Regulation

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, or Europol, has reported authorities took control of crypto wallets containing more than $19 million in cryptocurrency as part of enforcement actions against crypto firm Bitzlato. In a Jan. 23 announcement, Europol reported that roughly 46% of assets — 1 billion euro, or $1.09 billion at the

Australian crypto executives have urged caution over lumping all digital assets in the same boat as financial products, after recent comments from Australia’s assistant treasurer on the matter. Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones gave an overview of the state of crypto regulation in the country in an interview with the Sydney Morning

Crypto will play a “major role” in the United Arab Emirates’ global trade moving forward, says the UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade Thani Al-Zeyoudi. Speaking with Bloomberg on Jan. 20 in Davos Switzerland — where world leaders are currently gathered for the 2023 World Economic Forum — Al-Zeyoudi provided a host of updates

According to new court filings, disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) will be subject to the forfeiture of roughly $700 million worth of assets if he were to be found guilty of fraud. In a court document filed on Jan 20, U.S. federal prosecutor Damian Williams outlined that the “government respectfully gives notice that the

Central African Republic (CAR), a developing country in Central Africa, set up a 15-member committee responsible for drafting a bill on the use of cryptocurrencies and tokenization in the region. According to Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the president of CAR, cryptocurrencies can potentially help eradicate the country’s financial barriers. He believed in creating a business-friendly environment supported

Top Stories This Week Crypto lender Genesis files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy FTX contagions continue to spread through the crypto industry, with Genesis Capital filing for bankruptcy protection in New York, estimating liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion, and assets at the same level. The company plans a “dual track process,”

The small Nordic country of Norway may not be particularly notable on the global crypto map. With its 22 blockchain solution providers, the nation doesn’t stand out even at the regional level.  However, as the race to test and implement central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) accelerates every day, the Scandinavian nation is taking an active

Amid ongoing investigations around the defunct crypto exchange FTX, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) questions the due diligence conducted by institutional investors and their accountability regarding the loss of users’ funds. CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero stated that VCs that had to write down their investments in millions of dollars to nearly zero raises

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has become the newest member of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), the blockchain announced on its blog. The committee is preparing to meet on Feb. 13 for the first time in over a year. SDF supports the Stellar blockchain, which is used

Genesis Global Trading, a prominent crypto lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Jan. 20, becoming the latest company to declare bankruptcy in the wake of FTX’s collapse. However, the focus of the crypto community has shifted toward other firms that had exposure to the lending firm. One report suggested that

Several crypto industry commentators have laid skepticism on FTX CEO John Ray’s vision to potentially reboot the crypto exchange, citing trust issues and “second-class” treatment of customers as some reasons why users may not “feel safe to go back.” Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted on Jan. 20 praising John Ray for looking at a

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Samsung’s new Bitcoin ETF On Jan. 13, Samsung Asset Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the namesake South Korean conglomerate, successfully listed the Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to local news outlet Edaily, the ETF

When he’s not working on hastening humanity’s rush toward the Singularity by creating an artificial general intelligence (AGI), Ben Goertzel plays in a jazz-rock band called Jam Galaxy fronted by a robot named Desdemona. It’s one of his many side projects, which naturally led him to try and tokenize the music business by reaching out

A commissioner from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has called on Congress to stop allowing cryptocurrency exchanges to “self-certify” and list tokens without oversight. CFTC commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero told an audience at a Jan. 18 University of Pennsylvania event focused on FTX that the current process wasn’t adequate to ensure proper

Noncustodial peer-to-peer crypto exchange Bitzlato was little known to some before the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement action against it on Jan. 18. It was cofounded in 2016 by recently arrested Russian national, Anatoly Legkodymov. According to a Russian source, Anatoly Legkodymov is the owner of 73.4% of Bitzlato, which has an office

South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago highlighted issues surrounding the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, held in Davos, Switzerland.  In a WEF 2023 panel discussion dubbed “In the Face of Fragility: Central Bank Digital Currencies” Kganyago voiced his opinions on CBDCs and questioned if