Regulation

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

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has reportedly leaked the names and email addresses of many crypto miners connected to the blockchain firm Green. According to a Jan. 17 report from the Washington Examiner, the SEC unintentionally included 650 names and email addresses in an email communication with Green as part of

In a wide-ranging discussion, a panel of blockchain industry personalities at the World Economic Forum (WEF) concluded that the economy will become increasingly tokenized in the future. Carbon credits, housing, electricity, government bonds, foreign exchange and other real-world assets will be traded on the blockchain, according to the panel’s participants. The event, titled “Tokenized Economies,

2022 was the year the wheels fell off the metaverse bandwagon, which had been the most hyped narrative as the year began. By far the worst-performing sector in blockchain, the average drawdown was 89%. Even Facebook’s grand plans to dominate the metaverse are in disarray; it’s losing more than $1 billion a month, while the

Financial regulators in Japan have urged global regulators to treat crypto the same way as they do banking, calling for tougher rules for the sector. According to the deputy director-general of the Financial Services Agency’s Strategy Development and Management Bureau, Mamoru Yanase, crypto needs to be controlled. “If you like to implement effective regulation, you

The finance ministers from the eurozone countries have released a statement on the introduction of the digital euro after a meeting in Brussels. The Eurogroup meets regularly to discuss political dimensions of the potential digital currency, it said. The Jan. 16 statement coincides with the release of a European Central Bank (ECB) “stock taking” document

Central banks worldwide are pushing forward with digital asset projects despite the various crypto industry implosions over the past 12 months. China has rolled out its central bank digital currency (CBDC) to several cities, and it was available for use at the Winter Olympics. Many other central banks, including the Bank of England, are considering how

Siika Mileva, a spokesperson for Bulgaria’s chief prosecutors, has denied political motivations behind the probe against the crypto lending firm Nexo, according to local reports. The comments were made in response to claims that the investigation had a connection to the company’s political donations. Almost all cases where a prosecution launches an investigation that affects

Bank of Thailand (BOT) has disclosed plans to allow virtual banks to operate in the country for the first time. Financial firms will be able to provide services by 2025, a Bloomberg report shows.  The ‘Consultation Paper on Virtual Bank Licensing Framework’ has been published by the central bank, and applications shall be available later

The New York Public Service Commission (PSC) was sued by environmental activists on Jan. 13 for approving the takeover of a cryptocurrency mining facility in the state. According to The Guardian, the state Public Service Commission (PSC) is responsible for regulating public utilities and authorized in September 2022 the conversion of the Fortistar North power

Former FTX US President Brett Harrison has lashed out at Sam Bankman-Fried for manipulating and threatening colleagues who proposed solutions to reorganize FTX US’ management structure.  Harrison shared his experiences with Bankman-Fried and FTX US on Dec. 14, explaining how he was hired “casually over text” in Mar. 2021 after working together at New York-based

Top Stories This Week Sam Bankman-Fried: ‘I didn’t steal funds, and I certainly didn’t stash billions away.’ In a “pre-mortem overview” of FTX’s bankruptcy, Sam Bankman-Fried denied allegations of improper use of customer funds stored with the crypto exchange, attributing responsibility for the company’s dramatic fall to the market crash of 2022 and Binance CEO