A conservative member (MP) of the United Kingdom’s (U.K.) Parliament has said that making payments to local authorities and utility providers with Bitcoin (BTC) should be possible. The MP’s statements were reported by local news outlet Express.co.uk on Dec. 10. The article notes that Eddie Hughes, a member of the U.K. Parliament for the Walsall North constituency, described himself as a “crypto enthusiast with amateur knowledge.” He notes that blockchain gets a lot of attention and members of the parliament “have a duty to understand it.” Hughes further explained that he recently met with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which …

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental financial security body, has demanded the United Kingdom step up its cryptocurrency monitoring. According to a new report released Dec. 7, the country needs increased measures to prevent money laundering and combat terrorist financing (CFT). As part of its dedicated “mutual evaluation” on the U.K.’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and CFT efforts, the FATF identified the need to give its mechanisms for reporting suspicious activity a “significant overhaul.” In addition, certain sectors of the economy — specifically real estate agents and high value dealers — do not show sufficient “understanding of their risks” …

A major United Kingdom charity fund executive said at the Bloomberg Crypto Summit in London this Friday that the recent crypto market crash is just a “bump in the road,” Bloomberg reports Dec. 7. James Bevan, the chief investment manager at CCLA, told the audience during a panel that he doesn’t see the recent decrease in the value of cryptocurrencies “as an existential crisis”; rather, he noted that he believes this is just “a bump in the road.” Bevan then also compared crypto to traditional finance, stating that “institutional investors have had plenty of bumps in the road in conventional …

Brazil’s largest private bank has partnered with United Kingdom bank Standard Chartered to create a blockchain-based platform for small loans, according to a press release published by Itau Tuesday, Dec. 4. Itau Unibanco, also a major Latin American banking group, and Standard Chartered both offer international banking services. The two entities have successfully conducted a proof-of-concept (PoC) for the mentioned platform, based on Corda Connect developed by New York-based blockchain startup R3. Moreover, Itau and Standard Chartered, joined by United States multinational financial services company Wells Fargo, have issued a club loan of $100 million to test the platform. According …

On Nov. 16, Switzerland’s primary stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, announced that it will list the world’s first multi-crypto-based exchange-traded product (ETP). Exchange-traded products (ETP) are derivatively priced securities that are traded on a national securities exchange. Their pricing derives its value from other investment instruments, most commonly found in the form of commodities, stocks and indexes. The first global multi-crypto ETP has the backing of Swiss startup Amun AG and will be listed under the ticker symbol HOLD. According to the announcement, the ETP will track five of the sector's biggest cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin …

London-based global funds network Calastone is switching its entire system for fund trade clearing services to blockchain this May, Reuters UK reports today, Dec. 3. Calastone processes mutual fund trades for over 1,700 financial companies, including JPMorgan Asset Management, Schroders, and Invesco, according to Reuters. The move will transform current services by using a shared ledger to automate the nine million messages that are sent between counterparties every month, reportedly worth over £170 billion ($217 billion). As Reuters notes, the incumbent system requires three separate messages to be sent digitally between enterprises whenever they buy into a fund: the first …

The U.K.’s financial regulator has doubled the number of cryptocurrency-related businesses it is inspecting over unlicensed operations, local daily news outlet The Telegraph reported Nov. 26. Responding to a Freedom of Information request by the publication, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it was currently eyeing 50 entities which it “suspected” were offering financial services without its permission. The number is more than twice that which the FCA reported in May this year, and comes at a time when the U.K. is seeking to adopt a more orderly approach to its domestic cryptocurrency industry. While not quoting the response itself, …

The cryptocurrency market crash has eased pressure on the U.K.’s financial regulator to introduce hasty new rules for the sector, Reuters reported Nov. 20. As Reuters outlines, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had been pressed to expedite new regulation for the rapidly growing crypto space, raising the risk of a heavy-handed approach that could impede investment and stifle development. Now that the sector has settled, government officials and FCA representatives indicate they will be taking more time to fine-tune the balance between investor protection and fostering financial innovation. Speaking at a conference dedicated to crypto regulation in London yesterday, …

The Big Issue, a street newspaper sold by the homeless in the U.K. and other countries, is launching a blockchain-driven platform to promote impact investing, The Financial Times reports Monday, Nov. 18. Three investment companies — UK Standard Life Aberdeen, U.S. Columbia Threadneedle, and AllianceBernstein — will join The Big Issue as founders of the platform dubbed The Big Exchange. According to the FT, it will offer 30 to 40 social and environmental impact funds, and is set to start working within six months. The potential investors will be charged a minor fee to use The Big Exchange. Once registered …

The U.K.’s finance regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), may ban cryptocurrency derivatives such as futures as part of its “most comprehensive response” to the industry, according to a speech published Nov. 20. In a speech at “The Regulation of Cryptocurrencies” event in London Tuesday, FCA executive director of strategy and competition Christopher Woolard said the organization would consult on forbidding so-called cryptocurrency contracts-for-difference (CFDs). This, says Woolard, would “likely” also incorporate “options, futures and transferable securities.” The publication quoted Woolard as saying: “We’re concerned that retail consumers are being sold complex, volatile and often leveraged derivatives products based on …

Switzerland's principal stock exchange SIX Swiss Exchange will list the world’s first multi-crypto-based exchange-traded product (ETP) next week, the Financial Times (FT) reported Saturday, Nov. 16. Backed by the Swiss startup Amun AG, the first global multi-crypto ETP will be listed under index HODL, and will track five major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC). According to the article, each cryptocurrency will acquire a certain market share within the upcoming ETP, with Bitcoin accounting for around half of the ETP’s assets. The rest are set to be divided in fractions, with 25.4 percent …

Central bank digital currencies (CDBCs) can help improve counterparty credit risk for cross-border interbank payments and settlements, according to a new in-depth report jointly published by the central banks of Canada, the U.K. and Singapore, Nov. 15. A CBDC is a digital currency issued by a central bank whose legal tender status depends on government regulation or law. The “wholesale” variant of CBDC (W-CBDC) limits its use to financial institutions and markets, as opposed to a “retail CBDC” for the general public. The jointly compiled report looks into how to tackle the challenges and frictions in existing cross-border payment and …