Regulation

Advocates of the crypto industry in Japan demand the revision of the national tax regime for digital assets. Japan Blockchain Association (JBA), a non-governmental lobbying group, filed an official request to the country’s government, highlighting three major steps to ease up the fiscal burden on crypto holders.  The request was published on the Association’s website

The United States Securities and Exchange (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Richard Schueler, better known in the crypto space as Richard Heart, for alleged unregistered offerings of three tokens.  In a July 31 filing in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the SEC claimed Heart had raised more than $1

The government in the Chinese city of Shanghai issued an implementation plan on July 31 for promoting the development of its urban blockchain digital infrastructure system in the time frame of 2023-2025, according to an update on the government’s webpage.  The update says that the plans have been formulated in order to serve the “strategic

Authorities in the town of Miri on the island of Borneo shut down an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation and seized equipment following a tip-off from the public. According to local news outlet The Borneo Post, Sarawak Energy discovered the operation, which included 34 cryptocurrency mining servers operating using stolen electricity through cable tapping. Authorities seized all

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has reached another milestone in relationships with regulators in the United Arab Emirates by winning a new license in Dubai. Binance’s Dubai-based subsidiary, Binance FZE, has obtained the Operational Minimum Viable Product (MVP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), the firm announced on July 31. The new license officially

Australia’s Bendigo Bank has become the fourth major bank in the country to announce blocks for “high-risk crypto payments,” citing the need to protect customers from investment scams. The bank said on July 31 it implemented new rules on instant payments to crypto exchanges which adds “some friction to certain genuine payments,” explained its head

Pro-XRP lawyer, John E. Deaton, has said that the actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the crypto industry are driven by a broader motive to safeguard corporate capitalism rather than prioritizing the protection of investors. Deaton highlighted what he views as an assault on cryptocurrencies, particularly in relation to the SEC’s

In a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) sought the revocation of Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) bail, accusing him of attempting to tamper with witnesses, including leaking his ex-girlfriend’s diary entries to the New York Times (NYT). These actions, connected to the FTX case, have raised concerns about witness interference.

Top Stories This Week Crypto bills pass congressional committee in ‘huge win’ for US crypto A key United States House panel has approved a pair of bills that could finally deliver some regulatory clarity to crypto firms in the country. On July 26, lawmakers voted in favor of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suffered another setback on July 28 as the D.C. Circuit overturned a ruling by the regulator ordering that SPIKES Index securities should be treated as ‘futures’ rather than as ‘securities futures’. The judge panel called the SEC order “arbitrary and capricious.” The decision relates to an order from

An open letter from GitHub, Hugging Face, Creative Commons and other tech firms are calling the European Union to ease upcoming rules for open-source artificial intelligence models. The letter urges policymakers to review some of the provisions of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, claiming that regulating upstream open-source projects as if they are commercial products

United States Representatives Gus Bilirakis and Jan Schakowsky penned a formal letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook about concerns related to the California-based company’s App Store, and the potential effect of its guidelines on emerging technologies like blockchain and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The letter requests information about whether the App Store’s guidelines might inadvertently hinder

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Binance have submitted responses regarding the entity “Eeon,” which has sought to intervene on behalf of customers in the SEC’s case against the crypto exchange. According to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Binance and the SEC objected to Eeon’s request to intervene

The United States banking advocacy group, the Bank Policy Institute (BPI), has backed the legislation of vocal crypto critic Senator Elizabeth Warren, calling for digital assets to fall under its own set of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws. According to a July 28 Bloomberg report, Warren reintroduced the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act along with Senators Joe

Hester Pierce, commissioner of the United States Securities and Exchange (SEC), has raised concerns about the watchdog’s recent statement advising accounting firms against taking on non-audit work for crypto firms. In a July 28 tweet, Pierce challenged the recent statement made by the SEC’s chief accountant Paul Munter, proposing that accounting firms adopt an all-or-nothing approach

The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or BaFin, reportedly advised crypto exchange Binance to withdraw its licensing application based on concerns with CEO Changpeng Zhao and the firm’s structuring. According to a July 28 report from The Wall Street Journal, BaFin advised Binance that Zhao, also known as “CZ,” may not have passed a “fit

Lawyers representing former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as ‘SBF’, have requested the court seal documents related to his interviews with a New York Times reporter revealing details about his relationship with Caroline Ellison.  In a July 27 filing in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bankman-Fried’s legal team

The French data protection agency, also called the Commission Nationale Informatique & Libertés (CNIL), is reportedly questioning the legality of data collection methods conducted by Worldcoin, according to a Reuters report.  In an email to Reuters on July 28, CNIL said: “The legality of this collection seems questionable, as do the conditions for storing biometric

The Indian Supreme Court on July 27 reprimanded the Union government for the lack of crypto regulations in the country, according to a report in a local media outlet.  The Supreme Court in its observation noted that it is “unfortunate” that the government has yet to release any clear guidelines around cryptocurrencies. The observation from

The United States Senate passed the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) worth $886 billion on the evening of July 27. The bill includes a provision that targets crypto mixers, anonymity-enhancing coins and institutions that are engaging in crypto trading.  The NDAA is a bill that helps authorize how the country’s defense department can utilize