Regulation

A federal judge has sentenced Ishan Wahi, the former product manager at Coinbase Global accused of insider trading, to 24 months in prison. In a May 9 hearing in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Loretta Preska sentenced Wahi to 24 months in prison for his role in using

Financial technology company PayPal recently disclosed its cryptocurrency holdings in a quarterly report filing to the Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC).  Claiming a combined total of $943 million in cryptocurrency assets as of March 31, 2023, the filing shows a 56% increase over the company’s previous quarter where PayPal disclosed $604 million. PayPal’s reported total financial

Coinbase legal chief has requested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) make several revisions to its proposed regulation on the responsibilities of registered investment advisers (RIAs) to store client assets with qualified custodians. Although the U.S. SEC acknowledges Coinbase Custody as a “qualified custodian,” Coinbase contends that the updated RIA custody rule unfairly

Almost 400 Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPS) have voluntarily shut down or had their authorizations revoked in Estonia following the government’s recently enhanced Terrorist Financing Prevention and anti-money laundering laws (AML) that came into effect in March. The amended laws expanded the defined scope of VASPs, required firms to have legitimate links to Estonia, increased licensing

A proposal by the United States securities regulator to tighten rules around crypto custody has been met with opposition from at least two proponents of the industry, according to recently filed letters. On May 8 — the deadline for comments on the proposal — crypto industry advocacy body Blockchain Association filed its letter to the

FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is seeking to have up to 10 criminal charges against him dismissed in court, arguing for several counts that there has been a failure to state an offense.  According to court documents filed in the southern district court of New York on May 8, SBF’s legal team

Last week brought several significant international developments in regulation. Argentina’s central bank banned payment providers from offering crypto transactions, adding that it intends to reduce the country’s payment-system exposure to digital assets. While local payment providers refuse to comment on the decision, Argentina’s fintech chamber urged the government to reconsider, claiming that “it limits access

Kim Nam-kuk, a member of South Korea’s National Assembly, reportedly liquidated more than $4 million worth of crypto prior to lawmakers in the country enforcing the Financial Action Task Force’s “Travel Rule”. According to a May 8 report from The Korea Times, authorities with the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit are investigating Kim for trading roughly

A state-subsidized Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company recently announced the launch of “Spark Model,” an AI system designed to compete directly with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The launch by the company, iFlytek, took place at a tech event in Hefei called “Spark Desk” and featured a full demonstration of the new system’s capabilities. .#China‘s leading intelligent speech and

A suspect identified only as “Hong” was detained by local authorities and arrested in the Gansu district of China after allegedly using ChatGPT to generate fake news stories.  According to a report from the South China Morning Post, Hong was detained after an investigation into an unsubstantiated article relating to a train crash was discovered on

Ripple has spent $200 million defending the case brought against it by the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), according to CEO Brad Garlinghouse.  Garlinghouse said this during a fireside chat at the Dubai Fintech Summit on May 8. He stated that the U.S. is stuck compared to the progress with the crypto regulation in

The race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) continues as China pushes forward the development of home-grown AI without utilizing the latest technology from the United States due to current sanctions.  According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Chinese companies are studying methods to develop AI via weaker semiconductors and combinations of chips to

Crypto-friendly Hong Kong is still gung-ho about giving its citizens access to crypto trading despite other jurisdictions “taking a step back,” claims the chair of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK). Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Hong Kong WOW Summit in March, FTAHK chair Neil Tan said while Singapore and the United States are

A Wells notice is not a final determination of guilt or wrongdoing, meaning that the recipient has the chance to respond and make a case before any administrative action is initiated. The Wells notice procedure, though, is a clue that the SEC is considering taking action, and how it turns out might have a big

The government of Kazakhstan has received 3.07 billion tenge (approximately $7 million) in tax payments from crypto mining entities in 2022, following the implementation of an amended law regulating the fiscal burden of mining cryptocurrencies, according to the local media reports. Preliminary data from the government for 2023 shows that mining fees collected by April 27

Binance is under investigation by the United States Justice Department (DOJ) national security division for allowing Russians to use the cryptocurrency exchange in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to a report that appeared in Bloomberg on May 5. There have been no accusations against the company or its executive in connection with the investigation. The

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued its largest-ever whistleblower award totaling $279 million. The SEC generally issues awards ranging between 10% to 30% of collected monetary sanctions that are larger than $1 million. To receive such an award, the whistleblower needs to have provided information that directly assists the SEC in successfully

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is challenging United States President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 presidential election, has taken to Twitter again to share more of his thoughts on cryptocurrency. Kennedy criticized Biden on May 2 for calling the U.S. banking system “safe and sound” the previous day. “Today, bank stocks

CEO Tim Cook gave a rare, if guarded, glimpse into Apple’s walled garden during the Q&A portion of a recent earnings call when asked his thoughts on generative artificial intelligence (AI) and where he “sees it going.”  Cook refrained from revealing Apple’s plans, stating upfront, “We don’t comment on product roadmaps.” However, he did intimate

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, has announced the inspection of sites across the country “suspected of hosting illegally operated crypto ATMs.” In a May 5 announcement, the FCA said it had coordinated with local authorities in the cities of Exeter, Nottingham and Sheffield to raid facilities suspected of operating unregistered cryptocurrency ATMs.