Bats Exchange to Formally Object SEC Rejection of Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF

The Bats Exchange has objected to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) rejection of the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which would have seen the exchange list it to track the price of bitcoin.

On March 10, the SEC rejected the Winklevoss bitcoin ETF because the online exchanges that the digital currency trades on are not regulated and are vulnerable to fraud. Even though the Winklevoss twins are reported as being hopeful that the commission will come around to working with them on bringing an ETF to market, many may have thought the case was closed.

However, according to a letter posted on the SEC’s website, the Bats BZX Exchange, operated by CBOE Holdings Inc., plans on appealing the SEC’s decision to turn down the ETF.

The letter, which was received on 20 March, states:

Bats BZX Exchange, Inc. submits this letter, pursuant to Rule 430(b)(1) of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rules of Practice, as written notice of Bats’ intent to petitions for review of the Order Disapproving a Proposed Rule Change, as Modified by Amendments No. 1 and 2, to BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4), Commodity-Based Trust Shares, to List and Trade Shares Issued by the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust; Exchange Act Release No. 80206, File No. SR-BatsBZX-2016-30.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and their Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust initially applied for approval of the ETF nearly four years ago. For years, the two have been attempting to bring bitcoin to the mainstream and the failure of getting the first ETF approved is a major blow to their cause.

In the run-up to the SEC’s decision, the price of bitcoin soared to $1,350. After the SEC’s rejection, the price crashed below $1,000 before jumping back up to $1,100.

Appeal Holds No Guarantees

Even though Bats will appeal the decision, this doesn’t guarantee that the SEC will change its decision now or anytime in the future.

With bitcoin’s price fluctuating so wildly, knowing how to predict what the currency is going to do is proving difficult while investors tend to send the price down when they panic sell.

This is compared to fiat currency, which tends to change its value slowly over time and, in what is considered, a predictable fashion.

And yet, if the ETF does receive approval at some stage, it would provide more credibility to bitcoin particularly to those on Wall Street, thus helping to take away some of the mystery around the currency.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Roger Ver Agrees To Sell BTC For BTU At 1:1 Ratio

Roger Ver, the bitcoin broker/asset manager and Bitcoin Unlimited supporter, has agreed to a one-to-one trade of Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) for bitcoin, signaling his confidence in Bitcoin Unlimited. The offer is for at least 60,000 bitcoins and as much as 130,000 bitcoins. with a bitcoin split pending.

Someone has apparently offered to exchange his BTU for Ver’s BTC at a one-to-one rate. The bitcoin address on blockchain.info associated with the offer holds 40,000 BTC.

The person also made the offer to another party, Jihan Wu: “Consider it primarily as a vote of no confidence in the Bitcoin Unlimited software and development team as it currently stands,” the post read. “I’ll add the contingency that the deal is null and void if there ar major changes to either.”

Ver responded: “This sounds like a great deal for both of us. I look forward to ironing out the exact details and terms. I’m super busy for the next 48 hours, but would love to connect after that.”

“I will sell my coins on the slow, expensive Core chain and use the proceeds from that… I would sell those coins and use the proceeds to buy more BU useful,” Ver said in a recent Youtube video posted by MadBitcoins. “Bitcoin Unlimited coins will be so much more useful because you’ll actually be able to sit and receive them with people, unlike the Bitcoin Core coins on this congested network that will be congested and last forever.”

‘Speechless’ Over Offer

The post drew significant comment on Reddit.

“I am speechless to see the account holding 40k bitcoin, who owns those kind of money!!!” a Reddit post noted. “If there is a split which is highly likely with the uncertain things going on with the rumors and things regarding it, i am not sure how things will go and the price is recovering even at this level. Good luck making the deal.”

One post noted that Ver is putting his money where his mouth is, providing the offer is not a bluff.

Another post said Ver will find an excuse not to make the public deal since he is only bluffing.

Still another post questioned why Ver would do a one-for-one trade when the market rate on Bitfinex for BTU (Bitcoin Unlimited) is 0.2102 and the rate for BCC (Bitcoin Core) is 0.758. To be a fair trade, one would need to offer Ver 3.6 BTU for every 1 BCC.

The offer naturally drew comment on the chances of success for Bitcoin Unlimited. Ver has been a proponent of a block size increase and supports Bitcoin Unlimited as a solution.

Another post said for Bitcoin Unlimited to exist, it requires more proof-of-work than BTC.

Also read: Bitcoin Core developers attack Bitcoin Unlimited

Bitcoin Unlimited Still Controversial

The Ver offer demonstrates that Bitcoin Unlimited remains controversial. Those in favor of it argue that it would quickly increase transaction capacity, addressing delays and lowering fees. Those against it state that the Segregated Witness solution would increase capacity far higher through layer two protocols.

Both sides say the other’s solution will centralize bitcoin. Those against Bitcoin Unlimited say an increased blocksize would increase costs, lowering the number of nodes. In response, BU supporters say that sharding would address these concerns and lead to centralized hubs due to the economies of scale. To which Segregated Witness supporters say the protocol is designed to be decentralized.

Featured image from YouTube/Torsten Hoffmann.

NY Regulator Approves Bitcoin Exchange Coinbase for Ethereum and Litecoin Trading

Digital currency exchange Coinbase has received approval from New York’s financial regulator to offer trading of Ethereum and Litecoin to users in the state. The crypto exchange was also given the green light to offer ‘Shift Card’, its debit card service, in the state.

Coinbase becomes the second cryptocurrency exchange to see its application to offer Ethereum trading approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). Notably, Coinbase is also the first approved exchange to offer Litecoin trading for New York users, starting today.

The state’s financial regulator previously granted approval for Ethereum trading to Gemini, an exchange founded by the Winklevoss brothers, in May 2016.

Coinbase will also be permitted to offer its bitcoin debit card service, first launched across 24 states in November 2015. Launched to much publicity, Coinbase’s ‘Shift Card’ became the first bitcoin debit card in the United States.

In its announcement, today, the DFS claims it has “rapidly responded to innovations” by issuing licenses and charters to financial technologies.

In statements, DFS Superintendent Maria Vullo said:

New York continues to lead the nation in fostering financial technology by responsibly promoting innovation and protecting consumers. DFS has proven that the state regulatory system is the best way to supervise and cultivate a thriving fintech industry, like virtual currency.

In no uncertain terms, Vullo then adds that the DFS will oppose the federal effort of the US Treasury Department’s initiative to consider granting charters to allow Fintech companies operate as special purpose national banks.

“New York will remain steadfast in pushing back against federal encroachment efforts like the OCC’s proposal to impose a one-size-fits-all national bank charter that increases risk and seeks to usurp state sovereignty,” Vullo stated.

The department’s BitLicense, which has frequently seen criticism for restrictive regulations for the cryptocurrency industry, has so far granted a total of three licenses since it came into effect in 2014.

Circle became the first company in the industry to gain a BitLicense in September 2015. Ripple followed in mid-2016, granting Ripple Labs the approval to sell and obtain its native digital asset, XRP. Coinbase became the third company to gain the license in January this year, seeing approval to offer bitcoin trading, storage, and transmission for New York customers. Gemini is operational in New York after receiving a DFS charter to offer services in the state. Regulated as a fiduciary, it is exempt from requiring a BitLicense and can service both individual and institutional clients.

“At Coinbase, our first priority is to ensure that we operate the most secure and compliant digital currency exchange in the world,” stated Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong upon receiving approval today.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Coinbase Declines to Sign Bitcoin Unlimited Rejection Letter, CEO Explains

Coinbase remains as one of the few companies to reject the hard fork contingency statement released on March 17. The company’s CEO Brian Armstrong made an official statement to clarify the Coinbase team’s stance and viewpoint on hard fork contingency involving Bitcoin Unlimited.

Background of the Statement Itself

Late last week, leading bitcoin exchanges including BTCC, Kraken, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Bittrex, Bitso and Shapeshift that represent the majority of the global bitcoin exchange industry’s market share released a collaborative statement as exchanges in the bitcoin ecosystem.

The statement specifically addressed hard fork contingency and the high possibility of Bitcoin Unlimited, a hard fork solution designed to reduce blockchain congestion of bitcoin, of being executed in the near future. The exchanges noted that upon the execution of Bitcoin Unlimited, its tokens will be considered as an alt-asset or an alt-coin, instead of being accepted as bitcoin.Major bitcoin exchanges which participated in drafting the statement went as far as to say that even in the event wherein the Bitcoin Unlimited chain overtakes Bitcoin Core in terms of hash power or computing power, they will continue to support deposits and withdrawals for the Core chain as BTC or bitcoin.

“Since it appears likely we may see a hard fork initiated by the Bitcoin Unlimited project, we have decided to designate the Bitcoin Unlimited fork as BTU (or XBU). The Bitcoin Core implementation will continue to trade as BTC (or XBT) and all exchanges will process deposits and withdrawals in BTC even if the BTU chain has more hashing power. Some exchanges intend to list BTU and all of us will try to take steps to preserve and enable access to customers’ BTU. However, none of the undersigned can list BTU unless we can run both chains independently without incident,” the statement read.

Why is Coinbase Not Willing to Sign the Statement?

In short, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believed the statement attempted to peg the Bitcoin network to Bitcoin Core. While Armstrong and Coinbase director of engineering Charlie Lee have voiced their support for Bitcoin Core and its scalability solutions such as Segregated Witness (Segwit) in the past, Armstrong and the rest of the Coinbase team is against fixing the Bitcoin network to one development team in Bitcoin Core.

“Coinbase didn’t sign the industry letter because I think the intention behind it is wrong. On the surface it is a communication about how exchanges would handle the hard fork, and a request to BU for replay attack protection. But my concern was that it was actually a thinly veiled attempt to keep the BTC moniker pegged to core software. I think a number of people who put their name on it didn’t realize this,” said Armstrong.

The Bitcoin Core development team represents 95% of the developers within the Bitcoin development community and 95% of the developments in bitcoin. In other words, the Bitcoin Core development team is credited for developing 95% of the current Bitcoin network.

However, Armstrong stated that some of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the industry including GDAX, Poloniex and Gemini didn’t sign the statement for a similar reason to Coinbase. The fact is, drafting a joint or unified statement to represent the views of many bitcoin exchanges, developers and miners hasn’t worked out in the past and according to Armstrong, it often leads to more drama and conflicting views.

He noted:

“A number of exchanges (GDAX, Poloniex, Gemini) didn’t sign the letter, or later clarified their position on it (ShapeShift, Kraken), so I think there are a variety of opinions out there. I think creating public industry letters that people sign is a bad idea. They haven’t been very effective in the past, they are “design by committee”, people inevitably say their views were not accurately represented after the fact, and they tend to create more drama.”

Currently, there are two moving parts to the discussion on the execution of Bitcoin Unlimited as a hard fork solution. Segwit supporters believe that miners are looking out for their best interests concerning Bitcoin Unlimited and not the industry and community’s well being. Because miners believe two-layer solutions like Lighning can reduce miner revenues, they want to see an on-chain scaling solution like Bitcoin Unlimited to be activated.

Coinbase hopes to be a neutral company in this debate and hopes to provide the best solution possible while observing the rapidly changing debate.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Chinese Bitcoin Exchanges Seek Customers’ Funds Details; Withdrawals to Resume?

In what is perhaps the first notable step toward resuming bitcoin withdrawals for Chinese users after February’s freeze, at least one of China’s ‘big 3’ exchanges, Huobi, is now requiring details of users’ fiat funds used to buy bitcoins or digital currencies.

With this step, we expect #bitcoin withdraws from major exchanges become available soon.

— cnLedger (@cnLedger) March 21, 2017

As revealed by regional industry news resource cnLedger, Huobi explains that the information sought is in accordance with AML regulations by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank. Specifically, the exchange is soliciting emailed responses from users to provide explanations for the sources of the (fiat) funds transferred to the exchange and the destination account to which they wish to withdraw their digital currencies.

The step could come as a relief to users left in limbo after Huobi announced it would pause bitcoin and litecoin withdrawals over a month ago. Withdrawals were expected to resume earlier this month. However, Huobi and a number of exchanges postponed account withdrawals a day before the 30-day freeze ran its course, stating withdrawals would only resume after regulatory approval. No timelines were provided.

Translated by the news resource, Huobi’s notice, which cnLedger stresses as unconfirmed, reads:

According to AML regulations by government departments including the Central Bank and China Banking Regulatory Commission, you are required to provide explanations of the sources of your funds, and the destinations of the crypto-coins you withdraw.

Aside from seeking its users’ account details from Huobi, the requirements turn invasive when seeking explanations for the sources of funds transferred to Huobi and the proof for it.

For instance, if customers transferred money borrowed from acquaintances or friends, they are required to provide screenshots of the communication WeChat, a popular Chinese messaging platform, if IOU documents are unavailable.

Further, users are also required to explain the use to their bitcoins or litecoins acquired or stored on Huobi.

“The documents and materials you provide will be sent to national departments [to be] archived as proof,” states a reminder toward the end of the notice, urging users not to fabricate any details.

Hat tip to cnLedger.

Featured image from Shutterstock. 

Chinese Regulators Propose Rules for Bitcoin Exchanges

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has proposed revisions to its anti-money laundering (AML) requirements for bitcoin exchanges, according to Zhou Xuedong, director of the National People’s Congress and the bank’s department of business administration, according to Finance New Media.

Despite recent actions with virtual currency exchanges, the central bank has not laid out any clear set of regulations upon the bitcoin industry in the country.

Xuedong has called for China to look at regulatory efforts toward bitcoin internationally to establish a regulatory mechanism for the industry.

KYC Requirements Needed

Under the rules established in 2013, there are no know your customer (KYC) requirements. There was a requirement concerning bit currency risk for trading platforms to identify users’ identities, including real name, registration name, identity card numbers and other information.

The proposed change includes two aspects regarding AML. One is to establish an AML structure to improve AML, anti-terrorism financing and an internal control system. Another is to clarify the platform’s obligations, including prevention and control measures. Such measures would include customer identity information, a system for preserving transaction records and a system for recording suspicious transactions.

Virtual platforms will need to have “on-site certification.” The trading platform will have to follow the KYC principle and establish a system for customer identification. When users of virtual currency make withdrawals and redemptions, they will be required to have a valid identity document. Customers applying for counterfeit goods, virtual goods and the equivalent of more than 50,000 yuan should provide remote video certification.

Customer ‘Presence Certification’

The customer for the first time would be required to have “presence certification.”

In addition to making detailed requests for customer identification, the proposal stipulates that the platform should develop senior management personnel responsible for AML and anti-terrorism financing, and establish specialized agencies and positions and an internal control system.

The platform should properly store customer identity information and transactions to ensure complete and accurate reproduction of each transaction.

The proposal also includes a list of suspicious transactions to focus on. Should a transaction involve criminal activities like money laundering, the platform should report it to the central bank business management department.

Xuedong said the whereabouts of funds can be learned from the blockchain technology.

Also read: Report: China should clarify ‘bottom line” of bitcoin exchange supervision

On-Site Exchange Inpsections Begin

Since the beginning of January 2017, the People’s Bank of Beijing, Shanghai and other branches of the joint local financial regulatory authorities have carried out on-site inspections of exchanges that found the AML internal control system is not perfect.

On January 11, the Shanghai and Beijing branches of the PBOC conducted on-site checks of three bitcoin exchanges, sending prices crashing. Exchanges in the country began enforcing sweeping changes, beginning with halting leveraged or loan-based trading of the cryptocurrency between platforms a week after the PBOC became involved. On January 24, Chinese exchanges ended zero-fee trading and began charging a flat 0.2 percent fee of the value of the transaction.

The central bank continued its investigation of Chinese bitcoin exchanges in February. A closed door meeting with a number of domestic exchanges took place on February 8.

On February 9, a notice was issued to upgrade the AML system and that the standard development and implementation period was expected to be one month.

On March 8, a notice mentioned the need to address AML, foreign exchange management, payment settlement and other financial regulations.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Shutdown of Bitcoin Exchange Bitcurex Under Investigation by Polish Prosecutor

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Łódź, a city in central Poland has launched an investigation into Bitcurex, the country’s first bitcoin exchange that went offline last year.

Bitcurex was Poland’s first and largest bitcoin exchange after commencing operations in 2012.

In October 2016, the troubled bitcoin exchange shut down its exchange operations after losing 2300 bitcoins (approx. $1.5 million at the time), citing an “external interference in automated data collection and processing of information”. Digital Future, the exchange platform’s operator, claimed to have filed a report with the Łódź district prosecutor’s office of the losses it suffered. The notice indicated services to resume on or before November 30, 2016. The operator claimed to ink a recapitalization agreement with an investor to resume services and allow users to withdraw funds.Bitcurex has not notified users with any public statements and the website, as it stands, is offline.

In an announcement this month, the prosecutor’s office has now revealed it is overseeing an investigation into the losses suffered by users.

Roughly translated, the statement [PDF] from the prosecutor’s office read:

“Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Lodz announces that oversees the investigation signature PO VI Ds 50.2016, given among other things the supply to the unfavorable disposition of confiscated property. So far, the number of people naturally and legally connected with the exchange Bitcurex, led by the company “Digital Future limited liability Company” limited partnership, based in Lodz, this is an act of art. 286 § 1 of the Penal Code in conjunction. Article. 294 § 1 of the Penal Code.”

“Victims who have so far not reported a crime may direct such concerns to the to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Lodz – by mail,” the notice added. “ Written notices should, if possible, have attached copies of the documentation or printouts confirming the amount of damage suffered (BTC balance, confirmations of transfers in PLN or other currencies).”

Having begun operations in July 2012 with its base in Łódź, Bitcurex faced its first notable hacking attack in March 2014 when a hacker triggered a buy order for 19,000 bitcoins through hacked PLN (Polish Zloty). Bitcurex succeeded in blocking the while halting all trading operations. Days later, Bitcurex was fully operational.

Bitcoin-Friendly Poland

Meanwhile, the Polish government is notably taking an encouraging stance toward bitcoin and blockchain technology. A televised meeting organized by a member of the Polish parliament put the financial technologies under the spotlight to discuss their legality and regulation.

Attending the meeting was Sylwester Suszek, CEO of prominent Polish bitcoin and altcoin exchange BitBay. Speaking to CCN at the time, he stated:

[The meeting] shows that both sides of this dialogue (bitcoin industry and authorities) are interested in cooperation for the future of bitcoin, both on the business and the state level.

Following the meeting, the Polish Ministry of Administration and Digitization established a working group to educate Polish citizens about cryptocurrencies. More recently, Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) recognized the trading and mining of electronic currencies . Fundamentally, companies who use virtual currencies will now be able to register with the authority.

Image from Shutterstock.

Why Wells Fargo Tried to Start a Bitcoin Exchange in 2013

Wells Fargo, the $294 billion US bank, engaged in a meeting with major global investment management firm Fortress Investment Group and Xapo CEO Wences Casares to potentially start a bitcoin exchange for their clients.

In his book “Digital Gold,” NY Times finance journalist Nathaniel Popper introduced an anecdote in regard to Wells Fargo and Fortress’ joint bitcoin project, which was discussed in 2013 in the New York headquarters of Fortress.

Prior to the demise of Mt Gox, previously the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, bitcoin price was surging at an exponential rate. The market cap of bitcoin continued to set all-time highs, as its price reached $1,120. Mainstream media outlets and analysts created intense hype around bitcoin, which led multi-billion dollar banks and financial institutions to consider bitcoin as a game-changing technology within the realm of finance.To target younger clients who were interested in investing their money into bitcoin at the time, Wells Fargo and Fortress sat down with prominent investors and finance experts such as Casares to discuss the viability of a business model based on a global bitcoin exchange.

Xapo was yet to be launched during the time executives from Wells Fargo and Fortress were discussing the possibility of launching a bitcoin exchange as a collaborative project. Xapo was launched almost a year later by Casares.

The idea of the Fortress team, which was already looking into potential business models around bitcoin due to the company’s interest in the rapid growth of bitcoin, was to create a regulated bitcoin exchange for US-based customers. With a regulated market, Fortress believed that bitcoin mainstream adoption will spur and the general public will be able to invest in bitcoin with ease, without running in conflict with lawmakers.

An excerpt from Popper’s book read:

“Pete stood up and made his basic pitch to the Wells Fargo team. He explained why the Fortress team was so intrigued by the technology and pointed at the smart people around the table, such as Wences, who had thrown themselves into it. He hinted that Wells Fargo should be keeping up with bitcoin, given the potential for the new network to challenge some of the basic services, like payment networks, that the bank was providing. Pete closed by talking about the lack of an American-based regulated exchange for bitcoin–something that Fortress and wells Fargo could provide together.”

In 2013, the global bitcoin exchange market wasn’t well established and structured. Most traders purchased bitcoin in over-the-counter (OTC) markets or in direct purchases, as regulated bitcoin exchanges weren’t around during the time.

If Wells Fargo and Fotress introduced a fully regulated bitcoin exchange, it would have been the first of its kind. Such infrastructure built by one of the largest banks and financial service providers within the US would have formed a completely different image of bitcoin.

Ultimately, the plan of Wells Fargo and Fotress to introduce a regulated bitcoin exchange fell out, most likely because of the Mt Gox fiasco which crashed the value of bitcoin and led to a long recovery period for bitcoin.

Currently, banks including Wells Fargo are looking into private blockchain technology-based platforms, inspired by Bitcoin. However, blockchain projects are struggling to demonstrate any success or progress. In the future, if blockchain development comes to a halt, there will be a possibility of Wells Fargo pursuing business models around bitcoin.

Image from Shutterstock.

Bitcoin Exchanges ‘Can’t Work Without Regulations’

The director of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has recently shed some light on his views circulating the digital currency Bitcoin after the country’s central bank’s recent regulatory inspections on bitcoin exchanges.

In a translated summary uploaded to Twitter by cnLedger, Zhou Xuedong, stated that ‘most Bitcoin investors are young people’ and that ‘some platforms faked a lot of volume in order to attract investment.’

13 Mar

cnLedger @cnLedger

PBoC Director: Money laundry & capital flight w/ btc aint much; most CN investors are young ppl; forgive innovation,but regulation is a must pic.twitter.com/aRAniWoJGx

 Follow

cnLedger @cnLedger

PBoC director's key points translated: pic.twitter.com/XAz9POYgza

7:10 AM - 13 Mar 2017

 
•  4242 Retweets
 
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• 39 likes

After hearing the news of the U.S.’s refusal to approve the first ETF, Xuedong said that the future of Bitcoin in China ‘cannot work without regulations.’

PBoC Interferes with Bitcoin

In January, it was reported that the PBoC had conducted on-site checks on major Chinese bitcoin exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai. These were BTCC, OKCoin and Huobi.

It’s believed that the increased value in the currency was attracting the attention of authorities who were attempting to reduce capital outflows they believed were taking place through the digital currency.

As a result, the price of Bitcoin dropped to around $790 while lesser known Chinese bitcoin miner HaoBTC revealed that it was shutting down its operations after announcing the removal of its exchange service to its users.

In a bid to adhere to the AML and regulatory requirements enforced by the PBoC upon bitcoin exchanges, BTCC announced in February that it was suspending Bitcoin and Litecoin withdrawals. OKCoin and Huobi announced a similar measure too.

All three exchanges were due to resume withdrawals this month, however the suspension continues for all three as they wait for regulatory approval.

PBoC’s View on Bitcoin

With no timeframe insight as to if and when the three Chinese bitcoin exchanges will receive regulatory approval, it appears as though their month-long suspension is to continue indefinitely for the time being.

However, while the PBoC seems set on regulating the currency, it remains to be seen how exactly this will pan out. Earlier this month, it was reported that a central bank official had stated that China should provide clarity toward the currency’s regulation and supervision of bitcoin exchanges.

Not one to take responsibility, though, an official from the Chinese government responded by saying that the supervision of the digital currency exchanges and trading platforms falls under the remit of the PBoC.

With a toing and froing ensuring between both sides it looks as though it may be a few years before any sort of regulation will be seen in China.

How this will impact the currency’s position in the country is not yet known, but it is sure to impact exchanges who currently have their hands tied waiting for regulatory approval.

Featured image from Shutterstock.