Regulation

According to the legal team trying to return FTX investor funds through court actions, the failed crypto exchange spent nearly $400 million acquiring Swiss company Digital Assets AG (DAAG), which became FTX Europe. Now the plaintiffs are looking for a refund of the money spent on the acquisition by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and his associates. 

An alliance of industry watchdogs based in the United States has united to express opposition to a proposed draft bill on the crypto market structure by the United States House Financial Services Committee. In detailed correspondence addressed to the committee, groups, including Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending, claimed that stakeholders in

Prosecutors from the United States and agents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are reportedly investigating wealthy crypto traders and fund managers suspected of illegally benefiting from Puerto Rico’s tax breaks.  According to a June 12 report from Bloomberg, investigators are currently building civil and criminal cases against a number of hedge fund managers, crypto

A pre-motion hearing set to take place on July 13 between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and crypto exchange Coinbase should provide a sense of the litigation tone and its potential impacts on the broader crypto industry, legal sources told Cointelegraph.  Previously scheduled for August, the conference is a typical request presented by any

United States Sens. Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand will reintroduce legislation aimed at establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. The U.S. lawmakers said they would reintroduce the Responsible Financial Innovation Act to the Senate on July 12 after roughly a year of being tabled in the previous session of Congress. The bipartisan piece

A United States federal court has ordered Digitex CEO Adam Todd to pay roughly $16 million in disgorgement and penalties related to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) case. In a June 12 announcement, the CFTC said a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued a default judgment against

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Union’s markets regulator, released a consultative paper on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) mandates on July 12. It was the first of three consultative packages the agency expects to publish and concerns technical specifications for crypto asset service providers (CASPs). Entities that are already licensed are presumed under

The United States-based crypto advocacy group Blockchain Association has submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Inspector General calling for an investigation into crypto firm Prometheum. In a July 12 letter, the Blockchain Association requested SEC inspector general Deborah Jeffrey look into the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s approval of Prometheum’s

The South Korean government is continuing to develop tighter regulations targeting the cryptocurrency industry with the introduction of new asset disclosure rules. On July 11, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced a new bill that will require all firms that issue or hold cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) to disclose their holdings. According to the

In advance of required regulations that are expected in a year, the banking watchdog for the European Union asked stablecoin issuers to voluntarily follow certain “guiding principles” on risk management and consumer protection. The European Banking Authority (EBA) released its first set of measures on Wednesday, July 12, for public comment in an effort to

Google is now facing a lawsuit in the follow-up to its recent privacy policy update that accuses the tech giant of misusing large amounts of data, including copyrighted material in artificial intelligence (AI) training.  The lawsuit was filed on July 11 by eight individuals who claim to represent “millions of class members” – internet users

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network has filed a lawsuit against liquid staking platform StakeHound after the company allegedly failed to return $150 million worth of tokens owned by Celsius.  According to a court document filed by Celsius, the company placed 40 million Polygon (MATIC), 66,000 Polkadot (DOT), 25,000 staked native Ether and 35,000 Ether (ETH).

The European Commission has tipped “extended reality” — technology that enables people to interact with virtual worlds — will create as many as 860,000 jobs in Europe by 2025.  Extended reality or XR is an umbrella term for immersive technologies including virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality, and is a “major technology enabler” for

Exchange operator Cboe Global Markets has amended five spot Bitcoin (BTC) Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) applications to include a surveillance-sharing agreement (SSA) with Coinbase. On July 11, Cboe amended filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the ETFs from Invesco, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity and the joint fund by ARK Invest and 21Shares.

United States Senate Financial Services Committee Chair Ron Wyden and ranking member Mike Crapo released an open letter to the digital asset community on July 11 asking for input on the taxation of digital assets. The senators are looking for solutions to highly complex taxation issues, so much so that they offered background reading from the

Grayscale Investments has reached an agreement with New York-based investment firm Fir Tree Capital Management over its Bitcoin Trust. According to a July 11 announcement from Fir Tree, Grayscale agreed to provide additional documentation related to its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) after Fir Tree filed a lawsuit in December 2022. The complaint against Grayscale aimed at

The treasury department of the United Kingdom has proposed excluding unbacked cryptoassets and derivatives from its plans for a Digital Securities Sandbox. In a consultation paper released on July 11, HM Treasury said the regulatory sandboxes which will be established under the country’s Financial Services and Markets Act will provide the U.K. government the time

$30 trillion worth of capital could suddenly unlock for the Bitcoin market if a Bitcoin spot ETF is approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.  That is the estimated amount of assets controlled by financial advisors in the U.S., who would be willing to get exposure to

Prosecutors in New York are reportedly looking into former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame for potential violations of campaign finance law in the United States. According to a July 11 report from The New York Times, Salame and his girlfriend Michelle Bond — a Republican candidate who ran to represent New York’s 1st congressional

Senators in the United States will be briefed by the White House regarding artificial intelligence (AI) as lawmakers continue to mull over regulations for the technology.  In a letter sent to fellow senators by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on July 9, he announced the “first-ever” classified Senate briefing on AI with the Department of