On October 12, Finance Magnates reported that payment giants Mastercard and VISA will both soon group cryptocurrency and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) jurisdictions in a new “high risk” category. What are the consequences for those ‘high risk’ merchants? According to the publication’s undisclosed sources, the ban will be applied to brokers who operate “from unregulated or loosely regulated environments,” and therefore have no license that would show that proper due diligence has been applied to their business. The action reportedly deals with forex, binary, cryptos, and ICOs. More specifically, the alleged move seems to target non-EU countries “in the Balkans, …

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has opened a new office in Dublin, Ireland, according to an announcement published Oct. 15. In addition to helping expand its operations in Europe, the new Irish offices are reportedly part of a contingency plan for when the U.K. leaves the E.U. Per the announcement, the Dublin team will take on a number of new business-related functions, while London will remain Coinbase’s main office in Europe. The Irish Minister for Financial Services and Insurance Michael D’Arcy commented on the exchange’s expansion: “I am delighted that Coinbase is opening an office in Dublin. This decision highlights …

On April 10, 2018, 21 EU member states and Norway signed up to create the European Blockchain Partnership. Including the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland, they committed themselves to "cooperate in the establishment of a European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) that will support the delivery of cross-border digital public services, with the highest standards of security and privacy." Since April, a further five nations have joined the Partnership, with Italy becoming the latest to do so after it signed the Partnership's Declaration in September. As a member, it has committed itself to helping to identify, by the …

Blockchain has one new supporter: the UK finance minister Philip Hammond. Quizzed at the Conservative Party conference on how the UK government might solve Brexit’s UK-Irish border issue, he suggested that blockchain technology may be a solution. "There is technology becoming available […] I don’t claim to be an expert on it but the most obvious technology is blockchain.” He didn't go into any further detail, but in raising distributed ledger technology (DLT) as one way of facilitating 'frictionless' movement between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, he sparked hope that blockchain could help ensure seamless post-Brexit trade between …

A Swiss startup company is attempting to make using cryptocurrencies for online transactions as simple and safe as using PayPal. The main accusation of the mainstream media against crypto is that it is “a currency that is hard to spend.” Even though, according to CNBC, the total worth of Bitcoin spent on merchant services has increased to $190.2 million in 2017, from $9.8 million in 2013, however the market is still in its infancy. According to a study published by the Bank of Netherlands in February 2018, only two percent of online retailers accepted crypto, in spite of "substantial" interest. …

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has announced it is examining Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to determine how they should be regulated, Reuters reported Oct. 8. The ESMA was established in 2011 in Paris, France, with an objective to develop a common rulebook for European Union (E.U.) financial markets and supervise them. The ESMA also works closely with the other European Supervisory Authorities competent in the field of banking (EBA), and insurance and occupational pensions (EIOPA). According to Reuters, the ESMA is assessing ICOs to see how they comply with the existing securities regulations on a “case-by-case” basis, as …

Much noise has been made about the untraceable qualities of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin "can be used to buy merchandise anonymously" said early primers on crypto, it offers users the kind of financial privacy that was previously available only from a "Swiss bank account," say more recent commentators. And given its ability to provide people with a layer of anonymity and privacy, it has been smeared by politicians, experts and mainstream journalists alike as a hiding place for almost any hacker, drug dealer, gang member, terrorist or despot you could possibly name (even if cash is still the preferred …

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has budgeted over 1 million euro for monitoring fintech and crypto assets, according to a document published Oct. 4. Founded in 2011 in Paris, the ESMA has an objective to develop a uniform rulebook for European Union (E.U.) financial markets, as well as provide market supervision. The authority has established Technical Committees in various industrial fields, including information technology (IT), and also works in the field of securities legislation and regulation. In its 2019 Annual Work Program, the ESMA cites a 1.1 million euro program and its objectives for the next year, which …

One of Spain's busiest ports based in the city of Valencia has announced the creation of a "smart port" which will use blockchain and big data technologies. The news was revealed in a release published Wednesday, Oct. 3, on the port’s official website. Jose Garcia De La Guia, who is responsible for implementing new technologies in the Port Authority of Valencia, explains that they see blockchain as a good option for improving logistics not only in Valencia, but in many international ports: "Starting from Valencia, we offer to use blockchain as a strategic option to provide transparency of logistic chain, …

European airline holding company Air France-KLM has partnered with blockchain travel ecosystem Winding Tree. The goal of the partnership is to reduce costs for the company’s customers by cutting out intermediaries. The alliance has revealed the new deal in a release published on its official website Thursday, Oct. 4. The world's fifth largest air company by revenue in 2018, Air France-KLM hopes blockchain will help it provide "a more advantageous travel offer for customers which is more profitable for suppliers, in particular by reducing the number of intermediaries." Sonia Barriere, the executive vice president for Strategy and Innovation at Air …

Anastasios A. Antoniou, a member of the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum, thinks that blockchain has to find its place within a regulatory framework rather than evade it, according to his post published in the Oxford Business Law Blog Wednesday, October 3. The expert thinks that it is imperative to bridge the divide between code and law in blockchain, calling this “a radical rethink” of current regulation. Antoniou further compares the current legal situation around blockchain with the principal question of the late 1990’s dedicated to cyberspace regulation. He explains that blockchain has to apply the law to attain its …

British finance minister Philip Hammond has said that the issue of trade across the Irish border after Great Britain leaves the European Union (EU) might be solved by deploying blockchain technology, The Irish Times reported October 1. Speaking at the Tory party conference in Birmingham, Hammond reportedly asserted that “there is technology becoming available [...] I don’t claim to be an expert on it but the most obvious technology is blockchain,” when asked how the government plans to achieve frictionless trade after Brexit. Addressing the future of the Irish border, the United Kingdom (UK) and the EU agreed to leave …