Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s CEO, very much occupied the hot seat in today’s hearing before the House Financial Services Committee over January’s market volatility. None of the representatives seemed particularly interested in putting the screws to Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and many seemed to give Keith Gill the same props the rest of us did. These aren’t the market manipulators you are looking for Gill, in all fairness, was the most likeable character involved, introducing his remarks by saying “A few things I am not: I am not a cat and I am not an accredited investor.” Gill, who really started …

The Synthetix DAO has added some new, perhaps surprising voices to its governance. Today the synthetic asset protocol announced a $12 million dollar fundraise led by venture capital firms Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, and IOSG. The funds purchased SNX tokens directly from the DAO treasury, and “will contribute where possible by providing liquidity in the form of SNX collateral, and also participate in its rapidly evolving community governance system,” the announcement reads. “We’re excited about supporting the synthetixDAO as it builds the leading synthetic asset platform,” said Paradigm investment partner Arjun Balaji. “Synthetix has one of the best communities in crypto …

The Dubai Financial Services Authority, the financial regulatory agency for the special economic zone, the Dubai International Financial Centre, is looking to enhance local cryptocurrency-related regulations. The DFSA is planning to introduce a regulatory framework for diverse digital assets as part of its 2021–2022 business plan released on Jan. 18. According to the DFSA, the upcoming crypto framework will further expand the DFSA’s regulation of digital asset issuers and associated trading platforms. The framework will include a number of digital asset types like tokenized securities and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC): “We will build upon recent achievements in this space over …

Exordium, the publisher of the upcoming sci-fi strategy game Infinite Fleet, has announced a public security token offering, or STO, on the STOKR platform, starting Jan. 18. The $8 million sale to raise funds for the long-touted blockchain-powered MMO (or massive multiplayer online game), is being led by a $1 million investment from Tether International, the issuer of the largest stablecoin Tether (USDT). The public portion of the STO will have a hard-cap of $1 million and be limited to select European countries. This will include the majority of the European Union, with the notable exceptions of Germany and Belgium, …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is listening. At least, per a Dec. 23 announcement, the SEC is responding to long-term industry complaints that nobody knows who can handle security token trading. The SEC is both requesting comment on the issue and extending a hand to the crypto industry. Perhaps most notably, the commission's announcement will keep broker-dealers safe from enforcement for the next five year: "In particular, the Commission’s position, which will expire after a period of five years from the publication date of this statement, is that a broker-dealer operating under the circumstances set forth in Section IV …

The German word for securities is wertpapieren, or "papers of worth," which may soon be as outdated as nocturnal traders saying they're burning the midnight oil. Per a Reuters report from Wednesday, Merkel's cabinet had passed a new law that will end the requirement to have a paper certificate for sale of a security, overtly looking to advance blockchain trading within the country. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholtz reportedly said, “The paper certificate may be dear to some for nostalgic reasons, but the future belongs to its electronic version.” The Finance Ministry called the shift to all-electronic securities a component …

Nine members of congress have written a letter asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to get its security token guidance straightened out. In a Dec. 9 letter to SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, several members of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus led by Tom Emmer (R-MN) asked the commission to verify rules as to which broker-dealers can custody digital securities. Broker-dealer licensing is required to sell securities in the U.S. The letter also addresses the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulating body that registers U.S. broker-dealers under SEC guidelines. Currently, the rules are unclear, which has resulted in a colossal hold-up …

According to an official announcement, INX has signed a term sheet for the acquisition of OpenFinance, which operates as a registered broker-dealer in compliance with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. With the new deal, INX is set to acquire OpenFinance’s broker-dealer and alternative trading system business including its systems, digital asset listings, client base and licenses. OpenFinance’s listings include firms like major industry venture capital firm Blockchain Capital, Spice VC and Lottery.com. INX’s representatives said that their company will assure continuity of operations and service to OpenFinance’s customer base. Shy Datika, president and founder …

Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings is getting more serious about the security token offerings industry. SBI is planning to run its own STO allotting shares of SBI e-Sports, the company’s new e-sports gaming arm, Cointelegraph Japan reports Oct. 9. Announcing the news on Friday, SBI said that the upcoming STO will be conducted using ibet, a blockchain platform developed by digital security startup Boostry. Scheduled for Oct. 30, the STO will be carried out by SBI’s online securities subsidiary, SBI Securities, while SBI holdings will act as an underwriter. SBI said that the company considers STOs a “core technology of …

Blockchain-based social network and commerce platform CoinLinked plans to raise $5 million in a regulated security token offering (STO). The California tech company will allow accredited U.S. investors (Reg D) and qualified non-U.S. investors (Reg S) to participate in the Series A funding round. Launched in May this year by Wall St. veteran and CoinLinked CEO Jenny Q. Ta, the platform seeks to promote crypto as a means of payment globally. It enables anyone to buy anything available on the Internet with cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and the stablecoin USDC. The social networking aspect allows members to earn …

This week’s headlines from Japan included one of country's leaders describing Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto's dream as meaningful, LayerX Labs collaborating with a Japanese university for blockchain research, the FINSUM blockchain conference hosts notable discussion on security tokens offerings, and the head of Monex Group saying Japan is falling behind the U.S. on STOs. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Japanese Financial Services Agency head describes Bitcoin as impactful At the end of Tokyo's 2020 Blockchain Global Governance Conference, or BG2C, also called FINSUM, Ryozo Himino, the secretary of Japan's Financial …

Gibraltar-based crypto exchange INX will launch its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) on Aug 24, 2020, after a two year journey. The exchange aims to sell 130 million tokens at $0.90 netting up to $111 million after expenses according to its latest filing with the SEC. This will be the first security token offering (STO) that is registered with the SEC, allowing everyday investors to legally participate in it. Until now STO’s have typically only filed notices to the regulators while remaining unregistered, limiting participation to institutional and registered investors. The INX tokens will be a hybrid solution of both …