The FTX collapse spurred action from a global financial watchdog to give recommendations to regulate the crypto industry early in 2023. The Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international organization that monitors the global financial system, has reportedly stated that it will be laying out steps to regulate crypto next year. According to Dietrich Domanski, the outgoing secretary-general of the FSB, mentioned that recent events have highlighted that it's "urgent to address risks" within the space. He explained: “Many crypto market participants argue that authorities are hostile to innovation. I would say so far, authorities have been fairly accommodating.” Domanski also …

A United States federal judge has ordered the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) to serve its lawsuit to the two original founders of the Ooki decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). On Dec. 12, District Judge William Orrick ordered the U.S. regulator to serve Tom Bean and Kyle Kistner, the founders of the decentralized trading platform bZeroX which was the predecessor to Ooki DAO. Bean and Kistner had already settled charges with the CFTC in September relating to illegal commodities offerings on bZeroX, while separate charges were laid against Ooki DAO token holders, which was served using a help chat box as …

Rumors continue to swirl suggesting the two-year legal battle between Ripple Labs and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be coming to an end as early as this week, prompting the community to weigh in on the matter. Speculation about the potential settlement appears to have come from a Dec. 10 ask-me-anything (AMA) with Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, who said he had heard rumors that the case would be settled on Dec. 15. In the days since, there's been plenty of commentary from the community — giving their two cents on what a settlement would mean for …

Coinbase has seen information requests from law enforcement surge over the past year, the cryptocurrency exchange reported in its latest transparency report. The vast majority of the enquiries came from the United States and were tied to criminal investigations. Coinbase’s new transparency report covers the last four quarters ending with September. In that time, the exchange received 12,320 information requests from law enforcement, an increase of about 66%. The United States accounted for 5,304, or 43%, of those requests. The United Kingdom, Germany and Spain produced between 1,000 and 2,000 requests apiece. Those four countries accounted for 80% of requests, …

A former top crypto regulator in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will represent Caroline Ellison, ex-Alameda Research CEO, in an ongoing federal probe, according to a report from Bloomberg on Dec. 10. Caroline will be represented by Stephanie Avakian and a team of attorneys from WilmerHale. Avakain is currently chair of the Securities and Financial Services department at the law firm. At the SEC, where she was a director at the Enforcement Division and responsible to expand cryptocurrency oversight, bringing cases against Robinhood and Ripple Lab. According to the law firm website, "Ms. Avakian oversaw the Division’s …

The domino effect of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s actions came full circle as his reputation began impacting the professional lives of his parents — Stanford Law professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried. SBF’s father, Bankman, had to cancel his winter session course on tax policy, which according to The Standford Daily, was at a time when the family was accused of acquiring an FTX-owned $16.4 million vacation home before the crypto exchange’s collapse. On the other hand, SBF’s mother, Fried, was surprisingly not even listed as an instructor for any of the courses. While this event coincides with FTX’s fallout, …

The internet — arguably the greatest invention in human history — has gone awry. We can all feel it. It is harder than ever to tell if we are engaging with friends or foes (or bots), we know we are being constantly surveilled in the name of better ad conversion, and we live in constant fear of clicking something and being defrauded. The failures of the internet largely stem from the inability of large tech monopolies — particularly Google and Facebook — to verify and protect our identities. Why don’t they? The answer is that they have no incentive to …

Yuga Labs, creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and crypto fintech Moonpay are facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly using celebrities to misleadingly promote and sell nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Over 40 people and companies are named as defendants in the lawsuit, including Paris Hilton, Snoop Dog, Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber, Madonna, Serena Williams, Post Malone, and Diplo. The class-action was filed on Dec. 8 by John T. Jasnoch of Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP in the Central District of California and claims the crypto companies used its Hollywood network to promote the digital assets without complying with disclosure requirements. …

Since taking over at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), chairman Gary Gensler has repeatedly been referred to as the “bad cop” of the digital asset industry. To this point, over the past 18 months, Gensler has taken an extremely hard-nosed approach toward the crypto market, handing out numerous fines and enforcing stringent policies to make industry players comply with regulations. However, despite his aggressive crypto regulatory stance, Gensler, for the most part, has remained mum about several key issues that digital asset proponents have been talking about for a long time. For example, the SEC has still …

United States lawmakers have been pushing for certain witnesses — including Sam Bankman-Fried — to appear before committee hearings scheduled in December. Who should the crypto space expect to see testifying on the events leading to the downfall of FTX? On Dec. 9, Bankman-Fried, or SBF, said — under threat of a potential subpoena — that he was willing to speak at a U.S. House hearing aimed at exploring FTX’s collapse. Leadership with both the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee had suggested that they might subpoena the former FTX CEO, prompting SBF to say on Twitter he …

The United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt laid out a number of reforms aiming to “drive growth and competitiveness” to the country’s financial services sector including efforts that support the crypto space. In an announcement, the U.K. government highlighted that it will create a smarter regulatory framework for the country that it describes as “agile, less costly and more responsive to emerging trends.” Topics mentioned in the announcement include consulting on proposals for the establishment of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), extending a crypto tax break for investment managers, bringing stablecoins into the regulatory perimeter and creating …

A United States banking industry regulator warned banks of the “emerging risks” of cryptocurrencies saying the sector should take a “cautious approach” and seek permission in some cases when engaging with crypto or crypto firms. Citing “dislocations” in the crypto market over 2022 the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) highlighted what it said were “several key risks” of crypto in its Dec. 8 Semiannual Risk Perspective for Fall 2022 report. Its three main concerns are that “stablecoins may be unstable,” the crypto industry lacks mature risk management practices and has a high risk of contagion due to …