Europe

European Finance Regulators Call for Bloc-Wide Crypto Rules: Two major European regulators have separately called for cryptocurrency and ICO rules at the EU level. Firstly, the European Banking Authority (EBA), a regulatory agency of the EU, has urged the European Commission to examine whether unified crypto rules are needed across the region. In a report the EBA said that crypto asset-related activities do not currently fall under existing EU financial laws and, as these activities are “highly risky,” appropriate rules need to be put in place to protect investors. The EBA has, therefore, asked the commission to carry out a “comprehensive” analysis to determine what action may be required at the EU level.

UK Government Responds To Treasury Committee’s Crypto Report: The UK government and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have released their responses to the Treasury Select Committee’s crypto-assets report. In its response, the UK government said that it stands ready to empower the FCA to oversee all cryptocurrency assets. The government added that it will issue a consultation in early 2019 to further explore whether and how exchange tokens and related firms, such as exchanges and wallet providers, could be regulated effectively.

British Regulators Ruminate on Crypto Rules While Standing Firm on Crypto Taxation: A significant crypto market slump has brought concern and alarm, but also some unexpected side benefits. One such benefit comes from how financial regulators in the United Kingdom now appear sufficiently relaxed about crypto and its growth that they can take their time to carefully consider fair regulation. Without the pressures of a rapidly climbing crypto market, statements from officials have suggested that they will now avoid hastily implementing legislation — and as a result, the cryptocurrency industry in Britain will ultimately benefit from rules that protect customers and innovation alike.

Ireland’s Anti-Money Laundering Bill Tackles Use Of Cryptocurrencies In Terrorism: The Irish Cabinet has approved a new bill designed to tackle money laundering, including the use of cryptocurrencies in funding terrorism. The bill, called the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2019, would give effect to the European Union (EU) Fifth Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive, which came into force on July 9, 2018. Under the new directive, Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) will be allowed access to information which will enable them to associate cryptocurrency addresses to the identity of the owner of the cryptocurrency. The goal of the EU directive is to prevent risks associated with the use of cryptocurrencies for terrorist financing and to ensure increased transparency of financial transactions.

French Parliament Refuses to Ease Taxation for Cryptocurrency Owners: The lower house of the French parliament has rejected the amendments to the 2019 finance bill which would ease crypto-related taxation. The amendments that have been declined by the National Assembly referred to a draft of the government finance bill for 2019. As explained by local crypto news outlet Bitcoin.fr, the parliament rejected four proposals in total. One of them was to introduce a distinction between regular crypto transactions and occasional ones, offering a more relaxed taxation system for the latter. Another amendment proposed to increase the annual volume of transactions that falls under tax exemption from 305 euro (around $350) to 3,000 euro ($3,430), or even 5,000 euro ($5,714). The National Assembly also declined the proposal to follow the current guidelines for securities when introducing crypto taxation.

60 Minutes Report: Malta Seeks to Refashion Itself As a Mecca for Blockchain and Crypto Tech: In a “60 Minutes” segment that aired on Sunday, journalists cast a critical eye on Malta, the smallest nation in the European Union and hub to the world’s fast-moving tech sectors: blockchain, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. Dubbed “Blockchain Island”, Malta has established itself as an attractive springboard for blockchain startups as well as cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, OKEx and BitBay. To become a popular destination for blockchain entrepreneurs, the government has mapped out a clear regulatory framework where others have been less clear or outright murky.

HIVE Blockchain Criticizes Norway’s New Crypto Mining Regulation: HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. has provided an update regarding the company’s response to recent regulatory changes proposed by the Norwegian Parliament. Last month, the Norwegian Parliament approved a legislative bill that cryptocurrency miners will no longer be subject to tax relief on power consumption at the same rate as other power-intensive industries. This change, which is included in the state budget for 2019, is expected to take effect in March of this year.

Italian Financial Regulator Issues Cease And Desist Order Against Crypto Startup Avacrypto: The National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange (CONSOB), Italy’s financial regulator, has issued a cease-and-desist order against cryptocurrency startup Avacrypto for offering unauthorized investment services. Avacrypto allegedly offered its services to the Italian public while not registered with any European regulator as a licensed broker. Avacrypto’s website is currently not accessible.

Denmark’s Tax Agency Seals Authority to Collect Data from Three Crypto Exchanges: Denmark’s Tax Authority has been authorized by the country’s Tax Council to obtain information regarding all trades of cryptocurrencies across three domestic crypto exchanges. The authorization means that three unspecified Danish crypto exchanges now have legal disclosure obligations to hand over identity information that includes names, addresses and personal tax numbers, as well as details of all crypto transactions made on their platforms between Jan. 1 2016 to Dec. 31 2018. According to the announcement, the first adjustments to tax treatment for specific cases will be made based on the newly-acquired information, and are reportedly due to be sent before summer 2019. These will reportedly include whether individual traders’ or businesses’ trades are required to be included in their declared taxable income.

Bulgarian Revenue Agency Announces Inspection of Cryptocurrency-Selling Companies: The Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA) has announced the launch of inspections of cryptocurrency-selling companies. The objective of the investigation is to assure compliance with tax and social security regulation, as the agency is reportedly worried about the use of crypto-assets for revenue concealment and tax evasion.