The Israel Securities Authority published a position statement recently addressing various issues pertaining to brokerage activities and offerings of joint investment arrangements, including the applicability of the...more
The Israel Tax Authority and the Ministry of Finance have published a memorandum of law to regulate the digital asset sector in Israel. This memorandum recognizes digital assets for the first time as capital assets subject to...more
11/26/2024
/ Annual Reports ,
Capital Gains ,
Capital Gains Tax ,
Capital Markets Authority ,
Comptroller ,
Cryptoassets ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Foreign Currency ,
Israel ,
Policy Memorandums ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Tax Authority
In October of this year, the Israel Securities Authority published a memorandum of law aimed at regulating broker-dealer activities in Israel. Public comments will be accepted until 21/11/24. At issue is an initiative that...more
The EU is continuing to shape the regulatory landscape in the crypto market After the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) entered into force in June 2024, a significant step took place last July with the publication of...more
11/12/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Compliance ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
FATF ,
Israel ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Travel Rule
Curaçao, renowned as one of the most popular jurisdictions in the online gaming industry, is launching a significant reform in its licensing and supervision of gaming companies. This reform is part of a broader legislative...more
The Tel Aviv District Court handed down an important ruling recently regulating the activities of entities distributing alternative investments in Israel. In many instances, the distribution activities are accompanied by...more
The Israel Securities Authority has published several additional revisions to the Israeli money market reform since the Knesset approved legislative amendments designed to promote competition in the money market, and since...more
The Knesset approved a series of legislative amendments this past July designed to promote competition in the money market – money market mutual funds, deposits and government bonds (short-term loans maturing in less than one...more
9/3/2024
/ Banking Sector ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Israel ,
Israel Securities Authority (ISA) ,
Money Market Funds ,
Mutual Funds ,
Professional License ,
Retail Investors ,
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE)
In recent years, a new field called “prop trading” has emerged. It enables traders to trade financial products such as stocks, commodity bonds, cryptocurrencies, CFDs, and forex products without using their own money, but...more
7/22/2024
/ Capital Markets ,
CFTC ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Forex ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Israel ,
Israel Securities Authority (ISA) ,
Proprietary Trading ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Trading Platforms
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently approved the applications of 11 asset and investment management firms to launch exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track bitcoin on the spot market. This event heralds...more
The Israel Securities Authority recently promulgated its revised legislative proposal addressing the applicability of securities laws to digital assets. The proposed legislation aims to determine how securities laws will...more
As part of the Arrangements Law for the years 2023-2024, the Israeli government makes extensive reference to expanding and creating a regulatory infrastructure in the digital assets field. As part of the draft bill (also...more
The Israel Securities Authority is proposing to apply the same laws to digital assets as apply to financial assets, which are under the ISA’s supervision. The legislative amendments include revisions to definitions of the...more
2022 was a turbulent year for the cryptocurrency sector, with one of the worst bear markets ever recorded and the collapse of several major cryptocurrency platforms. The breaking of Terra’s UST stablecoin peg caused a domino...more
Last August, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Torando Cash, a decentralized crypto mixing service. A month later, another US regulator, the CFTC, imposed a $250,000 fine on Ooki DAO, citing various regulatory violations,...more
The Israeli Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority (CMISA) recently published drafts of two important circulars regulating financial asset service providers, including provisions regarding protection of virtual...more
Institutional investors, corporations, exchanges, individuals, and crypto miners all have strong demand for crypto custody services, as provided by special market participants. These services intend to safeguard customers’...more
7/21/2022
/ Bitcoin Mining ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Custody ,
Digital Assets ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Insolvency ,
Institutional Investors ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investors ,
Israel ,
OCC ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Authority
The Bank of Israel is proposing to regulate the provision of services to licensed cryptocurrency service providers (i.e., exchange platforms). The purpose of the proposal is to ensure banks are not able to sweepingly refuse...more
1/11/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Action Task Force ,
Israel ,
Payment Systems ,
Permits ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Assessment ,
Tax Certificates
For the first time, companies providing virtual currency services will be required to comply with Israeli anti-money laundering provisions. This follows an amendment to the Prohibition of Money Laundering Order that recently...more
While Israel’s banks are in no hurry to accept the blockchain industry and are avidly trying to keep their distance from cryptocurrencies, this is not the case elsewhere. Recently, the major global securities, derivatives and...more
Over the past year, raising capital through SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) has become a hot trend on Wall Street. A SPAC is a company with no business operations formed solely to raise capital through an IPO...more
The Israel Securities Authority recently established guidelines on when a cryptographic currency (token) is considered a security. The ISA determined that Kirobo tokens meet the definition of a security. This is primarily...more
The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is still the most well-known application of blockchain. However, this technology has since rapidly evolved and expanded in many other areas. The initial hope with Bitcoin was to make both...more
10/19/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bitcoin ,
Compliance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Financial Institutions ,
Institutional Investors ,
Israel ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Securities Tokens ,
Token Sales
The Israeli Securities Authority has announced that distribution entities now may be liable for the contents of a prospectus. In a staff position paper published in late July, the ISA changed the rules of the game in the...more
Signs of recovery in the crypto field are obvious and the investing public is again interested in companies operating in this realm. Thus, with the initial coin offering (ICO) era considered over, it seems there is a new tool...more