The year 2022 wasn’t the best one in terms of crypto reputation among regulators and policymakers. However, even amid the market breakdown and repetitive public attacks on the industry, some of the officials found the courage to embrace the innovation. Some of the names are not new, while others showed progress significant enough to include
Regulation
Legislators in the United States seem to be reevaluating the crypto industry and its regulatory needs in light of FTX’s collapse. According to the Wall Street Journal, since the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy in November, lawmakers have been under pressure to set a new regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Several proposals are in the works
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), currently free on a $250 million bail bond, will reportedly plead not guilty to the alleged FTX and Alameda-related financial frauds in court on Jan. 3. SBF was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government under suspicion of defrauding investors and misappropriation of funds held
Proof of reserves (PoR) has gone from a buzzword to a roar in recent weeks as the crypto world tries to recover from the shock and losses of the current crypto winter. After a flurry of discussion and work, criteria and rankings for adequate PoR are beginning to appear, but the fine points of how
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried met with government officials at the White House on at least four separate occasions in 2022, and reportedly a meeting just two months before the fall of his crypto empire. Most of the meetings were disclosed in visitor logs which are posted by the White House every month, showing that
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has completed the first trial of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Digital Turkish Lira, and has signaled plans to continue testing throughout 2023. According to a statement released by the CBRT on Dec. 29, the central bank authority said it successfully executed its “first
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) may not be able to offset the two counts of wire fraud and six counts of conspiracy he faces with the credits to be received for entering a guilty plea instead of going to trial. Set to appear in court in the first days of January to enter a
Avraham Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico on Dec. 26 on commodities fraud and manipulation charges relating to the $110 million exploit of the decentralized Mango Markets exchange. Eisenberg had self-identified as the actor behind what he called a “highly profitable trading strategy” and insisted that he had taken “legal open market actions, using the
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appealed to the country’s presidency of the G20 group of the world’s largest economies as a pulpit to call for the development of a global regulatory framework for crypto assets. In its latest financial stability report, released Dec. 29, the bank again expressed its concerns about the burgeoning
The largely disputed Robinhood shares might be transferred to a neutral broker or an escrow account while the courts determine the rightful owner. Digital asset lender BlockFi recently sued former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to claim the shares that were supposedly pledged as collateral for the more than $600 million that BlockFi loaned to Alameda
30 cryptocurrency wallets linked to Alameda Research, the bankrupt sister company of crypto exchange FTX, became active on Dec. 28 following four weeks of inactivity. These wallets swapped and mixed over $1.7 million worth of crypto assets through various crypto-mixing services. Crypto mixers are often used by market exploiters and criminals to obscure the transaction
A newly elected pro-Bitcoin Prime Minister has taken office in the Pacific Islands of Fiji. The new leader, Sitiveni Rabuka, took the Fijian office on Dec. 24. Lord Fusitu’a, a Tongan noble and a former member of the Tongan parliament, took to Twitter to share the news from his neighboring nation. Fusitu’a stated that he
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has fired off 17 separate warnings over two days against crypto brokers and websites it suspects of being fraudulent. The list includes Tahoe Digital Exchange, TeleTrade Options, Tony Alin Trading Firm, Hekamenltd/Tosal Markets Limited, Trade 1960, Yong Ying Global Investment Company Limited, Unison FX, VoyanX.com, and
With the FTX collapse leaving many users yearning for the return of lost funds, scammers are using the opportunity to take advantage of already injured victims by posing as government officials. In a press release, the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) warned crypto investors that fake applications and websites put up by scammers are
While the government agencies are queuing to sue the FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the group of former customers made an effort to get their money back first. A class lawsuit initiated by four individuals demands priority access to frozen funds of the company for its customers, not investors. The lawsuit was filed on
The crypto wallets associated with now-bankrupt trading firm Alameda Research, the sister company of FTX, were seen transferring out funds just days after the former CEO Sam Bankman Fried was released on a $250 million bond. The transfer of funds from Alameda wallets raised community curiosity, but more than that, the way in which these
China’s wallet app for its digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) introduced a feature for users to send money in an electronic version of traditional “red packets” to try to attract new users. The new feature was released over the weekend, around one month ahead of the Chinese New Year on Jan. 22, as
Six executives involved in the $1.5 billion (2 trillion won) South Korean crypto exchange fraud V Global have received prison sentences of up to eight years — but three were not detained so they could fight certain charges in court. V Global operated between July 2020 and April 2021, roping in around 50,000 investors by
The crypto trader behind the $110 million exploit of decentralized exchange Mango Markets has been arrested in Puerto Rico — and charged with market manipulation and fraud. According to a previously sealed complaint filed with the Southern District of New York made public on Dec. 27, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pinned Avraham Eisenberg
According to a Bloomberg report published on Dec. 27, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of approximately $372 million in missing digital assets from now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX and FTX US. On Nov. 12, amidst bankruptcy and internal collapse, FTX warned customers of abnormal wallet activity regarding at least