Skip to main content

MLB Team Washington Nationals Partners With Terra Blockchain Community, Ballpark Plans to Accept UST

On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
Post a Comment

Estonia Clarifies Upcoming Regulations, Will Not Ban Crypto Holding or Trading

Estonia Clarifies Upcoming Regulations, Will Not Ban Crypto Holding and Trading

The government of Estonia has approved legislation tailored to improve oversight of its crypto sector which expanded rapidly due to favorable regulations and business climate. The new law, which is yet to be adopted, will introduce stricter requirements for service providers without preventing their clients from owning or exchanging cryptocurrencies.

Authorities in Tallinn Draft Stricter Rules for Crypto Service Providers

The executive power in Estonia has prepared and approved draft legislation designed “to more effectively regulate virtual asset service providers (VASPs).” The main goal, the Finance Ministry explained on Sunday, is to mitigate the risk of financial crime through the crypto platforms registered and operating out of the Baltic nation.

The new regulations, which come in the form of a revised draft law submitted to the Estonian parliament, require VASPs to identify their customers in a way that would link them to their transactions. The regulations expand upon the ban on open anonymous virtual accounts introduced in 2020 after Estonia’s crypto-friendly regulations attracted numerous license applicants.

The Ministry of Finance pointed out that the legislation will not affect individuals who own virtual currency through a private wallet that is not provided by a VASP. It does not prohibit customers from holding and trading virtual assets and does not require them to share the private keys to their crypto wallets. At the same time, Estonian service providers will not be allowed to offer anonymous accounts or wallets.

The department emphasized that the measures are similar to the rules applied to payment and banking transactions. The amendments transpose the recommendations issued by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) into Estonian law. These define some virtual asset services that are not defined under Estonia’s current legislation.

Estonia to Raise Capital Requirements for Crypto Licensees

An important aspect of the new regulation is the requirement for companies to operate or be connected to Estonia in order to obtain its licenses. The boom in applications was largely due to the current rules allowing the resale of Estonia-licensed companies to third parties. The supervision of such entities has proved unfeasible and authorities noted that under the new rules, the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) will be able to decline such applications.

Furthermore, regulators will raise share capital requirements for VASPs from €12,000 to €125,000 or €350,000, depending on the type of services. The Estonian government hopes that the threshold will reduce the number of dormant entities. The Finance Ministry also said the average annual turnover of licensed VASPs is now around €80 million euros.

Estonia announced it’s working on the new legislation in October, when the head of FIU, Matis Mäeker, revealed in an interview that only one in 10 licensed crypto companies has a bank account in the country, adding that the regulator is considering revoking all previously issued licenses to restart authorization. By that time, the agency had revoked around 2,000 licenses of virtual asset service providers such as crypto exchanges and wallet operators.

Do you expect Estonia to adopt the stricter regulations for its crypto industry? Tell us in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blockchain Software Firm Consensys Acquires Mycrypto Ethereum Wallet

On February 1, the blockchain infrastructure firm Consensys has revealed it has acquired the Ethereum-based wallet Mycrypto and plans to merge the wallet into Metamask. The price Consensys paid for Mycrypto was not disclosed but the announcement notes that the acquisition will “further improve the security of all the products.” Consensys Obtains Mycrypto Ethereum Wallet, Plans to Merge With Metamask in the Future Consensys has acquired the Ethereum-based wallet Mycrypto for an undisclosed sum according to an announcement released on Tuesday. The deal aims to strengthen the company’s Ethereum wallet Metamask and “enhance Web3 experiences.” The eventual merger between the two Ethereum interfaces will “provide users with a heightened experience that is even more extensive and secure,” according to Consensys. Consensys is an Ethereum software company led by one of the Ethereum co-founders Joseph Lubin. The Web3 wallet Metamask, with 21 million monthly active users (MAUs) is owned by C...
Post a Comment
Read more

Earn up to 50% APY by Staking $GLQ on GraphLinq App

PRESS RELEASE. The newest utility token to offer staking to its users/holders is GraphLinq Protocol’s $GLQ. As of this article, $GLQ has 4,500+ holders according to etherscan, excluding GLQ holders on CEX like Kucoin, MXC, Gate. This is a great step for the future of the project as it will further incentivize more users to hold. Explore more about GraphLinq, its staking mechanism & steps to stake. What Is GraphLinq? GraphLinq – The No Code protocol for automating actions on-chain & off-chain, launched in just March 2021, has come a long way bringing users in the crypto space a never seen model of integrating blockchain automation on any blockchain-related/non-related task. The goal of the GraphLinq protocol is to allow users to interact blockchains with any connected system as effortlessly as possible without any prior knowledge of coding. GraphLinq ecosystem currently consists of an engine, an integrated development environment ( IDE ) & an app to provide automated...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Congolese Mountain of Gold: Surprise Discovery in Africa Shows Metal’s Scarcity Is Hard to Prove

A myriad of gold bugs like to compliment the yellow precious metal for its ostensible scarcity, as estimates say only 2,500 to 3,000 tons of new gold is produced annually. While new gold discoveries have seemingly slowed, investigative studies also show that in some areas, gold is being smuggled into the economy by the ton, and often never accounted for as far as per annum issuance estimates. Recently, reports show a whole mountain of gold was discovered in the Congo, as the Democratic Republic of the Congo is well known for being a region that sees tons of smuggled gold filtered into the global financial system unreported. Surprise Gold Deposits Continue to Crack the Precious Metal’s Scarcity Proposition It has always been said that the precious metal gold (Au) is scarce, and some reports even say that gold mining on earth will end by the year 2050 . Additionally, estimates also show that there’s roughly 2,500 to 3,000 tons of new gold that is accounted for and enters into the fin...
Post a Comment
Read more