Latest news with #MarketsinCryptoAssets
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Exchange Bybit Granted MiCA License in Austria
Crypto exchange Bybit has been granted a license in Austria in compliance with Europe's framework for dealing in digital assets, the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regime, according to the website of the local regulator FMA. Europe's new MiCA rules came into force at the start of this year, prompting firms to select the most appropriate member state to base operations and passport services across the 27-country trading block. Austria is also the MiCA home base of crypto trading firm Bitpanda which also holds a licence in Germany. Founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Ben Zhou, Bybit, which has risen to become the second largest exchange by volume according to CoinMarketCap, is based in Dubai having moved its headquarters from Singapore in 2022. In February 2025, the exchange was hacked resulting in the loss of $1.5 billion in assets in the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. Bybit did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK's Delayed Regulation Hurts Plan to Be Global Crypto Hub, Executives Say: CNBC
The U.K. needs to work harder at becoming a global center for the crypto industry to avoid falling behind countries like the U.S., industry executives told CNBC. The country has been saying it wants to be a crypto hub since 2022, before the current Labour government was elected, yet only this week did it start seeking comments on draft legislation for the industry. The European Union, meanwhile, has already implemented its Markets in Crypto Assets legislation (MiCA), which provides a uniform regime across the bloc, and the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump is promoting the industry and relaxing regulation. 'If I look at the speed of innovation, I do feel that the U.S. is ahead — although they have their own challenges. But look at Singapore, Hong Kong — again, you see much more rapid innovation,' Jaidev Janardana, the CEO of digital bank Zopa, told CNBC. 'I think we are still ahead of the EU, but we can't remain complacent with that.' Trump, for his part, has been urging departments to make crypto-friendly policies, and stablecoin legislation is working its way through the Senate. The stablecoin sector could surge 10-fold to reach $2 trillion within three years following the passage of the legislation, Standard Chartered has forecast. 'Other jurisdictions have started to seize the opportunity,' said Cassie Craddock, the managing director for U.K. and Europe at blockchain firm Ripple, in an interview with CNBC. Mark Fairless, CEO of payments infrastructure firm ClearBank, said his business has been looking to develop its own stablecoin and has been held back by the lack of regulatory clarity. Stablecoins are 'part of our medium-term, longer-term strategy,' Fairless told CNBC. 'We see ourselves well set up for that.' However, he added, a ClearBank stablecoin will be possible only once there's clarity from U.K. regulators including the Bank of England. Still, the country hasn't entirely missed the bus. "The U.K. is still that great place to set up. We have all the ingredients there, because we've got the ecosystem, we do have this talent setting up new businesses," Lisa Jacobs, CEO of business lending platform Funding Circle, said. "But it needs to continue. We can't rest on our laurels." 'I think the U.K. will get it right — but there is a risk if you get it wrong that you drive innovation to other markets,' Keith Grose, Coinbase's U.K. head, told in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ECB, European Commission Clash on MiCA Changes Over U.S. Crypto Policies: Report
The European Central Bank is seeking changes to the European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets legislation (MiCA) just months after the regulation took effect because it's concerned U.S. support for crypto could lead to economic damage in the 27-nation bloc, Politico reported Tuesday. The bank is demanding a rewrite of MiCA, whose stablecoin provisions came into force last June and which took full effect at the end of last year, a position that brings it into conflict with the European Commission, Politico reported, citing a policy paper. Neither the ECB nor the commission responded to a CoinDesk request for comment. The central bank is concerned U.S. legislation currently working through Congress, such as the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy Act (STABLE) and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS) could see the influence of dollar-backed stablecoins growing further. The stablecoin sector could surge 10-fold to reach $2 trillion within three years following the passage of the legislation, Standard Chartered forecast. At an April 14 meeting with top officials from EU governments to discuss U.S. support for crypto, the ECB circulated a document that argued that MiCA needed a serious re-think, Politico said, citing two diplomats and an EU official who were not identified. It was not a popular position. "Not very many [countries] supported the idea that we should now jump the gun and start making quick changes in [the rules] based on this alone,' one of the diplomats said. The Commission argued that it was still 'too early' to judge the effect the U.S. crypto environment would have on EU financial stability and only one global stablecoin has been authorized under the new rules. Circle, issuer of USDC, the second-largest stablecoin, snagged the first stablecoin license under MiCA in July last year. 'The risks arising from such global stablecoins seem to be overstated and are manageable under the existing legal framework,' the Commission said in a document distributed at the meeting. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tether, Circle to Face Intense Competition as TradFi Enters the Arena, Fireblocks Says
The competition for stablecoin dominance is entering a third phase and companies such as Tether, issuer of the largest token, and Circle, the No. 2, are setting up their positions as the industry faces increased regulation in the form of the European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regime and U.S. legislation that is working its way through Congress, according to digital asset cryptography and custody specialists Fireblocks. This latest stage will feature banks, large and small, as well as incumbent payment firms that are weighing up the best way to integrate the tokens into their existing businesses, according to Ran Goldi, SVP of payments at Fireblocks. Stablecoins, blockchain-based tokens that mimic U.S. dollars for the most part, have become big business. Tether's USDT is the clear leader, with a market cap close to $145 billion. Circle's USDC has over $60 billion in circulation and the company is considering a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The stablecoin market could grow to $2 trillion by the end of 2028, Standard Chartered said in a Tuesday note. 'We are going to see banks issuing stablecoins, as they are under MiCA,' Goldi said in an interview. 'You are seeing financial institutions that are fintechs entering such as Robinhood, Ripple and Revolut. By the end of this year, you are going to see maybe 50 more stablecoins." The industry has already passed through two stages, Goldi said. The first occurred when USDC went up against U.S. regulated trading firm Paxos, which had partnered with crypto exchange Binance to issue BUSD. For regulatory reasons Paxos had to drop BUSD and so Circle won that round, Goldi said, adding that Paxos' new USDG consortium is growing in stature and likely to play a major role in the future. The second stage was between Circle and Tether. 'USDC was trying to be bigger than USDT, but then USDC tumbled a bit with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank etc. It was harder for people to accept that product, especially people outside the U.S. Meanwhile USDT has really grown tremendously. I think USDT will remain the dominant dollar stablecoin outside of the U.S. I believe Circle will have to put up a really good fight, which they've done in the past and are very good at doing.' It's worth noting, though, that USDC is licensed under MiCA, giving it access to 27 EU nations with a total population of about 450 million people. USDT is not. Stablecoins grew to prominence as an essential way of moving money between volatile cryptocurrencies, meeting a particular need given the industry's shortage of fiat on and off ramps. Dollar-pegged coins of various sorts blossomed further with the explosion of decentralized finance (DeFi). Looking further back, the early days of crypto show an evolution of payment service providers (PSPs), starting with those who wanted to use cryptocurrencies to settle their bills. This was followed by a second wave of business-to-business PSPs like Bridge, recently acquired by Stripe, and Zero Hash, Alfred Pay, Conduit and others. 'Some of these PSPs are firms you may not have heard much about, but they are actually moving billions in stablecoins, servicing businesses to pay to other businesses most of the time,' Goldi said. He pointed out that less than 20% of Fireblocks' total transaction volume was stablecoins in 2020, increasing to some 54% last year. For a typical use case, consider an importer in Brazil that wants to bring in a container and pay someone in Turkey or in Singapore. It takes the Brazilian reals, converts them to a stablecoin, and either sends the funds directly to the exporter or changes them to the destination currency and pays with that, Goldi said. Some banks have already caught on to the cross-border payments use case, with the likes of Braza Bank in Brazil, BTG Bank and DBS in Singapore catering to business clients with accounts that support stablecoins. Others are still weighing the best use case for them. 'We have been approached by dozens of banks,' Goldi said. 'They are asking whether they should be on/off ramps, or holding reserves, or perhaps they are thinking about issuing a stablecoin. There are several things banks can do to make money out of stablecoins, from credit to on/off ramps to FX.' Based on those conversations, Goldi said he believes most of the banks are writing strategic plans that will probably be submitted by the end of this quarter. 'It will be interesting to see if banks build something on their own, or use BNY Mellon, for instance, that serves banks, or a vendor like Fireblocks. I think the large tier-1 banks like JPMorgan, Citi and Morgan Stanley will build their own tech, while the tier-2 banks will want to use some hosted tech provider,' Goldi said. 'Of course they are banks and they move slowly, so I think they would be looking to approve those plans by the end of this year and perhaps do something in 2026."
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ukraine Considers Up to 23% Personal Income Tax on Crypto in Newly Proposed Tax Scheme
Ukraine's top financial regulator is floating the idea of taxing cryptocurrency as personal income, with possible carveouts for certain foreign asset-backed stablecoins, under a newly proposed taxation matrix published on Tuesday. In a translated letter introducing the potential new approach, Ruslan Magomedov, head of Ukraine's National Securities and Stock Market Commission, said that effective tax policy is a necessary step in preventing financial abuse and facilitating the 'legal and responsible use of digital assets.' 'Establishing fair and understandable taxation rules is also a prerequisite for attracting investment and integrating the Ukrainian virtual asset market into the global financial market,' Magomedov added. Under the NSSMC's suggested tax scheme, certain crypto transactions — essentially those in which non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies are cashed out for fiat currency or exchanged for goods or services, and during which there were no financial losses from the transaction — would be taxed at Ukraine's standard personal income tax rate of 18%, plus the additional 5% wartime levy that went into effect last December. Crypto-to-crypto transactions would not be subject to taxation under the proposed tax matrix, which is in line with how several other European countries including Austria and France, as well as crypto-friendly jurisdictions like Singapore, handle crypto taxation. Because Ukraine's tax code exempts any income generated from transactions with foreign exchange values from being taxed, the NSSMC suggested 'it makes sense to consider a preferential rate or exemption from taxation' for foreign asset-backed stablecoins and certain asset-referenced tokens (ARTs). The suggested preferential tax rate under the matrix could be either 5% or 9%. The matrix also offered a variety of taxation options for other types of crypto transactions, including mining, which the NSSMC suggested could be considered a 'business activity'; staking, which the regulator said could either be 'considered as business captive income' or taxed only at the cash-out stage; as well as hard-forks and airdrops, which the regulator said could either be taxed as ordinary income or only at the cash-out stage. Ukraine had previously introduced a draft law similarly amending the country's tax code to cover cryptocurrency in 2023. A 2024 analysis from Swiss blockchain analytics firm Global Ledger found that Ukraine could stand to collect over $200 million in annual taxes from crypto transactions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky officially legalized the country's cryptocurrency sector in 2022, determining the industry's regulators and giving them the go-ahead to create specific regulations. The National Bank of Ukraine is currently working on a draft law based on the European Union's (EU) Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation. Ukraine has been a candidate for EU membership since 2022. CoinDesk reached out to the NSSMC for a comment. Sign in to access your portfolio
