News und Insights

It is official now: The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), legislation that will guide the crypto sector in all 27 European Union member states. 517 parliament members voted for it, while 38 voted against it. This approval makes Europe the first continent with comprehensive rules for cryptocurrencies. Also, it means that all EU member states will have unified crypto regulations. So, if a crypto business is approved in one EU member country, it could easily expand operations to another member state. The EU’s milestone was lauded by Binance as well as Kraken and Coinbase.

On April 12, 2023, Ethereum successfully executed the planned Shanghai update also known as Shapella. The upgrade allows validators to unstake their staked ETH and withdraw their rewards, as well as staked ether if chosen. Now that another level of uncertainty has waned for the biggest smart contract blockchain, this new feature could attract more investors to stake their ether.

The world’s leading crypto exchange by volume, Binance, alongside its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, and ex-Chief Compliance Officer, Samuel Lim, are being sued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Liechtenstein verfügt über eine langjährige Tradition in den Bereichen Banking und Asset-Management. Seit dem EWR-Beitritt im Jahr 1995 hat sich der liechtensteinische Finanzplatz sukzessive als fachkundige Anlaufstelle für Promotoren von kollektiven Anlagestrukturen auf dem europäischen Finanzmarkt etabliert.

One of the top stablecoins by market cap, USD Coin (USDC), de-pegged briefly from the US dollar on March 11 following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Circle, the stablecoin’s issuer, held $3.3 billion in USDC reserves with the bank, which caused panic as investors rushed to withdraw their funds, assuming USDC could implode because of insufficient backing. However, the amount represented less than 8% of the stablecoin’s reserves.

Ethereum stakers have been eagerly awaiting the Shanghai upgrade, which will enable them to withdraw their staked ether. Stakers’ funds have been locked since Ethereum introduced the proof-of-stake Beacon Chain in December 2020. The upgrade was originally slated to take place sometime in March but was pushed by about two weeks to April during a recent execution layer meeting.

Following the infamous events of 2022, US regulators are turning up the heat on crypto services and products in 2023. One of the services they have targeted recently is custodial crypto staking, a process whereby customers have a financial service provider lock up their coins with a blockchain protocol over a certain period of time in exchange for rewards. This comes as no surprise since the SEC’s chairman, Gary Gensler, previously said that crypto staking looks very similar to lending. US crypto exchanges that offer this service are, therefore, in the SEC’s line of fire.