According to an official announcement, INX has signed a term sheet for the acquisition of OpenFinance, which operates as a registered broker-dealer in compliance with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. With the new deal, INX is set to acquire OpenFinance’s broker-dealer and alternative trading system business including its systems, digital asset listings, client base and licenses. OpenFinance’s listings include firms like major industry venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, Spice VC and Lottery.com. INX’s representatives said that their company will assure continuity of operations and service to OpenFinance’s customer base. Shy Datika, president and founder …

On Wednesday, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced the end of its lawsuit against Kik Interactive. The Canadian messenger app fell afoul of the U.S. regulator for failing to treat its sale of KIN tokens as a securities offering. A district judge confirmed the SEC’s view at the end of September, but only today did the court see the final judgment. As a result of today’s judgment, Kik will need to pay the SEC $5 million in penalties and keep the commission posted as to any capital raises for the next three years. Given that Kik was a …

The NAC Foundation has accused the United States Securities and Exchange Commission of misconduct in an ongoing case. According to court documents Oct. 20, Rowland Marcus Andrade and his company NAC Foundation asked a San Francisco federal judge to dismiss the SEC’s June lawsuit alleging that he and his associate Jack Abramoff defrauded investors in a $5.6 million token offering. Andrade argued that the SEC “purposefully attempted to mislead the court” by accusing him of offering a technology that had never been developed. According to the defendant, the SEC was aware that he held patents for Anti-Money Laundering technology related …

A Gibraltar-based company says it is building a digital asset exchange that will be fully compliant with regulations from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the European Union. According to INX, the evolution of blockchain-based currencies and assets is finally beginning to gain steam — and governments around the world are beginning to realize that digital payments are here to stay. The company’s team consists of top executives from some of the world’s biggest financial institutions, including American Express, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, HSBC, TD Ameritrade and Societe Generale. INX says its vision …

United States Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce — better known as “Crypto Mom” — believes the recent action against BitMEX may be a wake up call for crypto firms. In an interview with “Unchained Podcast” on Oct. 13, Peirce told host Laura Shin that the recent charges laid against BitMEX by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has put the international crypto industry on notice about U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) regulations. “I think that the message has been coming to the industry fairly loud and clear on …

The legal team for a crypto firm facing possible securities law violations is asking for the case to be dismissed on geographical grounds. According to court records filed Oct. 13 in the U.S. Southern District of New York, lawyers for blockchain firm BProtocol Foundation argued that a court outside the U.S. would be more suited to oversee the case due to the “international” nature of the complaint. The BProtocol Foundation legal team said the complaint was “based on a man in Wisconsin using an exchange in Singapore to purchase tokens issued by a Swiss entity,” which was not appropriate to …

Hester Peirce, commissioner for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affectionately known as “Crypto Mom,” says the regulator’s more conservative attitude around crypto needs to change as people become more interested in the space. In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Peirce said the crypto landscape is changing quickly. “While we’ve been very slow in giving guidance, there is more and more interest from a wide spectrum of people, both inside the crypto space as well as inside the traditional financial institutions who are asking us for guidance. So I think we’re going to be forced to confront that …

Murda Beatz, known for his popular music collaborations with Drake, Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, and others, has bought himself some Bitcoin. Announcing the news to his 283,200 followers on Twitter, Beatz “saluted” hip-hop artist Jermane Prime and Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano as being instrumental in him making the purchase. I Bought Bitcoin Today.. Salute 2 @JermanePRIME & @APompliano — MURDA ON THE BEAT (@murdabeatz_) October 6, 2020 Anthony Pompliano (aka Pomp) congratulated him on becoming the newest Bitcoiner and asked his followers to welcome him — which they happily did. Murda Beatz (Shane Lee Lindstrom) is a Canadian …

Ripple is considering relocating to Europe or Asia amid growing frustration at the lack of regulatory clarity in the United States. Speaking to Fortune Magazine’s Jeff John Roberts at the Oct. 6 LA Blockchain Summit, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen said the United States was “woefully behind” in preparing for the cryptocurrency-based next generation of a global financial system. Coupled with U.S. authorities’ policy on “regulation through enforcement” and Ripple may consider leaving the country behind entirely. “The message is blockchain and digital currencies are not welcome in the U.S.,” Larsen said. “You want to be in this business, you probably …

Update: The Justice Department reports John McAfee has been arrested in Spain for tax evasion and is awaiting extradition to the United States. On Monday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against John McAfee for allegedly promoting initial coin offerings (ICOs) without disclosing that the ICO issuers were paying him, a violation of U.S. securities law. Per the complaint: "From at least November 2017 through February 2018, McAfee leveraged his fame to make more than $23.1 million U.S. Dollars ('USD') in undisclosed compensation by recommending at least seven “initial coin offerings” or ICOs to his Twitter followers." The …

On the last day of September 2020, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein dashed the hopes of Kik Interactive, crypto entrepreneurs and Simple Agreement for Future Tokens, or SAFT, proponents in general by ruling in favor of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission’s motion for summary judgment in SEC v. Kik Interactive. The case was instigated by the SEC in June 2019 when the SEC filed an enforcement action against Kik Interactive Inc., (referred to in the complaint and here as Kik), a social media company that had used SAFT to launch its “Kin” crypto token in September 2017. Related: Does Kik stand …

This year has been a strong one for digital asset markets, highlighted by growing institutional inflows and a propitious shift in the regulatory environment. Witness the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission’s September letter that says crypto exchanges that comply with SEC Rule 15c3-3 (the Customer Protection Rule) are free to trade digital asset securities. With more than 50 million people around the world investing and trading in crypto in meaningful volumes, Goldman Sachs has recently appointed a new global head of digital assets, as did JPMorgan in February. Goldman’s move was a noted reversal following a May earnings call in which …