South Korea is set to introduce strict new anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) rules to its burgeoning crypto industry.

Yesterday, lawmakers in Seoul voted to amend the country’s existing Financial Information Act, passing a bill introducing stringent new rules. The amendment should be signed into law by the president within a couple of weeks, with some of its provisions coming into effect in one year, and the rest six months later.

Tough new rules for crypto companies

All VASPs (virtual asset service providers) will now be required to register with regulators and partner with a single bank for deposits and withdrawals. By linking virtual and traditional bank accounts, both of which must be registered to the real name of the user, authorities are hoping to make it easier to track illicit funds.

All systems used by VASPs will also need to be certified by the Korean Internet Security Agency – something that can take a long time and cost a lot of money, reflected by the fact that, so far, only a handful of companies have been certified.

Bad news for smaller businesses and ICOs?

Though larger businesses will probably be unphased by the new rules, it could signal the end for many smaller projects, especially initial coin offerings (ICO), that can’t afford the added costs in terms of money and time. It is expected this could lead to some market consolidation, as smaller exchanges merge or close down.

AYO.NEWS says:

The crackdown is the latest example of a country trying to comply with the new AML and ATF directives issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Just last week we reported that Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi had strengthened their crypto rules, while earlier in February Switzerland also slashed the reporting threshold for crypto transactions, and at the end of January Ukraine enacted similar rules.

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AlphaPoint, the white label crypto exchange provider, has raised a further $5.6 million to help it scale its business.

Underpinning 150 crypto exchanges

The New York-based company’s white label tech now provides the backend for 150 cryptocurrency exchanges in 35 countries, which collectively serve over a million end users.

According to AlphaPoint, the new capital will be used to further develop its platform, introduce new features like margin trading, advanced brokerage facilities, and improved liquidity solutions.

Discussing the investment AlphaPoint Co-Founder &. CEO, Igor Telyatnikov, said:

“This capital injection enables AlphaPoint to continue delivering on our mission to enable access to digital assets globally. We are still in the early days of adoption and utilization of blockchain technology. Stay tuned in 2020 as we will soon announce the release of a series of new liquidity, leverage, and lending products and solutions to our customers.”

Since launching in 2013, AlphaPoint has attracted a total of $23.9m in investment, including $15 million from Galaxy Digital Ventures in 2018.

New appointments

The company has also announced the appointment of Tim Scheve, President and CEO of Janney Montgomery Scott, and Jan Mayle, founder and CEO of The Mayle Group, to its board of directors and advisory board.

Commenting on his appointment, Sheve said:

“Blockchain and other emerging technologies have the potential to substantially change aspects of financial services. After personally observing advancements in these technologies for some time, I’m excited to engage more directly with Igor and the team at AlphaPoint to understand their impact on our industry.”

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Chilean cryptocurrency exchange CryptoMarket has secured a license from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), meaning it can now legally provide crypto trading services.

To obtain the license the exchange, which has around 150K users across Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Europe, had to pass an internal audit, criminal background checks and prove compliance with Estonia’s recently strengthened Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.

CryptoMarket, which was founded in 2016, is not the first Latin American crypto business to look to Europe for licenses. Mexico-based Bitso has been licensed in Gibraltar, and Venezuela-based Mercury Cash in Estonia. This is partly because, despite widespread cryptocurrency use across South and Central America, the countries in the region lack a clearly defined legal regulatory framework.

AYO.NEWS says:

Jurisdictions like Estonia, Gibraltar, and of course ‘Blockchain Island’ aka Malta, are currently benefiting from being ahead of the curve when it comes to crypto regulation. However, as we’ve pointed out many times over the last year, they shouldn’t get complacent.

It’s clear the only inherent advantage of tiny countries and jurisdictions is that they have much smaller governments and regulatory sectors, so can make changes significantly faster than larger countries. To keep the lead they will need to ensure they can also provide world-class infrastructure, and continue to evolve.  

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Samsung SDS has partnered with fintech and smart payments provider Credorax to develop a blockchain-based payment platform for European merchants and banks.

According to The Korea Herald, the IT services subsidiary of South Korean tech behemoth Samsung has teamed up with the Israeli fintech firm to develop a solution using Samsung SDS’ Nexledger Universal blockchain platform – which was recently upgraded with the integration of a zero-knowledge proof solution.

The aim is to develop a system that allows merchants to automatically reconcile payments, remittances, and invoices with bank records, and integrate it into a payments platform built using Samsung SDS’ AI-based Brity Works.

According to president and CEO of Samsung SDS, Hong Won-pyo, the company has ambitions to expand its European footprint in “European sectors that seek digital transformation.”

AYO.NEWS says:

Samsung is among those major corporations investing heavily in blockchain infrastructure for real-world use cases. Just last month we reported that Samsung Venture Investment Corp. joined Salesforce Ventures in a Series C financing round for Digital Asset, creator of the open source DAML smart contract language.  

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After more than a year of uncertainty and months of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court of India has finally struck down the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) crypto services ban.

The news will be a huge boost for Indian crypto-related business, which had been effectively locked out of the country’s financial system since the RBI imposed a blanket ban on banks offering services to crypto-related business in July 2018.

Both the public and industry challenged the controversial RBI ban, with the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) – whose members include Apple, eBay, Etsy, Unocoin, and Yahoo! India – bringing a combined case against the RBI to the Supreme Court, with arguments heard over two weeks in January 2020.

According to reports, the Supreme Court judges, headed by headed by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman, found the RBI had acted disproportionately, and that it was not within the bank’s jurisdiction to ban financial firms from serving crypto-related businesses.

AYO.NEWS says:

Despite this major victory, the Indian cryptocurrency industry still faces the threat of a draft bill called ‘Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currencies.’ Though the Indian government delayed its introduction, which had been slated for late last year, the bill which proposes introducing a state-backed ‘Digital Rupee’ issued by the RBI, still has the potential to kill the industry.

Staying with India, at the end of January we reported that a government body, the National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG), had published a draft national blockchain and distributed ledger strategy.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

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The Paris Blockchain Week Summit is the latest major event to fall victim to the worsening COVID-19 (coronavirus) emergency.

French government bans large gatherings nationwide

Originally scheduled to take place in the French capital from 31^st March – 1^st April, the Paris Blockchain Week Summit has been rescheduled to 9^th-10^th December. Organisers took the decision to postpone the summit after the French government announced a nationwide ban on large gatherings in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.

The venue, schedule and setup for the rescheduled summit will remain the same, with organisers saying even more speakers will be added to the list thanks to the extra time.

Speakers confirmed for the event include Changpeng Zhao, CEO and co-founder of Binance; Brune Le Maire, French Economy and Finance Minister; Jutta Steiner, CEO and founder of Parity Technologies; Meltem Demirors, Coinshares chief investment officer; Ryan Selkis, Messari CEO and co-founder; and Ben Livshits, chief scientist at Brave Browser.

Global disruption spreads

As we reported earlier today, major US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and crypto analytics firm Messari have enacted emergency plans in response to the virus crisis – which include asking employees to work remotely and cancelling virtually all business travel. In the gaming sector, businesses are also starting to cancel travel, with Australia-based Aristocrat being one of the first to announce travel cancellations a couple of weeks ago.

Blockchain, gaming, esports and sporting events are also being cancelled or postponed as the virus  takes hold in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In Italy, the Enada Primavera gaming show has been postponed until 21^st April, in Poland the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice was forced to take place behind closed doors after authorities suspended its public permit, in Japan SNK Corporation has postponed multiple esports events, and many other events have been cancelled across Asia.

AYO.NEWS says:

With travel restrictions being implemented by many countries, including lengthy mandatory quarantines for travellers from virus hotspots, and air travel severely disrupted by route cancellations, the future of many other events, including SiGMA’s upcoming Roadshow event scheduled for the Taiwanese capital of Taipei on 14^th and 15^th April, and even the inaugural SiGMA Manila, ICE Asia and Manila AI & Blockchain Summit scheduled for the Philippines from 8^th-9^th June, must be hanging in the balance.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.

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