Bank of America’s prime brokerage unit has reportedly started the clearing and settlement of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) for hedge funds in Europe.

The Maker Foundation has announced it is turning operations over to its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), the MakerDAO, and is dissolving. Holders of the MKR token will now be in charge of the project.

The European Union has proposed a ban on anonymous cryptocurrency transactions in a bid to crack down on money laundering and terrorism financing and protect the bloc’s financial system.

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Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bank of America Has Started Clearing Crypto ETPs for Hedge Funds
• Maker Foundation to Dissolve and Turn Operations to DAO
• EU Proposes Ban on Anonymous Crypto Transactions to Fight Money Laundering
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Bank of America Has Started Clearing Crypto ETPs for Hedge Funds

Bank of America’s prime brokerage unit has reportedly started the clearing and settlement of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) for hedge funds in Europe.

The move comes shortly after Bank of America approved the trading of bitcoin futures for some clients and started clearing cash-settled contracts. The bank has traditionally been conservative when it comes to the cryptocurrency space, but officials have now felt they could no longer ignore the space.

Demand for crypto ETPs has been increasing over time as in February it emerged Goldman Sachs, ICAP, UBS, and JPMorgan had all been purchasing shares of a Polkadot ETP for clients. In June, the ETC Group launched the first bitcoin ETP in the U.K., while an increasing number of these products has been listed on SIX exchange in Switzerland and the Deutsche Boerse’s Xetra market.

Hedge funds are said to be using Bank of America’s prime brokerage services to access crypto ETPs approved by European regulators.

Maker Foundation to Dissolve and Turn Operations to DAO

The Maker Foundation has announced it is turning operations over to its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), the MakerDAO, and is dissolving. Holders of the MKR token will now be in charge of the project.

Maker Foundation’s CEO  Rune Christensen wrote in a blog post that the organization will now “formally dissolve within the next few months.” The Maker Foundation was the formal organization created to steward the Maker protocol through its early days, but a move to the MakerDAO was always planned.

The blog post reads:

"From the earliest days of Maker, everyone involved worked tirelessly to devise a framework for scientific governance and create an infrastructure for a new generation of open financial services that can be used by anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

The MakerDAO is best known for being the influential Ethereum-based organization that pioneering the DAO structure and created the DAI stablecoin, enabled by a collateralized ending system. More often than not, it has been the DeFi protocol with the most value locked on it.

EU Proposes Ban on Anonymous Crypto Transactions to Fight Money Laundering

The European Union has proposed a ban on anonymous cryptocurrency transactions in a bid to crack down on money laundering and terrorism financing and protect the bloc’s financial system.

The European Commission has made four legislative proposals that include the creation of a new EU body to transform anti-money laundering and supervising counter terrorism financing, as well as the imposition of an EU-wide limit of €10,000 ($11,800) on cash transactions. The proposal reads:

"Today's amendments will ensure full traceability of crypto-asset transfers, such as bitcoin. Providing anonymous crypto-asset wallets will be prohibited, just as anonymous bank accounts are already prohibited."

The amendments include requiring the name, address, date of birth, and account number of a cryptoasset sender as well as the name of the recipient. Law enforcement agencies will also be given access to newly created systems, to speed up “financial investigations and the recovery of criminal assets in cross-border cases.”

The proposed measures would apply to all cryptocurrency-related services. The European Parliament and European Council will have to approve the package, and the goal is to have the new EU body operational by 2024.

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