With the crypto market being a lawless playground, it is easy for people to be influenced and also scammed. With the rise of more security risks in the market, more countries are now looking at having cryptocurrency regulations that will help to protect people from being at risk. 

As cryptocurrency interest increases across the world, so does the interest in the regulations that are put in place to protect both investors and traders. Many countries have now banned mining and trading in these markets completely, whereas other countries are trying to figure out how they can regulate it more. El Salvador is currently the only country in the world where bitcoin has been declared as legal tender. 

With cryptocurrency regulations varying from country to country, it is difficult to keep track and trading can be a confusing road. In our latest blog, we will go through the countries that are looking to put cryptocurrency regulations in place and what this means for traders and investors.

United States

Cryptocurrencies: Not considered legal tender

Cryptocurrency exchanges: Legal, although regulations vary by state

Due to the United States consisting of different states with different laws and regulations, it is difficult to have a complete state-level cryptocurrency regulation, but the US is currently trying to develop federal cryptocurrency regulations. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) does not consider crypto to be legal tender, but instead, exchanges are money transmitters. In other words, crypto tokens are seen as an alternative to currency. 

Exchanges:

Cryptocurrency exchanges are legal in the United States under the regulatory scope of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). This means that cryptocurrency trading providers must register with FinCEN, maintain records, submit reports to the authorities and also implement the AML/CFT program. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers cryptocurrencies to be securities, meaning the same laws apply to crypto wallets. Bitcoin and other currencies are allowed to be traded publicly as part of the US cryptocurrency regulations. 

Future US Cryptocurrency Regulations:

The US treasury has shown that there is a serious need for more cryptocurrency regulations to be administered in order to tackle global criminal activity. FinCEN brought forward a new cryptocurrency regulation to have data collection requirements on the crypto exchange and wallets. The regulation will be implemented in Autumn 2022. This new cryptocurrency regulation will require exchanges to report suspicious activity for transactions over $10,000 and will also require wallet owners to identify themselves when sending over $3000. 

UK

Cryptocurrencies: Not legal tender

Cryptocurrency exchanges: Legal, cryptocurrency regulations require registration with FCA

The United Kingdom’s advances with cryptocurrency regulations have been measured. The UK, at the moment, has no specific cryptocurrency regulations or laws, as cryptocurrencies are not seen as legal tender and the exchanges have a cryptocurrency registration regulation in place. HMRC has stated that due to cryptocurrency being a “unique identity”, it can’t be compared to the more conventional investments or payments. Taxability also depends on the activities and the parties involved.

Exchanges:

The UK left the EU in 2020 and, when they did, they also transposed the cryptocurrency regulation requirements that were set out in 5AMLD and 6AMLD into domestic law. From this, crypto exchanges in the UK need to register with the Financial Conduct Authority and must also abide by reporting obligations. Whilst this cryptocurrency regulation doesn’t make any special facilitations for exchanges, FCA insists that activities involving crypto exchanges must comply with Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.

Future Cryptocurrency Regulations:

For the moment, it looks like the UK is remaining consistent with the cryptocurrency regulations in place across the EU, but may diverge at a later date. The treasury also emphasises that the UK intends to bring certain cryptocurrencies under a financial promotions regulation and will also be looking at broadening the cryptocurrency regulations in 2022. 

China

Cryptocurrencies: Not legal tender

Cryptocurrency exchanges: Illegal

In 2013, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) banned organisations to handle Bitcoin transactions. They then later put more cryptocurrency regulations in place by banning ICOs and domestic cryptocurrency exchanges in 2017. China does not see cryptocurrency as legal tender, which is unsurprising given that the country has very harsh cryptocurrency regulations in place. In 2020, the Chinese government has put a status on cryptocurrency for purposes of inheritances. 

Exchanges: 

In June 2021, China placed a blanket ban on all domestic crypto mining, which then later resulted in making all cryptocurrencies outlawed. This new cryptocurrency regulation banned the use of all exchanges and the government made everyone sell their tokens. Although this cryptocurrency regulation is a blanket ban, some sites are not picked up by Chinese firewalls, meaning there is a way around this by using foreign platforms. 

Future Cryptocurrency Regulations:

Although there is no indication that China will lift the blanket ban of their cryptocurrency regulations, recent statements suggest that due to blockchain technology being at the forefront of innovation, China may intend to become a global leader in the digital currency space. China has also been working on their own digital currency (e-CNY) and in 2021, it completed its first test in several areas of the country. The e-CNY digital currency was used in several cities, with it being developed for use to replace cash and coins and be used as payment for toll payments, bills, shop goods and transport fares.

Conclusion

There are mixed reviews on whether cryptocurrency needs regulations and, if they were to be imposed, what they would entail. But, with the increase in the number of people being scammed through crypto trading and investments, there is certainly room for more regulation to be put in place. 

It is safer for investors if cryptocurrency regulations were put into place so that they can exchange with safety, plus it is likely to provide peace of mind for investors, creating a better environment for everyone. However, cryptocurrency regulations haven’t always been in place, so if you believe you may have been the victim of a crypto scam, please contact us today and we can provide a free consultation.

Cryptocurrency mining is the method of verifying transactions on a ledger that is digital, so it can be used for a blockchain. Mining for cryptocurrency used to be a pretty simple investment opportunity to get into with the right hardware and software, but due to competition growing, the cost is going up, which is making it a much more difficult market to enter for newcomers. In this blog, we will go through what is crypto mining and how it works. 

What is Crypto Mining For Beginners? 

Cryptocurrency mining can sound extremely complicated, but it is complicated only if you don’t understand what crypto mining is. The basics of crypto mining is the process of high powered specialised computers, also known as nodes or mining rigs, that validate blockchain transactions for a specified crypto coin. When a miner has done this, they receive a mining reward for their efforts. 

What are Crypto Mining Vehicles?

Blockchain needs a large network of machines, also known as rigs, to solidify and store transactions to support cryptocurrencies’ digital ledgers. These rigs use the latest GPU, FPGA and ASIC processors and serve for nothing more than acting as a node for the blockchains network and this is what crypto mining is.

If you are thinking about setting up your own rig, then you need to give this careful consideration. Using standard computers for mining is not advisable as they don’t have the power to mine at this level of processing. If one has a fleet of nodes or a pool, then a group of individual miners can combine their efforts to win block rewards and then split them accordingly. 

What Is Crypto Mining Proof-of-Work?

Blockchain requires a certain protocol to achieve decentralised consensus. Proof of work (PoW) is what crypto mining needs to verify the integrity of the new blocks on the blockchain through decentralised consensus. When miners contribute to the validation of these transactions, the miners will receive an amount of the crypto coin for their proof of work.

What crypto mining needs is a protocol to ensure the integrity of blockchain transactions and then reward miners for their efforts and expenses. It also deters threat actors who aim to manipulate cryptocurrency. What crypto mining requires is a lot of processing power as well as the ability to create competition. 

What Crypto Mining Process is Used to Work?

Crypto mining is what miners do to compete and prove their computational work in exchange for a block reward. Once a series of transactions have been made for a certain crypto coin, a block with cryptographic hash functions which contains the transaction data will then be visible on the blockchains network. 

When pools of nodes compete they use their high performing processing capabilities to solve complex mathematical problems to prove the integrity of the block. Once the block has been verified, the mining party will lock the blockchain addition in and receive an award. 

Here at Wealth Recovery Solicitors, we understand that cryptocurrency can be a confusing and often intimidating investment opportunity, with work required to get money back on your investments. If you have ever been wrongly advised on your investment from brokers, you can contact us today and we can help you retrieve your losses. 

Hi, my name is Josh Chin and I am one of the solicitors here at Wealth Recovery Solicitors.

It’s very important that when you come to us to try and help you recover any of your lost monies through either negligent advice from brokers or a pure scam you come to us at the strongest point.

To start with this, the strongest point means you have not already started your case with a potentially rogue recovery company.

It is important to look out for even if you don’t pick WRS to be your recovery agent or solicitor that you look to see if this recovery company is based in the UK.

Many firms or scammers pretend to be in the UK by simply putting on their website that they are based in the UK.

However, if you ask to see them face to face or Zoom meeting and something doesn’t quite add up, this may question whether they are actually based in the UK.

The amazing thing about WRS is we are based in the centre of Manchester. You are able to come in and see one of our solicitors face to face, meet us via Zoom, have a phone call or in certain circumstances we can come and see you in other parts of the country.

Again, I must repeat, you only get one chance at recovering your money and if you unfortunately do come across another recovery company that is pretending to help you and are a scam, your casing might be significantly weakened.

When looking to instruct a recovery company, it is important that you don’t get bitten twice and you have default trust of the company that you’re dealing with.

One way of looking if you can trust this company is that they are either regulated or authorised by particular bodies. WRS is a fully regulated UK law firm. The law firm itself is regulated by Bar Standards Board and I as a solicitor am regulated by The Law Society.

It’s important when you look at other recovery companies, they have the correct credentials and you can see this on the independent website aside from their own.

Hi, I’m Josh Chin and I am one of the solicitors here at WRS.

Today’s topic is to discuss whether you could be entitled to compensation.

Interestingly, a lot of feedback we’ve had from our successful clients in recovering their money is that they didn’t actually know that they were entitled to compensation.

We have a hugely successful rate of getting money back quickly, efficiently and cheaply for our clients.

The good thing about coming to WRS is we are experts in recovering these kind of monies and know exactly what to look for.

You might not know that there isn’t typical broker behaviour to coerce you into certain deposits, not allowing you to putting higher deposits than you actually wanted to, upgrading your status to maybe a VIP account when you have very limited knowledge of how to invest.

These are the kinds of things that we would look for in building your argument and trying to get your money back from these regulated brokers.

Regulated brokers are accountable to bodies and have certain rules that they should bide to. In certain circumstances they try and get away with this and the layman person and client wouldn’t know if that everything has gone wrong.

Consult one of our experts today at WRS and see if we can help you on a no win, no fee basis.

There is no risk and we would only take your case on if we know we can help you.

Hi, my name is Josh Chin, I am one of solicitors here at WRS.

A bit background about myself and then we’ll go into what WRS does and why we were created.

My background is I started my career at a couple of international law firms. I then did my training contract at a Manchester City Center law firm and I’ve been qualified now for almost two years.

The WRS (Wealth Recovery Solicitors) was designed to help vulnerable clients that have lost substantial amounts of money, either through a pure scam or a negligent brokerage normally based abroad.

We are efficient, extremely motivated and extremely successful in recovering funds for our clients.

We look to recover large amounts of what’s lost and do this in a very quick and as cheap as possible way.

For our clients, we work on a no win, no fee and in 2021 alone, we’d recovered over one and a half million pounds.

You can inquire with us today and see if you qualify for a no win, no fee and see if you can also be one of our successful clients.