Blockchain.com scores payment license from Singapore central bank

August 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Singapore Red Cross starts accepting crypto donations

August 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Humanitarian aid and community services charity, Red Cross Singapore, included cryptocurrency as a newly-accepted form of donation.

Humanitarian aid and community services charity, Singapore Red Cross, included cryptocurrency as a newly-accepted form of donation. The organization will accept Bitcoin, Ether, Tether and USD Coin donations.

On August 7, Singapore Red Cross announced its partnership with the first crypto payment gateway licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Triple-A, to enable the option of anonymous donations in crypto. All donations will be converted into fiat currency and settled via bank transfer within one business day.

Benjamin William, Secretary General and CEO of the Singapore Red Cross shared his enthusiasm toward the new segment of tech-savvy donors:

“By accepting digital currencies, we open our doors to a new segment of donors who are tech-savvy and wish to make a difference through their digital assets.”

"Enabling cryptocurrency donations also opens more opportunities for the new generation of donors who are au fait with digital currencies to consider philanthropy and helping the vulnerable," William further explained.

The crypto payment option is already available on the Singapore Red Cross website. Along with four popular digital currencies the payment gateway offers a separate solution for donating from Binance digital wallet.

In July, the High Court of Singapore declared crypto a private property, which doesn’t differ in principle from fiat money and could be classified in the category of “things in action.” In British common law, that means a type of property over which personal rights could be claimed or enforced by legal action, not by taking physical possession.

Magazine: Deposit risk. What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?

OPNX exchange bids for crypto lender Hodlnaut in Singapore: Report

August 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bankruptcy

If approved, the deal would see a capital injection of nearly $30 million worth of FLEX tokens into Hodlnaut to partially cover creditors' payout and outstanding claims.

Crypto lender Hodlnaut appears to have found a white knight investor to exit its bankruptcy proceedings. According to a Bloomberg report, OPNX exchange has made an offer to take over 75% of the company.

The deal would see a capital injection of nearly $30 million worth of FLEX tokens into Hodlnaut to partially cover creditors' payout and outstanding claims. According to CoinMarketCap, FLEX is trading at $7.16 as of this writing,. Hodlnaut's restructuring is being overseen by a Singapore court.

If approved by the creditors, OPNX would own 75% of Hodlnaut after the infusion of capital. Creditors would receive 30% of their claims in FLEX and other tokens, or a pro-rata payment of up to 95% of the available corporate asset pool, whichever is higher, according to documents seen by Bloomblerg.

*FLEX token performance. Source: CoinMarketCap.*

FLEX is the native token of the CoinFLEX exchange, which was founded by Mark Lamb and Sudhu Arumugam, who were also co-founders of OPNX, a new marketplace for crypto claims trading. The platform is also powered by the FLEX token. Other co-founders of OPNX included Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, also founders of bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC). Zhu and Davies are being chased by creditors in the United States over their dragging bankruptcy proceedings

It's unclear if the creditors will accept the deal. In April, the majority of Hodlnaut's creditors expressed their desire to liquidate the company. According to a letter from the interim judicial manager (IJM), users representing approximately 55.38% of creditors, with claims of 228.3 million Singapore dollars (about $170 million), have indicated they would favor liquidation over restructuring. At the time, no source of fresh capital had been found, the letter noted.

"We see a lot of potential in the Hodlnaut platform and look forward to working closer with them," Lam told Bloomberg in an email.

Hodlnaut halted withdrawals in August 2022 as a result of a liquidity crisis. Since then, it has been under judicial management, under Singaporean law, which temporarily shielded it from legal action. “We are aiming to avoid a forced liquidation of our assets as it […] will require us to sell our users’ cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH and WBTC at these current depressed asset prices,” the company said at the time.

Magazine: Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?

3AC co-founder rejects jurisdiction of bankruptcy court, claiming he renounced US citizenship

August 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bankruptcy

As Singapore does not allow dual nationality, 3AC co-founder Kyle Davies said he chose to renounce his U.S. citizenship after getting married and receiving permanent residency.

Kyle Davies, the co-founder of bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), has submitted documentation to court claiming he is fully a citizen of Singapore and not the United States.

In an Aug. 1 filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Davies provided notarized and Apostilled copies of the form applying for the renunciation of his U.S. citizenship on Dec. 15, 2020. He claimed to have received citizenship to Singapore following the issuance of a passport in January 2021 and was not “subjecting [him]self to, or accepting the jurisdiction of, the Courts in the United States.”

Court filings showed Davies renounced his citizenship at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, citing his decision to live in the country long-term. He said he got married in 2017 to a Singaporean national, gained permanent residency, and has two children in the country. As Singapore does not allow dual nationality, he chose to renounce his U.S. citizenship.

*Notarized and Apostilled documentation of Kyle Davies renouncing his U.S. citizenship in December 2020. Source: U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York*

The filing from Davies followed a subpoena issued at the request of 3AC liquidators aimed at gaining information on the collapse of the crypto hedge fund. Both Davies and 3AC co-founder Su Zhu were subpoenaed on Twitter — now X — in January due to their physical whereabouts being unknown, but parties have argued Davies should be held in contempt of court after he ignored the order. Zhu, a Singaporean national, would likely not be subject to the subpoena if residing outside the United States.

“Davies has not been, and cannot be, validly served with process as a non-party in this case because he has not been a United States citizen or resident since well before this case was commenced,” said an Aug. 1 filing. “Since Davies has not been validly served, the Court does not have personal jurisdiction over him. The Service Order and Compel Order were premised on the incorrect presumption that Davies is a U.S. citizen, and therefore they should be vacated.”

The whereabouts of both Zhu and Davies following the bankruptcy filing for 3AC in July 2022 has been the subject of mass speculation and debate among crypto users affected by the market crash. Lawyers have appeared before the bankruptcy court on Davies’ behalf, but the revelation of his lack of U.S. citizenship could complicate legal proceedings. The bankruptcy court will hold a hearing on Aug. 8 to discuss the matter.

Liquidators behind 3AC are seeking to recover roughly $1.3 billion in funds from Zhu and Davies, with the firm reportedly owing creditors $3.5 billion. Amid online ire surrounding the events leading to the collapse of 3AC, Zhu and Davies launched a platform for trading claims against bankrupt crypto firms called Open Exchange. Sotheby’s has also auctioned off several pieces from a nonfungible token collection formerly owned by the 3AC founders.

Magazine: 3AC cooks up a storm, Bitcoin miner surges 360%, Bruce Lee NFTs dive: Asia Express

Singapore High Court rules crypto personal property, compares it to fiat money

July 26, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Judge didn’t see any difference between crypto, fiat money or shells, as long as all those objects, physical or not, share value, created by mutual faith in it.

Cryptocurrency is deemed property capable of being held on trust, Judge Philip Jeyaretnam of the High Court of Singapore decided in a ruling on July 25. The Judge said he didn’t see any difference between crypto, fiat money or shells, as long as all those objects, physical or not, share value, created by mutual faith in it.

Judge Jeyaretnam handed down his ruling in a case brought by ByBit against its former employee, Ho Kai Xin. ByBit claimed the staff-member transferred around 4.2 million of USDT from the crypto exchange to her private accounts. The court has now ordered Ho, who’s been accusing a non-present cousin of controlling the relevant accounts, to return all the money back to ByBit.

While the decision may seem obvious, it contains some formulations, important for the juridical status of digital assets. Judge Jeyaretnam calls the stolen USDT, as well as cryptocurrencies in general, a property. Even though they don’t have any physical presence, the Judge believes that:

“We identify what is going on as a particular digital token, somewhat like how we give a name to a river even though the water contained within its banks is constantly changing.”

He rebukes the common suspicion of crypto not having any “real” value, reminding that value is “a judgment made by an aggregate of human minds”. Jeyaretnam also classifies crypto in the category of “things in action”. In British common law, that means a type of property, personal rights over which could be claimed or enforced by legal action, and not by taking physical possession.

In his decision, the Judge cited the consultation paper by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that will implement segregation and custody requirements for digital payment tokens. If it is possible in practice to identify and segregate such digital assets, it should be legally possible to hold them on trust, the Judge notes.

The decision mentions Order 22 of Singapore’s Rules of Court 2021, which defines “movable property” to include “cash, debt, deposits of money, bonds, shares or other securities, membership in clubs or societies, and cryptocurrency or other digital currency.”

In May 2022, the High Court of Justice in London ruled that nonfungible tokens (NFT) represent “private property.” The experts called the decision a “great precedent” for people investing in NFTs, who might hope that the British courts would protect their property rights.

Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.

Magazine: Experts want to give AI human ‘souls’ so they don’t kill us all

After $275,000,000 Crypto Investment Goes to Zero, Sovereign Wealth Fund Says It’s Avoiding Industry for Now: Report

July 13, 2023 The Daily Hodl

From Thailand to South Africa, regulators tighten their grip on crypto: Law Decoded, July 3–10

July 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Australia

South Africa’s financial regulator has announced that all crypto exchanges in the country must obtain licenses by the end of 2023.

Last week saw more rules and regulations emerge regarding digital assets. Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission issued new rules requiring digital asset service providers to warn customers of risks associated with cryptocurrency trading. The warning message must be clearly visible, and before customers can use the service, the business operator must arrange for the users to give consent and acknowledge the risks. Apart from a trading risks disclaimer, the new guidelines prohibit service providers from using customers’ funds for lending or investment.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced new requirements for crypto service providers to hold customer assets in a statutory trust by the end of 2023.“This will mitigate the risk of loss or misuse of customers’ assets, and facilitate the recovery of customers’ assets in the event of a DPT [digital payment token] service provider’s insolvency,” the authority says.

South Africa’s financial regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, has announced that all crypto exchanges in the country must obtain licenses by the end of 2023. If crypto exchanges continue to operate without a license after the deadline, the regulator intends to take “enforcement action,” which may involve fines or the closure of noncompliant firms.

In Belarus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working on legal amendments prohibiting peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). The ministry argued that crypto P2P services are “in demand among fraudsters who cash out and convert stolen funds and transfer money to organizers or participants in criminal schemes.”

Binance Australia offices were reportedly searched by the local regulator

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission conducted searches at Binance Australia locations. The investigation was part of an ongoing probe of Binance’s now-defunct Australian derivatives business. Binance’s representative did not confirm or deny to Cointelegraph whether the company’s offices were searched or whether the company was aware of a local probe. “We are cooperating with local authorities, and Binance is focused on meeting local regulatory standards in order to serve our users in Australia in a fully compliant manner,” a spokesperson for Binance Australia told Cointelegraph.

Continue reading

Denmark orders Saxo Bank to erase cryptocurrency holdings

Financial regulators in Denmark are coming after cryptocurrency service providers, declaring that local banks cannot hold cryptocurrency to hedge against trading risks. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA) officially ordered local investment bank Saxo Bank to dispose of its own holdings in crypto. According to the DFSA, Saxo Bank offers its customers the opportunity to trade a number of cryptocurrency products through its platform. The firm also offers several crypto-linked exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes, the regulator said, adding that “it is possible to speculate on crypto assets.”

Continue reading

Twitter receives money transmitter licenses in three U.S. states

Twitter Payments, a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s Twitter social network, appears to have received its first money transmitter licenses after Michigan, New Hampshire and Missouri approved the company’s applications. A money transmitter license allows a company to provide transfer services or payment instruments. This differs from a license to conduct sales in that it’s meant to offer consumer protections for businesses that facilitate the transmission of money from one party to another, not just the purchase of products and services.

It remains unclear at this time exactly what offerings will be on tap if and when Twitter Payments eventually rolls out. The company applied for licenses in all 50 United States states, and there’s no clear timeline for the approval process.

Continue reading

Crypto-Friendly DBS Bank Launches Digital Yuan Designed for CBDC Payments

July 5, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Singapore to require crypto firms to put user assets into trusts by year-end

July 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

MAS is also working to restrict crypto service providers from facilitating lending or staking for retail customers, but not for institutional ones.

Singapore’s central bank is introducing new measures to improve investor protection and market integrity in the cryptocurrency industry.

On July 3, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced new requirements for crypto service providers to hold customer assets into a statutory trust by year-end.

“This will mitigate the risk of loss or misuse of customers’ assets, and facilitate the recovery of customers’ assets in the event of a DPT service provider’s insolvency,” the regulator said.

The new custody measures follow a public consultation on regulatory measures to reduce risks to consumers from crypto trading which was launched in October 2022. According to the MAS, the consultation received “significant interest” from a wide range of respondents.

In the official response to the public consultation, Singapore’s central bank noted that the majority of respondents agreed that digital payment token service providers (DPTSPs) should be allowed to deposit user assets in the same trust account as the assets of its other users.

“However, a few respondents disagreed, suggesting that DPTSPs should be required to segregate each customer’s assets from other customers’ assets in separate blockchain addresses,” the MAS wrote. According to the respondents, individual custody segregation could provide customers with greater transparency by allowing them to identify and verify their own holdings.

Apart from custody requirements, the MAS also required crypto companies to conduct daily reconciliation of customer assets and keep proper books and records. DPTSPs are also required to maintain access and operational controls to customers’ DPTs in Singapore and ensure that the custody function is operationally independent from other business units.

Additionally, the regulator is also working on a proposal to restrict crypto service providers from facilitating lending or staking of their retail customers’ DPTs. For institutional and accredited investors, however, DPT providers may continue to facilitate such activities.

The MAS added that some respondents suggested allowing crypto firms to offer lending and staking with the condition of retail customer’s consent and risk disclosures. “Others advocated a ban on these high risk and speculative activities,” the regulator noted, adding:

“MAS will monitor market developments and consumer risk awareness as these evolve, and will take steps to ensure that our measures remain balanced and appropriate.”

The latest investor protection-related regulatory developments in Singapore aim to address industry implosions like FTX, which led to customers losing millions of dollars. Additionally, the crypto lending crisis in 2022 significantly impacted firms in Singapore, with major local firms like Three Arrows Capital and Hodlnaut going bankrupt amid the bear market.

Magazine: How smart people invest in dumb memecoins — 3-point plan for success

BIS, 3 central banks look at DeFi technology for wCBDC FX in interim project report

June 28, 2023 Coin Telegraph

BIS

Project Mariana uses an automated market maker to reduce settlement risk and to create a liquidity pool in place of order books.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub published an interim report on Project Mariana, its collaboration with the central banks of France, Singapore and Switzerland, on the use of wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) in tokenized foreign exchange trading. The project is a proof-of-concept that considers questions relating to credit and settlement risk and interoperability.

Specifically, the project looks at automated market makers (AMMs), token standards and network bridges as it “explores the feasibility of an international FX interbank market using wCBDCs on a blockchain-based network.”

An AMM — a smart contract used in decentralized finance — can implement trading and settlement of tokenized assets in a single step, thus reducing risk. For that to happen, technical specifications have to be developed for the wCBDCs and AMMs themselves, as well as the bridges that serve as the on- and off-ramps between the international network and domestic platforms.

The liquidity pool and a bonding curve are integral parts of the proposed AMM design. A bonding curve is simply the price-fixing function for the assets traded. A liquidity pool can replace the traditional use of order books to match buyers and sellers. In this model, the liquidity pool would be formed by commercial banks with all the currencies involved in the project. Access to the trading system would be controlled by whitelists maintained by the central banks.

1/11 Project Mariana, a collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub, Bank of France, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Swiss National Bank, is exploring the use of @CurveFinance' Curve v2 HFMM for on-chain wholesale CBDC pools.

Truly a milestone for TradFi x DeFi innovation pic.twitter.com/IbUCLvxPmN
— knows (@evmknows) June 28, 2023

A different approach to liquidity can be seen in the Singapore Monetary Authority and Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+, which used a “vehicle currency” in trades between non-tokenized currencies of differing liquidities.

Project Mariana was launched in November. It released its interim report on schedule and promises to release a final report by the end of the year.

Magazine: Are CBDCs kryptonite for crypto?

Singapore

Binance Australia offices were reportedly searched by the local regulator

Denmark orders Saxo Bank to erase cryptocurrency holdings

Twitter receives money transmitter licenses in three U.S. states

Share this video