Crypto, FinTech & Digital Assets

Welcome to the home of Crypto, FinTech & Digital Assets on Law-Now. On this page, you will find all the articles and publications about crypto, FinTech and digital assets written by CMS legal experts. To stay in touch with the latest developments, please bookmark this page on your mobile or register to receive eAlerts.

Recent Articles

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    11/03/2024
    United Kingdom

    UK Cryptoasset Regulation – 2023 developments and what’s to come in 2024 (Part 1)

    2023 will be remembered as the year the cogs of the UK legislative and regulatory machine finally began to crank meaningfully into gear in relation to cryptoassets, with a raft of legislation, consultations and discussion papers published. Through these initiatives, the UK is paving the way for a comprehensive regulatory regime to rival those in other jurisdictions with early-mover advantage, such as the European Union, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.With a range of critical frameworks and rules set to be enacted in 2024, the pace of this legislative and regulatory development shows no sign of...
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    07/03/2024
    United Kingdom

    Introduction to Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, the new OECD international standard on automatic exchange of information and amendments to the CRS

    In 2023, the OECD conducted its first comprehensive review of the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) since CRS was adopted by the OECD in 2014. This has resulted in amendments in two key areas:(A) The introduction of a new tax transparency Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (“CARF”) which provides for the automatic exchange of tax information on transactions in Crypto-AssetsThis is to address the emergence of Crypto-Assets, which can be transferred and held without interacting with traditional financial intermediaries and without any central administrator having full visibility...
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    26/02/2024
    England and Wales

    Law Commission’s draft Digital Assets Bill – welcome news for the UK

    Following an extensive consultation and publication of its final report in June 2023, the Law Commission has now published its draft Digital Assets Bill (the “Bill”). The Bill is designed “to ensure that the law remains dynamic, highly competitive, and flexible, so that it can support transactions and other arrangements involving digital asset technology” and aims “to help to achieve the UK Government’s stated goal of the jurisdiction of England and Wales becoming a global hub for digital assets, and in particular, for crypto-tokens and crypto-token systems”.The...
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  •  
    24/01/2024
    Europe

    New EBA guidelines to manage AML risks as part of the activities of crypto-asset service providers

    EBA released guidelines amending ML/TF Risk Factors Guidelines to include crypto-asset service providers within its AML framework.On 16 January 2024, the European Banking Authority (EBA) released its guidelines amending the ML/TF Risk Factors Guidelines (the “Guidelines”).The Guidelines aim at extending the scope of the ML/TF Risk Factors Guidelines to crypto-asset service providers (the “CASPs”). The Guidelines thus enable understanding the money laundering and terrorist financing (“ML/TF”) risks associated with CASP and the steps CASPs and other credit and...
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  •  
    09/01/2024
    United Kingdom

    Digital asset fraud and the challenges of claims against unidentifiable fraudsters (Tippawan Boonyaem v Persons Unknown)

    IntroductionThe High Court’s recent judgment in Tippawan Boonyaem v Persons Unknown [2023] EWHC 3180 (Comm) demonstrates the challenges faced by victims of digital asset fraud, who are typically defrauded by unidentifiable fraudsters operating online.English and Welsh procedural law allows claims to be brought against anonymous defendants as “persons unknown”, but only if those defendants are identifiable to some degree.  This presents a problem for victims of digital asset fraud who wish to obtain judgments against unidentifiable fraudsters.The High Court has been prepared...
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  •  
    02/01/2024
    International

    Tackling the misuse of crypto-assets for ML-TF purposes

    As a constantly evolving sector, the crypto-assets ecosystem presents continuous challenges, particularly in terms of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML-TF) risks.To tackle the misuse of crypto-assets for ML-TF purposes, it is necessary to subject players active in this sector to anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML-CTF) supervision. Consequently, such players have been progressively included within the AML-CTF framework.The framework initially covered professionals operating “virtual assets”. This scope has been amended to refer to professionals dealing...
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