Gemini, the top global cryptocurrency exchange per CryptoCompare’s latest Exchange Benchmark, hired a former senior executive from United Kingdom-based Starling Bank. Julian Sawyer, a former CEO and co-founder at Starling, will now lead Gemini Europe — the European affiliate of Gemini Trust Company — as the managing director of the U.K. and Europe, the firm announced Dec. 4. Over 20 years in high-growth financial services organizations According to an announcement by Gemini president Cameron Winklevoss, Sawyer joins the major United States-based crypto exchange with a total of 20 years experience at growing financial services organizations. Prior to Starling, Sawyer founded …

British banking giant HSBC plans to move $20 billion worth of assets to Digital Vault, a new blockchain-based custody platform by March 2020. By deploying the platform, the global investment bank aims to digitize paper-based records of private placements in order to increase standardization and speed up processes in the growing industry, Reuters reports Nov. 27. HSBC reportedly expects the global volumes of private placements to surge 60% from 2017 to hit $7.7 trillion by 2022. The bank could not estimate how much the platform will save for the company or its clients, Reuters states. HSBC to help investors track …

London has long been one of the world’s most prominent financial hubs. But as the United Kingdom delves further into an uncertain period of political instability that could radically alter the very identity of the country, its attractiveness for business is starting to be questioned. Despite the need to appear as business-friendly and open to innovation as possible due to the ramifications of the ongoing Brexit crisis, the U.K. still lacks a concrete framework for the regulation of cryptocurrency. However, in mid-November, the United Kingdom Jurisdiction Taskforce of the LawTech Delivery Panel published a statement exploring the legal status of …

John Pfeffer, founder of Pfeffer Capital, together with Travis Kling, founder and CIO of Ikigai Asset Management and Charles McGarraugh, head of markets for Blockchain, discussed Bitcoin (BTC) in the context of Brexit, trade wars and geopolitical uncertainty. On Nov. 20, the panel of three sat down for an interview with Bloomberg’s Alastair Marsh at the Future of Digital Assets briefing in London, where they took a closer look at the idea that Bitcoin becomes more attractive as an investment during times of global uncertainty. Bitcoin the ultimate store of value? (1:20) Charles McGarraugh started off the conversation by agreeing …

London-based crypto data provider CryptoCompare has updated its crypto Exchange Benchmark, removing Binance cryptocurrency exchange from the list of the top 10 exchanges. Binance, the second biggest crypto exchange by daily trade volume to date, is not included in the CryptoCompare’s list as the rankings do not rely on aggregate volume data in its analysis, the firm said in a press release to Cointelegraph on Nov. 19. In order, the top 10 crypto exchanges in CryptoCompare’s second Exchange Benchmark are: Gemini, Paxos’ itBit, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, Liquid, OKEx, Poloniex, bitFlyer and Bitfinex. Binance was ranked seventh in the first Exchange …

The United Kingdom Jurisdiction Taskforce of the Lawtech Delivery Panel published a statement concerning the status of cryptocurrencies, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and smart contracts under English and Welsh private law. U.K. entrepreneur network Tech Nation announced the paper’s publication on Nov. 18. The document attempts to address the legal uncertainties of cryptocurrency and recognizes crypto assets as tradeable property and smart contracts as enforceable agreements under local law. The importance of regulating blockchain Lawtech Delivery Panel director Jenifer Swallow noted that the worldwide smart contract market is expected to reach $300 million by 2023 while the World Economic Forum …

Unilever, O2 and Sky are among the latest big firms to sign on to Jicwebs’ blockchain pilot program designed to improve trust and transparency in digital advertising. The news was revealed in a Nov. 12 report from United Kingdom-based industry magazine Campaign. Industry involvement Jicwebs — an acronym for the U.K. digital ad trading standards body, the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards — first announced its blockchain pilot initiative in May 2019. It counts the participation of major global media agencies Zenith, OMD UK and Manning Gottlieb OMD, who have been evaluating the potential for blockchain technology to bolster …

Overstock’s blockchain arm tZERO will provide its technology to tokenize River Plaza, a luxury residential development in Manchester, United Kingdom. Following a partnership with U.K.-based real estate investment firm Alliance Investments, tZERO plans to tokenize at least $25 million of River Plaza on the Tezos blockchain, according to a press release on Oct. 30. A 180-unit luxury residential development, River Plaza is the first initiative of Alliance Investments’ real estate tokenization plan to tokenize around $640 million of real estate projects across the U.K. over the next several years. The security token offering is expected to launch in Q1 2020. …

United Kingdom-based mining firm Argo Blockchain has doubled its order of new cryptocurrency miners as it eyes “significant expansion” of its capacities. An Oct. 30 report from Proactive Investors revealed that the firm — which is listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange — is poised to increase its current hash power by 240%. Poised for 17,000 miners in operation In lieu of a prior order for 5,000 new Antminer S17s at a cost of $13.09 million, Argo Blockchain has reportedly now placed an order for 10,000 Antminer T17s — at a cost of $9.51 million. The …

Since the days of the British Empire, the United Kingdom has been one of the world’s largest and most influential economic powerhouses. Even though its financial control over the world has substantially decreased, the country is still one of the most culturally relevant regions in the world, especially when it comes to the adoption of a trend. A survey by London-based law firm Michelmores LLP revealed that 20% of affluent millennials in the United Kingdom have invested in Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. Keeping this in mind, when the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposed a crypto ban, it caught …

According to a senior advisor at consultancy firm McKinsey, John Straw, blockchain could make the City of London irrelevant in the near future. He made the claim at a Computing.co.uk Live Event on Oct. 24. Straw added that this could result in a breakdown of the United Kingdom’s tax system, and ultimately the demise of the country’s National Health Service. The straw that breaks the camel’s back Straw sees a huge potential for disruption if a scalable blockchain-based financial system gains popularity: “Let's say that somebody actually does produce a working blockchain peer-to-peer system. It'll be a lending system that …

The Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) — an alliance of 50 organizations aimed at supporting financial innovation — has onboarded an array of United States regulatory agencies. According to an Oct. 24 press release published by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the SEC itself have joined the GFIN. Representing the interests of industry stakeholders The watchdogs’ participation in the initiative is geared to further promoting their expertise both in the U.S. and abroad, helping financial regulators …