French authorities have reportedly utilized research from pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT to charge five people on suspicion of stealing $2.5 million worth of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) via phishing scams. According to an Oct. 12 report from the Agence France Presse (AFP) shared by Barron’s, the alleged fraudsters built a website that masqueraded as a service
Regulation
Crypto exchange Blockchain.com has become the latest crypto company to secure preliminary approval from Singapore’s central bank to provide Digital Payment Token services in the city-state. Blockchain.com’s regulatory approval follows hot on the heels of Coinbase, which revealed it had received the same “in-principle” approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Oct. 11. If
The city of Rio de Janeiro is seeking crypto firms to operate its tax property seasoning in 2023, according to a decree published on Oct. 11, allowing taxpayers to use crypto alongside fiat currency to pay tributes. The move makes Rio the first Brazilian city to accept digital assets as payment for taxes. It is
United States acting comptroller of the currency Michael Hsu acknowledged his skepticism about cryptocurrency and clarified his position on regulation in two thematically linked lectures on Oct. 11. “While I am skeptical of crypto’s real world utility today and hyper-aware of the risks it poses to consumers and the financial system, I cannot say with
Michael Barr, the vice chair for supervision for the United States Federal Reserve, warned banks of the potential risks of crypto-related activities, suggesting crypto service providers be subject to similar regulations as traditional financial institutions. In written remarks prepared for an Oct. 12 speech at D.C. Fintech Week, Barr seemed to encourage banks to explore
In June 2021, Kim Kardashian published an Instagram story informing her approximately 330 million Instagram followers about the EthereumMax (EMAX) crypto token. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Kardashian, claiming she violated the anti-touting provision of the Securities Act when she failed to disclose she received $250,000 in exchange for her promotion of the
United States-based crypto policy advocacy group Coin Center has followed through with its intention to take the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control, or OFAC, to court over sanctioning cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. In an Oct. 12 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, lawyers for Coin Center as
Custodia Bank founder Caitlin Long had a strong reaction to the news that BNY Mellon has launched a digital custody platform for Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) holdings. Speaking at DC FinTech Week on Oct. 11, she made a comparison between the Federal Reserve’s actions and policies. BNY Mellon is the first large United States
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and a group of six other U.S. lawmakers have requested information from the head of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, on the energy usage and potential environmental impact of crypto miners. In an Oct. 12 letter, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse and Edward Markey and Representatives Al Green,
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, the finance minister of Norway, has suggested the government abolish a scheme that allows crypto data centers to pay a reduced rate on electricity. In an Oct. 6 announcement, the government of Norway proposed that data centers operating in the country be subject to the same electricity tax rates as other industries,
In a statement released on Oct. 6, the European Union introduced another set of sanctions against Russia due to the prolonged and recently escalated conflict in Ukraine. The new sanctions include a complete ban on cross-border crypto payments between Russians and the EU. This statement includes the prohibition of, “all crypto-asset wallets, accounts, or custody services,
After a build-up of multiple memorandums of understanding (MoU) and an initial “in-principle” approval to operate in Kazakhstan, Binance received a permanent license to operate in the country. As of Oct. 6, Kazakhstan’s AIFC Financial Services Authority (AFSA) granted the permanent license to both manage a digital asset platform and provide custody services at the
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday issued an order for Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon to surrender his passport. The fugitive co-founder must hand over his Korean passport to authorities within 14 days of the said order. A failure to comply with the order will result in the cancellation of his passport altogether.
After months of investigation without any single arrest and the main offender on the run teasing the enforcers on Twitter, South Korean police have reportedly captured the first person involved in the Terra blockchain ecosystem collapse. The news about the arrest of Yoo Mo, the head of the business team of Terraform Labs, appeared in
Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee have requested the Department of Justice provide its assessment and legislative proposals around a digital dollar within ten days. In an Oct. 5 letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, 11 Republican lawmakers asked the Justice Department for a copy of its “assessment of whether legislative
Curtis Loftis, the treasurer for the U.S. state of South Carolina, spent five days in El Salvador as part of an “exploratory trip” on cryptocurrencies. According to an Oct. 5 announcement, Loftis was part of a delegation including South Carolina business leaders, rural health officials, and individuals “interested in the expansion of cryptocurrency and blockchain
The website of crypto exchange OKX was blocked in Russia by the state media monitoring service Roskomnadzor on Oct. 4. The agency told the TASS news agency that the website was blocked at “the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office for the dissemination of unreliable socially significant information of a financial nature.” Roskomnadzor told local
Representatives from a committee with the European Council have moved forward with regulating digital assets in the European Union through the Markets in Crypto-Assets, or MiCA, framework, sending the finalized text to parliament for a vote. According to an information note on Oct. 5, the European Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee approved the MiCA text and
Nasdaq, the United States stock exchange, has no immediate plans of launching a crypto exchange until there’s better regulatory clarity from policymakers, said Tal Cohen, the company’s executive vice president. In an interview with Bloomberg, Cohen said that the retail side of the crypto market is fairly saturated and there are enough crypto exchanges catering to
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Miami Field Office has warned that crypto ATMs are emerging as a popular method that scammers use to receive funds from defrauded victims. The information was revealed as part of an Oct. 3 public warning about “pig butchering scams” where scammers pose as long-lost friends or potential romantic partners