Regulation

As the cryptocurrency industry faces regulatory challenges in the United States, public crypto exchange Coinbase is moving forward with its futures contracts. On June 1, Coinbase revealed its plans to introduce Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) futures contracts on June 5 through its Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated derivatives exchange. The futures contracts will be targeted

The Federal Reserve Board of the United States has issued a consent order to Silvergate Bank and its parent company as part of the institution’s plans to “wind down operations” and liquidate. In a June 1 notice, the Fed said Silvergate Capital Corporation and the bank will have 10 days to submit a self-liquidation plan

Keep your money in an insured account, not on an uninsured payment app, the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warned Americans in a report released June 1. The increasing popularity and utility of nonbank peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps, including for crypto asset transactions, makes the risk of loss in the event of a

Binance users in Australia now have a narrowed pool of options to purchase cryptocurrencies amid the ongoing global debanking of crypto businesses. Since 5:00 p.m. local time on June 1, fiat on-ramps and off-ramps by bank transfers have been halted in Australia. The suspension includes trading for Australian dollar (AUD) pairs.  The shutdown of deposits

A group of Dogecoin (DOGE) investors has requested leave to amend a class-action lawsuit against soon-to-be former CEO of Twitter Elon Musk, alleging he manipulated the price of the meme token. In a May 31 filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the investors claimed Musk used his

Georgia, a major cryptocurrency-friendly country among Post-Soviet states, is preparing to start monitoring crypto firms to prevent money laundering and comply with sanctions. The National Bank of Georgia plans to launch mandatory supervision of virtual asset service providers (VASP) starting Sept. 1, 2023. NBG’s acting governor Archil Mestvirishvili said that the new regulatory measures will

An Italian senator spoke before members of the Italian parliament with — unbeknownst to parliament members — a speech entirely composed by artificial intelligence (AI). In the parliamentary meeting on May 31, Italian Senator Marco Lombardo pulled the stunt to spark a “serious debate” among his colleagues about what’s at stake and in-store from AI

The Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, Crypto.com, announced on June 1 that it had been granted a major payment institution (MPI) license for digital payment token (DPT) services by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The announcement comes after Crypto.com received its in-principle approval from MAS in June 2022. With the MPI license, Crypto.com is now authorized

Japanese artificial intelligence experts and researchers are urging caution over the use of illegally-obtained information to train AI, which they believe could lead to “a large number of copyright infringement cases,” job losses, false information, and the leaking of confidential information. On May 26, a draft from the government’s AI strategy council was submitted, raising

The Australian government has announced a sudden eight-week consultation that will seek to understand whether any “high-risk” artificial intelligence tools should be banned. Other regions including the United States, the European Union and China have also launched measures to understand and potentially mitigate risks associated with rapid AI development in recent months. On June 1,

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is seeking to subpoena documents from Fenwick & West. That’s the law firm that served as the outside counsel to FTX, Alameda Research and SBF personally from “early in their development” until the FTX bankruptcy. Now SBF’s legal team wants to use the documents in his defense in the 13-count criminal case

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has suggested a link between cryptocurrency payments and companies based in China that provided precursors for the opioid fentanyl. In a May 31 hearing of the United States Senate Banking Committee on China, Warren pointed to a report from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic to suggest a connection between cryptocurrency and “illegal

Officials with the European Union have signed the Markets in Crypto-Assets, or MiCA, bill into law following final approval from finance ministers. On May 31, Sweden’s minister for rural affairs, Peter Kullgren, and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola signed the long-anticipated cryptocurrency regulatory framework into law roughly three years after the European Commission introduced the

Huobi has become the first member of the Hong Kong Virtual Assets Consortium (HKVAC), the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange announced on May 31. The new organization promises to provide a ratings service and indexes when it is fully launched. The new organization is debuting at a crucial moment, as retail cryptocurrency trading begins in Hong Kong

Barney Frank, a former member of the United States House of Representatives and board member of Signature Bank, has pointed fingers at certain members of the public in the wake of the bank’s collapse. In a May 30 hearing before the New York State Senate, Frank said he had “no mea culpas” regarding the failure

A fresh headcount reduction is coming to crypto exchange Binance, which is reportedly planning to lay off 20% of its workforce in June. The job cuts come after the company said earlier this year it would not lay off any employees. According to the exchange, the decision is not a downsizing but rather a resource

Lawmakers in the European Union are seeking to implement a code of conduct for the development and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) prior to their forthcoming EU AI Act.  In a joint meeting of the EU-U.S Trade and Technology Council in Sweden on May 31, the EU tech chief Margrethe Vestager said officials in the

Cryptocurrency is going to become less private in Europe as the major exchange Binance is preparing to delist all privacy tokens in countries like France and Italy. Starting from June 26, privacy tokens like Monero (XMR) or Zcash (ZEC) will no longer be available for trading for Binance customers in France, Italy, Poland and Spain.

Officials in China have issued a warning about the risks posed by the rapid advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) development and subsequently called for tighter measures on national security.  The remarks come from a meeting on Tuesday in which Chinese President Xi Jinping, and other prominent members of the communist party, stressed the country’s ambitions

Under new rules from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE), licensed financial institutions (LFIs) would be required to verify the identities of all customers. The update will come into effect “within a month” by the end of June.  On May 31, the CBUAE published guidance for LFIs on risks “related to virtual