Today in Crypto: Coinbase gets Dutch regulatory OK

Coinbase has registered with the Dutch central bank to be a crypto service provider, which will allow it to offer all of its retail, institutional and ecosystem products in the Netherlands, it said in a blog post.

Coinbase believes regulation is an “enabler” for the crypto industry that can provide clear rules that can add more innovation and trust later.

“The Netherlands is a critical international market for crypto, and I am very excited for Coinbase to bring the potential of the crypto economy to the market here,” said Nana Murugesan, vice president of international and business development at Coinbase.

In other news, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken on new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, with cryptocurrency as an issue that has come up, Bloomberg wrote.

Trudeau said Poilievre’s ideas about cryptocurrency could have been harmful.

“If Canadians had followed the advice of the opposition leader and invested in volatile cryptocurrencies in an attempt to ‘opt out inflation,’ they would have lost half of their savings,” Trudeau said.

In addition, the volatility of the cryptocurrency industry, which has cost thousands of jobs, will cause Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell to step down as CEO, Bloomberg reported.

This could be something of a pattern, with fellow top-ranked Genesis’ Michael Moro and Michael Saylor, along with Alameda Research’s Sam Trabucco also pulling out.

Furthermore, South Korea has said that several “abnormal” currency transactions have occurred, with many related to crypto, according to Bloomberg.

The Financial Supervisory Service found another $680 million of the strange transfers, which has added to previous findings and now totals $7.2 billion. Most of them have involved funds from cryptocurrency exchanges going to local companies before being sent overseas.

In the meantime, Striga Technology has received a license from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit to operate, says a press release.

Striga Technology is now the first company authorized to offer a virtual currency service since the changes to the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act on 15 March this year.

Finally, Binocs, a new company focused on cryptocurrency tax compliance, has raised $4 million to expand into the US, UK and Australia, a report said.

The company will use the new funding to develop more products and marketing for retail and investors.

Binocs’ services provide tax reports and track returns for investments, profits and losses and capital exchanges, along with taxes for derivatives, lending and borrowing.

New PYMNTS study: How consumers use digital banks

A PYMNTS survey of 2,124 US consumers shows that while two-thirds of consumers have used FinTechs for some aspect of banking, only 9.3% call them their primary bank.