Regulation

Following the global regulatory race, Australia opened the public consultation on its own taxonomy of crypto assets. The national regulators propose to distinguish four major types of products related to the crypto industry.  On Feb. 3, the Australian Treasury released a consultation paper on “Token Mapping,” announcing it as a foundational step in the Government’s

The Australian government is bolstering its market regulator’s digital asset team as part of a “multi-stage approach” aimed at clamping down on crypto and ensuring proper risk disclosures from crypto firms. A Feb. 2 joint statement by Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones explained that the new measures are aimed at protecting consumers

Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, has come out in support of blockchain as a potential solution for technological issues facing the country. In response to questioning from Liberal Democratic Party member Masaaki Taira before the Budget Committee of Japan’s House of Representatives on Feb. 1, Kishida said there were “various possibilities for using

One of India’s biggest retail chains, Reliance Retail, announced that they have started accepting the digital rupee at one of its store lines and plans to extend the rollout to all its businesses.  In a report by Tech Crunch, the company said central bank digital currency (CBDC) support is already rolled out at Freshpik, its

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) broke through the $24,000 ceiling and the total crypto market cap jumped nearly 4% after United States Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated that inflation had begun slowing down in the world’s largest economy. “We can now say, I think for the first time, that the disinflationary process has started

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury has added two cryptocurrency wallets allegedly connected to a Russian sanctions evasion network as part of its list of Specially Designated Nationals. In a Feb. 1 announcement, OFAC said it had added one Bitcoin (BTC) address and one Ether (ETH) address

Tether (USDT) — the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization — has never received any loan from the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, according to the chief technology officer. Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether and Bitfinex crypto exchange, took to Twitter on Jan. 31 to announce that Tether has “never borrowed from Celsius.” The tweet came

The United Kingdom is host to at least 168 companies accused of running fraudulent crypto or foreign exchange (forex) scams, according to an independent analysis. A joint investigation by media firms the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Observer published Jan. 29 found that organized crime groups are using the U.K. as their base due

Several United States senators have reportedly penned a letter requesting answers from Silvergate Capital — the parent company of Silvergate Bank — related to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. According to a Jan. 31 Bloomberg report, U.S. senators including Elizabeth Warren, Roger Marshall and John Kennedy said Silvergate had not fully answered questions in

Kazakhstan, one of the world’s biggest Bitcoin (BTC) mining destinations, issued a consultation paper to gauge public interest in proposed amendments to improve the cryptocurrency trading framework. The policy paper, released on Jan. 27, was laid down by the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), a Kazakh regulator. The AFSA pointed out that the Astana International Financial Centre’s Digital Asset Trading

United States prosecutors in the criminal case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have released text and email messages from SBF to current CEO John Ray. In court documents released on Jan. 30, the Justice Department responded to a motion from Bankman-Fried’s legal team attempting to remove some of the proposed modifications for his bail

The commission in charge of regulating registered charities in England and Wales has announced it has begun investigating Effective Ventures Foundation, an organization tied to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. In a Jan. 30 announcement, the Charity Commission said it had launched the inquiry due to FTX being a “significant funder” of Effective Ventures. According to

USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle has released an accountant-verified report of its treasury reserve holdings backing more than $44.5 billion worth of tokens currently in circulation. Circle’s December 2022 reserve report, reviewed by Grant Thornton accountancy group, breaks down the current make-up of the stablecoin issuer’s reserve vault. According to Circle, 44,553,543,212 USDC is currently

Panama’s crypto bill saga has reached a new chapter, with the country’s Supreme Court set to decide the future of the local crypto industry. Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo on Jan. 26 sent the crypto legislation passed last year to the high court for review, claiming the so-called “crypto bill” violates the constitution’s core principles and is unenforceable.

Federal prosecutors have requested that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) bail conditions are modified to prevent further alleged attempts at influencing witnesses’ testimonies. Court documents filed on Jan. 27 revealed that The Department of Justice (DOJ) had asked United States District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan to ban Bankman-Fried from communicating with “current or former

The Ministry of Justice in South Korea announced plans to introduce a crypto-tracking system to counter money laundering initiatives and recover funds linked to criminal activities. The “Virtual Currency Tracking System” will be used to monitor transaction history, extract information related to transactions and check the source of funds before and after remittance, according to