Market Watch | Bitcoin | $10,539 | 7 day: -2% | | Ethereum | $341 | 7 day: -4.7% | | All crypto | $334b | 7 day: -2.7% | | Bitcoin dominance | 58.4% | 7 day: +0.3% | Prices as of 4:45 p.m. EDT
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 John McAfee The U.S Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicted software entrepreneur John McAfee for willful tax evasion. McAfee, 74, was arrested in Spain and is awaiting extradition to the U.S. - The DoJ indicted the software entrepreneur for deliberately evading taxes and hiding property, including a yacht, real estate held by nominees, and substantial cryptocurrencies.
- McAfee allegedly directed income into various bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets under nominee names.
- The indictment alleges that McAfee earned millions promoting cryptocurrencies, consulting work, speaking engagements, and selling the rights to his life story for a documentary.
- McAfee allegedly failed to file tax returns between 2014 and 2018, despite receiving considerable income.
- The SEC also unsealed a concurrent enforcement action against McAfee in a New York federal court, claiming that McAfee made $23.1m as undisclosed compensation for touting seven ICOs on Twitter.
- The SEC claims that McAfee misused his fame to mislead his followers, promoting at least seven cryptocurrencies from November 2017 and February 2018 without adequate disclosures.
- SEC's enforcement action mentions that McAfee falsely claimed to be an investor and/or technical advisor of the crypto projects promoted.
- McAfee's bodyguard, Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., is also suspected of touting ICOs on McAfee's Twitter handle and engaging in a "scalping" scheme.
- McAfee is facing fines and up to five years in prison on each count of tax evasion, plus up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine on each of five charges for willful failures to file tax returns.
- McAfee sold his equity in McAfee.com's cybersecurity business years ago and is no longer involved with the company.
U.S. Dept. of Justice 
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 U.K. Financial Conduct Authority The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority bans crypto derivatives and Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs). The final rules from the "SEC of the U.K." ban the sale of all derivatives and ETNs that reference certain types of crypto-assets to retail consumers. - The ban expressly bans the sale, marketing, and distribution to all retail consumers of any derivative that references unregulated transferable crypto-assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Ripple (XRP). FCA specifies banned derivatives including contracts for difference (CFDs), options, futures, and ETNs.
- We have raised a cautionary hand about derivatives many times here at Inside Cryptocurrency. We wrote on Sept. 29, for example, "Swaps are highly regulated financial contracts. In the U.S., most credit default swaps are securities and are governed by the SEC. Even non-security swaps are governed by the CFTC."
- The ban will come into effect on Jan. 6, 2021.
- The full policy statement is published as a PDF here.
Financial Conduct Authority
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 SEC Chairman Jay Clayton Jay Clayton, SEC chairman, suggests that "one day," many stocks could be tokenized. - During a webinar on Oct. 2, Clayton said that he believes that many stocks and even ETFs could "one day" be tokenized. Clayton spoke individually, not formally on behalf of the SEC. Clayton added that the SEC is open to the idea of tokenizing Exchange Traded Funds in an efficient way.
- Clayton presented "Two Sides of the American Coin: Innovation & Regulation of Digital Assets," hosted by blockchain startup Securrency and the Chamber of Digital Commerce.
- Brian Brooks, the acting Comptroller at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), also participated in the webinar. Both Brooks and Clayton welcomed interest in innovation within the cryptocurrency industry, while encouraging compliance with regulations.
- Clayton said that he is "wide-open" to industry participants willing to consult with the SEC on a plan to tokenize an ETF or equity shares.
Coindesk
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 Eesti Pank Estonia's central bank, Eesti Pank, announces a two-year research project on digital cryptocurrencies. - In collaboration with technology companies like Guardtime and The SW7 Group, Estonia's Eesti Pank will spearhead a research project into a potential Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The project will be a multi-year project to determine, in part, whether Estonia's e-government technology known as KSI Blockchain is suitable for a CBDC operation.
- The announcement arrived soon after the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to coordinate research into the pros and cons of bloc-wide CBDC.
Eesti Pank
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Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls Stock Exchange said that it plans to list crypto-assets. - Zimbabwe Stock Exchange will allow the listing of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on its recently licensed subsidiary, the Victoria Falls Stock exchange.
- Zimbabwe market regulators gave approval to Victoria Falls Stock exchange on Sept. 1 to operate in the resort town of Victoria Falls to attract more foreign investors.
- The Victoria Falls Stock Exchange is ready to add cryptocurrencies after regulatory approval of each coin issuance, on a case-by-case basis.
- Victoria Falls Stock Exchange serves mostly mining companies operating in Zimbabwe, including Old Mutual, PPC Zimbabwe, and Seedco.
- The small exchange allows local residents to access domestic and international liquidity.
Business Times Zimbabwe
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Quick Hits: - Block.one's EOS (EOS) announced that Google Cloud will become a EOS network block producer. The price of EOS spiked from $2.50 to $2.75 on the headline. Block.one is a defendant in several lawsuits related to its $4b ICO, including Crypto Assets Opportunity Fund LLC et al. v. Block.One et al. and Williams et al. v. Block.One et al., case numbers 1:20-cv-03829 and 1:20-cv-02809, both in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Coinbase now allows instant withdrawal services using a debit card in 40 countries, including the U.S., U.K., and Europe.
- Coinbase will send tax information of many U.K. customers directly to the government. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) notified Coinbase of its obligation to disclose U.K. residents who received more than €5,000 worth of cryptocurrency through Coinbase during 2019.
- Belarusian news organizations begin using NewNode, a distributed file-sharing service developed by California-based startup Clostra, to share content with Belarusian citizens. The government in Belarus blocked access to many local media websites after an Aug. 8 election that critics say was rigged.
- The U.S. Federal Election Commission now offers federal candidates a $50 cryptocurrency gift, designed as an educational experience about blockchain technologies, through Crypto for Congress, an initiative by the Chamber of Digital Commerce. The Chamber of Digital Commerce will give fractions of a bitcoin to participating members of Congress.
- BitGo mints a total of $616m worth of Ethereum-compatible Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) in September, a 160% increase compared to August. WBTC has many risks.
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 |  | Written and curated by wide-eyed bitcoin watcher since $1, Aaron Wise. Streaming headline junkie, Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, 2017 founder of Cryptocurrency Newsfeed. Temporarily based in Florida while awaiting the construction of cryptopia. |  | | Editor | Edited by Eduardo Garcia in New York. Eduardo is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
