Rwanda is contemplating launching a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) because it does not want to be left behind and to prevent any hindrances to trade between the African country and its major trading partners. According to a deputy governor with the National Bank of Rwanda, the country should be prepared for digital currencies being […]
Bitcoin News
Binance Welcomes Back Steve Christie as Deputy Chief Compliance Officer
Binance has welcomed back Steve Christie, its former Senior Vice President of Compliance, as Deputy Chief Compliance Officer.
Binance Bolsters Compliance Team, Welcoming Steve Christie Back to Leadership Role
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced the return of Steve Christie, its former Senior Vice President of Compliance, to the fold. Christie is stepping into the role of Deputy Chief Compliance Officer (DCCO), filling the gap left by Kristen Hecht, Binance’s previous Deputy Chief Compliance and Global Money Laundering Reporting Officer.
“I am impressed by what Binance has accomplished on the compliance front since I stepped away momentarily,” Christie remarked. “I always believed that no other crypto exchange dedicates as much effort in compliance as Binance… The team is even stronger today, and I am supported by a robust team with quality talent.”
Under the leadership of Noah Perlman, Binance’s Chief Compliance Officer, Christie will work to enhance the exchange’s global compliance program further. This involves close collaboration with regulators, industry bodies, and Binance’s business leaders to advance the company’s efforts and commitment to best practices in regulatory compliance.
Perlman expressed his enthusiasm for Christie’s return, highlighting his deep compliance expertise and familiarity with Binance’s operations. “When Steve first joined Binance in 2022, the compliance team underwent fast growth and made tremendous efforts and investments to strengthen and mature its compliance culture and program, which Steve helped lead. Compliance is always evolving and maturing, and he has helped Binance meet new changes and challenges, making compliance a business enabler and driver of sustainable industry growth,” Perlman said.
Binance ended its announcement by reiterating a commitment to “achieving the highest standards of regulatory compliance.”
Do you think this will help Binance in the eyes of regulators? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
US Treasury Deputy Secretary: Crypto Not Major Source of Funding for Terrorists
U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo says crypto is not the vast majority of the ways terrorist groups are funded, noting that these organizations “continued to use the traditional banking system.” His statements followed media reports claiming that Hamas raised a large sum of money in cryptocurrency.
Crypto Not Major Funding Source for Terrorist Groups
Wally Adeyemo, United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, addressed the role of cryptocurrency in financing terrorist organizations during an interview on Friday with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies.
Several news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, recently reported that Hamas raised millions of dollars in crypto. However, blockchain data analytics firm Elliptic clarified that these media reports misrepresented its data, and there is actually no evidence that Hamas has received large volumes of crypto funds.
Adeyemo said during Friday’s interview:
Today I would say that … the use of crypto is not the vast majority of the ways that these groups are funded.
“I think the way to think about this is that they [crypto] are evolving like everyone else is evolving. When you think about when modern sanctions started to be used in 2001, many of these terrorist groups were using, at that point, the traditional banking system,” he explained, emphasizing:
They continued to use the traditional banking system. That’s why we continue to work with financial institutions.
“But as the modern internet came into play, many of these groups started to fundraise using things like Venmo, Paypal, and these products,” Adeyemo noted. “And we worked closely with those companies to prevent them from being abused by these actors as well.”
The deputy secretary of the Treasury emphasized: “Now that evolution continues and the next source of that is cryptocurrency … We need this industry to work with us to make sure that we are preventing cryptocurrency from being used and abused by Hamas and these groups going forward.” Adeyemo explained:
The thing that we know about terrorist groups, and those who work to move money illicitly, is they’re going to use any new technology to try to do that.
He stressed that the government is taking action now to prevent crypto from becoming the way terrorist groups are funded, noting that the Treasury Department has been going after crypto mixers.
What do you think about U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo stating that crypto is not the vast majority of the ways that terrorist groups are funded? Let us know in the comments section below.
‘Evil Crypto’ Can Be Used in Foreign Trade, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Says
Cryptocurrency may be bad for investors but it can be useful in international settlements, according to a top government official in Moscow. Russian authorities intend to set up a special committee that would issue permits to operators employing crypto in foreign trade transactions, he indicated.
Russia Plans to ‘Experiment’ With Cross-Border Crypto Payments Amid Sanctions
Crypto assets can be used in certain scenarios, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev commented during an economic forum in Moscow. Speaking at the “Banks. Transformation. Economy. 2.0” conference, he was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying:
Of course, crypto is generally evil. I believe that people who invest their savings there take a very big risk … But there may be individual situations in which crypto can be used.
Moiseev made it clear he was referring to Russian foreign trade activities, which are currently restricted by Western sanctions. He also reminded that a draft law designed to regulate this matter is still under consideration in the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament.
“We’ll experiment … If the bill is adopted, a certain committee will be formed, including representatives of a number of ministries, the Bank of Russia and law enforcement agencies, which will give permission to individual operators to use cryptocurrency in foreign trade transactions,” the high-ranking representative of the executive power elaborated.
Alexey Moiseev suggested that the legislative process necessary to provide the legal basis for the trials will likely be delayed until the end of the year. Government officials and lawmakers have been debating various aspects of Russia’s regulatory approach toward cryptocurrencies for quite some time.
Differences between the Russian Ministry of Finance, with its more liberal views on the issue, and the Central Bank of Russia, which maintains a rather conservative stance on crypto regulations, impeded progress for months.
Since sanctions pressure on Russia increased following its invasion of Ukraine, however, they agreed “it is impossible to do without cross-border settlements in cryptocurrency,” as Moiseev revealed in September, last year.
At the same time, most state institutions are now against legalizing transactions with decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin in Russia, except for the purpose of facilitating international payments under special legal regimes that are yet to be established.
Do you think Russia will try to bypass financial restrictions by using cryptocurrencies in cross-border payments? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.
BOJ Deputy Governor: Bank Must be Prepared to Issue CBDC if Public Demand Rises
The post BOJ Deputy Governor: Bank Must be Prepared to Issue CBDC if Public Demand Rises appeared first on DCEBrief.
BoE Deputy Governor to Co-Chair Central Bank Digital Currency Working Group
The post BoE Deputy Governor to Co-Chair Central Bank Digital Currency Working Group appeared first on DCEBrief.
US Deputy Treasury Secretary Crypto Raises Questions on Self-Government
n Digital currencies can shift some functions usually performed by the government to the private sector, the U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary arguedn
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CBDCs Hold No Interest Without Full Anonymity Banxico Deputy Governor
n Central bank digital currencies will not hold the publics interest unless they provide full anonymity, according to the deputy governor of Mexico’s central bankn
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Bitcoin Trading is Illegal in Iran, Says Central Bank Deputy Governor
Holding, selling, and purchasing of bitcoin are illegal in Iran, an official with the central bank told Tasnim News.
Deputy governor for new technologies, Mr. Nasser Hakimi, said on Monday that the Supreme Council on Countering Money Laundering had banned bitcoin trading. He warned Iranian cryptocurrency users of legal risks of investing in non-sovereign assets, which could land them in prison for up to 2-5 years plus fines under the suspicion of money laundering.
“I also caution people against the advertisements and marketers of pyramid style network companies that promote Bitcoin like a tree with gold coins in the Adventures of Pinocchio,” Mr. Hakimi added.
Impressing FATF
The deputy governor’s statements appeared months after an intergovernmental task force warned Iran to complete its financial reforms in line with global norms by June this year. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in February 2019 threatened the Islamic Republic with “consequences” if it fails to comply, which include extending a boycott the country is already facing from the international banking system.
Meanwhile, Iran’s cold take on bitcoin, a decentralized cryptocurrency notorious for facilitating money laundering crimes, started appearing like a prudent move. The Central Bank of Iran proposed to ban the use of global cryptocurrencies and various tokens as methods of payments only ahead of February 2019, the month in which the FATF was going to decide whether or not to untick Iran from its blacklist.
3 years after committing to a #FATF action plan, Iran’s regime has failed to stop its systemic money laundering & terrorist financing. Yesterday, @FATFNews imposed one countermeasure & called for additional countermeasures.Iran’s malign activities are a threat to global security.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) June 22, 2019
Earlier before, Iran established a cash declaration regime in November 2017, enacted reforms to its Counter-Terrorist Financing Act in August 2018, and ratified amendments to its Anti-Money Laundering Act in January 2019. The FATF recognized the legislative efforts made by the Iranian government but decided to wait on removing the country’s name off its blacklist.
“Once the remaining legislation comes fully into force, the FATF will review this alongside the enacted legislation to determine whether the measures contained therein address Iran’s Action Plan, in line with the FATF standards,” the global watchdog wrote in its June 2019 press release.
Bitcoin Caught in Political Storm
Iran’s economy has been limped by US sanctions that completely prohibits foreign companies from doing business in the country. But transactions in bitcoin, which are pseudonymous by nature, has helped people moving money abroad, as well as receive payments without going through a traditional route of banking.
The US Treasury realized its sanctions getting undermined by a decentralized payment protocol in November 2018. The federal body indicted two men in an Iran-based internet fraud operation involving bitcoin. The case prompted the Treasury to warn cryptocurrency services to stop offering services to Iranians. LocalBitcoins, a popular p2p bitcoin marketplace, were among the leading services to comply by the US order.
Meanwhile, Iran is spending more time in resolving its political and economic disputes than in looking for ways to circumvent them using bitcoin. Just last week, the Iranian police seized dozens of “illegal” bitcoin mining farms in an act to further prove the government’s anti-cryptocurrency stance.
“The production of each Bitcoin uses the equivalent of the annual consumption of 24 properties in Tehran or one property’s consumption of electricity for 24 years,” said Mostafa Rajabi Mashhad, spokesman for the Tadvin Electricity Company.
Iran is now planning to introduce special rates for bitcoin miners.
Featured image: Unsplash
The post Bitcoin Trading is Illegal in Iran, Says Central Bank Deputy Governor appeared first on NewsBTC.
Russia Wont Ban Facebooks Libra Currency, Deputy Finance Minister Says
The Russian Ministry of Finance will not issue special regulations for Facebook’s upcoming cryptocurrency, an official said.
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