Aleksei Andriunin, founder and CEO of the Gotbit market-making platform, has agreed to forfeit approximately $23 million in Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) as part of a plea agreement with U.S. federal prosecutors in Massachusetts. The Russian national will plead guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and market manipulation, according...
Australia’s Labor-led government has unveiled plans to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges and custody services under existing financial services laws, part of a broader effort to formalize the country’s digital asset landscape. The proposal, released by the Treasury Department on March 21, aims to extend financial compliance standards to major crypto platforms while offering exemptions for smaller...
The U.S. Treasury Department has argued that the lawsuit challenging its sanctions on crypto mixer Tornado Cash should be dismissed as moot following the protocol’s removal from the sanctions list on March 21. The department maintains that no final court judgment is necessary now that Tornado Cash and several related smart contracts have been delisted...
As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to host the first White House Crypto Summit on March 7, more than 20 industry leaders have confirmed their participation. The roundtable, scheduled from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm UTC, is expected to include over 25 attendees, including members of the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets. According to...
A sophisticated scam group posing as FTX debt claimants has defrauded two companies of more than $5.6 million, according to a recent report by Inca Digital. The perpetrators allegedly utilized AI-generated identities and gained unauthorized access to bankruptcy records to execute the scheme. The investigation identified the likely culprits as individuals operating under the aliases...
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (SFC) has announced plans to lift its longstanding ban on institutional cryptocurrency trading, responding to increased global participation in the market. The regulator disclosed on Thursday that non-profit organizations, including charities, universities, school corporations, and law enforcement agencies, will be able to sell virtual assets in the first half of...
Turkey has unveiled new cryptocurrency regulations aimed at combating money laundering and terrorism financing. Announced during the final week of 2024, the regulations reflect influences from major global frameworks, including Europe’s upcoming Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) bill. Under the new rules, cryptocurrency service providers in Turkey must collect identifying information for transactions exceeding 15,000 Turkish...
The Russian government has approved a comprehensive set of restrictions on cryptocurrency mining, with blanket bans in 10 regions and seasonal limitations in three Siberian territories. The measures, announced on December 24 by the local news agency TASS, will take effect on January 1, 2025, and extend until March 15, 2031. The blanket bans will...
Botswana’s central bank has assessed the country’s cryptocurrency markets as underdeveloped, posing only “minimal” risks to financial stability at present. However, in its Financial Stability Report, the Bank of Botswana emphasized the need for proactive regulations to mitigate potential future risks associated with digital assets. The report highlighted that as the cryptocurrency market becomes increasingly...
Brazil’s central bank, Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), has proposed a ban on transferring stablecoins to self-custodial wallets, coinciding with the Brazilian real hitting all-time lows against the U.S. dollar. On Nov. 29, the BCB issued a proposal that would prohibit transfers of stablecoins like Tether’s USDt (USDT) to wallets like MetaMask, which are self-custodial...
