Bitcoin Daily: ID Verification Rules Coming To Crypto Companies; Spring Labs To Expand Blockchain Verification Network

New rules by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which will require cryptocurrency businesses to verify the identities of anyone sending or receiving more than $1,000 worth of digital assets, are set to go into effect on June 21.

According to John Roth, chief compliance and ethics officer at Seattle-based exchange Bittrex, it will be costly and difficult for companies to follow these regulations.

“It’s either going to require a complete and fundamental restructuring of blockchain technology, or it’s going to require a global parallel system to be sort of constructed among the 200 or so exchanges in the world,” Roth told Bloomberg. “You can imagine difficulties in trying to build something like that.”

In other news, Spring Labs has announced it raised $23 million in Series A funding. The round was led by GreatPoint Ventures with significant participation from existing investors, including August Capital, as well as General Motors Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of General Motors, RRE Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Multicoin Capital, The Pritzker Group, and CardWorks.

The company is developing the Spring Protocol, which is a blockchain-based platform designed to transform how information and data are shared globally.

“We’re pleased to announce our Series A with strong participation from existing and new strategic investors, enabling us to accelerate the development of new products as well as the Spring Protocol itself,” Adam Jiwan, CEO and co-founder of Spring Labs, said in a press release. “Additionally, we’re excited to expand our relationship with GM Financial, which has demonstrated its commitment to innovation and collaboration over the past year, playing an active role in the evaluation of products and use cases on the Spring Protocol.”

And internet-of-things (IoT) startup Helium has revealed that it is adding tokens to its business model.

The company announced a $15 million Series C co-led by Union Square Ventures and Multicoin Capital. As part of the deal, investors will buy equity in Helium, as well as a share of the tokens that will accrue over the next several years as they are minted, according to CoinDesk.