Bitcoin News and Price | Bitcoin.News

BaFin Declines to Classify NFTs as Securities, Recommends Case-by-Case Approach

by Blockchain NewsMarch 9, 2023

The fact that there is now a discussion going on over the appropriate approach to classify these digital assets is reflected in BaFin’s decision to not recognize NFTs as securities. This argument has been going on for quite some time. Even if there are many who think of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as investments or crypto assets, there are also others who believe that NFTs are nothing more than one-of-a-kind digital collectibles that have no value apart from the rarity or desirability of their presence. Despite the fact that some individuals regard non-traded stocks and bonds to be investments, this is the case. It is possible that, at some time in the future, the case-by-case method that BaFin utilizes will make it possible to get greater clarification about the classification of NFTs.

Yet, it is difficult to apply current legal frameworks to non-fiat currencies such as NFTs since these assets are not standardized and cannot be exchanged. This makes it difficult to apply existing legal frameworks. Those in charge of regulation are presented with a challenge as a result of this. The phrase “crypto assets” refers to non-fungible tokens that cannot be traded for other currencies and is an exception to this norm. BaFin is under the impression that non-financial transactions will not be in conformity with the licensing requirements outlined in the Payment Services Supervision Act, nor will they be subject to BaFin’s supervision regarding the prevention of money laundering. This is due to the fact that non-bank financial transactions are not regulated in the same manner that payment services are.

Notwithstanding the difficulties that are associated with recognizing them, non-fungible tokens are becoming an increasingly popular category of digital collectibles. This is despite the fact that identifying them may be difficult. The majority of non-fungible token (NFT) collectors acquire NFTs for reasons related to status, distinctiveness, and aesthetics rather than with the purpose of utilizing them as an investment, according to research that was undertaken by the metaverse site Metajuice. As the market for non-traditional assets (NFTs) continues to increase, the legal frameworks that control it will need to change in order to provide investors and collectors a higher degree of transparency and protection. This will be necessary in order to accommodate the market’s growing size.

Source

Bitpanda is Germany’s first “European retail” crypto platform.

by Blockchain NewsNovember 23, 2022

The news that Bitpanda has secured a cryptocurrency custody license from the German financial organization known as BaFin was published in a post on the company’s official blog, where the announcement was made.

Following the acquisition of this license, the cryptocurrency exchange that maintains its headquarters in Austria is now legally authorized to market its services to individuals who are located in Germany.

In addition to this, Bitpanda said that they were the first retail bitcoin exchange to be founded in Europe to achieve this particular distinction.

As a direct consequence of the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, people are paying more attention to cryptocurrency exchanges that do not have any rules and operate outside of a country’s jurisdiction.

Because of this, a significant number of exchangers are working toward obtaining licenses in various nations so that they can provide evidence that they are a trustworthy business.

Bitpanda is now legally regulated in the country of Sweden, joining the ranks of other countries like as Austria, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Spain. The number of nations in which Bitpanda is legally regulated has increased with the acquisition of this new license.

In the bitcoin sector, there were already four other businesses that have the license before Coinbase, Kapilendo, Tangany, and Upvest were able to secure it for themselves.

Bitpanda claims that it is the first “European” retail bitcoin platform to acquire the license since its headquarters are located in Austria. This is because Austria is considered to be part of Europe.

Since the collapse of FTX, the subject of how to give licenses to and otherwise govern cryptocurrency exchanges has been at the forefront of public conversation. Specifically, the question is whether or not cryptocurrency exchanges should be licensed at all.

According to Jon Cunliffe, who is the deputy governor of the Bank of England, the BoE plans to set up a “regulatory sandbox” in order to establish how to successfully supervise exchanges in order to discover how to properly oversee exchanges. In addition, the Senate of the United States has started conducting hearings to study efficient methods to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges. These hearings are being held as part of an ongoing investigation.

Source

Tagged : Bafin / Bitpanda / Europe / FTX / German / Germany

Coinbase Ordered by BaFin to Ensure Proper Business Reorganization

by Blockchain NewsNovember 8, 2022

The German offshoot of American cryptocurrency trading firm, Coinbase Global Inc has been ordered by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority known as BaFin to ensure it achieves a proper business organization.

For the order that came into effect at the end of October became necessary as the regulator said it found a number of inconsistencies in some aspects of the company’s operations when it conducted an audit of its financial statement.

BaFin specifically noted that Coinbase is directly violating the standards put forth by the German Banking Act.

The press release issued by the regulator made reference to Section 25a (1) of the Act, a provision that mandates companies to maintain adequate risk management procedures. Additionally, the section of the law also requires firms tagged as GmbH to maintain adequate staffing, as well as putting adequate emergency processes bordering on its information technology system and employee remuneration.

“An audit of the annual financial statements revealed organizational deficiencies at the institute. The regularity of the business organization was not given in all audited areas,” the regulator noted in its statement.

Germany remains one of the countries with robust and clear regulations for the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Despite its positive leanings toward the crypto ecosystem, Germany has maintained a cautious stance alongside other economies in a bid to protect investors from uncertainties that are tied to the nascent crypto ecosystem as seen by the collapse of many crypto heavyweights including Celsius Network, Voyager Digital and Three Arrows Capital (3AC) amongst others.

Coinbase was licensed by BaFin to provide custody-related services last year, marking one of the exchange’s ambitious pushes into the European Union. With the major correction on its internal controls and risk management measures, Coinbase Germany will have to heed the BaFin’s directives in a bid to continue serving its customers in the country.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : Bafin / Coinbase / COINBASE GERMANY / Regulation

DLT Finance Receives BaFin Licenses to Launch Trading Platform for Digital Assets

by Blockchain NewsMay 18, 2022

DLT Finance Group, a financial services company, based in Frankfurt, Germany, announced on Tuesday that it has received nine BaFin licenses that gave its approval to launch a digital asset platform targeting global financial institutions.

With the regulatory approval, the digital asset platform now offers a wide variety of regulated digital asset services, including brokerage, trading, custody, staking, and DeFi protocols.

DLT Finance disclosed that its new suite of digital asset solutions includes the following: prime brokerage, direct market access to a dozen liquidity venues, OTC Trading, deposits and withdrawals of crypto for instant trading, crypto custody, facilitation of relevant compliance processes, staking, and access to DeFi and liquidity mining, as well as borrowing and lending.

DLT Finance stated that it designed the digital asset platform to cater to institutional clients’ needs, such as banks, brokers, asset managers, and crypto exchanges, among others.

DLT Finance revealed that it has already partnered with major firms within the digital asset space, including Kraken, Bitstamp, B2C2, and Bittrex.

DLT Finance empowers its customers with one API to seamlessly integrate crypto products into their platforms through its platform.

The unique BaFin licensing arrangement offers an innovative regulatory solution for digital asset markets. DLT Finance said that its customers no longer need their own license, as they can trade legally and securely with the company.

The digital asset platform acts as an institutional counterparty where clients can trade on leading liquidity venues and choose from financial commission brokerage, OTC and direct market access. Customers can also stake assets directly from their custody and access to liquidity mining pools and the world of DeFi.

Furthermore, DLT Finance mentioned its digital asset platform facilitates regulatory compliance of digital asset custody for its clients, offers custom solutions for crypto derivatives, and issuance and placement for tokenized or traditional securities. The platform is streamlined with API access and direct online banking integration.

While existing solutions only facilitate closed-end systems, DLT Finance empowers its customers to create an open system in which assets can be directly deposited and withdrawn. Such developments are set to improve access and regulatory cover for digital assets significantly, thus attracting new participants into the crypto landscape.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : Bafin / DLT FINANCE / Enterprise / Licenses / Trading

DLT Finance Receives BaFin Licenses to Launch Trading Platform for Digital Assets

by Blockchain NewsMay 18, 2022

With the regulatory approval, the digital asset platform now offers a wide variety of regulated digital asset services, including brokerage, trading, custody, staking, and DeFi protocols.

DLT Finance stated that it designed the digital asset platform to cater to institutional clients’ needs, such as banks, brokers, asset managers, and crypto exchanges, among others.

DLT Finance revealed that it has already partnered with major firms within the digital asset space, including Kraken, Bitstamp, B2C2, and Bittrex.

DLT Finance empowers its customers with one API to seamlessly integrate crypto products into their platforms through its platform.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : Bafin / DLT FINANCE / Enterprise / Licenses / Trading

Germany’s Financial Regulator Warns Binance Over Stock Token Offering

by Blockchain NewsApril 29, 2021

Germany’s federal financial supervisory authority, BaFin, has warned Binance crypto exchange about the risk of being fined for offering tokenized stock trading service without first publishing an investor prospectus.

Germany’s financial regulator has said that it has reasonable evidence for suspecting Binance may be violating the nation’s securities laws with regards to the exchange’s recently announced stock tokens service.

On Monday, April 26, Binance made an announcement that it offers stock tokens, priced and settled in the form of the exchange’s own cryptocurrency (Binance BUSD stablecoin), thus giving investors exposure to Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., and MicroStrategy Inc. shares.

However, the announcement as reported by the Financial Times raised eyebrows across Europe’s regulatory ecosystem, including Germany. This is because Binance’s offering is facilitated through a partnership with German financial service company CM-Equity, which is licensed in the nation.

On Wednesday, April 27, the German regulator stated that there seemed to be no prospectus on the exchange’s website for the Coinbase, Tesla, and MicroStrategy issues, which is a violation of European Union securities laws that could result in Binance, as an issuer, being fined 5 million euros ($6.04 million) or 3% of last year’s turnover.

BaFin’s notice mentioned a company by the name “Binance Germany GmbH & Co. KG,” which the regulator stated that it suspects providing securities in the form of shares token with the terms MSTR / BUSD, COIN / BUSD, and TSLA / BUSD without the required prospectus on the website.

However, the regulator did not mention CM-equity in the notice.

BaFin did not specify what steps it would take next, but the notice highlights potential punishments for violations of the prospectus rule.

Binance has not given immediate comment on the announcement.

New Era of Stock Trading on Crypto Exchanges

Crypto exchanges are entering the tokenized stock trading space by allowing their users to purchase fractions of publicly-traded companies’ shares. For example, Binance has followed the steps of its competitors such as Bittrex Global and FTX to introduce such service with tokenized stocks.

The move is set to make stocks of publicly traded companies be traded as tokens on crypto exchanges so that users can purchase fractional shares using cryptocurrencies. Tesla and MicroStrategy are some of the prominent firms that have made some moves in the rapidly growing crypto space. The development has assisted in boosting Bitcoin’s price and even put the bigger spotlight on cryptocurrencies.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : Bafin / Binance / EUROPEAN SECURITIES RULES / Exchanges / STOCK TOKEN OFFERING