Regulation

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

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

Proof of humanity protocol Worldcoin released its audit reports on July 28 as criticism of its data collection practices continues to mount. The new reports were conducted by security consulting firms Nethermind and Least Authority.  According to an accompanying announcement from Worldcoin, Nethermind found 26 security issues with the protocol, of which 24 were “identified

Simon Davis is the co-founder and CEO of Mighty Bear Games, a multiplatform game developer in Southeast Asia creating accessible multiplayer experiences in Web3. Davis has spent almost two decades working in the gaming industry, but he never planned to actually work in this field. Before crypto, he was a professional guitarist who made ends

Public companies in the United States, including listed crypto firms, will be required to disclose any major cybersecurity incidents within a four-day time limit, under new rules adopted by the United States securities regulator. The rules from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission require any public company to disclose a cyberattack within four days of it

Paul Munter, chief accountant of the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), has released a statement warning accounting firms of their obligations to the agency when working with crypto firms. Allowing their finding to be misrepresented could have serious consequences, he said.    Crypto firms may engage accountants to “perform some sort of review of

Hong Kong is expanding its financial collaboration with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, targeting agreements related to tokenization and payments infrastructure. The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on July 26 held a bilateral meeting to strengthen the integration of financial services between the two countries. As part of the

Cryptocurrency payments platform CoinsPaid has pointed the finger at North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group as being behind the hacking of its internal systems, which allowed them to steal $37.3 million on July 22. “We suspect Lazarus Group, one of the most powerful hacker organisations, is responsible,” CoinsPaid explained in a July 26 post. While CoinsPaid

A federal judge overseeing the criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as “SBF,” will reportedly consider revoking the former FTX CEO’s $250 million bail based on allegations of intimidation against Caroline Ellison.  In a July 26 hearing in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, individuals on site reported Assistant U.S.

The controversial crypto project Worldcoin was launched for the public on July 24, making way for customers to scan their iris at designated locations in 20 countries and receive 25 Worlcoins (WLD) the native token of the project.  The project debuted on the back of 2 million pre-signups but the interest seems to have faded

A Tennessee husband and wife are facing charges over “Blessings of God Thru Crypto” — an allegedly fraudulent investment scheme that swindled at least $6 million from over 100 victims in just six months. A July 24 complaint from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Michael and Amanda Griffis used the connections they made

Attorneys with the United States Department of Justice have extra time to make discovery and give former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky’s defense team time to review related documents. In a July 25 order, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl said he would exclude the time between July 25 and Oct. 3 from Speedy Trial Act calculations

The previous chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Timothy Massad, highlighted the importance of government attention being paid to the stablecoin ecosystem in an interview with CNBC.  On July 24, Massad told the CNBC interviewer that he sees stablecoins as a bridge between “the crypto world and the real world” and

Crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao are planning to file a motion to dismiss a March-filed lawsuit from the United States commodities regulator. In a July 24 filing to an Illinois District Court, multiple Binance entities, Zhao and former chief compliance officer Samuel Lim said they plan to file two separate motions

Last week was marked by two new legislative initiatives for the crypto industry in the United States. Senator Jack Reed sponsored a bipartisan bill that would tighten Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations and sanctions requirements for decentralized finance (DeFi). The bill would subject DeFi operations to the same requirements as “other

Several private banks in South Korea are studying the potential of tokenized deposit technology, an alternative to both private stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).  According to a report from Maeli Business News Korea, Hana Bank and Woori Bank — both private enterprises with headquarters in Seoul — showed interest in so-called “certificate of