Crypto regulation in the world: weekly digest
Africa
Bank of Central African States (BCAS), which is a central bank for Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo, is preparing to launch its own digital currency and asks member states to prepare for its launch.
The board of the Bank sent out an email demanding regional banks to prepare for the introduction of digital currency and modernize payment structures in order to increase access to financial services in the region.
Previously, the Central Bank of Nigeria became one of the world’s first to launch its own CBDC called eNaira, while the Reserve Bank of South Africa continues to explore the use of CBDC through its Project Khokha.
The Central African Republic, which became a second country in the world after El Salvador, which recognized Bitcoin as a national currency, and also issued a token Sango Coin, did not announce its widh to implement the CBDC of the regional central bank.
If initially there were talks of some kind of a misunderstanding and even conflict between the country and the Bank of Central African States, this week, on the contrary, the Central African Republic requested assistance in creating a national regulatory framework ащк digital assets. BCAS in its message notes that the CAR thus confirmed its commitment to the charter of the regional group.
With such a request, the CAR may demonstrate its readiness to end the confrontation that began with the announcement of Bitcoin as a national currency on a par with the CFA franc. That decision was met with great skepticism, and even IMF was forced to remind the authorities of the country about risks associated with such a decision.
Europe
The British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has approved stricter rules to combat misleading advertising of financial instruments and services, however, these changes did not affect cryptocurrencies.
The FCA is still waiting for the UK government to empower it to regulate cryptocurrency market. Once this is done, the FCA will also expand the rules to crypto advertising. It was said in a statement that cryptocurrencies are still high-risk investment products, so people should be aware of the possibility of losing their savings if they decide to invest in crypto assets.
New, stricter rules to advertise risky investment products require companies to make sure that advertising does not mislead consumers and potential customers understand the full extent of the responsibility.
Previously, many international financial regulators, as well as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in their analytical reviews paid special attention to the need to carefully control the advertising of crypto assets and related services with them.
This week, the European regulator (ESMA) announced that it plans to pay more attention to the control of the cryptocurrency sector. To do this, new measures for the supervision of transactions in this industry will be created. ESMA is primarily looking for ways to control over-the-counter and spot transactions, as well as cryptocurrency transactions. derivatives. The press service of the organization issued a statement saying that they are counting market’s professionals help in developing these legislation changes.
USA
Another bill to regulate crypto assets has been introduced in the US. This time, it is proposed to transfer the exclusive right to regulate crypto transactions to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The proposed Digital Goods Consumer Protection Act should provide a definition of a “digital good” that would include cryptocurrencies and not include other digital assets that may fall under the definition of a security.
In the United States, there have long been disputes about whether cryptocurrency is a commodity or a security. Clear definitions will provide the industry with greater clarity on the rules of operation and understanding of its responsibilities. The bill also gives the CFTC the power to define the concept of digital goods and assets.
At the moment, it is still not clear in the United States who will be a watchdog in the world of digital assets - the CFTC or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which considers that crypto exchanges and many crypto assets should be regulated as traditional securities.
We continue to highlight the news of the world of crypto regulation worldwide. Stay tuned for the latest news!