Week Ending December 27th
Greetings & happy holidays! We here at RedBlock want to take a moment to thank all of you for reading our newsletter and inviting us to share with you the exciting goings-on of the digital asset and security token world. It means a lot to us, and we look forward to sharing a strong 2021 with all of you.
Our latest installment of our issuance platform report series, covering Tokeny, is available to read in our research hub.
This week saw FinCEN in the US propose new KYC rules, our partners at Securitize.io and Seba Bank Zug came out with substantial developments, as well as news from INX.co and Huobi Global.
And now, on to the week’s news!
1. FinCEN’s Propositions for KYC in the US
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, has come out with proposed legislation regarding KYC. Specifically, FinCEN is seeking to address the issue of non-hosted digital asset wallets.
How does FinCEN propose that this be achieved? It wants to “require banks and money service providers to verify identities for, keep records on, and file reports on, transactions over US$3,000 involving such wallets not owned by another financial institution.”
As it stands, only hosted wallets with a value of greater than $10,000 are subject to the sort of KYC requirements that FinCEN is now proposing for non-hosted wallets. If these rules come to pass, the US’s regulatory environment will be following in the footsteps of countries such as Switzerland and France, which are, themselves, very committed to facilitating the development of their respective digital asset sectors. (Coingeek)
1. INX has a preview of their 2021 for us
To kick off our industry updates for this last newsletter of 2020, we’re going to cover something to look forward to in 2021. INX, a digital asset exchange, has just given us a preview of their digital asset trading platform.
INX’s demo of said trading platform is meant for both retail and institutional customers, and has “a unique matching engine focused on regulatory-friendly whitelisting, utilizing hashing algorithms for user identity management via private/public key validation.”
Because INX is a trailblazer in this sector, we are keen to learn more of just what this trading platform can do. (INX via Businesswire)
2. Huobi is re-introducing themselves to the US
Huobi’s subsidiary, Huobi Trust, has just received a Trust Company License from the Nevada Financial Institutions Division. This means that Huobi will be able to “offer custodial and compliance services in the U.S. starting 2021”.
The significance here is that this move strongly signals Huobi’s re-entry to the US, and thus US investors. To give context, Huobi has operated in the US before, leaving in 2019. Given that Huobi is a rather prominent player in the crypto and digital asset world, this should set up for an interesting 2021. (The Chain Bulletin)
3. Securitize & SBI Holdings
Our partners at Securitize have just announced an exciting new proposition along with SBI Digital Asset Holdings in Japan. That is, SBI’s sbiwallet will now be able to “sell, issue and manage tokenized securities directly within [Securitize’s] app.” This way, user’s of SBI’s sbiwallet will now be able to take advantage of Securitize’s platform which “offers a way to issue and sell blockchain tokens representing securities and manage them over their lifecycle.” (CoinDesk)
1. SEBA closes their Series B Funding Round
Great news from our partners at SEBA, as they have just finished a very successful Series B fundraising round. Although no amount has been disclosed as of yet, SEBA’s 2019 fundraise was massively successful, outperforming its stated goal of $96.5 million. This time around, “all existing key shareholders and new investors from Switzerland, Europe, and Asia participated in the capital raise”, which bodes well for SEBA’s fundraising and overall success. (Crowdfund Insider)
Thanks everyone for joining us for 2020. Happy holidays and best wishes for the new year👋
References
Regulatory News
1. “FinCEN proposes new KYC rules for ‘non-hosted’ wallets”
Industry Updates
1. “Ahead of Expected Launch in March 2021, INX Provides a Sneak Peek of Their Proprietary Digital Asset Trading Platform”
2. “Huobi Group Returns to U.S. With New Trust License”
3. “Japan’s SBI, Securitize Bringing Security Tokens to Crypto Wallet for Institutions”
Investment and Financing
1. “Swiss Regulated Digital Asset Focused SEBA Bank Completes Series B Investment Round”
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About RedBlock
RedBlock Inc is a digital investment and fintech firm leveraging blockchain technology for asset digitization and management, from issuance to secondary liquidity. Its global network of capital market participants, including issuers, broker-dealers, secondary exchanges, funds, liquidity providers and custodians, are supported by its end-to-end blockchain-powered asset management platform. RedBlock also manages an investment fund to support companies in its ecosystem that align with its investment thesis. With a growing track record and pipeline, the RedBlock team hails from top tier global investment banks, venture capital firms and blockchain technology companies.
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