Japan, a nation where foreign stablecoins like USDT are prohibited, plans to begin its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot in April 2023. It will aim to include private businesses and test an ecosystem. On Feb. 17 the Bank of Japan (BoJ) released the opening speech of its executive director Shinichi Uchida at the CBDC…
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The top Mt. Gox creditor chose to have an early payout in Bitcoin (BTC), deciding against waiting longer for an even larger payment. Mt. Gox Investment Fund, the largest creditor of the defunct crypto exchange, reportedly decided to take its chances with a lesser but earlier payout rather than waiting for all the legal processes…
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The Capital Market Authority (CMA), the regulator of Oman’s financial markets, looks to establish a new regulatory framework for the virtual asset industry in the Sultanate. According to a Feb. 14 press release, the new rules would include oversight of virtual asset activities, a licensing process for virtual asset service providers (VASPs), and a framework…
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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon could be seen as an SEC “roadmap” to taking down other stablecoins, according to a lawyer. Gabriel Shapiro, general counsel at investment firm Delphi Labs, explained to his 33,800 Twitter followers on Feb. 16 that the SEC’s arguments…
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Sam Bankman-Fried could “conceivably” have his bail revoked after a federal judge said there was “probable cause” to believe the former FTX CEO may have engaged in attempted witness tampering. During a Feb. 16 hearing on Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions, Judge Lewis Kaplan said there was “probable cause to believe that he [Bankman-Fried] has committed or…
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Only days after reports of United States regulatory scrutiny of Paxos and Binance USD (BUSD), cryptocurrency exchange Binance has minted nearly $50 million worth of TrueUSD (TUSD). The transaction took place on Feb. 16, according to data from Etherscan, and also comes two days after Binance CEO Chanpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao said in a Feb. 14…
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Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. China blockchain SIM card Conflux Network says it is working with the second-largest telecommunications provider in China to develop a blockchain SIM card that will serve as a secure place to store digital private keys and nonfungible tokens. Conflux announced its…
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Crypto scam revenue was slashed by almost half in 2022 due mainly to falling crypto asset prices, but two scam types managed to stay immune. Crypto scam revenue in 2022, which includes investment scams, NFT scams and romance scams, among others, amounted to $5.9 billion in the year — down 46% from 2021. The data…
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Bitcoin (BTC) price rallied over 12% on Feb. 15, marking the highest daily close in more than six months. Curiously, the movement happened while gold reached a 40-day low at $1,826, indicating some potential shift in investors’ risk assessment for cryptocurrencies. A stronger than expected U.S. inflation report on Feb. 14 presented 5.6% growth year-over-year,…
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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon for allegedly “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud.” In a Feb. 16 statement, the SEC said Kwon and Terraform offered and sold an “inter-connected suite of crypto asset securities, many in unregistered transactions.”…
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