Amid the ongoing regulatory uncertainty to cryptocurrencies in India, a high court in the country’s capital is taking action to regulate advertising by local crypto exchanges. The Delhi High Court has issued notices to local authorities and crypto firms in an effort to enforce guidelines for crypto exchanges advertising on national television, the New Indian Express reported Wednesday. The court is seeking responses from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, as well as major Indian crypto exchanges CoinDCX and WazirX, and aims to discuss the issue in August. According to the …

The Chinese government continues cracking down on the cryptocurrency mining industry by suspending crypto mining operations in another province. Authorities at Anhui, a small province in eastern China, have announced a set of measures to tackle growing electricity demand and an associated power supply shortage in the next three years, local news agency Hefei Online reported on Wednesday. As part of Anhui’s efforts to curb energy consumption, the province plans to shut down crypto mining projects and scrutinize new initiatives that require large amounts of energy consumption. Local authorities also plan to adopt new practices for building data centers as …

OK Group, a blockchain technology firm formerly behind cryptocurrency exchange OKEx, will start working with Chinese authorities to combat money laundering, using blockchain technology. The company’s settlement-focused subsidiary, OKLink, has reached a partnership with Nanjing Public Security Research Institute to collaborate on applying blockchain tech for Anti-Money Laundering purposes. The institute announced that the partnership will include in-depth cooperation with OKLink to promote the integration of blockchain technology for improving public security and social governance. As part of the agreement, the parties will set up a research laboratory for exploring compliance strategies and systems implementing on-chain data analysis to combat …

Jihan Wu, crypto billionaire and the co-founder and ex-CEO of Bitcoin (BTC) mining giant Bitmain, believes that the current wave of regulatory interventions in the crypto industry may be “a good thing in the long term.” Speaking to CNBC during the Asia Tech x Singapore conference this week, Wu noted that the sector had already grown almost to “a trillion dollar market cap industry,” with over 10% of United States citizens having some involvement with the new asset class. In these conditions, he argued that stronger regulatory involvement would be a net gain for crypto over time: “I think the …

Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology announced 5.6 million Australian dollars ($4.2 million) in grants to two blockchain-focused companies, including traceability firm Everledger and technology consulting startup Convergence.tech. Everledger, a company focused on building a global registry for diamonds, has received 3 million AUD ($2.2 million) to investigate blockchain technology’s use cases for creating digital certifications for critical minerals through the extraction and movement phases. As previously reported, the firm was deploying blockchain technology by software giant IBM for a transparency platform for the diamond industry. Covergence.tech received $2.6 million AUD ($2 million) to apply blockchain technology for automatic …

The United Arab Emirates becomes the latest country to join the race for experimenting with an in-house digital currency. According to the three-year plan for 2023-2026 that announces the launch of its digital currency, the Central Bank of the UAE, or CBUAE, intends to stand among the top 10 central banks across the world. CBUAE’s strategy involves seven objectives to help drive the country’s digital transformation ambitions, primarily focused on financial services. Gulf News reported that this transformation will be heavily dictated by the latest iterations of artificial intelligence and big data solutions. While UAE’s innovation strategy is aimed at …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against three people accused of insider trading with the Long Blockchain Company related to changing its name from the Long Island Iced Tea Company. In a Friday announcement, the SEC said Eric Watson, Oliver Barret-Lindsay, and Gannon Giguiere were facing charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for their role in trades connected to rebranding a beverage business to a blockchain firm, which caused the company’s stock price to rise significantly. Giguiere purchased 35,000 shares of Long Blockchain after having been allegedly tipped off to …

Amid the United Kingdom taking a tougher regulatory stance on the cryptocurrency industry, a major local advertising industry organization has announced a crackdown on crypto ads. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the U.K.’s independent advertising regulator, plans to launch a major effort this month to hunt and shut down misleading crypto adverts, the Financial Times reported Friday. Miles Lockwood, ASA’s director of complaints, said that the authority would particularly target irresponsible crypto ads shown online and on social media platforms, adding: “We see this as an absolutely crucial and priority area for us. Where we do find problems, we will …

An interagency investigation into suspected crypto fraud and money laundering in South Korea has led to the discovery of 1.69 trillion won (about $1.48 billion) in illegal overseas cryptocurrency transactions. According to The Korea Times, 33 people have been implicated by the Seoul Central Customs for contravening the country’s ban on overseas crypto trading. Detailing the alleged crimes committed, Lee Dong-hyun of the Seoul Central Customs’ investigation unit revealed that the criminal acts fell into three categories. The first group involved people who engaged in foreign crypto exchange trading which is banned in South Korea. These persons allegedly contracted third-party …

Financial authorities in France and Singapore are actively exploring the cross-border applications of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In a joint announcement on Thursday, the Bank of France and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that they successfully completed a whole cross-border payment and settlement experiment using CBDCs and blockchain technology. The CBDC experiment was conducted with support and expertise from JPMorgan's digital currency-focused Onyx division on a permissioned, privacy-enabled blockchain based on the investment bank's Quorum blockchain infrastructure. As part of the experiment, the Bank of France and MAS simulated cross-border and cross-currency transactions for a Singapore dollar-based …

The Chinese central bank is “quite worried” about the global financial risks associated with digital currencies, particularly stablecoins, according to a senior official. Fan Yifei, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), expressed concerns over the reportedly serious threat stablecoins, such as Tether (USDT), pose to global financial and settlement systems, CNBC reported on Thursday. The official emphasized that the speed of development in private payments systems is “very alarming,” and the PBoC is working against monopolies and the “disorderly expansion of capital,” adding: “Some commercial organizations’ so-called stablecoins, especially global stablecoins, may bring risks and challenges …

Russian lawmakers are working on new legislation that would allow the government to confiscate cryptocurrencies, according to a senior official. Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov claimed that the government is now developing a set of amendments to the country’s criminal code to allow authorities to seize crypto obtained from illegal activity, local news agency TASS reported. Speaking at a conference of prosecutors’ offices of European countries on Wednesday, Krasnov stressed that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) have been increasingly used for corruption and bribery. The official said that cryptocurrency is also a tool for laundering embezzled budget funds. “The criminal usage …