Former CFTC Chairman Calling For Advance Crypto Regulations

It has been reported that the former chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) during the administration of President Barack Obama is calling for an enhanced regulations on cryptocurrencies.

This was revealed during his published report for the Brooking institution dubbed as “It’s time to strengthen regulations of crypto-assets” addressing topics of better regulations, illicit use of cryptocurrencies, as well as measures to reduce risk unique to the said emerging asset class.

The reports states that there is a gap in the regulations of crypto assets as traditional standards required for securities and derivatives intermediaries are not applied to cryptocurrency trading platforms.

It suggests that these gaps contributed to make the crypto space vulnerable to fraud, manipulations, conflict of interest and weak investor protection.

The former CFTC chairman suggest that the U.S. Congress should address regulatory clarity by developing oversight of the cash market for crypto assets, trading platforms and other intermediaries that operate in the market.

First Bitcoin ATM In Dubai Spotted

The first ATM in Dubai has been spotted at the Dubai hotel and wellness center Rixos Premum Dubai JBR.

While this is great news for cryptocurrency users in the country the functionality of the machine is limited as users can only make deposits only but not withdrawals.

A key feature of the machine is its ability to dispense Bitcoin even without undergoing KYC, however, withdrawals is a different story as users will be required to show ID when withdrawals are activated in the machines.

According to the CEO of Amhora, the company that owns the Bitcoin ATM the feature of withdrawing will be available in a couple of months.

Amhora is fully licensed by the Department of Economic Development and will charge around 5% commission on purchases.

While it may seem a high premium, it must be noted that this pales in comparison on what Coinbase is charging its customers and the average Bitcoin ATM surcharges 7.5%.

Binance Lite Partners With Newsagents In Australia To Sell Bitcoin

According to an online local news outlet Binance will be expanding its Binance Lite service to enable Australians to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) at newsagents across the country.

With this new partnership citizens will be able to purchase digital currency with fiat money from more than 1,300 supported newsagents.

Currently the only supported cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, other digital assets will be supported in a later date.

Buyers who wants to buy Bitcoin through the newsagents will have to pass account verification, KYC and AMLA procedures, and will also have to pay a 5% fee for the operation.

It seems that Binance has been beefing up fiat on-ramps on its operations in recent months opening several fiat-to-crypto exchanges in several continents and enabling users on its platform to purchase with credit cards.

Binance lite is a new business unit that is piloted in Australia, it would not be a surprise if the crypto exchange giant will expand this new business unit elsewhere if proven successful.

Japan Recalibrating Its Rules On Crypto Margin Trading

In a move that is described to standardize the cryptocurrency marketplace, Japan’s cabinet has approved a draft series of changes to the country’s laws governing financial instruments and payment services.

According to report by an online news outlet the draft amendments will limit the use of leverage in crypto market trading at two to four times initial deposits.

In addition to the new limitation exchanges that handle margin trading will have to obtain a new government registration as well.

The new moves of the government are being reported to be part of the country’s first legal framework that recognizes cryptocurrency as legal tender.

The new rules will be implemented on April 2020 and exchanges who are affected by the new rules will have 18 months to comply.

Visa Is Looking For A Crypto Product Manager

The American multinational financial services company, Visa has posted an advertisement at an online recruiting platform looking for a product manager on the Visa Crypto Team.

According to their advertisement it is looking for someone that does not only know how to develop blockchain technology but is someone who is passionate about the intersection of payments and cryptocurrencies.

In addition to this the product manager will not be working on Visa crypto products alone, the candidate will have to manage a crypto team and report to Visa head of crypto.

It seems that Visa has finally realize the value of cryptocurrencies and the importance of being able to evolve in the rapidly changing financial market industry.

2019 it seems to be shaping up as the year cryptocurrencies are going mainstream with traditional financial and Tech giants are now going into the nascent industry.

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