This week in brief

UK's new digital asset regime: No digital asset promotion without a license

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

A proposed digital asset law in the United Kingdom seeks to prohibit the promotion of digital asset investments without authorization from financial regulators like the Financial Conduct Authority.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

The amendments to the Financial Service and Markets Bill were written by Member of Parliament and Financial Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith and released last October 21. The new law was set to revamp the U.K.'s framework for financial regulation by bringing digital assets and digital asset exchanges directly within the oversight of regulators. With the new bill, no one may "in the course of business, communicate an invitation or inducement" to engage in any investment activity, including those relating to 'cryptoassets,' without first being authorized by the country's financial regulator.

WHY SHOULD I CARE?

Digital asset-related investment and promotions have been on the FCA's long list of agendas for some time now. In January, the financial regulator began consultation on promotional rules for high-risk investments and the firms offering them. Last week, the regulator announced it had placed restrictions on twice as many investment firms in 2022 as it had in 2021. The latest amendments to the Financial Service and Markets Bill are set to be debated on the floor of the House of Commons soon after the conclusion of the Bill's committee stage, which is due to end on November 3.

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Kyle Roche fired as Roche Freedman forced to rebuild

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

Kyle Roche, the controversial co-founding partner of Roche Freedman, has been terminated as the law firm continues to face pressure after the leaked videos that showed Kyle Roche bragging about abusing the legal system to harass the competitors of one of their clients, Ava Labs.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

The issue, which has been going on since August, has seen the Roche Freedman firm rebrand to Freedman Normand Friedland LLP. Following the leaks, the firm quietly notified the courts in its ‘crypto' class action lawsuits that Kyle Roche was being replaced as counsel and was no longer part of their class action practice. However, it was only after the Judge hearing the Tether case ruled that Roche Freedman should be removed as counsel altogether that the firm decided to fire Roche. The move marks the end of Kyle Roche's career with Roche Freedman, but the fallout from the leaks is apparently just beginning because since then, Freedman has been kicked off their class action case against Tether and faces similar motions in its other cases.

WHY SHOULD I CARE?

Serious questions remain about the degree to which Roche’s gloating represents the wider firm. As far as anyone is concerned, Freedman was the lead counsel in Ira Kleiman's case against Dr. Craig Wright — one of the few “enemies” of Ava Labs named in the leaks that Kyle Roche had claimed to have "taken down." As Roche Freedman continues to resist the outstanding applications for their removal on ‘crypto’ class action lawsuits, another firm asked for Roche Freedman to be disqualified from its case. Last September, Tulip Trust demanded Roche Freedman be removed from its case against Ira Kleiman over the ownership of W&K. Tulip Trust also pressed the law firm to produce a raft of documents relating to their interest in Ava Labs and their self-described scheme to stick regulators on their competitors.

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“In the first node software implementation, there was actually a feature called IP to IP payments. Then this was removed because it was not safe. There were some techniques to steal payments and now we are trying to re-enable it, thanks to IPv6. There are some tricks to send payments using IPv4… the problem is that this is not efficient. This could pose some security issues, so it's not easy to do it on IPv4. That's why we are focusing on IPv6. ”
- Alessio Pagani, Senior Blockchain Researcher at nChain

THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS

CoinGeek Conversations
More internet addresses, more user-to-user payments: the joy of IPV6

On this week's CoinGeek Conversations, nChain senior researcher Dr. Alessio Pagani explains that although IPv6 has been around for decades, most networks still use IPv4.
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CoinGeek Weekly Livestream
Kurt Wuckert Jr. answers queries about empty miners and Bitcoin

Kurt Wuckert Jr. holds an AMA in this Weekly Livestream episode, answering queries on nodes and empty block mining while clarifying his ties with BA and what counts as a protocol change.
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CoinGeek Backstage
We're taking Bitcoin SV to the grassroots in Africa

Mohammed Ibrahim Jega has spearheaded BSV efforts in West Africa, including by setting up a lab in Nigeria to foster bold ideas and assembling 1,000 devs to teach them about BSV.
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