A proposed class action suit against cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Coinbase Global and CEO Brian Armstrong alleging unregistered securities sales was dismissed in the United States District Court of Southern New York on Feb. 1. The suit, filed on March 11, claimed that 79 of the tokens listed on Coinbase were securities being sold without proper
Regulation
The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury has added two cryptocurrency wallets allegedly connected to a Russian sanctions evasion network as part of its list of Specially Designated Nationals. In a Feb. 1 announcement, OFAC said it had added one Bitcoin (BTC) address and one Ether (ETH) address
A federal judge in the United States has reportedly given approval for tech giant Meta to move forward on acquiring a virtual reality company. According to a Feb. 1 report from Bloomberg, Judge Edward Davila in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied an injunction by the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC,
A federal judge presiding over the criminal case against former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried has ordered him not to have any contact with current or former employees of the exchange as part of his bail conditions. In a Feb. 1 ruling, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York said Bankman-Fried was
A motion filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware seeks to glean valuable information from the likes of Gabriel Bankman-Fried and Barbara Fried, the brother and mother of the FTX founder. According to the filing, FTX and its debtors are pursuing estate assets belonging to the company and investors. However, not
His Majesty’s Treasury published a long-anticipated consultation paper for the United Kingdom’s upcoming crypto regulation. The extensive 80-page document covers a broad range of topics, from the troubles of algorithmic stablecoins to nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and initial coin offerings (ICOs). As stated by the Treasury, the proposals seek to place the U.K.’s financial services sector
Tether (USDT) — the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization — has never received any loan from the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, according to the chief technology officer. Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether and Bitfinex crypto exchange, took to Twitter on Jan. 31 to announce that Tether has “never borrowed from Celsius.” The tweet came
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology found no mention in India’s union budget for the year 2023, bringing down the hopes of millions of crypto holders in the country. Many in the Indian crypto community were hoping for some reduction to the high crypto tax, implemented in March 2022. Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the union
The holding company for the crypto-friendly bank, BankProv, has revealed it’s no longer providing loans secured by cryptocurrency mining rigs after writing off $47.9 million in loans primarily secured by them throughout 2022. According to a Jan. 31 filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), BankProv has already nearly halved the proportion
The United Kingdom is host to at least 168 companies accused of running fraudulent crypto or foreign exchange (forex) scams, according to an independent analysis. A joint investigation by media firms the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Observer published Jan. 29 found that organized crime groups are using the U.K. as their base due
Founder of “My Big Coin” and convicted fraudster Randall Crater has been sentenced to 100 months in prison and has been ordered to pay over $7.6 million to the victims of his fraudulent scheme. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Jan. 31 that Crater was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Denise
Dennis Porter, chief executive officer of the Satoshi Action Fund, is taking the fight for hearts and minds on Bitcoin mining to Washington, D.C. and beyond in an effort to support friendly legislation. Porter, who first discovered Bitcoin (BTC) in 2017, told Cointelegraph his path on advocating the benefits of mining has taken him to
Several United States senators have reportedly penned a letter requesting answers from Silvergate Capital — the parent company of Silvergate Bank — related to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. According to a Jan. 31 Bloomberg report, U.S. senators including Elizabeth Warren, Roger Marshall and John Kennedy said Silvergate had not fully answered questions in
We can’t blame Elon Musk for dreaming of moving to Mars — the human race has always been curious about finding a better life somewhere else. But not everyone in crypto is looking up to the stars to find new worlds; others stay on earth and attempt to build a new micronation, or a crypto
In the key principles of its upcoming regulatory framework, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) didn’t find a place for algorithmic stablecoins. Instead, the chief financial regulator will demand all stablecoin issuers back up their values with underlying reserve assets at all times. On Jan. 31, the HKMA issued the consultation conclusion to the discussion
Troubled cryptocurrency fintech Yuga Labs is about to face more lawsuits in relation to its nonfungible tokens (NFT) collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and other projects. Rosen Law Firm, a global law firm focused on investor rights’ protection, announced on Jan. 30 that it’s planning to file a class action lawsuit against Yuga Labs.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) admitted on record that the sale of LBRY tokens in the secondary market doesn’t constitute a security. The settlement came during an appeal hearing in the LBRY vs. SEC case on Jan. 30. LBRY Hearing: The Stakes for ALL Crypto https://t.co/YPbrBkw0Od — CryptoLaw (@CryptoLawUS) January 30, 2023
Kazakhstan, one of the world’s biggest Bitcoin (BTC) mining destinations, issued a consultation paper to gauge public interest in proposed amendments to improve the cryptocurrency trading framework. The policy paper, released on Jan. 27, was laid down by the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA), a Kazakh regulator. The AFSA pointed out that the Astana International Financial Centre’s Digital Asset Trading
Authorities from the Hainan province in southern China have vowed to increase oversight on the nonfungible token (NFT) sector to “promote the healthy development” of the sector and to stomp out fraud and other associated risks. In a separate announcement, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) also announced that it is working on new features
United States prosecutors in the criminal case against former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried have released text and email messages from SBF to current CEO John Ray. In court documents for the Southern District of New York released on Jan. 30, the Justice Department responded to a motion from Bankman-Fried’s legal team attempting to