For the most part, we can all agree that a level of regulation plays an important role in consumer protection. Just as we expect stock exchanges and banks to be regulated, so, too, should virtual currency exchanges and centralized companies that store large balances on behalf of consumers, be regulated. This should help prevent situations […]

NOVEMEBER 2014, Trendon Shavers, aka “Pirate@40,” was arrested on securities fraud and wire fraud charges stemming from his involvement in a Bitcoin-related Ponzi scheme*. Shavers was the founder and operator of Bitcoin Savings and Trust (BCS&T), which offered and sold Bitcoin-based investments through the Internet. In total, Shavers raised at least 764,000 Bitcoin in BCS&T […]

Mike Gropp is the co-founder of the BitBays Bitcoin exchange and is in charge of the company’s compliance to the ever-changing landscape of cryptocurrency law.  After working in the financial sector in California, Mike moved to Beijing in 2010 where he launched his own corporate training company focusing on sales, professional speaking, and negotiations.  While […]

Canada is engaged in an important effort to reform its payment system. In recent years, there have been important legislative measures to enhance the payment system including the adoption of the Payment, Clearing and Settlement Act, and the Payment Card Network  Act. There was the appointment of an expert task force (the “Task Force”) that […]

More than $83,000 (£50,000) in virtual cash has been stolen by a thief who managed to hijack net traffic from 19 separate ISPs, say security experts. The hijacked data was involved in the “mining pools” that generate virtual cash and keep track of who spent what. The thief directed the results of the mining and […]

Jersey has become the first jurisdiction in the world to successfully establish a regulator-approved Bitcoin investment fund, and has set out rules on the taxation of cryptocurrencies. The open-ended fund is due to launch on August 1, 2014. Jersey’s Comptroller of Taxes has stated that Jersey’s income tax provisions on foreign exchange activities will apply […]

Bitcoin-friendly businesses that were eyeing European locations as regulation-free environments for virtual currencies may need to reconsider as AML – CTF and related KYC (CDD) concerns are at the fore there as well as in the U.S. On Friday, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published an opinion recommending both that banks avoid most bitcoin-friendly customers […]

At the beginning of June, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced the formation of Project Innovate, an initiative aimed at getting to grips with disruptions in payment from new technologies. The FCA hopes to develop the rules around disruptive payment technologies, so that financial institutions who are disrupting, and those that are being disrupted, […]