Regulation

South Korea continues its immersion in Web3 and the Metaverse. After investing almost $200 million in the creation of its own metaverse ecosystem and publishing the “Metaverse Ethical Principles,” the country’s government is now preparing the Metaverse Industry Promotion Ac. As reported by local media on Sept. 1, Heo Eun-ah, a member of the National

Governments across the globe see central bank digital currencies (CBDC) as a means to improve the existing fiat ecosystem. Cryptocurrency’s technical prowess supported by the central bank’s underlying trust is key to enabling a rich monetary ecosystem, suggests an International Monetary Fund (IMF) publication.  “Digital technologies promise a bright future for the monetary system,” reads

Members of the Germany-based Bundesblock, otherwise known as the German Blockchain Association, updated the community on the upcoming Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations in a virtual panel held on Thursday, Sept. 1. According to the panel, the final legal text for the long-awaited regulations is set to be released in the upcoming four to six

NFTs can now serve as court documents… but they might also be unregistered securities, illegal loot boxes, or come with impossible tax demands.  Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are thought of by most people as just funny pictures that degens on the internet spend far too much money on for poorly understood reasons. But Jason Corbett, managing

Beleaguered crypto lender Celsius Network has filed a motion with the United States Bankruptcy Court yesterday to allow customers with digital assets held in certain accounts to be withdrawn.  There’s a catch, however, as the motion will only apply to Custody and Withold Accounts and for custodied assets worth $7,575 or less in value. Celsius

Jill Sommers, who served as a commissioner at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has joined the board of directors for FTX US Derivatives. In a Thursday announcement, crypto exchange FTX US’ derivatives arm said Sommers had become its latest board member in a move seeming to increase the company’s regulatory efforts. Sommers served

The government of Indonesia returned to its plan to set up a digital assets exchange, publicly announced for the first time back in 2021. The so-called “crypto bourse” is planned to be established by the end of 2022.  According to DealStreetAsia, Indonesian Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga confirmed during NXC International Summit 2022 in Bali

Authorities with South Korea’s customs service have reportedly arrested 16 people involved in illegal foreign exchange transactions connected to crypto assets worth roughly $2 billion. According to a Tuesday report from South Korean news agency Newsis, the country’s customs authorities plan to prosecute two unnamed individuals linked to the illicit transactions, impose fines on seven

There are more than 1,400 DApps in operation and their number is growing rapidly, according to a United States Federal Reserve Board discussion paper dated in June but released on Aug. 30. Ethereum is their biggest host with 470, or 31%, of them. Those decentralized finance (DeFi) products represent a very small share of the

Georgia, one of the world’s most cryptocurrency-friendly countries, is moving to introduce new crypto regulations to pursue its ambitions to become a global crypto hub. Georgian lawmakers have prepared a new regulatory framework targeting digital business and cryptocurrency trading in the country, Georgian Minister of Economy and Vice Prime Minister Levan Davitashvili announced. Davitashvili said

Paraguay’s president, Mario Abdo Benítez, vetoed a bill that sought to recognize cryptocurrency mining as an industrial activity on Monday. He reasoned that mining’s high electricity consumption could hinder the expansion of a sustainable national industry.  The decree stated that crypto mining uses intensive capital with low manpower usage, and therefore would not generate added

United States House of Representatives member Tom Emmer has reportedly suggested that regulating and encouraging innovation in the crypto space should not be a political win for either Democrats or Republicans. According to an interview released Tuesday by Axios reporter Brady Dale, Emmer said many of his colleagues in Congress were treating cryptocurrencies as a

The saga of the defunct Turkish crypto exchange, Thodex, continues as its fugitive founder is now in custody in Albania. Local law enforcement detained Faruk Fatih Özer in an operation carried out at 05:30 AM (UTC) on Tuesday, Aug. 30, in the country’s capital city Tirana. According to a report by Cointelegraph Turkey, Özer is currently

In another shift toward widespread crypto adoption in Argentina, citizens from the Mendoza Province can now pay government fees and taxes using cryptocurrencies.  In an Aug. 27 statement, the Mendoza Tax Administration (ATM) described the new crypto payment service as fulfilling “the strategic objective of modernization and innovation,” giving “taxpayers different means to comply with

Australia’s financial regulator, the Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), has pledged to put crypto assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) firmly in its sights over the next four years. The regulator intends to focus on “digitally enabled misconducts” and to protect investors “from harms posed by crypto-assets.” Given the ASIC’s history of anti-crypto sentiments, such an

Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer has dismissed sensational allegations from CryptoLeaks that his company used litigation to “harm” competitors and fool regulators, labeling it as “conspiracy theory nonsense.” Sirer made the comments in an Aug. 28 Twitter post to his 280,500 followers, referring to an Aug. 26 article from CryptoLeaks alleging the company formed