United Kingdom
UK financial watchdog extends registration deadline for some crypto firms
The Financial Conduct Authority, the United Kingdom’s financial regulator, has extended the temporary registration status of some firms offering crypto services beyond its Friday deadline. In a Tuesday statement, the FCA said “a small number of firms” in the crypto space will continue to have temporary registration status in the United Kingdom “where it is strictly necessary.” The financial regulator reiterated that temporarily exempting the crypto firms from its previously announced Friday deadline “does not mean that the FCA has assessed them as fit and proper” but included situations in which a company “may be pursuing an appeal” or was still in the process of winding down operations. “Only firms that are registered with us or on our list of firms with temporary registration can continu...
NCA wants regulation for coin mixers, but the crypto industry is already one step ahead
The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) seeks to regulate the crypto coin mixers under the country’s laws against money laundering. Coin mixing tools are popular in the decentralized world as they maintain the privacy of transactions. These tools often mix several transactions to obscure the origin of a particular transaction. Then the recipient receives the transactions from a mixing “black box” comprised of hundreds of transactions from various wallets. While privacy-focused, these tools often face regulators’ ire as they are also a known way for hackers and criminals to wash their funds. Gary Cathcart, the NCA’s head of financial investigation, claimed that these transaction mixing tools offer a layer of anonymity to criminals that can be use...
Inflation spikes in Europe: What do Bitcoiners, politicians and financial experts think?
Rising prices are grabbing headlines all over the world. Across the pond in the United States, inflation recently broke a 40-year record. The situation is severe in Europe, with prices rising over 5% across the Eurozone and 4.9% in the United Kingdom. While prices rise, Bitcoin (BTC) is flatlining at around $39,000. It poses many questions: Is Bitcoin an effective hedge against rising prices, what role can Bitcoin play in a high inflation environment and did Bitcoiners know that inflation was coming? Experts from the world of Bitcoin, finance and even European politics responded to these questions, sharing their views with Cointelegraph about the alarming price rises in Europe. From data analysts Kaiko’s monthly report, the Bitcoin price marched ahead of inflation, implying...
Binance back in Malaysia via a strategic stake in regulated digital exchange
Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange by trading volume is returning to the Malaysian markets with a strategic stake in the country’s regulated digital asset trading platfrom MX Global. Binance and Cuscapi Berhad acquired a key stake in MX Global, one of the four Recognized Market Operators – Digital Asset Exchange licensed by the Securities Commission (SC) in Malaysia. Hello Malaysia. https://t.co/vsHzHlm7KI — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) March 1, 2022 The leading crypto exchange has a significant presence in the Asian region and with its new partnership in Malaysia, the exchange aims to expand the sustainable growth of the crypto market in Southeast Asia. MX Global, on the other hand, aims to bank on the recent partnership and new flow of capital to expand its market a...
Bitcoin’s last security challenge: Simplicity
It’s been just 13 years since Bitcoin’s (BTC) “Mayflower moment,” when a tiny handful of intrepid travelers chose to turn their back on the Fiat Empire and strike out to a new land of financial self-sovereignty. But, whereas it took 150 years for the American colonists to grow sufficient in number to throw off the yoke of unrepresentative government, the Republic of Bitcoin has gone from Pilgrims to Revolutionary Army in little over a decade. What sort of people are these new Bitcoiners? How do their character, demographics and technical knowledge differ from earlier adopters? Is “Generation Bitcoin” sufficiently prepared to protect their investment against current and future security threats? And, most importantly, what are the challenges that the rapidly growing community must urgently a...
Gomez Founder Tom Gray Appointed Chair of Ivors Academy
LONDON – Tom Gray, a prominent artist rights advocate and founding member of British rock band Gomez, has been elected chair of The Ivors Academy, the U.K. association for songwriters and composers. Gray has been a key figure in the global push for creators to receive a greater share of streaming royalties. In April 2020, he founded the #BrokenRecord campaign, calling for reform of the music industry and a rebalance of power away from record labels and streaming platforms and towards artists. Gray’s #BrokenRecord campaign ran alongside The Ivors Academy’s #FixStreaming drive, attracting support from stars like Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and compelling U.K. regulators to take a closer look at how the record business operates. That led to a nine-mo...
Cyber vigilante hunts down DeFi scammers running away with $25M rug pull
In the world of digital finance, where the weapon of choice for a heist is a computer rather than a semi-automatic firearm, tracking down scams and frauds from across the world becomes a near-impossible feat for centralized police forces. However, in an interview with Cointelegraph, an anonymous cyber vigilante shares insights into how he went about tracking down a group of decentralized finance (DeFi) scammers responsible for the $25 million StableMagnet rug pull, coordinating with police authorities and eventually having the stolen money returned back to the investors. [embedded content] The StableMagnet platform lured unwary investors under the pretext of high returns against stablecoin deposits. In a typical rug pull event, StableMagnet managed to run away with the $25 million th...
Clampdown on crypto ads: A one-off or a new phase of global regulation?
Over the last week, regulators in three major jurisdictions across two continents introduced new rules governing cryptocurrency-related promotions and advertisements. Citing consumer risks associated with digital asset investments, authorities in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Spain tightened the requirements around crypto firms’ marketing messaging and customer recruitment practices. While some experts view this emerging trend as a sign of a new global phase of cryptocurrency regulation, questions about the efficiency and universal applicability of this approach persist. New measures In the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Treasury issued a report summarizing the results of a public consultation on crypto-asset promotions, published in July 2020, as well as the government’s further steps ...
UK lawmakers form crypto advocacy group for parliament: Report
Lisa Cameron, a member of parliament for the United Kingdom’s House of Commons, is reportedly chairing a lobbying group aimed at promoting crypto-related legislation in government. According to a Friday report from the Financial Times, members of parliament, as well as members of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, launched the Crypto and Digital Assets Group to ensure rules for the crypto industry in the U.K. “support innovation” as of last week. The cross-party group aims to protect investors from financial crimes, including token scams or offerings from regulated companies. “We are at a crucial time for the sector as global policymakers are also now reviewing their approach to crypto and how it should be regulated,” said Cameron. Palace of Westminster at night. Source: Pexels...
UK Music Sales Up 8.7% as Vinyl Outpaces Streaming Growth
LONDON – Vinyl sales grew twice as fast as streaming in the United Kingdom last year, helping drive an 8.7% rise in overall music spending, according to year-end figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). Vinyl album sales rose by 23% to £136 million ($184 million) in 2021, compared to 10.9% growth in subscription streaming revenue over the same period. Overall music spending rose to £1.68 billion ($2.3 billion), the organization says in its preliminary annual figures published on Wednesday (Jan. 5). While vinyl sales outpaced streaming, digital music services like Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and Apple Music account for almost 80% of recorded music spending in the U.K., with subscription revenues climbing to a record high of £1.3 billion ($1.8 billion), up 10.9% f...
UK advertising watchdog bans crypto ads for Coinbase and Kraken
The Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA, the United Kingdom’s independent advertising regulator, has taken down another batch of cryptocurrency-related ad campaigns promoting several major industry firms. On Dec. 15, the advertising watchdog issued several rulings on ad violations involving six crypto-related firms including Coinbase, Kraken, eToro, Exmo, crypto broker Coinburp and Luno crypto exchange. The ASA also issued a similar ruling for pizza chain Papa John’s. All seven ads or promotions were banned for “irresponsibly taking advantage of consumers inexperience and for failing to illustrate the risk of the investment,” the rulings said. The ASA argued that Coinbase’s European branch specifically put out a “misleading” promotion on its paid Facebook ad in July 2021, including a t...
U.K. Introduces Vaccine Passports for Clubs and Venues
LONDON – New restrictions for nightclubs and music venues in England have been introduced to tackle a sharp rise in cases of the coronavirus omicron variant. Members of Parliament backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s controversial ‘Plan B’ measures on Tuesday (Dec. 14), with 369 MPs voting in favor of making COVID-19 vaccine passports a legal requirement to enter clubs and some concert halls, versus 126 against. The rules come into force on Wednesday, meaning that people aged over 18 in England will need to show they’ve either had two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine or proof of a negative test taken in the past 48 hours to enter a number of music venues, including nightclubs and indoor unseated venues with more than 500 people. Proof of vaccine status via an NHS Covid Pass is also needed fo...
