Marcus Mølleskov’s Post

🚨 Debanking Issues in the UK’s Crypto and Web3 Sectors—A Critical Barrier to Innovation 🚨 The new “Don’t Bank On It” report from Global Digital Finance, The Startup Coalition, and the UK Cryptoasset Business Council (UKCBC) highlights the severe challenges UK crypto and Web3 firms face with banking services: 💡 Key Findings: • 🚩 50% of firms were rejected or had accounts closed by major banks. • ❌ Only 14% of firms successfully maintained their accounts without closures. • 🌍 70% of firms stated these challenges make it more likely they’ll leave the UK. • 🔒 76% resorted to riskier banking options due to refusals by high street banks. • 🛑 Major banks often deny services with no clear justification, citing broad policies against crypto involvement. This is not just a UK problem—crypto businesses across Europe face similar barriers. 🌟 How Januar Helps: At Januar, we provide a solution to bypass these systemic barriers: • 💳 Crypto-Friendly IBANs: Full account functionality without relying on traditional banks. • 🔒 Crypto Custody: Secure storage solutions to streamline your operations. • ✅ No Bank Required: With a Januar account, you can operate seamlessly and independently of the traditional banking system. Crypto and Web3 firms deserve better access to financial infrastructure to drive growth and innovation. Januar is here to ensure that access to banking is no longer a barrier to your success. 👉 Read the full report: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dgxSDpkE 👉 Learn how Januar empowers your business: www.januar.com. #CryptoBanking #FinancialInclusion #Web3Innovation #NoBankRequired #Januar

Mainstream Meets Crypto: Why Trustworthy Banking Infrastructure Is Key 🌍 The launch of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF on Cboe Canada marks another pivotal moment in the journey of cryptocurrencies towards mainstream acceptance. As traditional financial giants like BlackRock step into the crypto arena, the message is clear: the integration of traditional and digital finance is no longer a distant dream - it’s happening now. 🔄 For crypto businesses, this move represents both an opportunity and a challenge: as crypto becomes more mainstream, the demand for robust infrastructure will rise to ensure businesses can meet the expectations of institutional-grade investors and regulators. 🔒 This growing acceptance isn’t just exciting; it’s a call to action. With more eyes on the industry, and more regulation on the horizon, the need for secure, compliant, and stable infrastructure has never been greater. At Januar, we see this as a perfect alignment with our mission: providing reliable, compliant account and payment solutions to crypto-native companies that need stability to thrive in this evolving market. Here’s why it matters for crypto businesses: ➡️ Emerging and Early businesses: Now is the time to establish a strong foundation. Our IBAN accounts and seamless API integrations help new players gain the stability they need to build trust with partners and investors. ➡️ Established companies: The market's evolution offers opportunities for diversification and future-proofing operations. Januar’s focus on long-term, crypto-compatible payment infrastructure means your business has the support it needs to keep pace with these trends. 📈 As traditional finance continues to embrace crypto, the need for reliable financial partners that truly understand this space is more critical than ever. At Januar, we’re proud to be that partner - stable, trusted, and ready to support your business through every step of its journey. 📩 Let’s talk about how Januar can help your company grow in this new era. Visit us at Januar.com and book a demo today! 📖 Read more about BlackRock’s ETF launch and its implications via linkk in the commets.

Push notifications in financial services platforms could become Illegal. The UK's financial services authority is closely monitoring retail trading platforms. The authority created its experimental trading app to mimic existing platforms. The findings revealed that digital engagement practices (DEPs) used by trading apps, such as push notifications and prize draws, increased the number of trades by 11% and 12%, respectively. Here are other findings as well: ▫️Push notifications, points, and prize draw increased the proportion of trades in risky investments by 8% and 6%, respectively. ▫️ Low financial literacy traders increased their trades much more than high financial literacy traders due to price push notifications. ▫️ Women increased their trading frequency by more than men when push notifications and points & prize draws were introduced. ▫️ Younger traders (18-34) increased their end-of-trading portfolio riskiness by more than older participants (35+) across all DEPs (except flashing prices). ▫️ 70% of Millennial and Gen Z households are investing or speculating. How you could use this information? - If you have a financial institution, consider your readiness for future compliance. - If you are a trader, consider monitoring brokerage firms as they face more scrutiny - If you are in crypto, Web3, consider structures that might increase gamification based on those numbers. - If you are an entrepreneur, this information can help you steer your startup. Follow Rami Alame and ♻️with your network if you found this useful.

Imagine making a financial transaction or placing a bet online, and it takes longer than expected. Frustrating, right? This is where the marvel of 400GbE networks steps in, revolutionising finance markets and iGaming by promising lightning-fast speeds. But there's a catch. Speed is nothing without reliability and a seamless user experience. As we venture into this era of ultra-fast internet, the importance of observability solutions cannot be overstated. We're not just talking about monitoring networks; we're talking about a comprehensive understanding of every packet, every pathway, and every potential pitfall in real-time. Why? Because in the high-stakes world of finance and iGaming, every millisecond counts. A delay, a glitch, or an unexpected downtime can mean the difference between a profit and a loss, a win or a miss. Observability solutions offer the microscope we need to examine our networks with unprecedented precision. But here’s the lesser-known aspect - it's not just about keeping the lights on. It's about refining the user experience, about ensuring that every transaction is not just fast but also secure and reliable. It's about providing peace of mind to users who trust us with their time, money, and expectations. So, as we embrace these state-of-the-art networks, let's also champion the adoption of advanced observability solutions. Because ensuring the quality of experience and reliability in this fast-paced digital world is not just necessary, it's imperative. Let's discuss: How is your organisation preparing for the observability challenges in the era of 400GbE networks? Share your insights and let's learn from each other.

Exciting discussions are happening around the potential of a token-based digital euro 🌐What could it look like, and why might it be a game-changer? Check out this short overview on the advantages of a token-based digital euro over an account-based model 👇

Calling all Netherlands Gambling operations! 📢 With new regulations due, the team have been looking at how we can assist to ensure an efficient solution that will perform frictionless checks within a fraction of the time. We can improve your current processes, save analysts valuable time, and help you scale to meet an ever-changing regulatory landscape. Our solution, Scout®, automates the acquisition and aggregation of data, which includes the ability to perform customisable open-source checks, whether that be looking for potential property valuations, source of funds, occupation verification or adverse media checks. As well as the above data, Scout® has the ability to bring in APIs from third-party data suppliers, or even upload your own data into the platform. All this data can then be risk assessed by Scout® to help your analysts identify any immediate risks, therefore allowing the prioritisation of workloads. Through Scout® you are able to: - Integrate the solution via API to provide further efficiencies. - Bulk upload players who have hit a thresholds so multiple checks are performed at once. - Ensure that the results are compiled into automatically generated, auditable reports. If you’d like to know more, or have any questions. Please email - sales@synalogik.com or reach out to Sam Fellows Romany Edge Gareth Mussell Andrew Booth

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning about the Solana-based “Retardio” project, citing concerns over unauthorized financial promotions and activities targeting UK consumers. On Dec. 16, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) posted a warning against the Retardio project, saying that the token may be providing or promoting financial services without the regulator’s permission.  The watchdog reminded consumers to only deal with FCA-approved firms to ensure adequate protection.  The Retardio project features a Solana-based non-fungible token (NFT) collection that has reportedly achieved $31 million in lifetime sales, according to CryptoSlam. Its associated memecoin, trading under the ticker “Retardio,” is valued at around $0.08 with a market capitalization of approximately $87 million, as per Dexscreener. Retardio project claps back at the FCA According to the FCA, UK-based users who deal with the Retardio project will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which settles complaints between consumers and financial services businesses.  The regulator also noted that consumers would not be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), a service that protects consumers when financial firms go out of business. “This means it’s unlikely you’d get your money back if the firm goes out of business,” the FCA wrote.  The FCA also urged citizens to only deal with authorized firms. The regulator said that authorized firms give greater protection to consumers when things go wrong. The financial services regulator also said that users can check their registry to ensure that the company they are dealing with is authorized to conduct services in the UK.  The government agency also told consumers to report unauthorized firms by contacting their official channels.  ‘Retardio’ has issued a warning against the UK’s financial regulator. pic.twitter.com/cba5WkKnto — RETARDIO 🚀 (@retardiosolana) December 16, 2024 The memecoin and NFT project humorously responded to the FCA, saying it had “issued a warning against the UK’s financial regulator.” The response implies that UK-based users are now prohibited from using their services.  Related: FCA releases discussion paper on crypto market transparency, abuse Memecoins represent the value of attention In an interview with Cointelegraph, Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Siu discussed how memecoins capture the value of user attention, unlike traditional metrics on social platforms. The executive said that while attention on social platforms does not transparently show the value of user-generated content (UGC), memecoins work differently.  Siu said that in Web3, UGC culture is embedded into memecoins, with their market capitalization reflecting the value of the attention they gained. “If attention was a token, that’s basically what memecoins represent. And so I think of it as correlated between them,” he

How could a token-based digital euro look like and why would it be a good idea?   🔑 A “token-based” digital euro would record and store each euro unit individually in a central ledger, i.e., a database only accessible for the central settlement system of the Eurosystem. Euro units stored in this central ledger can have any random amount, e.g., 0.777 euro. The number of euro units recorded is driven by the volume of digital euros in circulation and could hence be very high. Each euro unit exists only once, from its creation to its destruction through a transaction. For each euro unit, a one-time cryptographic key pair is created and required for a transaction. The public key is the one-time public address to store the token, the private key is the corresponding one-time credential to prove ownership. The central settlement system is aware of all valid key pairs but not of its owner.   🔄 Imagine Alice sends 10.0 euros to Bob. Alice uses three of her euro units, e.g., of 5.0, 3.5 and 3.0 euro - total value 11.5 euro. Alice’s intermediary provides the three key pairs to the settlement system to find the euro units in the ledger and prove ownership. The settlement system validates the transaction, destroys the three existing euro units and creates two new euro units: 10.0 euros for Bob and 1.5 euros as change for Alice. The settlement system records the new units under the two new public keys.   🏦 In an account-based model, the digital euro would be stored as a sum in individual user accounts. The number of accounts is driven by the number of users. For a transaction, the user would need to proof his rights to his account by providing a permanent identification number to the settlement system. Therefore, a mapping between individual users and accounts is required.   There are clear advantages for a token-based model over an account-based model: 🚀 Scalability: As each token can be accessed and transacted individually and in parallel, scalability is built in by design. With an account-based model, transactions need to be settled one after the other, as each new transaction needs to first check the actual availability of funds. 🔒Privacy: A token-based digital euro would only use one-time cryptographic key pairs. No permanent identifiers are needed for the central ledger, hence its ability to derive any privacy related information is limited by design. In an account-based model the central ledger would manage permanent individual user accounts with permanent user IDs which would open possibilities to derive sensitive privacy information. 🏔️Innovation: A token-based digital euro could position Eurozone intermediaries at the forefront of the coming “token-economy”. A token-based digital euro could hence act as catalyst in transforming European financial markets and contribute to more innovation, competitiveness, and efficiency.   What do you think – is a token-based digital euro a good idea?   #digitaleuro #CBDC #decodingdigitaleuro #Accenture

📣 Important Updates from the Financial Conduct Authority on Cryptoasset FinProms The UKCBC want to share two significant publications released today by the FCA, aimed at enhancing compliance and raising standards within the crypto sector: 📘 Good & Poor Practice on ‘Back End’ Financial Promotion Rules The FCA has reviewed firms' compliance with the ‘back end’ financial promotion rules and their approach to due diligence as outlined in FG23/3. This marks the first set of rules for all crypto firms marketing to UK consumers. The FCA has observed that whilst some firms are demonstrating good practices, many did not meet the required standards. Key takeaways: 👉 Firms should not benchmark against industry comparisons “given the levels of poor practice in the market”. 👉 Compliance with these rules will be considered “as part of any application to be authorised under the future financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets”. Read here - https://lnkd.in/gGSGBzP6 📊 Q2 Financial Promotion Data The FCA’s latest quarterly data includes a case study on a Non-Custodial Wallet firm’s illegal promotion of cryptoassets and their expectations for firms providing on/off ramp ‘widget’ services to unregistered crypto firms. Read here - https://lnkd.in/gksPNPiJ The UKCBC welcomes the FCA’s invitation to discuss these publications further and looks forward to continuing to work collaboratively. #Crypto #FinancialRegulations #FCAUpdates #Compliance #FinProms #CryptoMarketing #FinancialPromotions

Reflecting on a post I did about 8 years ago, enthused by the promise of PSD2. Fast-track 80% of the way timewise, there is progress but hardly as much as I'd anticipated. Convergence of products like Stocks & Shares ISAs, Pensions and Insurance into a single marketplace is still an edge capability, aware of some that tried but did not have the 'Tiktok' appeal. Feel a key missing ingredient may have been the Human factor - mindsets, generational user divergence, distraction...usability... Now that we are on the next frontier with AI, with radical new possibilities every day, I suspect the longest pole will still be the Human factor. But this time, I think AI, with some creative spurs and ethically applied itself might yet breathe life into the promise of PSD2 and Open Banking in time. Time will tell, but I'd place a 2-year horizon this time, still within my 10-year crystal ball, just!