PayPal to stop Bitcoin purchases in the United Kingdom from October 1st

Crypto-friendly payment platform PayPal made some crypto adjustments on its platform in the United Kingdom to comply with local financial regulations this week.

PayPal announced it will temporarily halt crypto purchases in the UK starting October 1, expecting to re-enable the service in early 2024.

Related post:

Here is how to detect fake PayPal Stablecoin tokens flooding the crypto market

Also, the bitter SEC and Ripple legal drama appears to have at least one chapter left to go. On Thursday, a judge gave the SEC the go-ahead to file an appeal.

Here are major crypto stories from around the world this week

MasterCard launches CBDC program 

Payments giant Mastercard has created a forum where crypto industry players can discuss and collaborate on central bank digital currencies, injecting its influential voice into the CBDC conversation as nations worldwide consider digitising their money.

According to an announcement by MasterCard on Thursday, Initial participants in Mastercard’s CBDC Partner Program include Ripple, Fireblocks, and Consensys. According to the firm’s head of digital assets and blockchain, Raj Dhamodharan, the program is designed to encourage conversations among key industry players and drive innovation and efficiency.

PayPal stops Bitcoin purchases in the UK

PayPal has announced that it will temporarily pause crypto purchases in the United Kingdom until early 2024, citing stricter rules by the country’s financial regulator.

The company said customers who have previously purchased crypto assets through their PayPal account could keep them on the platform or sell them at any time. However, starting Oct. 1, the ability to make new purchases will be disabled.

“We’re taking this measure in response to new rules enacted by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that require crypto firms to implement additional steps before customers can purchase crypto.”

OpenSea shutdown NFT royalty enforcement tool

NFT marketplace OpenSea is shutting down its on-chain royalty enforcement tool, Operator Filter, which allows creators to blacklist NFT marketplaces that don’t enforce royalties. 

According to a Thursday announcement by OpenSea founder and CEO Devin Finzer, the change is set to take effect on August 31.

The Operator Filter feature was introduced in November 2022 and was described as a “simple code snippet” that could restrict NFT sales to only marketplaces that enforced creator fees. However, Finzer said that the tool hadn’t had the success they had hoped, as it didn’t have the needed support from the NFT ecosystem.

Read also:

PayPal launches $PYUSD as it moves into stablecoin market

Starting Aug. 31, the Operator Filter will no longer block any marketplaces. Some consider the move a potential blow for NFT artists looking to make passive income.

SEC gets green light to appeal Ripple case 

The ongoing legal saga between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple has entered a new phase. On Thursday, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the SEC’s request to file a motion for an interlocutory appeal.

The appeal motion directly responds to Judge Torres’ prior ruling, which determined that certain XRP transactions and distributions do not qualify as securities under the Howey Test—a benchmark for defining investment contracts.

CoinDesk slashes workforce by 45%

Crypto media outlet CoinDesk has cut its editorial staff by 45% as its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), prepares for a partial sale of the company, according to a report by The Block.

In an internal memo viewed by The Block, Kevin Worth, CoinDesk CEO, told staff in an email:

“The purpose of the meeting is to inform everyone that today several roles, predominantly in our media team, were impacted by a reduction in force.This is an incredibly difficult message to send to everyone over email and yet I also wanted everyone at CoinDesk to know as soon as possible what is happening today. This was a required step to ensure a financially sound business moving forward and to set us on the path to close the deal to sell CoinDesk Inc.”

CoinDesk was established in 2013, and DCG purchased the crypto media in 2016 for $500,000. Sometime last month, Wall Street Journal claimed that the crypto conglomerate was reportedly finalising a $125 million deal to sell a portion of the company. DCG would reportedly retain a stake in the company.