Estonian Licensed Cryptocurrency Exchanges
When Estonia introduced a license specifically for cryptocurrency exchanges in November 2017 it was groundbreaking, and Estonian cryptocurrency licenses, issued by the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit or FIU for short, continue to be sought after, since the government is extremely supportive of the cryptocurrency industry in general, allowing many companies within the industry to really […]
Regulation of Cryptocurrencies in Asia and Oceania
The continents of Asia and Oceania, home to some of the leading and emerging economies of the world, have seen dramatic developments in the cryptocurrency arena. China – The most recent development came out of China, China being a key player in the cryptocurrencies eco system as most of the mining capabilities of the industry […]
Regulation of cryptocurrencies in Africa
The African continent have kept relatively quiet on the topic of cryptocurrencies, except for one unique initiative, involving several African countries which came up with a joint initiative to offer cryptocurrencies. Cote d’ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Togo and Guinea have joined in a rather unique project involving a partnership between a local bank […]
Offshore regulation of Crypto currencies
The crypto currency phenomena, and some initial initiatives as to regulating it, can be found also in offshore jurisdictions. Much alike major jurisdictions, there are various models or approaches. While some jurisdictions settled for the issuance of notices and circulars to their licensees and to the public, stating that bitcoin is not a currency while […]
Payment processing and clearing
Payment processors or payment service provides (PSP’s) can enable many types of businesses, from e-commerce companies to gaming sites and financial brokers, just to name a few, to receive payments in various forms from their users and clients in a more convenient way. Setting up a vast range of payment methods for your online based […]
European and EU regulation of Crypto Currencies (Digital Currencies)
European countries, and EU member countries within Europe, differ in their regulatory approach to crypto currencies. Therefore, in order to understand the current state of affairs with regards to regulating crypto currencies, it is necessary to enter into a state by state analysis. Prior to that, we shall examine the current status at the EU […]
Digital Currency Exchange (DCE) with AUSTRAC
Australia is one of the most attractive options for regulated cryptocurrency businesses, as the country allows businesses to register as a Digital Currency Exchange (DCE) with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), the regulator for cryptocurrency businesses in the country. Obtaining the DCE license is compulsory to all those offering cryptocurrency exchange activities […]
Blockchain vs GDPR: a potential but reconcilable collision
One of the benefits in blockchain is that it allows to publicly share records which are stored in different computers. Basically it is like an electronic registrar enhancing transparency. This however contradicts some basic concepts of data privacy protection especially in light of the GDPR whose goal is exactly the opposite – to restrict and […]
Australia’s New Cryptocurrency Exchange Regulations
AUSTRAC (the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center) has recently come out with a number of new regulations imposing unified AML and KYC obligations on cryptocurrency exchanges (“Digital Currency Exchanges” or DCE in local jargon). This regime’s purpose is to ensure solidarity and quality of the DCE’s AML practices in order to prevent money laundering […]
The General Data Protection Regulations – an upcoming revolution of data protection rules
What is it? The General Data Protection Regulation, aka GDPR, is a new regulation enacted by the EU on April 2016 and which is going to be in force within 4 months (May 2018). It is considered to be one of the most revolutionary law revisions. This is because it is going to influence the […]