The breach happened on 3 November, hackers stole password from support employee and gained access to the data of 7 million users.

Although exchange representatives stated that important data (bank account & social security numbers) wasn’t stolen, RobinHood shares have fallen by 3.1%.

Centralized services regularly face data leaks (recall the recent Facebook leak with 1.5 billion users)

But not every service uses the latest solutions for data storage security and distributing rights between service <-> users.

The most obvious solution is to store data in a decentralized way. The user should have full access to his personal data, and the service should have limited access to information.

The DAO is a good example of organization with this type of management.

Despite RobinHood’s works with crypto, the users’ data was stolen using good old social engineering methods.

If even such technological giants make such mistakes, it’s scary to think what awaits the rest of the services.

We are waiting for a new wave of hacks.

Website: Hawex.io
Telegram: @Hawex
Twitter: @Hawex_

📖 The history of cryptocurrency is being written before our eyes. Several legal eras can be conventionally highlighted.

Market: Satoshi Nakamoto publishes his White Paper. Bitcoin 0.1 is released, the first crypto farms and exchanges appear, Laszlo buys the most expensive 2 pizzas in history for 10,000 BTC.

Regulation: Regulators prefer not to notice new money and transactions in it at all. There was no investigation even when in 2011 an unknown person stole 25,000 BTC from the user Allinvain.

Market: Illegal goods are sold for Bitcoin on the Silk Road website and other similar stores. The token is becoming popular with companies and people soliciting donations. Bitcoin thefts are becoming regular, crypto trading platforms are undergoing the first serious attacks, which leads to the collapse of the largest exchange MtGox at that time and the collapse of the value of tokens.

Companies and private users are filing the first lawsuits against marketplaces, demanding a refund. The court recognizes for the first time that bitcoin is "a currency or form of money" (that is, it can be regulated by federal securities laws).

Legal issues: The US Senate Committee has recognized the use of virtual currencies as a legitimate financial service. Canadian authorities have legalized the installation of the world's first bitcoin ATM.

Situation in individual jurisdictions:

🔻 Thailand became the first country in the world to officially outlaw the Bitcoin payment system.
🔻 Attempts by Internet giant Baidu to accept payments in Bitcoin have resulted in Chinese financial institutions being banned from using cryptocurrencies.

Market: Accepting bitcoins as payment is becoming an important marketing trend. Cryptocurrency ATMs are popping up in many countries. Bitcoin alternatives: the Bitshares and Ethereum projects are launched.

Legal issues: The New York State Department of Financial Services has released the first ever set of rules for digital currencies. The New York Stock Exchange began to publish daily Bitcoin against the dollar. The European Court of Justice recognized Bitcoin as a currency, not a commodity, exempting the exchange of money from VAT.

The Luxembourg Ministry of Finance has issued the first BitLicense in Europe to conduct financial activities for a company that works with cryptocurrency. The UK Treasury has announced that it will require digital currency exchanges to implement standards similar to conventional exchanges.

Situation in individual jurisdictions:

🔻 The Hong Kong authorities, even after the collapse of the Hong Kong Bitcoin exchange, said there was no need to restrict cryptocurrency operations in any way.
🔻 Canada's Senate Banking Committee has decided that the best strategy for dealing with cryptocurrency is surveillance.
🔻 In Sweden, income from bitcoin issuance is considered a "hobby activity", meaning it is not taxed.

Market: More and more tokens are appearing on the market, a huge variety of different projects are launching: from blockchain sand pits to distributed AI. The governments of various countries are catching up with the "hype" around cryptocurrencies.

Legal issues: The European Union and the United Kingdom have announced the introduction of rules for bitcoin platforms deanonymization. The Czech Republic was the first to limit the anonymity of transactions. Exchanges and exchange services are obliged to verify their clients in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. South Korea has also banned the use of anonymous accounts for cryptocurrency transactions.

Situation in individual jurisdictions:

🔻 Japan recognizes crypto as legal tender by canceling VAT on their exchange.
🔻 The UAE issued the first license for the sale and purchase of cryptocurrencies in the Middle East.
🔻 Estonia was officially allowed to engage in cryptocurrency business. It was announced that Estonia's plans to be the first in Europe to introduce the state cryptocurrency - Estcoin.
🔻 The UK Treasury announced that it would introduce bitcoin into the country's economy and created its own currency, RSCoin.
🔻 The creation of their own tokens was announced in Canada, Venezuela and Norway, where the government decided to abolish VAT for all cryptocurrency transactions.
🔻 In France, known for its high taxes, the Council of State has cut the tax rate on the sale of cryptocurrencies from 45% to 19%.

Market: DeFi appears, NFT tokens are popular (the idea of which was used back in 2014 on the Bitshares platform). The terms "staking" and "farming" appear in the language of investors. The mining boom is causing an acute shortage in the graphics card market. Developers are forced to release video cards with a hardware and software ban on mining cryptocurrencies.

Legal issues: Regulators around the world are issuing numerous directives to control crypto business.

🔻 In China, where, before the release of CBDC, all crypto exchanges operating in the country were closed and mining and ICOs and, in general, any operations with cryptocurrency were limited.
🔻 Great Britain introduces restrictions, explaining them for economic reasons.
🔻 The European Union sees cryptocurrencies as a problem of money laundering and terrorist financing, therefore, when working with them, you will have to transfer the same amount of information to the regulatory authorities as with conventional electronic payments.
🔻 In Turkey, work with tokens was banned and local exchanges were closed.
🔻 The Estonian authorities are tightening the regulation. In particular, 500 licenses have already been revoked from registered cryptocurrency companies.
🔻 In Russia, on January 1, 2021, Law 259 on digital currency, also known as the “CFA law”, came into force. The law allows transactions with cryptocurrency and its use for savings and investments, but you cannot buy goods and services for it.

It is obvious that the legislative bodies, which for many years lagged behind reality and did not touch this segment, now seek to regulate the industry as much as possible. It is clear that if you do not restrict the market at all, then it is difficult to avoid the emergence of financial pyramids and other fraudulent schemes. However, tough restrictions lead to stagnation, so it is worth sticking to the "golden mean" and avoiding overly harsh measures.

A business that plans to operate in foreign crypto jurisdictions should monitor all relevant changes in legislation. Or the best way is to contact trusted specialists.

Website: Hawex.io

Telegram: @Hawex

Twitter: @Hawex_

📖 The history of cryptocurrency is being written before our eyes. Several legal eras can be conventionally highlighted.

Market: Satoshi Nakamoto publishes his White Paper. Bitcoin 0.1 is released, the first crypto farms and exchanges appear, Laszlo buys the most expensive 2 pizzas in history for 10,000 BTC.

Regulation: Regulators prefer not to notice new money and transactions in it at all. There was no investigation even when in 2011 an unknown person stole 25,000 BTC from the user Allinvain.

Market: Illegal goods are sold for Bitcoin on the Silk Road website and other similar stores. The token is becoming popular with companies and people soliciting donations. Bitcoin thefts are becoming regular, crypto trading platforms are undergoing the first serious attacks, which leads to the collapse of the largest exchange MtGox at that time and the collapse of the value of tokens.

Companies and private users are filing the first lawsuits against marketplaces, demanding a refund. The court recognizes for the first time that bitcoin is "a currency or form of money" (that is, it can be regulated by federal securities laws).

Legal issues: The US Senate Committee has recognized the use of virtual currencies as a legitimate financial service. Canadian authorities have legalized the installation of the world's first bitcoin ATM.

Situation in individual jurisdictions:

🔻 Thailand became the first country in the world to officially outlaw the Bitcoin payment system.
🔻 Attempts by Internet giant Baidu to accept payments in Bitcoin have resulted in Chinese financial institutions being banned from using cryptocurrencies.

Market: Accepting bitcoins as payment is becoming an important marketing trend. Cryptocurrency ATMs are popping up in many countries. Bitcoin alternatives: the Bitshares and Ethereum projects are launched.

Legal issues: The New York State Department of Financial Services has released the first ever set of rules for digital currencies. The New York Stock Exchange began to publish daily Bitcoin against the dollar. The European Court of Justice recognized Bitcoin as a currency, not a commodity, exempting the exchange of money from VAT.

The Luxembourg Ministry of Finance has issued the first BitLicense in Europe to conduct financial activities for a company that works with cryptocurrency. The UK Treasury has announced that it will require digital currency exchanges to implement standards similar to conventional exchanges.

Situation in individual jurisdictions:

🔻 The Hong Kong authorities, even after the collapse of the Hong Kong Bitcoin exchange, said there was no need to restrict cryptocurrency operations in any way.
🔻 Canada's Senate Banking Committee has decided that the best strategy for dealing with cryptocurrency is surveillance.
🔻 In Sweden, income from bitcoin issuance is considered a "hobby activity", meaning it is not taxed.

Market: More and more tokens are appearing on the market, a huge variety of different projects are launching: from blockchain sand pits to distributed AI. The governments of various countries are catching up with the "hype" around cryptocurrencies.

Legal issues: The European Union and the United Kingdom have announced the introduction of rules for bitcoin platforms deanonymization. The Czech Republic was the first to limit the anonymity of transactions. Exchanges and exchange services are obliged to verify their clients in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. South Korea has also banned the use of anonymous accounts for cryptocurrency transactions.

Situation in individual jurisdictions:

🔻 Japan recognizes crypto as legal tender by canceling VAT on their exchange.
🔻 The UAE issued the first license for the sale and purchase of cryptocurrencies in the Middle East.
🔻 Estonia was officially allowed to engage in cryptocurrency business. It was announced that Estonia's plans to be the first in Europe to introduce the state cryptocurrency - Estcoin.
🔻 The UK Treasury announced that it would introduce bitcoin into the country's economy and created its own currency, RSCoin.
🔻 The creation of their own tokens was announced in Canada, Venezuela and Norway, where the government decided to abolish VAT for all cryptocurrency transactions.
🔻 In France, known for its high taxes, the Council of State has cut the tax rate on the sale of cryptocurrencies from 45% to 19%.

Market: DeFi appears, NFT tokens are popular (the idea of which was used back in 2014 on the Bitshares platform). The terms "staking" and "farming" appear in the language of investors. The mining boom is causing an acute shortage in the graphics card market. Developers are forced to release video cards with a hardware and software ban on mining cryptocurrencies.

Legal issues: Regulators around the world are issuing numerous directives to control crypto business.

🔻 In China, where, before the release of CBDC, all crypto exchanges operating in the country were closed and mining and ICOs and, in general, any operations with cryptocurrency were limited.
🔻 Great Britain introduces restrictions, explaining them for economic reasons.
🔻 The European Union sees cryptocurrencies as a problem of money laundering and terrorist financing, therefore, when working with them, you will have to transfer the same amount of information to the regulatory authorities as with conventional electronic payments.
🔻 In Turkey, work with tokens was banned and local exchanges were closed.
🔻 The Estonian authorities are tightening the regulation. In particular, 500 licenses have already been revoked from registered cryptocurrency companies.
🔻 In Russia, on January 1, 2021, Law 259 on digital currency, also known as the “CFA law”, came into force. The law allows transactions with cryptocurrency and its use for savings and investments, but you cannot buy goods and services for it.

It is obvious that the legislative bodies, which for many years lagged behind reality and did not touch this segment, now seek to regulate the industry as much as possible. It is clear that if you do not restrict the market at all, then it is difficult to avoid the emergence of financial pyramids and other fraudulent schemes. However, tough restrictions lead to stagnation, so it is worth sticking to the "golden mean" and avoiding overly harsh measures.

A business that plans to operate in foreign crypto jurisdictions should monitor all relevant changes in legislation. Or the best way is to contact trusted specialists.

Website: Hawex.io

Telegram: @Hawex

Twitter: @Hawex_

📉 1. Favorable tax rates compared to EU neighbouring countries
For example, the corporate income tax rate for companies is 12.5%. At the same time, for non-residents of Liechtenstein, only their income in Liechtenstein is the subject of taxes. For comparison: in France, the corporate income tax rate ranges from 27.5% to 31%. Also in Liechtenstein there is no repatriation tax.

🔐 2. Strictly Guarded Banking Secrets
The country can become a «tax haven» for your business, because information about management or activities can be provided to third parties only by a court decision.

📓 3. Liechtenstein is not included in the «blacklists» of offshore zones
Liechtenstein is the first country to introduce a comprehensive regulation for the blockchain industry, for cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, payment tokens, stable coins, and digital securities like security tokens.

On January 1, 2020, The Token and Trusted Technology Service Provider Act (TVTG) came into force. At the same time, no strict norms and prohibitions have appeared.

In particular, the Local Financial Market Authority(FMA) has declared cryptocurrencies not subject to regular supervisory control. However, any company in one way or another is obliged to undergo an audit and submit financial statements.

Now the registration of companies and the conduct of business are organized as simply and transparently as possible.

💰 Serious disadvantage: the cost of registration and renewal of an activity permit. So, the procedure for obtaining a crypto license will cost you 1500₣ for 1 type of activity and 700₣ for each subsequent one.
The FMA application process takes up to 3 months.

You must obtain a license and register with the FMA if:

🔻 You launch cryptocurrency hedge funds;
🔻 You are a blockchain network developer;
🔻 You launch ICO;
🔻You launch a crypto exchange.

The Principality is part of the European Economic Area, but is not a member of the European Union. This allows you not to burden business processes with excessive legal difficulties and bypass many onerous EU requirements, although the activities of companies are regulated by the requirements of the AML (Due Diligence Act). But an entrepreneur can work here on an ordinary Schengen visa.

💼 All these factors make the country an interesting place to register a cryptocurrency business. It is not for nothing that almost 74 thousand foreign companies are registered here, in fact, twice as many as the number of residents in the country.

Telegram @Hawex
Website Hawex.io

While observing the success of major players on the crypto market, we can notice that a significant part of their business problems is related with the wrong choice of jurisdiction. Meanwhile, the regulation of cryptocurrency transactions in the world is gradually tightening.

Recently operating in the Russian Federation and the Czech Republic, the SUEX cryptocurrency exchange platform was the first in history to fall under US sanctions. The scandal turned out to be a big one, Suex was named to be “Russian crypto-launderers”. Obviously, the regulators were simply not ready for the changed financial realities, and therefore went for harsh measures against the market participants. Business, in turn, has poorly analyzed market risks and transparency of regulations. As a result, a precedent has arisen, the consequences of which will affect the market for a long time to come.

It is important to note that new rules and decisions of regulators are often spontaneous. Having said this, recently the head of the Bureau of Data on Money Laundering Mathis Mäeker proposed to cancel all licenses for cryptocurrency trading operating in Estonia and issue them under new conditions. If you do not constantly track all the changes in real time, you can literally wake up and find out that your business has suddenly started having problems.

Are you sure your crypto business is safe right this second?
How transparent is the regulation of the laws on which you depend on a daily basis? Could it be easier to transfer transactions to another country?

We are launching a series of articles on jurisdictions for cryptocurrencies that will help you understand the topic and not make mistakes, no matter what stage of its development your crypto business is.

You will learn about the clear and subtle nuances of registration, and you will also be able to familiarize yourself with our own top list of jurisdictions in order to protect yourself and your capital.

If you want to learn from others’ mistakes, and not make your own, follow our channel.

@Hawex