Today in Crypto: Taliban bans crypto
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has questioned Grayscale Investments over its “securities law analysis” of tokens in a few smaller crypto trusts, a Coindesk report said on Saturday (August 27).
The questions from the SEC show uncertainty surrounding Grayscale’s crypto trusts, and show that the regulator is looking to crack down on tokens that it believes should fall under US securities law.
Grayscale disclosed the inquiry in filings from June and mid-August. In the disclosures, Grayscale acknowledges that three blockchain cryptocurrencies Stellar (XLM), Zcash (ZEC) and Horizen (ZEN) “may be a security, based on the facts as they exist today.”
In other news, the Afghan central bank has enacted a national ban on cryptocurrency, with the Taliban arresting a number of dealers illegally trading digital tokens, Bloomberg wrote on Friday (August 26).
Some Afghan citizens had been using crypto to preserve their wealth and keep it from the Taliban, as crypto was used to move money in and out of the country after it was shut down by the global banking system.
Afghanistan now joins China, which banned crypto transactions in September 2021.
Meanwhile, Singapore is scrutinizing crypto-related firms in its city-state as more regulations are set to begin, Bloomberg wrote on Friday.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has issued a questionnaire to some applicants and holders of its digital payment license, asking about business activity and holdings.
The questions are intended to assess the financial soundness of these firms and their relationship. Some of the data needed includes top owned tokens, top lending and borrowing counterparties and the amount lent, and the top tokens staked through decentralized finance protocols.
Finally, bitcoin was stuck around $20,000 as of Sunday (Aug. 28) — showing that the crypto market pulled back along with the U.S. stock market, Bloomberg wrote.
Bitcoin came off a two-day drop of 7.6% as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell took a tough stance on inflation at the Jackson Hole conference on Friday.
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