🌐Court decision to ban access to 426 sites in Ukraine canceled
The decision of the Ukrainian court to close access to 426 sites, including the Bits.Media forum, has been canceled. It is believed that the complaint was filed by a former pyramid organizer.
On February 25, the National Commission of Ukraine on Regulation in the Sphere of Communications and Informatization sent a notification to telecom operators, demanding that they immediately block access to 426 sites in Ukraine. The list included the Bits.Media forum, the ForkLog cryptocurrency portal, the mmgp.ru forum, the Russian media RBC, Banks.ru and Arguments of the Week, as well as the LiveJournal blogging platform. The notification was sent in connection with the ruling of the Goloseevsky Court of Kiev under Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, part 3 (fraud on an especially large scale using computers).
During the day it became clear that the court satisfied the claim filed by businessman Alexander Pan. According to media reports, he previously bore the surname Prochukhan. This surname is often mentioned in many articles where he is mentioned as the organizer of fraudulent schemes and pyramids. Prochukhan is associated with MMM-2011, as well as with the projects "Formula Money - Golden Section", FD Invest, Questra World and AGAM. There are suggestions that Prochukhan changed his last name in 2018 to avoid responsibility.
The citizen said that 61 sites on this list contain false information that discredits his dignity. Pan claims that these online resources allegedly interfered with his personal life between 2016 and 2018. The plaintiff said that despite his requests, the site administrators did not delete this information, so in mid-December 2020, Pan was forced to sue them.
The list of sites indicated by the plaintiff lacks many of the above media outlets, however, the Reddit forum is indicated, which never made it to the list of sites to be blocked. The Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov said that he would not allow blocking the GitHub portal either. The police and the prosecutor's office challenged the court's decision because it was issued at the request of a citizen without proper analysis of the list of sites. Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko called the court decision unfounded and suggested filing a complaint against the judge. Gerashchenko questioned the competence of Judge Plakhotnyuk Ye. G., who ruled to "seize the intellectual property rights" of these 426 sites. Sergei Ostrovsky, partner of the law firm AURUM, considered this formulation legally untenable.
“Representatives of Themis should not follow the lead of swindlers and make arbitrary decisions on behalf of Ukraine,” said the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
Later, the press secretary of the Kiev city prosecutor's office, Nadezhda Maksimets, announced the closure of the criminal case and the cancellation of the blocking of these sites. At the same time, the prosecutor's office began an investigation into the actions of employees of the Goloseevsky police department.
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🌐Crypto.com: the number of cryptocurrency users reaches 106 million
More than 106 million people worldwide use cryptocurrencies. The influx of new users has fueled the growth of the cryptocurrency market and leading crypto assets.
More than 106 million people worldwide use cryptocurrencies, according to a Crypto.com exchange report released this week . Exchange analysts note an increase in the number of cryptocurrency users by 15.7% in January alone. While the latest BTC rally was driven by existing users, it was the new owners of the cryptocurrencies that helped keep the price high, according to the report.
According to the study, which included data from 24 cryptocurrency exchanges, the rapid rise in the price of BTC was the main driver for the increase in the number of users.
In addition, the growth of the market has been influenced by the popularity of Decentralized Finance (DeFi), a new ecosystem that uses blockchain to provide financial services without intermediaries.
Crypto.com data also shows that Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, contributed to the growth of the cryptocurrency market in August 2020, which coincides with the peak of the DeFi boom.
Increased investment from institutional investors such as Microstrategy , Square and Tesla has become another major driver of market growth. After PayPal began offering its customers the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrencies at the end of 2020, the market's growth rate has also increased significantly.
In a separate report released last week, Statista suggested that Nigeria is leading the way in new cryptocurrency user inflows. Every third respondent answered that in 2020 he used or owned cryptocurrencies. According to Google Trends, Nigeria also dominates search traffic for the keyword bitcoin.
The popularity of cryptocurrencies is growing in Southeast Asia as well. According to Statista, 20% of survey respondents in Vietnam said they had used cryptocurrencies in the past year, despite the central bank's refusal to recognize the asset class as a legal payment instrument.
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🌐 Coinbase ditches San Francisco headquarters
Coinbase no longer has a central office, and most employees will continue to work remotely after the pandemic.
According to a statement from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the company no longer has its official headquarters, which was previously located in San Francisco.
"While we will continue to provide offices for employees who choose to work in them, it is against our culture to designate one location as our headquarters," said Brian Armstrong, CEO of the exchange. "Moving away from a formal headquarters is more in line with the spirit of the cryptocurrency industry based on the benefits of decentralization."
In 2019, the company moved into a new office space outside the Ferry Building in San Francisco, which Armstrong previously called Coinbase's headquarters. Armstrong explained that Coinbase is still heavily US-based and that he does not want to "diminish the legal or regulatory obligations associated with a US-based base."
The CEO of the exchange claims that nearly 250 of the company's employees have moved worldwide since January 2020, and more than 150 have left San Francisco. He added that after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, about 95% of employees will still be able to work from home, in the office or in mixed mode, whichever is more convenient for them.
According to Armstrong, 94% of the exchange employees believe that remote work has more advantages than disadvantages, or that they balance each other. In particular, employees value autonomy, flexibility, the ability to focus and save time on commuting.
The CEO also noted that teleworking has allowed the exchange to attract more talent. In the first quarter of 2020, only 28% of new hires lived outside of California. In the first quarter of 2021, 58% of the exchange's new employees are foreigners.
Earlier, the Binance exchange also stated that it does not have an official headquarters. In February 2020, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) announced that Binance exchange is not regulated by local authorities and is not licensed in Malta. However, the CEO of the exchange, Changpeng Zhao, denied having a headquarters in Malta or anywhere else, claiming that Binance operates "decentralized" in 180 countries around the world.
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🌐 Solarisbank launches brokerage and trading API based on custodian service for cryptocurrencies
The German bank Solarisbank is creating a service with a brokerage and trading API on the basis of its custodian storage for cryptocurrencies, as well as an instant settlement system in partnership with the Bitstamp exchange.
Solarisbank, which provides APIs for digital banking and payments to a number of companies, said it will offer fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchange and instant settlement based on its custodial solution. Solarisbank Digital Assets Managing Director Julian Grigo said in an interview:
“We launched storage, and now the next step is the brokerage API. Our B2B clients will be able to open a bank account and store cryptocurrencies, and using the brokerage API they will be able to exchange fiat money for Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. "
According to Grigo, the popularity of cryptocurrency services will grow as more traditional companies are interested in cryptoassets. He said:
“We are paving the way for institutional and retail investors. We see demand for this in the US with Square or in the UK with Revolut. What is happening in the world is also happening in the German market, and we definitely see a demand for such services. "
Through a close partnership with Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, Solarisbank is launching “custodian” brokerage and instant settlement services. Grigo noted:
“It's pretty frustrating to see some brokers in the cryptocurrency industry copy and replicate traditional systems like the T + 2 trading mode. But the blockchain never sleeps and that's why we have instant settlements on our platform. "
As a reminder, Solarisbank announced the launch of a custodian platform for digital assets last December. The service is available via API and integrates into websites and applications of the firm's partners.
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🌐 Thailand's SEC Unveils Qualification Requirements For Cryptocurrency Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand has unveiled the qualification requirements for cryptocurrency investors and launched a public comment on the proposed rules.
According to the document published by the financial regulator, it is planned to establish more stringent requirements for cryptocurrency investors, including their qualifications, income and trading experience. Local cryptocurrency investors must have a net worth of at least THB 10 million ($ 332,500), and such investors must have a minimum annual income of THB 1 million ($ 33,250). At the same time, the investor's net worth does not include the real estate where he permanently resides.
Cryptocurrency traders in Thailand must have more than two years of experience in securities or derivatives trading. Otherwise, the trader is obliged to undergo appropriate training and obtain a certificate from the authorized bodies. The SEC plans to discuss the initiative live on its Facebook page on March 24. The public consultation will last until March 27.
The SEC has previously announced that it is going to establish qualification criteria for cryptocurrency investors. The agency believes that these rules will protect them from all sorts of risks, as the interest of local traders in digital asset trading has increased dramatically. SEC Secretary General of Thailand Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol called cryptocurrencies financial innovations prone to high volatility.
“Most cryptocurrency traders are very young - they can be students and even teenagers. We understand that the younger generation loves innovation and technology, but investing in digital assets carries a huge risk, ”said Suwanmongkol.
He added that such investments require a lot of knowledge and understanding of how crypto assets work. In addition, when working with digital currencies, people should belong to a risk profile of investors that is insensitive to investment losses. Suwanmongkol also said that investors who are not eligible to trade digital assets will still be able to invest in them through licensed fund managers or financial advisors.
Recall that last fall, the SEC of Thailand updated the net capital requirements for brokerage companies and firms working in securities and digital assets.
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🌐 Arca filed an application with the SEC to create a Bitcoin trust
Cryptocurrency investment firm Arca has filed an application for a Bitcoin trust with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The product will be similar to BlockFi and Grayscale trusts.
According to the published application , the American company Arca, specializing in cryptocurrency investments, wants to create a trust in Bitcoin. Arca has already raised $ 100,000 for the trust, which will only accept outside investments of $ 25,000 or more.
The Arca trust will be similar to that of BlockFi, which officially launched the Bitcoin Trust earlier this month. A Bitcoin Trust is a tool that allows institutional investors to access Bitcoin without buying cryptocurrency directly.
Arca and BlockFi products will compete with Grayscale's dominant GBTC trust, which has been trading since 2013. Grayscale reported last month that it raised $ 3.3 billion in crypto funds in Q4 2020.
As a reminder, last July, Arca launched a regulated investment fund on the Ethereum blockchain. The fund's shares were issued as ERC-1404 tokens.
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🌐 CI Financial Applies To Launch ETF On Air In Canada
Canadian firm CI Financial, which manages more than $ 230 billion in assets, has filed an application with the Ontario Securities Commission to launch an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on Ether.
According to the document , if the application is approved, the ETF will be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Galaxy Digital will act as an auxiliary advisor - it will be the company that will trade ETH on behalf of the fund. The ETF will receive the ticker ETHX, and the annual management fee will be 1%.
"Ethereum is the most likely candidate for the baseline of Web 3.0, and Ether is a growing asset that enables investors to participate in the decentralized application boom," said Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz.
CI Financial is also awaiting approval of the application to launch a Bitcoin ETF. In addition, she already has a fund for bitcoin CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund, which manages assets worth $ 162 million.
Note that earlier the Ontario Securities Commission approved two exchange-traded funds for bitcoin, but the ETF for ether, if approved, will be the first such exchange-traded product in the world.
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