China completes ‘rectification’ of crypto transactions

LONDON: The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said that its crackdown on crypto transactions has been completed, Arab Newsreported.

Virtual currency transactions have been ‘rectified’ and supervision has returned to normal, the central bank said in its 2021 Financial Stability Report, CoinDesk reported.

The report grouped crypto along with other internet finance activities of concern, including peer-to-peer lending, online asset management and crowd funding.

The PBoC and other authorities have been cracking down on crypto industries since mid-May. Mining was the first area of focus, pushing major mining hubs across the country offline.

The authorities and the state-sanctioned industry associations have also warned against conducting or enabling virtual currency transactions and trading. While not as draconian, US regulators are also taking a closer interest in crypto platforms.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Uniswap Labs, the main developer behind one of the world’s largest crypto-currency exchanges, Uniswap, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Enforcement attorneys are looking for more information on how investors use Uniswap and the manner in which it is marketed, the report said.

Uniswap did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

SEC’s probe into Uniswap Labs comes amid heightened regulatory interest into crypto-currencies and the digital asset market, with Chair Gary Gensler calling on Congress last month to give the agency more authority to better police crypto trading and lending.

Uniswap is a crypto marketplace for decentralized finance or DeFi developers, traders and liquidity providers.

DeFi is an open network and works on a peer-to-peer system, where transactions are not routed through a centralized system such as a bank or a brokerage.

In markets on Friday, Bitcoin gained 1.1 per cent to $50,686,59 at 4:52pm Riyadh time, while Ehereum jumped 4.4 per cent to $3,964.18.