Christopher Hamilton, a British national allegedly connected to ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova’s cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin, reportedly faces extradition to the United States on charges related to a scam going back to 2014. According to a Tuesday report from legal news outlet Law360, a judge in the United Kingdom will allow the process to move forward for Hamilton to be extradited to the U.S. on charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Hamilton was allegedly involved in laundering $105 million through the crypto Ponzi scheme OneCoin, which defrauded more than 3 million investors of more than $4 billion through the sale of …

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 value on par with other industrial activities. Around the world, cryptocurrency is one of the largest job creators. The LinkedIn's Economic Graph shows that crypto and blockchain jobs listing rose 615% in 2021 compared to 2020 in the United States. In accordance with the bill's …

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 risk which merited warnings, rather than an investment opportunity for the United States. The U.S. lawmaker added that encouraging figures like FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to stay in the country will open more doors for residents rather than driving them away with regulatory uncertainty. Emmer, …

Regulators are tasked with balancing between protecting consumers and creating environments where entrepreneurs and the private sector can thrive. When markets face distortions, perhaps due to an externality or information asymmetry, regulation can play an important role. But regulation can also stifle entrepreneurship and business formation, leaving society and its people worse off. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has been particularly hostile against cryptocurrency companies and entrepreneurs. For example, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has remarked that he views Bitcoin (BTC) as a commodity but that many other “crypto financial assets have the key attributes of a security.” He …

Kyle Roche, the lawyer at the center of allegations made by website Cryptoleaks about a secret agreement between his firm and Ava Labs, responded Monday in a post on Medium. Like Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer, Roche denied the existence of any secret agreement between the parties. Roche claimed that the recordings that have been published on Cryptoleaks’ website were made at the behest of ICP Token creator Dominic Williams. Roche’s firm, Roche Freedman, brought a class action suit against Williams and his Dfinity Foundation last October. Roche said the recordings were heavily edited and he denied the truth …

The creators of Three Arrows Capital are missing, according to reports, when court-appointed liquidators visited the firm's Singapore headquarters recently, all they discovered was a locked door and a stack of outdated mail. Singapore-based 3AC is among the flagship cryptocurrency firms that have crumbled under bear pressure and faced liquidity issues driven by the market sell-off in recent weeks. In June, a court in the British Virgin Islands, where 3AC had moved its registration, appointed advisory firm Teneo in June to liquidate 3AC assets. Teneo senior managing directors Russell Crumpler and Christopher Farmer informed the court on July 8 that …

With the rise of the Taliban last year in August, Afghanistan faced global sanctions that led to many international organizations and money transaction services halting operations in the country. This made room for digital currencies and stablecoins to be widely used, at least to send or receive remittances. However, the Taliban government has recently banned cryptocurrencies and arrested 16 local exchangers in the Northwestern city of Herat in the past week, according to the provincial news website ATN-News. According to the report, the exchanges were initially given a grace period to comply with the government’s regulations but were ultimately shut …

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 a “secret pact” with U.S. law firm Roche Freedman to use the American legal system “gangster style” to “attack and harm crypto organizations." How could anyone believe something so ridiculous as the conspiracy theory nonsense on Cryptoleaks? We would never engage in the unlawful, unethical …

Major crypto exchange Binance has confirmed it restricted account access to $1 million in crypto for a Tezos tool contributor after being called out on social media. In a Thursday Twitter thread, Binance said it had restricted the account of Tezos staking rewards auditor Baking Bad “as the result of a law enforcement request.” The Tezos contributor alleged that the crypto exchange had blocked access to its corporate account containing Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Polgyon (MATIC), Tether (USDT) and other tokens since July 1 “without any explanations” — a claim Binance denied. “BakingBad is well aware of [Binance’s actions], as …

In a cease-and-desist letter to fast-growing crypto exchange FTX, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) shed light on a now-deleted tweet from the exchange’s president, Brett Harrison, and issued a stark warning over the company’s messaging. Harrison’s original tweet said, “Direct deposits from employers to FTX US are stored in individually FDIC-insured bank accounts in the users’ names.” He added, “Stocks are held in FDIC-insured and SIPC [Security Investor Protection Corporation]-insured brokerage accounts.” Although Harrison stewarded FTX to its best-ever year in 2021, increasing revenue by 1,000%, the firm now faces the unenviable prospect of running afoul of a powerful …

The Celsius Network is one of many crypto lending firms that has been swept up in the wake of the so-called “crypto contagion.” Rumors of Celsius’ insolvency began circulating in June after the crypto lender was forced to halt withdrawals due to “extreme market conditions” on June 13 and eventually filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy a month later on July 13. The crypto lending firm showed a balance gap of $1.2 billion in its bankruptcy filing, with most liabilities owed to its users. User deposits made up the majority of liabilities at $4.72 billion, while Celsius’ assets include CEL tokens …

Ben Armstrong, the man behind Bitboy Crypto said that he is dropping the defamation suit against fellow Youtube content creator Erling Mengshoel Jr., who goes by the name Atozy. Armstrong officially filed the suit against Mengshoel Jr. on Aug. 12 in response to a Nov 2021 video titled “This YouTuber scams his fans… Bitboy Crypto” which alleged that Armstrong was dishonestly promoting dubious assets to his audience such as PAMP for his own gain. He was seeking $75,000 in damages over the ordeal. However, Armstrong suggested in a Aug. 24 live stream that he is now walking back the complaint …