Regulation

The United States government has become one of the largest Bitcoin (BTC) holders, with over 200,000 BTC worth more than $5 billion despite selling a few thousand BTC worth millions earlier this year. According to a data analysis based on public filings, crypto firm 21.co estimated that the U.S. government still holds 194,188 BTC, estimated

Australian crypto exchanges have praised plans from the Australian Treasury to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges under pre-existing financial services licensing measures. In an Oct. 16 consultation paper, the Treasury outlined a new suite of proposed regulations, that suggested regulating cryptocurrency exchanges under existing financial services rules as well as introducing a wealth of new guidelines for

The Singapore entity for Upbit, South Korea’s largest exchange by volume, has been given in-principal approval for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license in Singapore. On Oct. 16, Upbit Singapore said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) gave the in-principle license nod, allowing it to continue with digital payment token services to institutional investors while

The Australian federal government may soon require cryptocurrency exchanges to hold a financial services license issued by the local financial regulator, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).  In the newly-unveiled “Regulating digital asset platforms” consultation paper, released on Oct. 16, the Australian Treasury said that the new regulatory framework aims to address consumer harms

A new hook available on an open-source directory for Uniswap V4 hooks is sparking controversy within the crypto community. The hook enables users to be checked for Know Your Customer (KYC) before they can trade on a pool. Criticizing the hook, a user at X (formerly Twitter) noted that the hook opens up the possibility

California Governor Gavin Newsom has approved a cryptocurrency bill that enforces stricter regulations on businesses conducting crypto operations set to begin in 18 months.  In a statement published on October 13, Newsom declared that the bill titled the ‘Digital Financial Assets Law,’ would make it mandatory for both individuals and firms to obtain a Department

Coinbase has doubled down on its push for a court order compelling the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to act on the firm’s crypto rulemaking petition. Coinbase wants a mandamus issued within 30 days to compel the SEC to give an official answer on whether it will accept or deny the petition. The

Lawyers representing former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried are seeking to bring up certain information from the crypto exchange’s terms of service during witness testimonies. In an Oct. 12 filing in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, SBF’s legal team said the motion was aimed at addressing “address certain evidentiary issues”

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. SBF’s Chinese bribe scandal worsens According to October 11 testimony from Caroline Ellison, co-founder of FTX-linked hedge fund Alameda Research, her colleague — disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried — allegedly paid $150 million in bribes to Chinese government officials in 2021, higher

China has released draft security regulations for companies providing generative artificial intelligence (AI) services, encompassing restrictions on data sources used for AI model training. On Wednesday, Oct. 11, the proposed regulations were released by the National Information Security Standardization Committee, comprising representatives from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the Ministry of Industry and Information

The United States government is considering additional measures to curb Chinese developers from gaining access to artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor chips made in the U.S. via third parties.  According to a report from Reuters on Oct. 13, people close to the matter have said that the Biden administration is targeting a loophole that has allowed

On Oct. 13, the Group of Twenty (G20) — an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union and the African Union — unanimously adopted the “G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Communique” during its meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco. G20 members accepted the crypto regulatory roadmap proposed in a joint report by the International

On Oct. 12, the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR), part of the French Central Bank, published a summary of its public consultation on a regulatory framework for decentralized finance (DeFi). The public consultation lasted two months, from April to May 2023, in response to the initial paper discussing possible regulations for DeFi

A 75-minute secretly recorded audio clip of Caroline Ellison has revealed the exact moment 15 former Alameda Research staff found out the hedge fund was “borrowing” user funds from FTX.  The full-length recording, obtained by Cointelegraph, provides fresh insights into the palpable tension felt by Ellison and Alameda staff in the lead-up to FTX’s collapse.

A commissioner for the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission has slammed Voyager Digital for its mistakes that eventually led to the loss of billions of dollars in customer funds. Statement of @CFTCjohnson regarding @cftc‘s charges against Voyager’s chief executive officer. Learn more: https://t.co/OiBvOoCuV6 — CFTC (@CFTC) October 12, 2023 In an Oct. 12 statement,

Do Kwon-founded Terraform Labs has again pointed the finger at market maker Citadel Securities for its role in an alleged “concerted, intentional effort” to cause the depeg of its stablecoin in 2022. On Oct. 10, Terraform Labs filed a motion in the United States District Court in the Southern District of Florida to compel Citadel

Unauthorized artificial intelligence-powered recreations of people’s voices and images would be banned under a proposed bill by a bipartisan group of United States senators. In an Oct. 11 press release, Democratic Senators Chris Coons and Amy Klobuchar, along with Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Thom Tillis, released a discussion draft of the Nurture Originals, Foster

The former CEO of a Miami-based investment firm has pled guilty to a conspiracy to commit commodities fraud involving crypto futures contracts and now faces up to five years in prison.  In an Oct. 12 statement, the United States Department of Justice said that Peter Kambolin, the former CEO of Systematic Alpha Management (SAM) LLC,

Lawyers representing United States supermarket chain Trader Joe’s have filed a complaint in California against decentralized exchange Trader Joe. In an Oct. 5 filing in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Trader Joe’s sued Trader Joe and its co-founder Cheng Chieh Liu over federal trademark infringement and dilution claims. According to the

According to former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, a single tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao contributed to the failure of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Testifying in Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial on Oct. 12, Ellison reportedly placed part of the blame for the collapse of FTX on CZ’s social media activity. In the now