In early August, the Federal Reserve Board let the banks know that it is keeping an eye on their “novel activities” such as those involving crypto-assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT) otherwise known as blockchain systems. “The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday [Aug. 8] provided additional information on its program to supervise novel activities in… Read More >>
EDX Markets Creates a New Path for Crypto Exchanges
Without a lot of fanfare, digital asset marketplace company EDX Markets, based in Jersey City, N.J., went live with a cryptocurrency platform during a crypto winter that’s beginning to thaw while regulators are rooting out alleged crypto crooks and rogues. Crucially, EDX describes itself as “the first-of-its-kind digital asset marketplace” that sidesteps providing custody support… Read More >>
Crypto-Crime ‘Down Significantly’ in 2023: Chainalysis
“Our data shows that cryptography-related crime is down significantly this year.” So says Chainalysis, the New York City-based blockchain-analytics company. Of course, the crypto-crime goal posts do tend to keep moving, from quarter to quarter and year to year, thanks in part to would-be crypto moguls like Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius, a now bankrupt… Read More >>
Saxo Bank Told to Dump Crypto Assets
Saxo Bank A/S’ trading in crypto-currency assets for its own account was “outside the legal business area of financial institutions,” according to a recent ruling by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, which ordered the Copenhagen-based bank to “dispose of its own holdings of crypto assets.” “On 4 July 2023, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority [FSA]… Read More >>
CFTC Taps BNY Mellon & Franklin Templeton & Other News
Officials from Key Firms Join Digital Assets Subcommittee The CFTC recently announced that its Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee will have co-chairs from BNY Mellon and Franklin Templeton. Caroline Butler, global head of digital assets at BNY Mellon, and Sandy Kaul, senior vice president, head of digital and industry advisory services at Franklin Templeton, will serve… Read More >>
Should Congress Fire Gary Gensler?
To say the least, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as led by the controversial Gary Gensler has been busy since the start of the Biden administration. Some people in the securities industry applaud Chair Gensler’s accelerated initiatives while others are up in arms. In particular, Gensler has raised the stakes recently with his dramatic… Read More >>
Ex-SEC Enforcement Attorney Calls Crypto ‘Inherently Unsafe’
The question of the day was posed recently by a headline in The New York Times: Why Did Washington Fall So Hard for the Bankman-Fried Brothers? Of course, FTF News knows the answer. Washington politicos, like kids at the ice cream store, tend to fall for the flavor of the day. And until recently, that… Read More >>
SEC Takes Aim at Binance & Coinbase: Reporter’s Notebook
Crypto-currency is crapto-currency. Naturally, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission wouldn’t put it that way. The commission is much too proper. But take it from FTF News, that’s the gist of the SEC’s recent complaint against Binance Holdings Ltd. and Changpeng Zhao, its founder. It’s also the gist of a second legal complaint, alleging similar… Read More >>
GOP Crypto Control Bill Aims for Clarity
Two key Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have drafted legislation that they say could help to end the confusion about cryptocurrencies and other digital assets and will set up “a functional framework” to clarify regulatory lines between the CFTC and the SEC. Patrick McHenry (NC-10), who is the chairman of the House Financial… Read More >>
Securities Tainted via Sanctions Up by 262% & Other News
Sanctioned Securities Creating New Woes for ETFs Data vendor SIX reports that the “number of securities tainted by sanctions has increased by 262 percent since the Ukraine war began in February 2022,” which creates a new set of operational problems for buy and sell-side firms especially those working in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The discovery stems… Read More >>
