Regulation

Struggling through decades of economic sanctions, Iran has placed its first international import order using $10 million worth of cryptocurrency, according to a senior government trade official.  News that the Islamic republic placed its first import order using crypto was shared by Iran’s Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine & Trade Alireza Peyman-Pak in a Twitter

On Tuesday, one day after the U.S. Treasury sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash for its alleged role in cryptocurrency money laundering operations, intervals of 0.1 Ether (ETH) transactions began materializing from the smart contract to prominent figures such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and American television host Jimmy Fallon. It is not possible to trace the source of

The Reserve Bank of Australia weighs in the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) race to explore use cases for a CBDC in the country. It will collaborate with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) on a respective research project.  As stated in an announcement from Aug. 9, the joint project of the Reserve Bank

Another top executive joins three co-founders of the crypto exchange BitMEX, pleading guilty in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The court case under the headline “U.S. v. Hayes et al.” goes on for two years, with BitMEX management being indicted for violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act.  According

According to crypto data aggregator Dune Analytics, on Monday, Circle, the issuer of the USD Coin stablecoin (USDC), froze over 75,000 USDC worth of funds linked to the 44 Tornado Cash addresses sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list. Tornado Cash is a decentralized

As reported by local news outlet The Economic Times on Monday, Binance is scheduled to remove off-chain fund transfers with Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX on Thursday, although users will still be able to deposit and withdraw balances via the standard withdrawal and deposit process between the two exchanges. Three days prior, The Directorate of Enforcement

Crypto exchange Crypto.com has announced a key regulatory milestone in South Korea after securing two local companies, giving it access to crypto and payments registration. The announcement came during Korea Blockchain Week 2022 after the company announced the acquisition of payment service provider ‘PnLink Co. Ltd.’ and virtual asset service provider ‘OK-BIT Co. Ltd.’ The

The United Kingdom is paving the road for cryptocurrency services, courting startups and established players alike while leading the way in pioneering regulation on stablecoins and nonfungible tokens. But a lot has changed. After two years of deliberations, European Union lawmakers achieved agreement on the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, marking a pivotal moment for

A United States Senator Cynthia Lummis staffer believes that U.S. Congress will have to step in and resolve the dispute between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding who regulates cryptocurrencies if the matter cannot be resolved internally.  The issue stems from 2014 when the CFTC first asserted

Accused BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik has reportedly been extradited to America to face up to multiple charges relating to money laundering while working at the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange. Vinnik has been embroiled in legal battles over the past five years for his alleged role as the mastermind of BTC-e. The cryptocurrency exchange is said to

Coinbase is now facing increased scrutiny from regulators, with the company now becoming the target of multiple lawsuits. The San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, which is presently being investigated by the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), now faces two additional legal claims from two law firms. On Thursday, New York-based legal firm Bragar Eagel

A group of five lawmakers from the United States House of Representatives has requested data on the diversity and inclusion practices of 20 major firms dealing with cryptocurrencies and Web3. In a Thursday notice, House Financial Services Committee chair Maxine Waters along with Representatives Joyce Beatty, Al Green, Bill Foster and Stephen Lynch penned a

India’s Directorate of Enforcement, or ED, has announced it froze roughly $8.1 million in funds and conducted a search connected to cryptocurrency exchange WazirX as part of an investigation into instant personal loan fraud. In a Friday announcement, the Directorate of Enforcement alleged WazirX facilitated transactions by unnamed fintech firms “to purchase crypto assets and

On top of its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects and proof-of-concept Retail CBDC testing with corporates, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) will extend the scope of CBDC development aimed at retail to a pilot phase. A possible real-life application of the “Retail CBDC” will be conducted inside the private sector on a limited

Thailand’s financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has approved four more crypto companies in the Kingdom. On Aug. 4, it was reported in local media that the SEC had granted operating licenses to four more digital asset operators. These include Krungthai XSpring, a crypto broker affiliated with one of the country’s leading banks,

The Tech Transparency Project, or TTP, a research initiative of the United States-based nonprofit watchdog group Campaign for Accountability, has released a report claiming crypto firms “provided little in return” for state governments offering financial incentives.  In a report released Thursday, the TTP said that many crypto firms based in certain U.S. states have “reaped