CryptoLaw Newsletter #48
Fidelity adds bitcoin option to pension scheme; EU Parliament crypto AML rules get pushback; Dubai attracts crypto fund; CAR makes bitcoin recognized currency; Coinbase changes listing rules.
Hello everyone,
Delivered with a slight delay after an unusual week, here’s CryptoLaw’s week in review:
TLDR:
Fidelity adds bitcoin option to pension scheme.
EU Parliament’s strict crypto AML rules get pushback from fellow EU officials.
Dubai attracts Three Arrows Capital from Singapore.
Central African Republic accepts bitcoin as legally recognized currency.
Coinbase changes listing rules after frontrunning allegations.
Top-5 this week:
Bitcoin for retirement savings? Fidelity will include bitcoin in 401(k) pension plans, allowing customers to allocate up to 20% of their retirement savings in bitcoin. The US Department of Labout was not amused and voiced “grave concerns” over Fidelity’s plans, especially due to bitcoin’s price volatility. As DeFi meets CeFi, authorities get concerned.
Crypto anti-money laundering proposals from the EU Parliament received a lukewarm reception from the EU Commission, the Council and even the European Banking Authority’s AML expert. In the Transfer of Funds Regulation, the European Parliament had proposed AML rules that are stricter for crypto than for regular banking transactions. For example, the draft wants transactions of a certain size originating from an unhosted wallet automatically to be reported to authorities. This is “very resource intensive” and may not be practical, according to an AML data specialist from the European Banking Authority. The Parliament’s current proposals also don’t reflect the principle of a risk-based approach, she added.
Dubai continues to attract crypto companies: crypto fund Three Arrows Capital is the latest company that moved its headquarters there from Singapore, which started to tighten the screws for crypto firms. Countries such as Switzerland and Singapore are losing some of their lustre as crypto hubs, while alternative jurisdictions such as the Bahamas and Dubai are in vogue.
The Central African Republic (CAR) became the second country in the world to make bitcoin a legally recognized currency. The Bank of Central African States, of which CAR is one of six member nations, did not receive prior warning.
Coinbase is changing its token listing process after frontrunning allegations. The company will no longer publish a shortlist of tokens it is considering to list. Instead, it will first take a decision on new tokens to list, before making the names of the tokens public.
And also…
The Swiss National Bank opposes holding bitcoin as a reserve currency. Buying bitcoin is not a problem, however, the central bank chairman said.
KYC’d Ethereum wallets required purchase land on Yuga Labs‘ Otherside metaverse were offered for sale on Twitter.
Crypto companies are poaching UK cybercrime officers with appealing salaries.
Belgian crypto firms will have to register as of Sunday, 1 May, under money laundering rules.
Gibraltar plans new rules requiring crypto firms to prevent insider trading- and market manipulation-type behaviour.
US Rep. Emmer said his “Blockchain Eight” group hadn’t received a response from US SEC Chair Gary Gensler to a letter sent in March requesting information on the SEC’s cryto information seeking process.
US lawmakers re-introduced the Digital Commodity Exchange Act, which wants the CFTC to oversee crypto spot markets.
Two US-focused crypto industry goups, the DeFi Education Fund and the Blockchain Association, sent a letter to the OECD on its proposed "Crypto Asset Reporting Framework." The groups argue that developers should not be considered “intermediaries in scope”.
The Blockchain Association also attempted to make clear to US lawmakers that crypto isn’t being used by Russian oligarchs for US sanctions evasion.
The Mayer of New York wants the state to abandon its BitLicense regime.
The New York State Assembly passed a rule proposing a 2-year moratorium on PoW mining using carbon-based energy.
Germany will not extend the holding period from 1 year to 10 years for the tax-free selling of crypto gains after staking or lending.
Crypto exchange Binance closes accounts linked to Russian government officials. The exchange had warned in a blog post that EU sanctions required it to impose tougher KYC rules on Russian nationals.
Cuba will require crypto firms to be licensed as VASPs as of May.
Panama’s parliament passed a law regulating crypto, including trading, issuance, tokenization and crypto payments. Digital assets will be exempt from capital gains tax. The law also formally recognizes DAOs.
El Salvador’s bitcoin bond sale appears to have stalled.
South Korea arrested a crypto exchange CEO for passing on military information to the North in return for crypto payments.
The European Central Bank published a call seeking parties interesting in building technical front-end prototypes for the digital euro.
Thanks for reading!