Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. DeFi will be in focus during the inaugural Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) tech advisory meeting, where a panel will “explore issues in decentralized finance.” Polygon, a layer-2 scaling protocol for Ethereum, has launched a zero-knowledge decentralized identity solution to the public nearly a year after announcing its development. The cryptocurrency phishing scammer behind some of the most high-profile and high-value Web3 thefts claims to have packed up shop, saying it was “time to …

The French National Assembly has voted in favor of legislating stricter licensing rules for new cryptocurrency firms in order to harmonize local laws with proposed European Union (EU) standards. The vote was passed with 109 votes (60.5%) in favor to 71 (39.5%) against. With the French Senate having already passed the bill, it will now be passed to president Emmanuel Macron who has 15 days to either approve it or send it back to the legislature. ✅ Projet de loi DDADUE dans les domaines de l’économie, de la santé, du travail, des transports et de l’agriculture | Adoption par l’Assemblée …

The mainstream adoption of crypto and crypto-based services continues, as more companies are bridging traditional financial (TradFi) solutions with decentralized financial (DeFi). In an announcement on Feb. 22, a new pilot program launched between Binance and Ingenico payment solutions now allows in-store crypto payments via Binance Pay. Currently, the initial test of this offering is only available on Ingenico AXIUM payment terminals in France. According to the announcement, more than 50 cryptocurrencies will be accepted with this program. Initially, merchants will be paid in cryptocurrency. However, a crypto-to-fiat solution in which merchants are paid in fiat is set to pilot …

In this week’s newsletter, read about how France’s top contemporary art museum will display nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Find out why a founder of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) copycat project, RR/BAYC, is opposing trademark applications from Yuga Labs. Check out how NFTs based on Ethereum lost 60% of their market capitalization, and learn how Bitcoin (BTC) non-zero addresses surged because of Bitcoin NFTs. And don’t forget this week’s Nifty News, featuring American socialite Paris Hilton launching a dating metaverse called Parisland. France’s top modern art museum to display CryptoPunks, Autoglyphs NFTs The Centre Pompidou, the leading modern art museum …

Paris's leading contemporary art museum, the Centre Pompidou announced on Feb. 10 an upcoming permanent exhibition targeting the intersection between art and the blockchain represented by nonfungible tokens (NFTs). According to an announcement on Feb. 10, the Centre will feature NFTs from over 16 digital artists around the world, including popular collectables such as CryptoPunk #110 and Autoglyph #25, both donated to the Centre Pompidou. Le Centre Pompidou fait l’acquisition d’un ensemble d’œuvres traitant des relations entre blockchain et création artistique, dont ses premiers NFT ! Ce sont 18 projets de 13 artistes français et internationaux qui entrent en collection. …

For many countries, the tax season is right around the corner, which means companies in the crypto industry will need to be ready to help their users comply with local regulations. On Feb. 6, crypto exchange Binance announced it is launching a tax reporting tool to help users stay on track of their crypto transactions for tax reporting purposes. According to the announcement, Binance Tax lets its users download a tax summary report which includes any gains or losses which have occurred throughout the year in their Binance account. This includes spot trades, crypto donations and blockchain-based fork rewards. The …

India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, stated that regulation “cannot be done” by a single country, it requires “collective action,” in a recent television interview. Speaking to Rahul Joshi on CNBC-TV18 in India on Feb. 3, Sitharaman noted that while the central bank is the “authority for issuing cryptocurrency,” the rest of the digital assets created outside are “using very useful financial technologies.” Sitharaman said that India is looking at a "global" standard operating procedure (SOP) to be “agreed upon” for regulating crypto assets, ahead of India hosting the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Bengaluru later this …

The philanthropic arm of Binance — Binance Charity — is set to fund 30,655 scholarships to students keen on forging out a career in Web3 in 2023. The Binance Charity Scholar Program (BCSP) will provide free Web3 education and training courses which will enable tech-savvy students to upskill without having to leap-frog any unnecessary financial barriers, Binance Charity explained, in a January 20 blog post: “We recognize that digital education and skills development can be out of reach for many, resulting in a blockchain industry that lacks diversity and talent. The Binance Scholar Program changes all that, covering the costs …

Francois Villeroy de Galhau, the Bank of France’s governor, has urged for more stringent licensing requirements for crypto companies in France, citing the current turmoil in the crypto markets. During a speech in Paris on Jan. 5, the central bank governor said France shouldn’t wait for upcoming EU crypto laws to enact obligatory licensing for local Digital Asset Service Providers (DASPs). The European Parliaments Markets in Crypto Assets bill (MiCA) provides a licensing regime for the EU amongst other regulations and is expected to come into force potentially sometime in 2024. According to a Jan. 5 Bloomberg report, Villeroy addressed …

Binance France and its parent company Binance Holdings Limited are being sued by 15 investors in France over alleged misleading commercial practices and fraudulent concealment, according to local media reports. In a complaint filed on Dec. 14, the plaintiffs claimed that Binance violated French laws by advertising and distributing crypto services before receiving registration from the country's authorities. As reported by Cointelegraph, France's financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, has granted Binance a license as a digital asset provider in May 2022. The license allowed the crypto exchange to offer services such as assets custody and crypto trading. …

Financial regulators in France continue flagging illicit players on the foreign exchange (forex) and cryptocurrency markets, blacklisting a fresh batch of related websites. The French stock markets regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), and the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), on Dec. 21, updated a blacklist of websites identified as unauthorized investments in forex and crypto assets. Out of the 15 newly-blacklisted websites, only two sites imply a direct connection with crypto in their name. These websites include 24cryptoforextrading.net and cryptoneyx.io. According to the announcement, the AMF and ACPR have flagged significantly fewer crypto-related websites year-over-year. In 2022, …

Following the global trend of tightening the crypto regulation in the aftermath of recent market failures, France may reassess its eased regime of licensing for digital asset providers. That would challenge the nation’s efforts to present itself as one of the most pro-crypto countries in Europe. According to the Financial Times, Hervé Maurey, a member of the French Senate’s finance commission, proposed an amendment to eliminate a clause enabling crypto companies to operate without a full license until 2026. The current regime preserves this possibility even after the Markets in-Crypto Assets (MiCA) coming into law in 2024. Maurey’s amendment will …