San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has formed a political action committee San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider Coinbase has created its own political action committee (PAC), according to documents made public today, July 20. In the U.S., PACs are organizations that pool campaign contributions from members with similar policy and political goals and subsequently donate them to political campaigns for or against candidates, legislation, or ballot initiatives. PACs must register with the Federal Election Commission.  Following the 2010 Supreme Court case of Citizens United v. FEC, PACs became the subject of some controversy, as some see them as means for corporate or union donors to contribute massive sums to political campaigns. In Citizens United, provisions that prohibited corporate or union political expenditure in political campaigns were overturned, making it legal for such entities to spend money from their general treasuries to finance political campaigns. Such organizations are still prohibited from contributing directly to federal candidate campaigns, and therefore must rely on PACs. PACs must also abstain from coordinating any actions or materials with candidates. In some cases however, coordination has occurred. As of June 30, Coinbase has not raised any money through the PAC. Coinbase has reportedly secured a $20 billion hedge fund for its custody service. People familiar with the matter told Business Insider that Coinbase is also looking to partner with other large hedge funds, ostensibly in a move to offer financing by the end of the year. Professor of law at Cornell University Robert Hockett said the decision to launch prime brokerage services is likely to catch the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): "This raises conflict concerns, given Coinbase's also running a coin exchange, reminiscent of those that the Commission has found when securities firms have attempted to combine these two roles." Earlier this month, Coinbase launched custodial solutions for institutional investors in digital assets. “Coinbase Custody,” which was first revealed in late 2017, seeks to address the security concerns of institutional investors. […]

The Financial Stability Council of Ukraine supported a regulatory concept for crypto regulation, recognizing cryptocurrencies and tokens as financial instruments The Financial Stability Council of Ukraine has supported a concept for crypto regulations, Timur Khromaev, head of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (SSMCS) reported in a Facebook post July 20. According to Khromaev, the concept involves recognizing cryptocurrencies and tokens as financial instruments, establishes the roles and functions of governmental bodies in regulating those instruments, in addition to licensing transaction participants, defining information disclosure conditions, and other factors. The Financial Stability Council comprises of the Governor the National Bank of Ukraine, the Minister of Finance, heads of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission and the National Commission for State Regulation of Financial Services Markets, and Managing Director of the Deposit Guarantee Fund. They are tasked with detecting and minimizing risks to the stability of the national financial and banking systems. Decisions made by the council are recommendatory.   Khromaev commented that the move is “an important first step in building a consensus among government agencies and financial regulators,” which confirms the commitment to cooperate with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the development of legislation and a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. The NSSMC head added that the framework aims to ensure transparency and a high level of interaction between “investors and crypto market participants.” The concept of recognizing cryptocurrencies as a financial instrument was suggested by the NSSMC in May, 2018, with Khromaev emphasizing the necessity of legal recognition of cryptocurrencies and adapting the position of financial regulators. According to Khromaev, the developing crypto industry has caused the crypto market to become an “integral part of economic and financial relations.” Last month, the State Special Communications Service of Ukraine, revealed that it is not planning to regulate cryptocurrency mining. In response to a request for information by the Better Regulation Delivery Office’s (BRDO), the agency said that they have no intention to introduce licences for crypto mining, which would classify it as a special kind of activity. […]

BBVA has signed a new blockchain-powered loan, having completed the first global blockchain-based pilot on loans and corporate finance. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has signed a new blockchain-based loan with civil engineering firm ACS Group, according to the BBVA’s official statement July 19. BBVA, a multinational Spanish banking group, signed an agreement with ACS to provide a long-term bilateral corporate loan of €100 million ($117 million). The new blockchain-powered loan contract will reportedly boost the efficiency in financial processes of the company, allowing for better transparency and traceability of contractual process. Settling the loan on a blockchain allows both parties to independently monitor the stages of a contract, as well as the conditions. The pilot also includes digitization of the negotiating process with the management time expected to be reduced “from days to hours.” In April, 2018, BBVA successfully carried out “the first global corporate loan transaction ” using blockchain technology with a Spanish information technology Indra. Last month, the BBVA reported that it signed another blockchain-based agreement with one of the leading global oil and gas industry companies Repsol to renew a credit line worth €325 million ($377 million), which is reportedly the first application of blockchain technology in the sphere of corporate finance. While the company is actively embracing blockchain technology, also applying distributed ledger technology (DLT) in processing and handling shipping document submissions, BBVA CEO Carlos Torres recently claimed that blockchain is “not mature” and faces major issues. Torres added that, despite its contemporary challenges, “when it is mature and regulators are ready,” BBVA wants to have the tools necessary to apply the technology to relevant use cases. […]

BlockShow Americas 2018 is bringing the blockchain world together to focus on pressing issues that affect the emerging industry. BlockShow, a major international blockchain event powered by Cointelegraph, announced the new conference BlockShow Americas 2018, which will be held in Las Vegas August 20-21, 2018. The event comes on the heels of the successful BlockShow Europe 2018 in Germany in May 2018. According to the BlockShow team, the upcoming conference will be focused on the crucial questions that affect the blockchain community — governmental initiatives, insights from central banks, and the evolution of law and regulations. BlockShow Americas will be held on the premises of the Venetian, one of the most famous hotels in Las Vegas. More than 80 international speakers — from fintech, blockchain and cryptocurrency — are expected at the event. The list of speakers include Alex Mashinsky, founder of the Celsius Network, a serial entrepreneur and venture investor; Mike Butcher, editor at large at TechCrunch — awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2016; Nouriel Roubini, the founder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics; David Schwartz, CTO at Ripple; Johanna Maska, CEO of Global Situation Room and former White House Director of Press Advance (for President Barack Obama); and other well-known personalities. Innovations on display BlockShow Americas 2018 is planned to be a platform for companies in the blockchain and allied space to show off their latest and greatest products, releases and projects. The companies will feature their important developments in different sectors, such as voting and elections, e-commerce, and supply chains. One of the highlights for the participants will be the BlockShow Oscar, a startup competition for young and innovative blockchain companies. In the previous editions of the contest, six companies were awarded almost $90,000 in total. A previous BlockShow Oscar winner has reportedly reached a full hard cap of $30 million and the previous participants have raised more than a combined total of $500 million. Bringing the blockchain world together The previous BlockShow conferences had become the venue for over 7,000 private meetings and over 170 exhibitors, with more than 1000 startups presented. There have been over 1,000 media publications about BlockShow. Describing how the conference has been able to bring people together, Rachel Wolfson — a Forbes journalist — said: “l’m really impressed with the European crypto conference scene. This conference brought a lot of people together. Coming from San Francisco, it is really refreshing to see. It is exciting.” Bobby Lee, co-founder of BTCC and board member of the Bitcoin Foundation, told Cointelegraph about his previous experience at BlockShow, “I really enjoyed BlockShow Europe. It was great to see a lot of enthusiasm from the attendees and the organizers did a wonderful job. It was very professionally done and everything was on schedule. I think conferences are important to get the word out there, to educate people and help them learn about cryptocurrency and blockchain. This is how we get on-board the next billion people.” More than 100 organizations and companies — such as Achain, Changelly, iExec and Iconiq Lab — provided support for the BlockShow event in Europe. BuzzFeed quoted Addy Creeze, CEO of BlockShow as saying, “Among conferences, BlockShow is like the Cirque du Soleil of the circus — we stand out from the competitors. We are not your typical conference: We remove standard, official stuff from it and focus on a casual atmosphere where community feels like home and where people can network and sign contracts. We disregard the word ‘official,’ and like to replace it with ‘informal.’ We are a show for blockchain business representatives to spend their time efficiently.” Registration for BlockShow Americas 2018 is already open on the website. There is a special offer which allows to save on ticket purchase. &nbs […]

The Maltese Financial Services Authority has told blockchain companies to wait until approval of the new legal framework before filing requests for authorization. The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) said in a statement that blockchain companies have to wait until a recently passed framework comes into force before applying for approvals and authorizations, news outlet Times of Malta reported July 20. In a statement issued today, the MFSA said it is developing a new framework that will back recently-passed blockchain laws, so operators must wait for a public announcement from the agency before filing a request for approvals and authorizations. The Virtual Financial Assets Act (VFAA), which the Parliament of Malta passed on July 5, will regulate distributed ledger technology (DLT). With the legislation, Malta reportedly becomes the first country in the world to provide legal certainty for blockchain companies. According to Times of Malta, in the past weeks the MSFA has been examining stakeholder opinions about the new regulations, and considering various VFAA-related issues from fees to administrative penalties. The MFSA is also reportedly consulting on a so-called rulebook for the recently passed law, the first chapter of which is open until the end of July. The MFSA will subsequently issue two more chapters, which will refer to the VFAA issuers and service providers. At the end of the consultation period, the MFSA will issue final regulations and rules for the VFAA to facilitate bringing the new legislation into force. Until then, operators should reportedly monitor the regulators announcements concerning the virtual financial assets framework to stay informed on developments and updates. Malta is currently intent on creating a crypto-friendly regulatory environment and becoming the “blockchain island.” A number of crypto and blockchain companies have already located in Malta, including crypto exchanges OKex, Binance, and BitBay. Earlier this month, Binance announced plans to establish a blockchain-based bank with tokenized ownership. The future “Founders Bank” would be owned by digital token investors and be based in Malta, aiming to become the world’s first decentralized, community-owned bank. […]