Regulation

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued its largest-ever whistleblower award totaling $279 million. The SEC generally issues awards ranging between 10% to 30% of collected monetary sanctions that are larger than $1 million. To receive such an award, the whistleblower needs to have provided information that directly assists the SEC in successfully

On May 4, Argentina’s central bank banned payment providers from offering crypto transactions, alleging it intends to reduce the country’s payment-system exposure to digital assets.  According to a statement from the monetary authority, payment providers may not offer or facilitate crypto services through their applications. The move brings payment fintechs and financial institutions under the

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, has announced the inspection of sites across the country “suspected of hosting illegally operated crypto ATMs.” In a May 5 announcement, the FCA said it had coordinated with local authorities in the cities of Exeter, Nottingham and Sheffield to raid facilities suspected of operating unregistered cryptocurrency ATMs.

The United States vice president and President Biden’s top advisors have held a meeting with several AI industry CEOs to discuss “concerns about the risks associated with AI.” On May 4, U.S. vice president Kamala Harris was joined by nine top Biden administration advisors in science, national security, policy and economics, meeting with the CEOs

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. SUI rises to glory as Sun sets sights on it On Apr. 30, cryptocurrency exchange Binance unveiled two LaunchPools for the then-up-and-coming listing of Sui tokens. As a Layer-1 blockchain created by Mysten Labs, which in turn was founded by former

The use and popularity of cryptocurrencies have significantly increased in recent years, but their decentralized nature makes them difficult to regulate, and the lack of a clear framework has led to concerns about money laundering, terrorist financing and consumer protection. Over 90 countries have introduced cryptocurrency regulations since 2014, with 28 adopting crypto-related laws in

Nigeria, known to be one of the world’s most curious nations about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), has approved the National Blockchain Policy for Nigeria during its meeting on May 3, 2023. The approval was in response to a memo presented by Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.  The

The former OpenSea manager who was accused of insider trading of NFTs has been convicted on May 3 of wire fraud and money laundering in a New York federal court, according to a report from Reuters. According to prosecutors, Nathaniel Chastain, a former Product Manager at OpenSea, was in charge of choosing which NFTs would

Cryptocurrencies were designed to be anonymous or pseudonymous, so there is an inherent tension when protocols come up against jurisdictional authorities.  In the United States, the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector has jousted with regulators over the need to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules, and even over adherence to economic

The United Kingdom is set to ban cold calls that sell financial products, including insurance and cryptocurrencies, in an attempt to crack down on fraud. It is estimated that fraud costs the country approximately £7 billion ($8.7 billion) annually.  The U.K. government reportedly announced its new fraud strategy, pledging 400 new jobs to update its approach

United States Congressmen Warren Davidson and Mike Flood have written a letter to the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) demanding an explanation for a chapter the agency prepared for the Economic Report of the President that expressed “a hostile view towards the digital asset ecosystem.”  The report, presented to Congress is March,

Lisa Cameron, a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom since 2015, may not have used the Bitcoin Lightning Network in her time as a lawmaker, but spends a lot of her time in office focused on digital assets. Speaking to Cointelegraph at the Consensus 2023 conference in Austin, Texas on April 28, Cameron said

Legislators in the European Union have pushed forward with a draft of a new bill designed to keep artificial intelligence technology in check. According to the bill, the high-risk tools will not be banned entirely, though they will be subjected to stricter transparency procedures. In particular, generative AI tools, including ChatGPT and Midjourney, will be

The deadline has come for comments on a consultation paper and call for evidence released by the United Kingdom’s HM Treasury on a proposed crypto asset regulatory framework. The long-awaited paper, published in February, drew detailed responses from a variety of cryptocurrency industry players. Blockchain provider Polygon Labs, venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the Association for

Gary Gensler, the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, recently appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee for a hearing regarding his leadership of the regulatory agency.  The hearing, with Gensler as the only witness, promised to be unpleasant for the SEC chair, with the federal agency’s actions during Gensler’s leadership

The United States securities regulator has handed down nearly $4 million in fines to crypto exchange Coinme for allegedly offering unregistered securities and giving “misleading statements” on its crypto token UpToken (UP). On April 28 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it settled charges against Coinme, its subsidiary Up Global SEZC and the CEO

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has requested Cross River Bank – known for its services to fintech and crypto firms like Visa and Coinbase – to “self-correct” and “appropriately address” weaknesses in its lending activities. On April 28, the FDIC made public a consent order executed with Cross River Bank on March 8, alleging that

The United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corp’s (FDIC) post-mortem assessment of Signature Bank of New York (SBNY) revealed poor management and inadequate risk management practices as the root cause for its collapse. Signature Bank was shut down by federal regulators on March 12 in a bid to protect the U.S. economy and strengthen public confidence

An executive at JPMorgan Asset Management is unsure how United States regional banks are “going to operate” when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) emergency lending programs expire – warning that the possible collapse of First Republic Bank may cause a domino effect. In an April 27 Bloomberg television

Researchers at Indiana University and the University of Maine recently published a study examining the current state of cryptocurrency tax law in the United States. The research concludes with recommendations for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that, if adopted, would prevent taxpayers from weighing crypto losses against other capital gains. The paper, dubbed simply “Crypto