Cryptocurrencies are being controlled around the world

It’s been a rough few weeks for cryptocurrencies on the regulatory front. The EU wants information on all transactions. The UK is pressuring companies to register, while being stingy with licences. And the SEC is expanding the meaning of “securities dealer” as it attempts to establish stricter accounting standards for cryptocurrency exchanges. The bottom line: Crypto is growing fast, but so is the push for more accountability.

The EU says no more anonymous transactions. the European Union shook up the cryptocurrency world with a new requirement that all cryptocurrency transactions include information about the parties involved.

• Basically, it prohibits anonymous crypto transactions and means more transparency for transactions involving non-hosted wallets.
• The EU said the new rules are aimed at curbing financial crime. “Illicit flows of crypto assets move largely undetected in Europe and the world, making them an ideal instrument to ensure anonymity.” Ernest Urtasun, co-rapporteur of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the EU, in a statement.
• Crypto leaders were quick to denounce the new rules, which have yet to make any further progress in the complex EU political machine, as counterproductive. “This regulation hurts crypto innovation without a commensurate anti-money laundering benefit,” Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder and chairman of Gemini, said in a statement emailed to Protocol.
• Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase criticized the proposal as “anti-innovation, anti-privacy and anti-law enforcement”. Coinbase Policy Director Faryar Shirzad he warned that it could mean recording and reporting transactions through self-hosted wallets “even if there is no reason to suspect wrongdoing.”

The rules are getting stricter everywhere you look. EU news broke as cryptocurrencies reeled from new guidelines in the US and UK

• the The SEC published a new guideline recommend that crypto exchanges record customers’ digital assets on their balance sheets as assets and liabilities. Crypto businesses must also disclose the “nature and amount of crypto assets” they hold for customers.
• SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who has criticized the regulator’s stance on the crypto market, said the decision underscored its “scattered and inefficient approach to cryptocurrencies.”
• Cryptocurrencies are also under pressure in the UK. The Financial Conduct Authority has ordered companies offering cryptocurrency products and services to register with the British regulator. Some companies, like Revolut, got a break when the FCA extended the deadline. But the FCA has seen “too many red flags of financial crime that have gone undetected by crypto-asset companies seeking to register,” a spokesperson said. Bloomberg. Few licenses have been granted.

The wave of new government rules is clearly disrupting cryptocurrencies. Is it really about responsibility? Cathy Yoon, legal director of Fraction, I’m not sure. “I think it’s more like trying to control something that is not understood and feared for an irrational reason,” he told Protocol. Fear is the killer of the mind, but cryptocurrencies fear that it could also be a killer of the market.

— Benjamin Pimentel (E-mail | twitter)

A version of this story first appeared on Protocol.com. Read it here.

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in the money

Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Discord channel was hacked. the BAYC courier service was breached by hackers who tried to trick users into minting fake NFTs. The Discords of two other NFT projects, Nyoki and Shamanz, were also hacked.

Russia has a SWIFT alternative for India. Russia is offering a alternative payment system that would allow India to buy oil and weapons from the country, which is recovering from Ukraine war-related sanctions. The plan would involve rupees-ruble denominated payments using a Russian messaging system.

The Bank of Italy banned N26. The Italian central bank told the digital bank that it was unable to recruit new customers after an on-site inspection revealed that N26 had inadequate anti-money laundering controls.

Prime Blockchain is going public. The bitcoin mining and infrastructure company, also known as PrimeBlock, plans go public through a SPAC merger with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp II. The merger, which is expected to close in the second half of the year, would value the company at $1.25 billion, including debt.

Indonesia plans to impose a crypto value added tax. The Southeast Asian nation will charge tax on crypto asset transactions and an income tax on capital gains from such investments beginning May 1.

I Hate Receipts launched a network of merchants. The contactless receipt app company said it formed the Merchant Alliance Network to give retailers and technology partners a better way to engage with their customers.

overheard

Last Thursday was the deadline for crypto businesses to register with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. That might cause some companies to screw, according to christian faeCEO and co-founder of LendInvest. “The reality is that people are withdrawing their applications to do business here,” Faes said. “And they just go somewhere else, it’s a global market.”

Senator Cynthia Lummis saying chuck todd in Peacock’s “Meet The Press Reports” that the US should have a digital currency, but it should not replace cryptocurrencies: “Absolutely we should. But there is still an important role for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in that they are not created by any government. They are completely decentralized. No government or group of people controls them. They are very transparent because they are on the blockchain.”

citi says metaverse is coming, and could be worth $13 trillion, but computing power needs catch upthe authors of their new report wrote: “We believe that the metaverse is the next generation of the Internet, combining the physical and digital worlds in a persistent and immersive way, and not a purely virtual reality world.”