Policy

February 26, 2021

The 'Travel Rule' may sound like something pertaining to the aviation industry, but it is actually an essential piece of legislation that financial institutions–now including virtual asset service providers (VASPs) like EQUOS–must observe. Otherwise known as the 'funds transfer recordkeeping regulation,' the Travel Rule requires all financial services providers to transmit certain customer details along with transactions above a determined threshold to the receiving institution.

February 19, 2021

Over recent months, cryptocurrency markets have witnessed accelerated growth. As traditional low-risk assets like treasury bills and bank deposits fail to return significant yield, and the mushrooming money supply of the world's global reserve currency fuels rising concern over inflation, cryptocurrencies as hard assets have gained a lot of traction.

February 5, 2021

With the cryptocurrency markets beginning 2021 in earnest, we review the regulatory approaches taken by different jurisdictions. Last month, European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde called for Bitcoin (BTC), a "highly speculative asset," to be regulated on an international level. But, is a uniform approach possible with such different degrees of comfort toward cryptocurrencies between global regulators?

January 14, 2021

One of the most important trends in the cryptocurrency industry over recent months has been a notable rise in corporate treasurers buying Bitcoin (BTC) as a balance sheet asset. Against the backdrop of a failing global economy and a weakening global reserve currency (the USD), both publicly listed and private companies are beginning to diversify from traditional low-risk assets such as bank deposits, treasury bills, and commercial paper to find a more effective balance between risk and yield.

December 19, 2020

Over the weekend... The SEC closed the Blockvest 2018 ICO case. The company had falsely claimed legal approval by top regulators and impersonated a legal seal, among other offenses, and had been in a legal battle with the SEC for years.

November 3, 2020

Earlier this week, a Forbes article entitled ‘Bitcoin Is Braced For A U.S. Election Earthquake This Week’, argued that there has been ‘a tidal wave of bullish sentiment among Bitcoin investors that hasn’t been felt since Bitcoin’s historic 2017 bull run — and seems unshakeable no matter the outcome this week.’