Around two out of three professional investors will increase investment or invest for the first time over the next six months and 84% rate the sector as attractive over five years. The key reason driving increased investment over the next six months are expectations of improved regulation in the sector.
New rules governing advertisements for virtual currencies (also known as cryptocurrencies) will enter into force in less than 2 months. The rules are intended, among other things, to ensure that the risks associated with virtual currencies are sufficiently prominent in such advertisements. The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) will supervise compliance with those rules. In addition, the FSMA will be investing even more in financial education about virtual currencies, including via an educational video that it is launching today on the occasion of the start of the 8th edition of Money Week.
Circle, a global digital financial technology firm and the issuer of USDC and EUROC, has today announced it has filed applications in France to become both a licensed Electronic Money Institution (demande d’agrément en qualité d’établissement de monnaie électronique) and a registered Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) (demande d’enregistrement en qualité de prestataire de services sur actifs numériques) under the rigorous requirements set out by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) and Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). Circle’s intent to pursue full approval from the AMF could make it the first company to receive full authorisation under the DASP regulatory regime.
The Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA) has been delayed a second time from February to April due to technical issues related to translating the rules into all 24 official languages of the EU.
A short summary published via linkedin by Elizaveta Palaznik, Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) consultant and regulation expert who says that, at this point we all know NFTs and DeFi are not under the scope of MiCA. BUT not only. The subject will be discussed at Banking 4.0 international conference on May 30.
German and US authorities, supported by Europol, have targeted ChipMixer, a cryptocurrency mixer well-known in the cybercriminal underworld. The investigation was also supported by Belgium, Poland and Switzerland.
This bilateral engagement of testing cross-border use case of CBDCs is expected to reduce costs, increase efficiency of cross border transactions and further the economic ties between India and UAE.
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to enhance cooperation and jointly enable innovation in financial products and services.
Worldline, a global leader in payment services, has launched a strategic initiative with Solana, a high-performance blockchain platform designed for decentralised application and Web3 use cases such as gaming.
Crypto exchange Binance is halting sterling deposits and withdrawals after Paysafe, its partner for the service, cut it off. In an email to customers, Binance says it will suspend sterling deposits and withdrawals via card and Faster Payments from 22 May, according to Finextra.
The new study from Juniper Research, foremost experts analysing the fintech & payments market today, found that the value of payments via CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) will reach $213 billion annually by 2030; up from just $100 million in 2023. This radical growth of over 260,000% reflects the early stage of the sector; currently limited to pilot projects.
