https://news.bitcoin.com/circle-informs-clients-of-irs-inquiry-into-20k-annual-transactions/"Numerous advocates of digital currencies report that Circle Internet Financial has been reaching out to its clients about a summons received from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Circle has stated that it is obliged to submit records concerning U.S. taxpayers who have engaged in transactions amounting to at least $20,000 annually during the years 2016 to 2020." ___ Circle issues the right stablecoins 
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https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2023/USD-300-million-seized-and-3-500-suspects-arrested-in-international-financial-crime-operation"LYON, FRANCE – A transcontinental police operation against online financial crime has concluded with almost 3,500 arrests and seizures of USD 300 million (approx. EUR 273 million) worth of assets across 34 countries. The six-month Operation HAECHI IV (July-December 2023) targeted seven types of cyber-enabled scams: voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, business email compromise fraud, and e-commerce fraud. Investigators worked together to detect online fraud and freeze associated bank and virtual asset service provider (VASP) accounts using INTERPOL’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP), a stop-payment mechanism which helps countries work together to block criminal proceeds. Cooperation between Filipino and Korean authorities led to the arrest in Manila of a high-profile online gambling criminal after a two-year manhunt by Korea's National Police Agency. Authorities blocked 82,112 suspicious bank accounts, seizing a combined USD 199 million in hard currency and USD 101 million in virtual assets."
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https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2023/12/18/bitcoin-news-the-republic-of-suriname-is-considering-a-national-strategy-with-btc/https://twitter.com/MOFASur/status/1736445350062203294“THE REPUBLIC OF SURINAME, IN SOUTH AMERICA, IS EVALUATING A NATIONAL #BITCOIN STRATEGY PROPOSED BY JAN3 OF SAMSON MOW.” "This is the ongoing sharing of tweets about the meeting between the President of Suriname, Chan Santokhi, and the JAN3 team, the Bitcoin technology company focused on expanding access to Bitcoin and financial freedom worldwide. Specifically, the CEO of JAN3, Samson Mow, along with the COO of JAN3, Ben Van Hool, spent a few days getting to know people in the commercial, banking, and payment services sectors of Suriname. After the field survey, the direct meeting with President Santokhi and his administration took place, which concluded with the request to JAN3 for a plan outlining the necessary steps for the implementation of a Bitcoin strategy for Suriname." 
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https://www.reuters.com/legal/crypto-exchange-kucoin-shut-new-york-pay-22-mln-settle-lawsuit-2023-12-12/"NEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - KuCoin, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has agreed to block New York users from its platform and pay $22 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state as part of its push to rein in digital assets companies. Attorney General Letitia James sued Seychelles-based KuCoin in March, accusing the platform of failing to register with the state before letting investors buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its platform. "Crypto companies should understand that they must play by the same rules as other financial institutions," James said in a statement on Tuesday."
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https://www.circle.com/executiveinsights/latam-fintech-companies-embrace-digital-finance"Stablecoins and tokenized data on open blockchains are unleashing a new wave of global commerce, making it significantly easier for people and businesses to move, store and own value locally and around the world. Last year(2022), global stablecoin settlement exceeded $7 trillion compared to $14 trillion settled at Visa and Mastercard. Around the world, 1.7 billion people are underbanked, yet two-thirds of these people own a smartphone.4 Much as the original internet democratized access to information, public blockchains can turn these internet connected devices into compliant endpoints for both traditional finance and innovative new financial services that are completely disrupting traditional process and bureaucracy. " At this rate, in 5 years the whole world will be using stablecoins instead of payment systems.
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Welcome https://exved.com/https://coinjournal.net/news/russias-exved-launches-cross-border-crypto-payments-with-tethers-usdt/"The platform supports Tether’s USDT stablecoin. Exved has garnered regulatory approval from the Bank of Russia and the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation. Exved, a Russian digital settlement exchange, has launched a cross-border payment service that enables local legal entities to conduct international settlements using Tether’s USDT stablecoin. This groundbreaking move showcases a significant step forward in the intersection of traditional finance and the cryptocurrency landscape, offering a streamlined solution for Russian businesses engaged in global transactions." ___ Finally I saw a Russian crypto exchange! All of the Russian crypto exchanges that were previously mentioned in criminal news were usually private exchangers that did not have registration. I don’t know how this exchange works, but I don’t understand how they will try to avoid USDT blocking. |
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-04/irs-criminal-investigation-unit-taking-on-more-crypto-tax-cases"Head of division says half of active crypto cases involve tax Money laundering was top issue three years ago, Lee says The Internal Revenue Service crime unit that played a leading role in the Binance Holdings Ltd. probe is seeing a surge in cases involving crypto-related tax evasion, according to the division’s leader. Three years ago, the vast majority of the active crypto investigations — upwards of 90% — involved money laundering, Jim Lee, chief of the IRS’s criminal investigation division, told reporters on a call Monday. But in the past year, about half of the digital-asset probes have involved tax, he said." ___ Don’t swear that the link is from Bloomberg, but it’s true. The US authorities cannot accept that they cannot control cryptocurrencies
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https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/new-crypto-front-emerges-israels-militant-financing-fight-2023-11-27/" A new front has emerged in Israel's fight against the funding of Iran-backed militant groups from Hamas to Hezbollah: A fast-growing crypto network called Tron. Quicker and cheaper than its larger rival Bitcoin, Tron has overtaken its rival as a platform for crypto transfers associated with groups designated as terror organizations by Israel, the United States and other countries, according to interviews with seven financial crime experts and blockchain investigations specialists. A Reuters' analysis of crypto seizures announced by Israeli security services since 2021 reflects the trend, showing for the first time a sharp rise in the targeting of Tron wallets and a fall in Bitcoin wallet seizures. "Earlier it was Bitcoin and now our data shows that these terrorist organizations tend to increasingly favor Tron," said Mriganka Pattnaik, CEO of New York-based blockchain analysis firm Merkle Science, citing Tron's faster transaction times, low fees, and stability." ___ Previously, Reuters wrote bad articles about Binance, but no one thought that this would be the beginning of a major process against this exchange.
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/spanish-citizens-declare-foreign-crypto-holdings-end-march"Only individuals with balance sheets exceeding the equivalent of 50,000 euros in crypto assets are obliged to declare their foreign holdings. Spanish residents holding any crypto assets on non-Spanish platforms will have to declare them by March 31, 2024, under new laws governing the taxation of virtual assets. The Spanish Tax Administration Agency, commonly known as Agencia Tributaria, has published form 721, a tax declaration form for virtual assets abroad, which was first announced in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, the Kingdom of Spain’s official state gazette, on July 29, 2023."
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-critic-lagarde-son-lost-crypto"European Central Bank (ECB) president and prominent Bitcoin critic Christine Lagarde has shared a family story about unsuccessful cryptocurrency investments, according to a report from Reuters. Lagarde told students at a town hall in Frankfurt on Nov. 24 that her son lost “almost all” of his investments in crypto assets despite persistent warnings, Reuters reported. “He ignored me royally, which is his privilege,” Lagarde reportedly declared, adding that he lost “almost all the money he had invested.” The ECB chief didn’t disclose the sum her son lost, noting that he claimed it wasn’t “a lot,” but only “about 60%” of his crypto investments. “So when I then had another talk with him about it, he reluctantly accepted that I was right,” Lagarde reportedly stated, adding: “I have, as you can tell, a very low opinion of cryptos [...] People are free to invest their money where they want, people are free to speculate as much as they want, (but) people should not be free to participate in criminally sanctioned trade and businesses.” "  https://twitter.com/Cointelegraph/status/1728111238134263961___ This is funny news, but can the son of such an official go bankrupt? This article is not about losses and not about Christine Lagarde's son, but about the fact that cryptocurrencies need to be regulated even more, because this market is very dangerous, even if such investors lose money there.
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https://tether.to/en/following-investigations-by-tether-okx-and-the-us-department-of-justice-tether-voluntarily-freezes-225m-in-stolen-usdt-linked-to-international-crime-syndicate/Following Investigations by Tether, OKX, and the U.S. Department of Justice, Tether Voluntarily Freezes 225M in Stolen USDT Linked to International Crime Syndicate "During a months-long investigative effort by Tether and OKX, U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the DOJ, were proactively alerted to the location of the illicit funds by analyzing the flow of those funds through the blockchain. These actions prompted the initiation of a freeze request by the United States Secret Service and a voluntary freeze by Tether. The frozen wallets are on the secondary market and are not associated with Tether’s customers. To the extent lawful wallets were captured by this operation, Tether will work quickly with law enforcement and the owners of those wallets to unfreeze them, as appropriate." ___ This is a huge amount of money. What idiot criminal uses centralized stablecoins and centralized exchanges?
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https://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap141.htm"Stablecoins are a subcategory of cryptoassets that aim (or claim) to maintain a stable value relative to a specified peg. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the stablecoin market over the past decade and examines whether stablecoins have stayed true to their name in terms of being "stable". We study 68 stablecoins and show that not one of them has been able to maintain parity with its peg at all times. This is irrespective of their size or type of backing. Moreover, we argue that there is currently no guarantee that stablecoin issuers could redeem users' stablecoins in full and on demand. For these reasons, we conclude that the stablecoins in circulation today do not meet the key criteria for being a safe store of value and a trustworthy means of payment in the real economy. This paper also highlights some significant data gaps. Without further data on the uses and users of stablecoins, it is difficult to ascertain the risks of stablecoins to the smooth functioning of payment systems and financial stability more broadly." ___ Those who read my posts know how negatively I relate to such organizations as BIS and the IMF; even the devil sometimes speaks the truth.
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https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/11/09/eu-parliament-approves-data-act-with-smart-contract-kill-switch-provision/"The final version of the bill's text, reviewed by CoinDesk in July, revealed that it contained a smart-contract kill switch clause. Members of the European Parliament voted Thursday to approve a Data Act containing a controversial clause that could make most smart contracts unlawful. The act, which establishes rules on the sharing of data, received 481 votes in favor and 31 votes against, according to a press release. The legislation now needs formal approval from the European Council, a body comprising the 27 member nations' heads of state." __ Nowadays, most smart contracts have blocking and kill switch functions, and after official adoption, most projects will be no different from centralized exchanges. And we also know about KYC hook for Uniswap https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5268409.msg63015298#msg63015298
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https://coinedition.com/the-sec-struggles-to-recruit-crypto-experts-report-says/"A U.S. government report found that the SEC faces difficulty hiring crypto experts. Professionals were reportedly reluctant to divest their crypto holdings to work for the agency. The report cited conflict of interest laws and competition from the private sector, hurting expert recruitment. The SEC has ongoing cases against multiple entities in the crypto domain, including Ripple, Binance, and Coinbase. Against a backdrop of a mounting number of cases, the SEC is reportedly finding it challenging to hire experts in the field of crypto. The agency statutes require professionals to sell their crypto assets to work for the agency." ___ Good news
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https://www.sec.gov/os/sunshine-act-notices/sunshine-act-notice-closed-11022023"Sunshine Act Meetings TIME AND DATE: 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 2, 2023. The subject matter of the closed meeting will consist of the following topics: Institution and settlement of injunctive actions; Institution and settlement of administrative proceedings; Resolution of litigation claims; and Other matters relating to examinations and enforcement proceedings." Therefore, yesterday there was a slight increase in Bitcoin prices. Of course, I don’t know what issues are being discussed there, but I have heard many opinions that the adoption of ETFs is close.
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https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/romerostatement103123"Statement of Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero In Support of the CFTC’s 2023 Annual Report on the Whistleblower Program and Customer Education Initiatives October 31, 2023 As a former Inspector General who knows firsthand how important whistleblowers are, I wholeheartedly support whistleblowers and the CFTC’s Whistleblower Program, and am very proud of the Program’s outsized results. Cumulatively, the CFTC has awarded almost $350 million to whistleblowers, with more than $3 billion in enforcement sanctions ordered in cases associated with those awards. This includes $16 million in awards this year, including more than $15 million to two whistleblowers who provided significant information and assistance that led the CFTC to bring separate successful enforcement cases. Whistleblowers play a vital role in supporting CFTC investigations related to fraud and other illegality. The CFTC could not fully protect customers and markets without whistleblowers. Whistleblowers help identify fraud and other illegality, interpret key evidence, and save considerable Commission resources and time. The faster we can stop fraud, the more we can protect customers from harm."
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