Ombudsman affiliation requirement: new limitations On 25 September 2020, Parliament adopted the Federal Act on the Adaptation of Federal Law to Developments in Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT bill), with the aim to keep Switzerland a leading, innovative and sustainable location in the blockchain and DLT sector. As part of the parliamentary deliberations on the DLT,...Read More

Swiss crypto banks jostle to be the first to go live, and promise to do so as early as in a few months’ time. But even if they may be close to their goal, they still face hurdles and delays remain a distinct possibility. Seba, a Zug-based crypto firm, landed a double coup yesterday. Not...Read More

Cyprus to bring all cryptoasset dealings under money laundering rules The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has issued proposals to bring virtual currency and cryptoasset activities under the ambit of the jurisdiction’s anti-money laundering (AML) regime, in line with the provisions of the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD). However, CySEC intends to ‘gold-plate’...Read More

FCA moves towards towards crypto regulation UK’s financial watchdog is consulting on guidance as it begins the process of defining which cryptoassets it will be responsible for regulating in a market that poses “substantial risks to consumers”. Following pressure from Parliament, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a comprehensive consultation on how regulation should be applied...Read More

Crypto assets face EU-wide regulation The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has called for the establishment of an EU-wide approach to the regulation of crypto assets and initial coin offerings (ICOs), without which it believes investors are “exposed to substantial risks”. In addition, the pan-European regulator has called for crypto assets and related activity...Read More