A New York-based cryptocurrency firm recently announced that it will apply for a clearing agency license from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and hopes to secure registration in 2021. A clearing agency is an intermediary that facilitates the settlement of a trade between a buyer and a seller. Current settlement systems take two days to settle a trade. The crypto firm's announcement follows its same-day trade settlement pilot test. This is reportedly the first live application of blockchain technology for equities markets in the United States. Reports state that, in February, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation said reducing the settlement time to one day would reduce market risk and lower margin requirements, especially during particularly volatile market conditions.
A group of major companies has formed the Crypto Council for Innovation to lobby policymakers. The council's stated mission is to demonstrate the "transformational promise of crypto and communicate its benefits to policymakers, regulators, and people around the globe." The council reportedly plans to appoint a board that would include each of the four initial members and add an executive team.
The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it will increase its anti-money laundering supervision by expanding the types of companies that have to submit a special financial crime log to the FCA (known as REP-CRIM reports) to include cryptocurrency firms. The FCA stated that this will increase the number of reporting companies from 2,500 to 7,000 and brings the cryptocurrency sector further into line with banks and other finance firms. Companies that have been added to the list of reporting companies are required to start submitting financial crime reports in their first annual report after January 2022.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Cryptocurrency firm Paxos to apply for clearing agency license
- Fidelity, Coinbase, Square form crypto council to lobby policy makers
- FCA Extends AML Reporting Rules To Crypto-Asset Firms
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