North America
Welcome to another weekly blockchain news roundup from around the world. Here we present to you all the latest Bitcoin news continent by continent and country by country.
USA
American Express Executive Praises Ripple’s XRP for Cross-Border Payments: Carlos Carriedo, one of the top executives of American Express is all in praise of Ripple’s XRP-based cross-border solution and believes that cryptocurrencies have the potential to revolutionize the international payment industry.
Speaking at the recent Wings of Change conference in Madrid earlier this week, Carriedo said:
“Blockchain is absolutely an option we’re looking at. Just to give you a sense, we have invested in a fintech lab based on blockchain technology, just to understand how to leverage this better…We did a test, partnering with Santander locally, and with Ripple to just do cross-border transactions…And in a matter of seconds, through this test, our clients were able to transfer funds in a very transparent and seamless way, from one part of the world to the other one.”
While Ripple’s coin is frowned upon by many due to its centralized nature, more and more mainstream institutions are interested in using it which can only benefit the cryptocurrency space in the long term.
Law Professor Targets Crypto Tax Confusion in Latest Research Paper: A new paper from the University of Kansas Law school has addressed the confusion regarding the definition of cryptocurrencies and confusion stemming from it in the regulatory circles.
The paper titled ‘U.S. Law: Crypto is Money, Property, a Commodity, and a Security, all at the Same Time’, written by professor Carol Goforth for the Journal of Financial Transformation, just got published on the Oxford University law blog and is an effort to address one of the most debated and focal issues presented by cryptocurrencies: What are they exactly?
More and more academics now believe that SEC is in total confusion on how to deal with cryptocurrencies’ disruptive nature and are just trying different half-baked schemes to keep it in check.
SEC Chairman Praises Crypto but Says it Must Follow the Law: SEC chairman Jay Clayton has come out and praised the ability of Initial Coin Offerings to raise capital but at the same time he is adamant that they should follow securities law. While Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies are not declared as securities by the SEC, a vast majority of the ICOs are, which is hampering the growth the country.
Clayton made these comments during his recent speech regarding SEC’s stance on the matter. Clayton chose to focus on how it was the responsibility of the SEC to protect investors from scams and other projects that do not follow securities laws.
SEC is also giving mixed signals all over the place while hinting that it is being flexible towards cryptocurrencies. Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation Valerie A Szczepanik has come out and said that in special circumstances, ICOs may even be allowed to avoid registration obligations in the country.
Canada
Local City Launches its Own Cryptocurrency: The City of Calgary in Canada is expected to launch its own cryptocurrency as a first in the country. Joe Ceci, the Finance Minister of Alberta province made the announcement by purchasing a cup of coffee with the cryptocurrency.
Called the Calgary Dollar, the new cryptocurrency is borderless and may even be expanded to other parts of the state. It is also a novel way to keep the value, allowing local and businesses to opt for it on their own.
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