Author: Reuters
Russia should regulate the crypto market, not ban it, Finance Ministry official Ivan Chebeskov said on Tuesday, appearing to contradict the central bank, which last week proposed banning the use and mining of cryptocurrencies. Chebeskov, director of the finance ministry’s financial policy department, said the ministry had its own ideas about how to regulate the crypto market, while a lawmaker went one step further, reminding the central bank that the power to create legislation lies with parliament. Russia has argued for years against cryptocurrencies, saying they could be used in money laundering or to finance terrorism. The central bank last…
Gamification has introduced a new generation of retail investors to financial markets who may not be aware there are few protections in assets like cryptocurrencies, the European Union’s securities watchdog said on Tuesday. Gamification refers to using smartphones to trade, a trend which took off on Wall Street during the coronavirus pandemic with apps like Robinhood, and has spilled over into European markets. “We want investors to engage more in financial markets and not just keep their money under the mattress,” Verena Ross, chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority, told a Forum Europe financial services conference. But gamification also…
Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) on Tuesday warned that financial firms are not allowed to offer and facilitate sales of crypto assets amid a boom in crypto trading in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. “OJK has strictly prohibited financial service institutions from using, marketing, and/or facilitating crypto asset trading,” the regulator said in a statement posted on Instagram. It warned that the value of crypto assets often fluctuates and that people buying into the digital assets should fully understand the risks. “Please beware of allegations of Ponzi scheme scams in crypto investments,” it added, without elaborating. The warning follows similar concerns…
Bitcoin is growing up. The original cryptocurrency turns 13 this year and is showing signs of becoming a more mature financial asset – but watch out for the teenage tantrums. This drift towards the mainstream, driven by the big bets of institutional investors, has seen bitcoin become sensitive to interest rates and fuelled a sell-off in the coin this month as investors braced for a hawkish Federal Reserve policy meeting. The cryptocurrency, born in 2009, was still on the fringes of finance during the Fed’s previous tightening cycle, from 2016 to 2019, and was barely correlated with the stock market.…
Depending upon who you talk to, cryptocurrency is all the rage, a Ponzi scheme or yet another energy-consuming scourge on the environment. (See tweets by Elon Musk from mid-May 2021, citing the environmental impact of bitcoin transactions for Tesla’s decision to suspend bitcoin for purchasing vehicles.) Perhaps it is all three, but given the potential promise of its underlying technology, it is not going anywhere soon and will remain an emerging and even volatile commodity. The question is whether it will become something more. Whether it ever becomes a true currency is open for debate. Traditional fiat currency finds its…
Bitcoin tumbled over 7% on Monday to its lowest in six months, as fears of a Russian attack on Ukraine saw riskier assets worldwide extend their selloff. The largest cryptocurrency trading down 7.4% at $33,650, its lowest since July 24, taking losses from its all-time high of $69,000 hit in November past 50%. The U.S. State Department said on Sunday it was ordering diplomats’ family members to leave Ukraine in one of the clearest signs yet that American officials are bracing for an aggressive Russian move in the region. Fears of conflict pummelled shares across the world while bolstering the…
Two men suspected by Germany of assisting an Islamist gunman, who killed four people in Vienna in 2020, used the major cryptocurrency exchange Binance, German federal police said in a confidential letter seeking information from the company. Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said in the March 2021 letter, which was seen by Reuters, there were indications that the suspects bought or sold an unspecified amount of cryptocurrency on Binance. Prosecutors have identified the men as Drilon G., a German national, and Blinor S. of Kosovo. Reuters is also withholding their full names. Blinor S. used a bank account to…
Brazilian financial services provider Dock said on Friday it will start using cryptocurrencies to process international remittances as it expands to Latin America and Europe. Brazilian reais will be converted into bitcoin then into another currency, such as the dollar, and will reach end users through Dock customers such as Vivo and Natura&CO. “It will be both a quick and cheap way of making remittances,” Frederico Amaral, head of products and technology at Dock, told Reuters in an interview. International transfers have been an increasingly coveted niche for fintechs such as Remessa Online and Wise that can sell services more…
Nigeria will prioritize tax collection from its digital economy in 2022 and focus on non-resident firms with significant economic presence that generate turnover in the West African country, the country’s tax chief said on Thursday. Nigeria plans to tax digital non-resident companies that sell products to local customers at 6% of turnover, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said this month, as part of fiscal reforms to boost revenues and diversify the oil-dependent economy. At around 4.5% of GDP, Nigeria has one of the lowest tax rates in the world, and has struggled to increase tax collection from its non-oil sector. The…
Robinhood Markets Inc is rolling out crypto wallets to a 1,000 users, allowing them to send and receive cryptocurrencies through their brokerage accounts, the company said in a blog post on Thursday. The Menlo Park-based online brokerage had laid out plans to begin testing cryptocurrency wallets last year, with the aim of a broader rollout in 2022. Out of nearly 1.6 million people on a waitlist for the crypto wallet, the top 1,000 selected can now exchange their crypto from Robinhood with external crypto wallets. The new feature also connects holders of the digital asset to the blockchain ecosystem. Beta…