little as $1. And according to the company, this lower price point hasn’t been at the expense of quality, with many clients revealing they have been delighted at the levels of service they received. Kern Thompson, a marketer from the Netherlands, said all six of the freelancers he has worked with completed his projects with aplomb — and five of …

Switzerland’s principal stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, and Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings have announced a joint cryptocurrency-related venture. At the Singapore Fintech Festival on Dec. 8, the firms' digital asset-related subsidiaries, SIX Digital Exchange and SBI Digital Asset Holdings, announced that they are launching a new platform in Singapore. The venture will target regulated institutional clients, implementing technologies and market expertise from both SBI and SIX. The platform will include a wide range of services like issuing, listing, trading, CSD infrastructure and custody of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, as well as regulated digital asset securities. The platform is expected …

Synthetic assets, one of the most promising use cases for decentralized finance (DeFi), is becoming an increasingly competitive landscape as two new projects aim to bring scalability and new markets to traders. On Friday, decentralized derivatives exchange Injective Protocol began a push into synthetic assets with the launch of a 24/7 synthetic gold market on their Solstice layer-2 testnet. “It's fairly interesting to explore gold for the first commodity futures on Injective because Bitcoin and Gold has fairly interesting market dynamics,” Mirza Uddin, Injective head of business development told Cointelegraph. “I think it's natural to introduce that dynamic to the …

Hester Peirce, commissioner for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and best known by the affectionate nickname “Crypto Mom,” says the regulator may not be able to get by if it simply incorporatesng digital assets into its existing regulatory framework. In an interview with Santander Bank Managing Director John Whelan for the 'Ethereum in the Enterprise - Asia Pacific' online conference today, Peirce said the SEC could learn from other approaches on regulating crypto, specifically citing Wyoming as an “extremely progressive” regulator. The state’s banking board approved charters for crypto firms like Avanti and Kraken in October. By contrast, …

Senior officials at the Bank of Russia have come out against the issuance of private stablecoins pegged to the Russian ruble. Sergei Shvetsov, a first deputy governor of the Russian central bank, said that the bank aims to ban private firms from offering stablecoins backed by the country’s fiat currency. Russian crypto developers will only be able to use the Bank of Russia’s digital ruble, Shvetsov said. According to a Nov. 30 report by local news agency Prime, the he said that this approach follows the “philosophy of the means of payment’s uniqueness.” Shvetsov referred to China’s digital yuan-related regulations …

In the early days, cryptocurrencies could only really be used for investing and trading. If you wanted to make a purchase using digital assets, you’d probably end up disappointed. Crypto debit cards have burst onto the scene in recent years — paving the way for these cutting-edge currencies to be used for everyday products. There’s just one problem… many products on the market have their limitations. More often than not, the owners of these debit cards need to top them up before they can be used, and their prepaid nature sometimes means they can’t be used to book hotel rooms, …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has issued a rare no-action letter in response to a request from a blockchain-backed platform over the issuance of a digital asset. The SEC letter issued on Nov. 19 says that 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 has proved contentious. The classification of …

Bill Hinman, outgoing director of the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chose to focus one of his last speeches on the commission’s achievements in regulating crypto during his tenure. In remarks published on the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, website on Nov. 18, Hinman cited the SEC’s record as being open to technologies like cryptocurrencies and blockchain without the need for overhauling the existing regulatory framework. “Being able to apply the federal securities laws to new and emerging technologies like digital assets without having to create an entirely new regulatory framework — as …

Blockchain and digital assets offer folks the ability to store their own assets, possibly threatening the solutions banks offer. Making sure banks remain relevant is not on the to-do list of England's central bank, however, according to the Bank of England's deputy governor Jon Cunliffe. “Our job is not to protect bank business models,” Cunliffe said, as reported by a Friday Reuters brief. “Banks will have to adjust," he added. "Our job is to ensure that if bank business models change, we manage the financial and macro-economic consequences of that.” Cunliffe posited that it is not the responsibility of the …