Earlier this month, antivirus pioneer John McAfee was officially charged by the United States Department of Justice on seven counts of fraud and money laundering. These charges have been filed with respect to his activities in the crypto space from 2017 to 2020. It could be some time before McAfee actually has to face these charges in court, as he is currently being detained in Spain under a different warrant issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. While extradition from Spain to the United States should be easy, over the past few years the European Union has taken a much …

South Korean crypto exchanges that don't take extensive data collection and identity verification measures could soon be subject to heavy fines. According to an official announcement Wednesday, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has come up with a revised proposal for the regulation of virtual assets service providers, or VASPs. The proposal introduces new VASP penalty standards as well as simplifying and integrating existing penalty rules for the industry. As part of the revised proposal, the FSC will be able to fine VASPs for failure to report and record suspicious transactions. Fines will vary depending on the severity and character of …

Disclaimer: This article's headline was updated to reflect new information regarding the FSA's statement. Despite long claiming to be compliant with local laws, Huobi has not registered with the proper authorities, according to regulators in Seychelles. On Monday, the Seychelles Financial Services Authority, or FSA, posted an official statement saying that Huobi Global Limited is not registered in the country, despite being the International Business Company publicly affiliated with Huobi.com's crypto services. The FSA stated that Huobi Global Limited does not hold any license issued by the regulator to undertake in virtual asset trading. “Therefore, the entity is not being …

A 44-page report commissioned by CPA Australia delves into the status of central bank digital currency development worldwide, while exploring viable blockchain candidates for hosting CBDCs in the coming years. The report offers up evaluations of the three most transacted cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and XRP — and analyses their suitability (or lack thereof) for use by central banks. Bitcoin’s decentralized network and lack of oversight by banks or governments make it generally unsuitable for use in a national CBDC network, notes the report. Although Bitcoin is still accepted as a medium of exchange the world over, its …

The ICON Foundation, creator of the ICON (ICX) project, has issued an official response to the news that South Korean tax authorities are investigating its technical partner, ICONLOOP. In a statement published on Monday, the chairman of the ICON Foundation, Min Kim, said that the ICON Foundation would not be affected by the investigation, noting that ICONLOOP is operated as a separate entity. The ICON Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland. In late 2017 it conducted an initial coin offering for the native coin of the ICON blockchain, ICX, raising over $42 million in the process. ICONLOOP is …

The United Arab Emirates is the world’s sixth-largest oil producer and one of the richest countries in the world, with a gross domestic product per capita of above $43,000 as of 2019, according to the World Bank. As per its “Vision 2021,” Iis petroleum- and natural-gas-reliant economy is committed to sustainable development in order to emerge as the Gulf Cooperation Council’s, or GCC’s, most diversified economy. This includes the digitization of the economy, which has become a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. Related: Not like before: Digital currencies debut amid COVID-19 A green economy for sustainable digitization The first virtual …

Editor’s note Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final installment of Law Decoded, at least with yours truly at the helm. Though someone may pick this newsletter back up at some point, there are no plans to do so now. Taking advantage of the rose-tinted glasses or maybe the graduation goggles that are in effect for this final newsletter, I will be shaking up the format. As last week’s Law Decoded focused on a few long-standing stories in crypto, this week, I wanted to get thematic. As I will no longer be guiding you through the weekly changes in crypto …

Though seemingly coming from nowhere for many, the themes behind the Reddit-fueled r/Wallstreetbets pump of GameStop feel familiar. Watching it unfold, I tried to figure out just why it had captured my interest to such a degree, and, to me, it was a spillover into the traditional markets of some pervasive themes driving crypto. Despite some competition in the narrative, I view the motivating force — and by it, I mean the social media-fueled spread of the message that drew enough widespread interest to have an impact in the market — behind the GME pump as analogous with what, at …

Reno, the closest major city to the famous art festival Burning Man, is developing its own decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, and a token in partnership with TQ Tezos, a tech firm building Tezos-based solutions. Mayor Hillary Schieve announced the city’s plans to create the Reno DAO in a Thursday Tez Talks podcast hosted by the Tezos Commons Foundation. The city will build its Reno DAO and Reno Coin on top of the Tezos blockchain network in order to monetize art objects and pieces as well as further explore the potential benefits of blockchain and crypto to solve some of …

Major American digital asset custody and security company BitGo has acquired a New York Trust license from the New York State Department of Financial Services. According to an announcement, the new charter enables BitGo to provide custodial services for institutional clients in New York seeking to make large investments in crypto in compliance with local regulations. With the new license, BitGo will provide Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering controls and offer offline cold storage of cryptographic keys in bank-grade vaults, BitGo said. BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said that the new trust charter from NYDFS will help the company serve …

Vietnamese financial authorities have warned the public about the risks of cryptocurrency investment, as the industry is not regulated in Vietnam, local news agency Thanh Nien reported Wednesday. The Ministry of Finance of Vietnam stated, “Vietnam has not adopted any legislation related to the issuance, trading, and exchange of virtual currencies and virtual assets.” The ministry stated that digital currencies are not part of Vietnamese securities laws and that there are only two exchanges, Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and Hanoi Stock Exchange, that are allowed to trade securities in Vietnam. To address this gap, the ministry has established a …

Lawmakers in Kentucky are looking to impose tax breaks for local cryptocurrency miners. Kentucky lawmakers on Tuesday approved several state tax breaks including House Bill 230, which would remove the sales tax from electricity purchased by local crypto mining operators. According to a report by the Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky legislators voted 19 to two for the new measure. The bill’s fiscal note is reportedly estimated to cost the local budget at least $1 million annually. The exact cost cannot be calculated so far because “it is unknown how many of the businesses might choose to locate here to avail themselves …