Iran and Russia Sign Academic Cooperation Agreement to Dedollarize Economies

Iran and Russia have taken a significant step towards economic cooperation by involving their academic institutions in efforts to dedollarize their economies. The presidents of Iran’s Imam Hossein University and Russia’s Plekhanov University of Economics signed a memorandum of cooperation last week to collaborate on initiatives aimed at reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar in … Read more

South Korea Launches Continuous Monitoring for Crypto Transactions

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will introduce a continuous monitoring system on July 19 to track suspicious cryptocurrency transactions. Developed with local digital asset exchanges, this system aligns with the country’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which aims to regulate trade practices and protect investors. Major Korean crypto exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, … Read more

Robinhood Moves Forward With Acquisition of Bitstamp

Robinhood Markets Inc. is moving forward with its acquisition of Bitstamp Ltd., a global cryptocurrency exchange. As part of this process, Robinhood Crypto LLC has submitted a change of control application to the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), which announced it received the application on July 3, 2024. This is one of several … Read more

UK High Court Grants Worldwide Freezing Order Against Craig Wright

The UK High Court has granted a Worldwide Freezing Order (WFO) against Craig Wright, amounting to £1.548 million (approximately $1.98 million). This decision stems from Peter McCormack’s application, which argued for the necessity of the WFO due to Wright’s fundamentally fraudulent defamation claim. Wright had asserted he was Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s creator, and sought damages … Read more

Tangem Partners With Visa to Launch Self-Custodial Crypto Payment Card

Hardware wallet firm Tangem AG is collaborating with Visa to launch a self-custodial payment solution. This collaboration introduces a Visa payment card integrated with a hardware wallet, allowing Tangem users to make payments using their crypto or stablecoin balances at any Visa-accepting merchant across Europe. Unlike traditional custodial solutions, Tangem’s card embeds a private key … Read more

Surge in Crypto Scams: FSMA Sees Significant Spike in Recovery Room Fraud

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), Belgium’s financial regulatory agency, has published its mid-2024 report, highlighting a significant increase in fraudulent activities, particularly involving trading platforms and cryptocurrency scams. Nearly half of the 1,332 consumer reports received in the first half of 2024 pertained to these scams, reflecting a 44% increase from the same … Read more

CFTC Wins Case Against Crypto Fund Operators

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a case against Sam Ikkurty, Ravishankar Avadhanam, and Jafia LLC for civil violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), specifically involving cryptocurrency investments. The court granted the CFTC’s motion for summary judgment on Monday, finding that the defendants misrepresented the performance of their crypto funds, operated a … Read more

EU–US Financial Forum Highlights Cooperation on Crypto Regulation

The EU–U.S. Joint Financial Regulatory Forum took place last week, with participants exchanging views on topics of mutual interest as part of their regular financial regulatory dialogue. The dialogue was hosted by the European Commission and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. During the forum, participants discussed digital finance and crypto assets, focusing on regulatory … Read more

Hong Kong Professor: China’s Crypto Mining Ban Shifts Businesses to US

Professor Wang Yang, vice president for institutional advancement and chair professor at the Department of Mathematics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), criticized China’s cryptocurrency mining ban during a panel discussion in Hong Kong last week. He called the decision “very unwise” because it shifted businesses to the U.S., boosting American … Read more

Bahamas to Mandate Banks to Distribute Central Bank Digital Currency

The Bahamas, the first country to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) called the Sand Dollar, is preparing regulations to mandate commercial banks to provide access to the e-money to boost adoption. Central Bank Governor John Rolle indicated that these regulations would be implemented within two years. “We’ve begun to signal that to our … Read more