Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training, or MOET, is planning to implement blockchain technology for issuing diplomas in 2021. According to a Nov. 18 announcement, the ministry has partnered with Singapore-based startup TomoChain to put national student certifications on TomoChain’s proprietary blockchain platform. As part of the “National Qualifications Archive” project, the MOET plans to issue all types of diplomas granted by its high school and higher education training units on the blockchain. The new system will reportedly come into effect during the school year ending in 2021. According to the announcement, Vietnam’s new blockchain-based certification system is designed to …

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks — soon to be confirmed in the role full time — has revealed another way for U.S. crypto custody providers to receive a charter to operate as a federally-approved bank. In a Nov. 17 interview with Forbes, Brooks stated that there are currently three methods for payment companies to become a federally chartered bank. The first option is to apply for a non-depository national bank charter, and the other two are to buy a depository institution or apply for a National Trust Bank charter. But Brooks said the Office of the Comptroller of …

The central bank for the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan is working on a draft law to regulate the cryptocurrency industry in the country. According to an announcement on Nov. 13, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic is developing a draft law that would regulate cryptocurrency exchanges in consultation with industry stakeholders. The bank stated that the draft law would regulate the sale and purchase of cryptocurrencies with the aim of tackling fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes and financial crimes, as well as safeguarding consumer and investor rights. Among the expected benefits of the forthcoming regulations, the bank notes the improved …

Earlier this year, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission — in both the SEC versus Telegram and SEC versus Kik cases — vigorously argued that sales of contractual rights to acquire tokens on a when-issued basis (widely referred to as Simple Agreements for Future Tokens, or SAFTs) should be integrated with later sales of the tokens. When the judges in those cases issued rulings agreeing with the SEC, it felt like a door was closing on the SAFT process, making it unworkable for future crypto offerings. Then, on Nov. 2, a divided SEC adopted a series of amendments to …

Mark my words: Governments and central banks will never care about your wealth and your privacy as much as you do. That reality is exactly why central bank digital currencies are dead in the water already. They say if you can’t beat them, join them. That’s exactly what CBDCs are attempting to do. They want to join the party that is cryptocurrency without actually giving their citizens the privacy and democratic freedom a truly decentralized digital currency provides. In a recent article, I made the argument that regulation and law enforcement are a necessary part of crypto truly going mainstream. …

Ukraine is ranked as the world’s leader in the Global Crypto Adoption Index 2020, according to a research published by Chainalysis earlier this fall. Despite this, cryptocurrencies still remain a gray area in the economy. Since 2014, Ukrainian authorities have been trying to implement crypto legislation that would transform the country into a competitive jurisdiction for running crypto-related businesses, but the efforts did not yield any results. Finally, just a few months ago, the Ukranian government presented a new bill on digital assets to legitimize the sector — and this time, the attempt may well be successful. The fintech strategy …

First announced in October 2019, China’s Blockchain Service Network, also known as BSN, is aimed at providing a global public infrastructure designed to support both private and public blockchain networks across interconnected cities. According to the BSN introductory white paper, the project serves as an “information infrastructure” designed to advance the development of smart cities for the emerging digital economy. The white paper also explains that the goal of the BSN is for cities to build one or more public city nodes that are linked via the internet to form a nationwide — and eventually, worldwide — physical city node …

Amid a global race toward central bank digital currencies, also known as CBDCs, the United States needs to focus on the private sector, says Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks. “We have built private stablecoins in this country that already have a market cap in the tens of billions of dollars,” Brooks said in a U.S. House Committee on Financial Services hearing on Thursday. Formerly head of Coinbase’s legal department, Brooks currently leads the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, which is the Treasury office that regulates federal banks. “These things are transacting daily, they are …

In the 11 years since the inception of the crypto industry, malicious parties have used digital assets for a spate of illegal activities, from drug payments to money laundering. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis is launching a new service to help authorities track, custody and sell cryptocurrencies associated with crime after their capture. The firm calls the initiative its Asset Realization Program. "Chainalysis created an end-to-end solution for track and trace, pre-seizure planning, handling, storing, realising, and monitoring assets seized by law enforcement," Chainalysis' general manager of the European, Middle Eastern and African region, Duncan Hoffman, told Cointelegraph. With its new …

BitMEX, one of the world’s biggest Bitcoin (BTC) trading platforms, continues to strengthen its Anti-Money Laundering measures in the aftermath of its criminal charges in the United States. According to a Nov. 12 blog post, BitMEX has partnered with software and compliance firm Eventus Systems to improve its trade surveillance and AML transaction capabilities. Per the announcement, Eventus Validus‘ technology will be integrated into BitMEX’s existing trade surveillance and AML processes in order to provide a “safe and secure trading environment” for its users. “We will be able to more efficiently screen out bad actors and increase proactive monitoring for …

Pakistan’s government is working on a framework for regulating cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, or SECP, has published a consultation paper on regulating digital assets. Issued on Nov. 6, the paper outlines major concepts for the growing digital finance market in Pakistan and examines the existing regulatory frameworks developed by other global jurisdictions. In the document, the SECP emphasizes that digital assets are the “start of a new era of digital finance.” According to the regulator, the new era of digital finance “could only be possible by initiation of a new era that re-invents …

Brian Brooks, the former Coinbase executive turned leader of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, recently received a letter from multiple members of Congress expressing concerns over his crypto-heavy leadership. The letter, from Stephen Lynch and Rashida Tlaib, two congresspeople for Massachusetts and Michigan respectively, also holds signatures from Jesús García, Deb Haaland, Barbara Lee and Ayanna Pressley — representatives from Illinois, New Mexico, California and Massachusetts. The letter references the OCC's "recent unilateral actions in the digital financial activities space, including interpretive letters on cryptocurrency custody, stablecoins, and its announced plans to start offering …