A former Chancellor of the United Kingdom has raised concerns the country is slipping behind its rivals in the European Union when it comes to the cryptocurrency regulation. Philip Hammond, who served as the U.K.’s Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019, told Bloomberg that there has been a distinct lack of direction and cohesion when it comes to crypto policy: “Particularly in the area of digital asset trading, I feel that the UK has missed a trick [...] We are getting very close to the point where it will be too late. Other jurisdictions are racing ahead of …

After Norway and Liechtenstein, Ukraine became the third country outside the European Union to join the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), an initiative derived by 27 member states to deliver cross-border public services. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine announced the country’s move to join the EBP as an observer on Friday. With the ultimate goal of integrating its digital economic space with the EU, Ukraine plans to expand its interstate blockchain network partnership with other countries. Ukraine’s intent to join the EBP dates back to July 2021, when Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, head of parliamentary group Blockchain4Ukraine, and Konstantin Yarmolenko, founder …

In a new consultation paper published on Tuesday, the Treasury of the United Kingdom proposed a new set of regulatory changes for the stablecoin industry. In its report, the Treasury highlighted the importance of stablecoins in innovation but also noted their ability to impact financial stability should systemic failures occur. Specifically, the Treasury called for: The appointment of the country's Financial Market Infrastructure Special Administration Regime (FMI SAR) as the primary entity to address the potential systemic failure of digital settlement asset (DSA) firms. DSAs include, but are not limited to, stablecoin issuers, wallet providers and third-party payment providers. The …

At the beginning of May, the British Web3 community celebrated an important legal precedent — the High Court of Justice in London, the closest analog to the United States Supreme Court, has ruled that nonfungible tokens (NFT) represent “private property.” There is a caveat, though: In the court’s ruling, this private property status does not extend to the actual underlying content that NFT represents. Cointelegraph reached out to legal experts to understand what this decision could possibly change in the British legal landscape. The theft of Boss Beauties In February 2022, Lavinia D. Osbourne, founder of Women in Blockchain Talks, …

Dogecoin (DOGE) rival Floki Inu (FLOKI) has begun what it calls an “aggressive” marketing campaign in London, plastering advertisements around the city’s train stations and on its famous red buses. Floki Inu announced the new campaign in a Sunday blog, noting that “the people’s cryptocurrency” will start advertising on the side of 100 buses and on 203 posters in the city’s underground train stations starting from Monday. #FLOKI's new and aggressive London campaign will start tomorrow Monday, April 25.$FLOKI to be featured on: - 100 buses across the streets of London. - 203 strategic placements across London Underground. These ads …

The Bank of England’s regulatory arm has raised its budget by $31.6 million, or 24.3 million Great British pounds, for the coming financial year. It said that costs have increased due to its growing responsibilities and preparations for “emerging risks in the financial system.” According to the latest business plan released on Wednesday by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), its budget for the 2022/23 financial year is $418 million, or 320.9 million pounds, an 8.2% increase from last year. The PRA chief executive Sam Woods outlined its plan for the year ahead saying it was: “Committed to keeping pace with …

The U.K. government Treasury announced on Monday, April 4th, that it has asked the Royal Mint to create one non-fungible token (NFT) to be issued by the end of the year “as an emblem of the forward-looking approach the UK is determined to take.” Chancellor @RishiSunak has asked @RoyalMintUK to create an NFT to be issued by the summer. This decision shows the the forward-looking approach we are determined to take towards cryptoassets in the UK. pic.twitter.com/cd0tiailBK — HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) April 4, 2022 The NFT was part of a series of announcements by the Economic and Finance Ministry to …

The Bank of England Financial Policy Committee and other U.K. regulators are assessing crypto regulation after publishing reports on financial stability relating to cryptoassets and decentralized finance. The BoE report was released on Thursday, and the Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, along with the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority, or PRA, also released documents simultaneously that all reference one another. The Bank’s committee, or FPC, stated in its 40-page report that cryptoassets and DeFi pose a “limited” risk to the stability of the UK financial system, but it saw that risk growing “as these assets become more interconnected with the wider …

United Kingdom's national crime agency (NCA) seeks to regulate the crypto coin mixers under the country's laws against money laundering. Coin mixing tools are popular in the decentralized world to maintain the privacy of transactions. These tools often mix several transactions to obscure the origin of a particular transaction. Then the recipient receives the transactions from a mixing "black box" that comprises hundreds of transactions from various wallets. While privacy-focused, these tools often face regulators' ire as it is also a known way for hackers and criminals to wash their funds. Gary Cathcart, the NCA's head of financial investigation, claimed …

Whose side are you on? The Ukraine-Russia war is forcing people to answer that question. For some in the crypto community, this can be uncomfortable because if an individual or project stands with the West against Russia, it also means it abides by sanctions. This can be tough to square with crypto/blockchain’s supposed decentralized system and its claims on being borderless, censorship-free and distributed. Take OpenSea, the NFT marketplace, which really isn’t a decentralized project but is often described as such. “OpenSea is a decentralized peer-to-peer marketplace for buying, selling and trading rare digital goods,” according to CoinMarketCap, for instance. …

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, has announced it has 50 active investigations as part of its efforts to crack down on unregistered crypto businesses. In a Thursday announcement, the FCA said it had opened more than 300 cases into unregistered crypto firms in the last six months “many of which may be scams.” In addition, the country’s financial watchdog said it was conducting 50 active investigations — which may include criminal probes — into authorized crypto businesses. According to the FCA, U.K. residents sent in 16,400 inquiries between April and September 2021 which included crypto-related scams. The …

A European subsidiary of United States-based crypto trading platform Uphold has received approval from the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). According to the FCA website, Uphold’s U.K. subsidiary Uphold Europe Limited gained regulatory approval on Feb. 17, 2022, joining the select list of 32 firms that have received FCA approval as a Registered Crypto Asset service provider, out of the 200 that applied. The approval signifies that the firm is in compliance with the U.K. Anti-Money Laundering and CounTerrorist Financing regulations. In order for crypto exchanges and service providers to offer their services to U.K.-based customers, they must register …