Regulation

Are cryptocurrency games innocent fun? Or are they Ponzi schemes facing an imminent crackdown by regulators in the United States? Tokens related to cryptocurrency games — known colloquially as “GameFi” — were worth a cumulative total of nearly $10 billion as of mid-August, give or take a few billion. (The number may vary depending on

On Wednesday, U.S. dollar stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) said that it would not freeze smart contract addresses sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list for cryptocurrency trail-mixer Tornado Cash. In explaining the decision, Tether said:  “So far, OFAC has not indicated that a stablecoin

Malaysia continues accelerating its pace of cryptocurrency adoption as one of the major local banks is moving into cryptocurrency trading as part of its default banking offerings. Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad, one of the largest private investment banks with more than 500,000 customers, has partnered with China’s tech giant Ant Group to launch a crypto-friendly

Crypto lending platform Celsius Network has filed a lawsuit claiming that custodian Prime Trust failed to turn over roughly $17 million worth of cryptocurrency. In a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, Celsius’ legal team brought a complaint against Prime Trust, alleging the company did not return

United States Congressman Tom Emmer sent a four-page letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday regarding the Treasury Department’s sanctioning of cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash on Aug. 8. In his letter, Emmer posed a series of questions that seek to clarify the position of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Emmer

India is now home to an estimated 115 million cryptocurrency investors despite a historically negative attitude toward the sector from the government, according to new data. The latest gauge on the number of users in India comes from cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, which released the findings of its ‘Into The Cryptoverse India Report’ survey on Tuesday.

Samsung Securities is among seven large South Korean securities companies that have applied for government approval to create a virtual assets exchange, according to a report in South Korean publication Newspim. The companies aim to create a corporation to open an exchange in the first half of next year. Newspim quoted an unidentified executive as saying

The number of unregistered cryptocurrency-related businesses continues to outweigh those signed up with the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority. Crypto.com became the latest business from the cryptocurrency ecosystem to register with the FCA, joining a list of a confirmed 37 companies with the green light to offer services in the country. Just seven businesses have gone

The South Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance on Monday cleared that virtual asset airdrops, staking rewards and hard forked tokens would be subject to a gift tax under the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act despite the postponement of crypto gains tax to 2025. Cryptocurrencies are officially referred to as part of virtual assets under

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law this month by President Joe Biden, empowers the IRS with nearly $80 billion in new funds. The world’s most powerful tax collection agency is using the money to go on a hiring spree to fuel much tougher enforcement efforts. It is widely assumed that the audits will be

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has issued cease and desist letters to five companies for allegedly making false representations about deposit insurance related to cryptocurrencies. FDIC issued a Friday press release disclosing cease and desist letters for cryptocurrency exchange FTX US and websites SmartAssets, FDICCrypto, Cryptonews and Cryptosec. In the letters, which were issued

FTX has reportedly begun blocking accounts that have sent coins through zk.money, a private layer-2 chain provided by the Aztec Network on Ethereum. According to Twitter users, FTX has identified the DApp as a mixer — a service it deems a “high-risk activity” prohibited by the exchange. Reports of blocked transactions on FTX began appearing

Many see implementing Know Your Customer (KYC) tools in crypto as a deterrent to the Bitcoin (BTC) Standard, which has predominantly promoted anonymized peer-to-peer transactions. However, regulators stay put on promoting KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) implementations as a means to ensure investors’ safety and protection against financial fraud.  While most crypto exchanges have begun

The CEO of crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, raised concern for traders after learning about the infamous phenomenon of trade jitters on other crypto exchanges.  Jitters in crypto trading relate to a trade event wherein an investor’s buy or sell order gets stuck and moves down in the list, allowing newer trade orders to

Scott Beck, chief executive officer of United Texas Bank, called on members of the state’s blockchain working group to recommend policy for leaving stablecoins to banks rather than crypto firms. Speaking before the Texas Work Group on Blockchain Matters in Austin on Friday, Beck suggested limiting the issuance of U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins to licensed banks

After recovering the HUSD stablecoin’s dollar peg, crypto exchange Huobi explained what had caused the short-term liquidity problem and assured users that it had been resolved.  On Thursday, HUSD started to fall from its dollar value, trading at $0.92 at the start of the day and falling as low as $0.82 a few hours later.

Cryptocurrency lending firm Hodlnaut has cut most of its workforce and has applied to be placed under judicial management due to bleak financial circumstances. Hodlnaut, which offers interest-bearing cryptocurrency investment options in vetted institutions, confirmed the dire state of affairs on Aug. 19. The company’s poor financial position has been put down to losses suffered

Four members of the United States House of Representatives from the Energy and Commerce Committee have demanded answers from four major crypto mining firms in regards to the potential effects of their energy consumption on the environment. In letters dated Wednesday to Core Scientific, Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain, and Stronghold Digital Mining, U.S. lawmakers

The Prudential Authority of the Reserve Bank of South Africa sent out guidelines to its subsidiaries in an effort to prevent illicit activities, encouraging banks not to cut all ties with cryptocurrency.  It suggested that such an act could cause greater risk in the long run. The official notice was signed by Prudential Authority CEO

While some think the Tornado Cash ban may negatively impact other projects focusing on privacy, others believe that these projects will keep pushing forward and keeping their commitments to anti-censorship and decentralization.  In an interview with Cointelegraph, Ahmed Ghappour, the general counsel at the privacy-focused project Nym Technologies, shared insights on the importance of privacy