The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has proposed new regulations that could restrict crypto mixers, citing them as a “class of transactions of primary money laundering concern.” The agency believes that actors such as Hamas, ISIS, and the DPRK frequently abuse coin mixers for illicit activities. The lack of transparency in crypto mixing […]
Recent estimates of crypto funding for terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) may have been exaggerated, according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. In a blog post, the company argues that some analyses have mistakenly attributed all transactions sent to crypto service providers as terror financing. Chainalysis estimates that the actual amount […]
Blockchain software developer Lightning Labs has launched its Taproot Assets protocol on the mainnet network. This protocol allows for the issuance of stablecoins and real-world assets on the Bitcoin and Lightning Network. The current version, Taproot Assets v0.3, leverages existing Bitcoin liquidity on the Lightning Network and is open for developers to test for potential […]
In a recent blog post, Coinbase, the largest US-based crypto exchange, has expressed its concern about the flourishing of cryptocurrencies in offshore jurisdictions. The company argues that allowing digital assets to thrive in areas not subject to US laws will only facilitate illicit activities by bad actors. Coinbase emphasizes its commitment to compliance and its […]
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against three major cryptocurrency firms, Gemini, Genesis, and Digital Currency Group (DCG), accusing them of defrauding more than 230,000 investors. The lawsuit alleges that the companies attempted to conceal $1.1 billion in losses and repeatedly lied to their investors. The investigation found that Gemini […]
Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried is currently on trial in New York, and new details have emerged regarding the commingling of funds between FTX and Alameda Research. Testimony from FTX’s former general counsel, Can Sun, revealed that he was unaware of the exchange’s commingling of funds with Alameda. Sun learned that Alameda had bypassed […]
Superdao, a platform that supports the development of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), has announced that it will be shutting down its operations due to lack of profitability. The company raised over $10 million in 2022 and helped launch more than 2,000 DAOs. CEO Yury Lifshits stated that the cryptocurrency industry is too small to sustain […]
The United States Treasury Department is reportedly planning to expand its sanctions to designate cryptocurrency mixers as money-laundering hubs following Hamas’s attack on Israel. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo stated that this move is aimed at combating digital assets being exploited by state-affiliated cyber actors, cyber criminals, and terrorist groups. The concerns surrounding terrorist organizations […]
Canadian asset manager 3iQ has announced that its Ethereum-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), The Ether Fund and the 3iQ Ether Fund, will begin staking their ETH holdings for rewards. The move is aimed at providing investors with additional yield generated by dedicated validators on the Ethereum network’s Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. By staking their […]
The mBridge project, a platform developed by central banks for cross-border payments, is transitioning to a new Chinese blockchain consensus protocol. This move is expected to attract millions of users and position mBridge as a direct competitor to SWIFT, the messaging network used by banks and financial institutions for secure information exchange. The success of […]
