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Latest Updates / Blockchain
June 13, 2022
Bank of Israel Continues to Regulate Use of Cryptocurrencies
The risk of money laundering is one of the main risks involved in using and trading cryptocurrencies. This amendment to Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 411 addresses how banks should manage money laundering and terror financing risks.
March 15, 2022
Cryptocurrencies – If You Can't Beat Them, Regulate Them
Crypto regulation – It’s the authorities’ turn to act and allow for integration of the industry into conventional economic activities.
March 2, 2022
Globes Op-ed by Zvi Gabbay – Crypto and the Regulators
Dr. Zvi Gabbay writes in a Globes op-ed about rising up to the blockchain challenge and who needs to make the next move.
January 3, 2022
Will NFTs Push Regulators to Regulate the Metaverse?
Currently, most regulators and governments are on the fence with regards to NFTs, waiting to see what other jurisdictions do or how the market develops. In some instances, governments and regulators are trying to address this issue more actively, but with very different outcomes.
October 11, 2021
World’s Most Important Financial Institutions Seek Involvement in Crypto Field
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 financial trade associations sent a joint letter to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which develops banking supervision standards and criteria, to adopt regulation that will enable their involvement in the crypto asset sector.
July 13, 2021
Real Estate Transactions Using Digital Currencies – Regulatory Challenges
The volume of real estate transactions incorporating digital currencies is expected to grow in the coming years, especially among young, wealthy, tech-savvy professionals. Zvi Gabbay, the head of our firm's Capital Markets Department and a former head of enforcement at the Israel Securities Authority, was interviewed by Globes on the trend. Zvi noted the regulatory challenges that exist in these types of transactions.
April 17, 2021
Blockchain and Real Estate
Globes has dedicated its Real Estate Supplement for Israel's Independence Day to real estate innovation. Dr. Zvi Gabbay was asked to publish a guest column discussing the implementation of blockchain technology that enables the registration and performance of digital operations through a distributed network of computers in the real estate field. According to Zvi, once land registration is also based on blockchain, buyers will be able to purchase real estate property and take out a mortgage in exactly the same way online purchases are made today.
October 15, 2020
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) –The Future of Finance?
What is DeFi?
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 money and payments decentralized and universally accessible. Although Bitcoin failed to live up to this promise, decentralized finance based on blockchain (DeFi), also called open finance, is a fledgling technology with potential. DeFi is operated by decentralized, permisionless (without any central authority) applications, called DApps, built on a blockchain network, most commonly Etherum. Visionaries see this as an open-source alternative to every financial service we use today: from savings, loans, and trades, to insurance and even more, all globally accessible.
September 21, 2020
Blockchain and Digital Currencies Regulation
Dr. Zvi Gabbay examines in a short video the topic of digital currencies and recent developments in blockchain regulation in Israel.
July 6, 2020
Israel: How to Identify Suspicious Use of Virtual Currencies
Prompted by the use of digital currencies to fund terror and other illegal activity, the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority has published a document aimed at assisting financial bodies and law enforcement agencies to identify improper activity in this field.
April 28, 2020
Libra 2.0 – From Global Currency to a Payment Method on Facebook’s Platform
After Libra, Facebook’s ambitious global digital currency venture, faced fierce resistance from regulators around the world, Facebook has announced “Libra 2.0.” The venture is set to undergo far-reaching changes that, on the one hand, will likely do away with regulatory concerns, but, on the other, will force Facebook to give up its original vision, i.e. a quick and simple transfer of digital currencies between accepted users worldwide without the need for a bank account.
February 23, 2020
Chambers TMT Guide 2020: Law in Practice
As experts in the TMT field, our firm was asked to contribute the Israeli law and practice overview for the Chambers Israel TMT guide. In their overview, Micky Barnea, Daniel Lorber, and Anat Even-Chen discuss legal considerations for big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. They also address key data protection principles, the challenges with IT service agreements, privacy matters, and more. As a whole, the TMT guide offers insights for each jurisdiction.
February 12, 2020
Zvi Gabbay Served as Panelist in Meetup of Israeli Blockchain Community
Dr. Zvi Gabbay participated today in a panel entitled "Regulations and Securities, Where Are We?" The panel was part of an event focused on 2020 predictions for the blockchain industry in Israel. Dozens of entrepreneurs and leading players from the local blockchain community attended.
February 2, 2020
Israel Securities Authority Promotes the Assimilation of Technological Innovation into the Israeli Capital Market
The ISA's commission for examining the regulation necessary for the advancement of digital markets published a report that focuses on platforms for the issuing, trading, and clearing of securities that make use of blockchain technology.
January 8, 2020
Dr. Zvi Gabbay and Andrey Yanai Op-ed: Israel Missing out on Digital Assets Revolution
Dr. Zvi Gabbay and Andrey Yanai from our Capital Markets Department published an opinion piece in Globes on the regulatory barriers Israel is imposing on the blockchain and digital assets revolution.
October 29, 2019
Transfer of Digital Currencies - The Dream and its Collapse
Regulatory resistance and legal proceedings by the US Securities and Exchange Commission are hindering the realization of one of the greatest promises of blockchain technology – the transfer of cryptographic currencies and assets between users without an intermediary.
July 21, 2019
An Important Milestone - First Supervised Security Token Offering
After a long wait, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has permitted a startup company to raise funds from the general public through a supervised security token offering (STO) under Reg A+ regulations. Effectively, this is the first time a public STO was granted regulatory approval in the United States.
June 12, 2019
ICO 2.0 - The IEO Financing Model
With the initial coin offering (ICO) era considered over, it seems there is a new tool for financing - the initial exchange offering (IEO). This method of financing is more transparent and reliable for investors, entrepreneurs, and markets, providing partial solutions to the many disadvantages exposed in ICO financing.
March 21, 2019
ISA Makes First-Time Decision on How Cryptocurrency Asset Offerings Will Be Regulated
The committee appointed by the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) to examine regulation of cryptocurrency offerings to the public has published the outline of its regulatory policy in a final report submitted to the ISA chairman. The committee recommended focusing on regulatory models that offer structural flexibility.
January 9, 2019
Blockchain Now and Into the Future – What We Can Expect
Blockchain has a well-established presence in the ecosystem, with a variety of use cases across a broad range of sectors, including Fintech, advertising, security, telecommunications and others. Here is an overview of the latest developments regarding blockchain regulations in Israel.