Over the years, technology has improved by leaps and bounds, therefore making life more cost-effective and efficient. Such technological improvements, however, may not save citizens money as intended, due to inflationary efforts, according to Diginex CEO Richard Byworth. "Technology is just so deflationary on many of our goods and services," Byworth told Cointelegraph in an interview. Diginex stands as a company helping produce framework for blockchain and crypto solutions. Byworth remembers buying music albums on CDs decades ago, which sold for 16 pounds each, valued at approximately $25 in U.S. dollar terms at the time. Fast-forward to present day. Customers …

Back in July, the Securities and Exchange Commission alongside the Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined investment app Abra for providing trading on synthetic assets. At the time, that looked like the end of the matter. However, in response to Cointelegraph’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for details in the Abra case, the SEC cited FOIA exemption 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(A) — an exemption that only applies to ongoing investigations. The exemption applies to situations where releasing information could “reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.” The SEC’s response does not provide details into the ongoing investigation, and was careful …

Two offices of the United States Department of the Treasury have issued advisories on ransomware payouts, which they say pose a threat to national security. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, reminded cryptocurrency processing companies of their duty to file suspicious activity reports when they have a reason to suspect that their services are being engaged for such payouts to sanctioned individuals: “Among these entities are digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) companies and cyber insurance companies (CICs). Some DFIR companies and CICs, as well as some MSBs that offer CVCs [convertible virtual currency], facilitate ransomware payments to cybercriminals, …

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has charged derivatives exchange BitMEX with operating an unregistered trading platform and violating Anti-Money Laundering regulations. According to a statement released Thursday, the CFTC filed a civil enforcement action in the Southern District of New York against five entities and three individuals who allegedly own and operate the exchange. The individuals charged include Arthur Hayes, publicly known as the CEO of BitMEX, as well as Ben Delo and Samuel Reed. The CFTC alleges that these individuals are owners and operators of BitMEX through a “maze of corporate entities.” The aforementioned corporate …

The updated Consumer Safety Technology Act, which now includes the Digital Taxonomy Act and the Blockchain Innovation Act, has passed in the House of Representatives and is now headed for the Senate as of Tuesday afternoon. The Digital Taxonomy Act provides definitions for the terms "digital asset" and "digital unit" and would task the Federal Trade Commission with preventing unfair trade practices in both. The Blockchain Innovation Act would require the FTC to put together a report on blockchain's role in consumer protection. Regarding the news, the author of the two bills, Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL), said “As lawmakers, it’s …

Two major crypto bills were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. One aims to establish which cryptocurrencies are securities. The other looks to put regulation of exchanges in the hands of the country's commodities regulator. The securities bill The Securities Clarity Act, from the office of Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN) establishes a new distinction in securities law between an investment contract and the "an asset sold pursuant to an investment 22 contract, whether tangible or intangible (including an 23 asset in digital form)." The new bill is basically a direct response to recent controversy over the Simple …

On Wednesday, the Chamber of Digital Commerce announced the addition of Visa, Goldman Sachs and Six Digital Exchange (SDX) to its executive committee. Mick Mulvaney, a former White House Chief of Staff and a co-founder of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus will also be joining the chamber’s board of advisors. Mulvaney left the White House in March. On the board, he will be joining a number of figures familiar to Cointelegraph’s readers, including Don Tapscott of the Blockchain Research Institute and former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, who is now with the Digital Dollar Project. Regarding the lineup of the advisory board, …

Per an interpretive letter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released on Monday, national banks will be free to hold reserve currencies for stablecoins. The new guidance reads, "We conclude that a national bank may hold such stablecoin 'reserves' as a service to bank customers." Alongside the announcement, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks noted that stablecoin services are already a part of many banks' activities: “National banks and federal savings associations currently engage in stablecoin related activities involving billions of dollars each day.” The letter does, however, specify that for now, this will only …

San Francisco-based crypto exchange Kraken has become the first cryptocurrency business to receive a charter to operate as a bank in the United States. When seen as part of a larger-scale shift in regulatory attitudes that may help to bring crypto into the mainstream, the repercussions could be even more significant. Kraken Financial, the firm's new bank, is headquartered in Cheyenne and got the green light from Wyoming on Sept. 16 as a special-purpose depository institution (SPDI) — a bank that can both receive deposits and custody assets. "For Wyoming, this is an economic development initiative," founder and CEO of …

Earlier today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury updated its Specially Designated Nationals List, adding several individuals and a number of cryptocurrency addresses. One of the individuals added was Artem Mikhaylovich Lifshits — a Russian national, accused of interfering in the U.S. elections. In addition to disclosing his personal information, the site lists a number of cryptocurrency addresses that he allegedly controls. One of the Ethereum addresses, found at 0xa7e5d5a720f06526557c513402f2e6b5fa20b00, does not seem to exist, however. Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury. There was likely a mixup somewhere in the chain of command and the Treasury meant to blacklist 0xA7e5d5A720f06526557c513402f2e6B5fA20b008 …

The U.S. filed criminal charges against Russian national Artem Lifshits for his management of an affiliate of the infamous Internet Research Agency, which U.S. authorities accuse of interfering in the 2016 election. The new complaint alleges that Lifshits has managed the translator department of Project Lakhta since 2017, in which capacity he illegally obtained U.S. identification documents in order to use "the means of identification of United States persons to open bank accounts, PayPal accounts, and cryptocurrency accounts." The charge is conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice says these accounts were a means for Lifshits and …

Sept. 10 updates to the U.S. Treasury's sanctions include Russian nationals who allegedly worked to interfere in U.S. elections. The updates specifically target a laundry list of crypto wallet addresses associated with these accused hackers. The new specially designated nationals include St. Petersburg residents Anton Nikolaeyvich Andreyev and Artem Mikhaylovich Lifshits and addresses associated with these two including Bitcoin, Litecoin, ZCash, Dash and Ether. This is not the first time that the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control has targeted crypto addresses. In March, OFAC added two Chinese nationals who aided North Korea's hacking program in laundering its ill-gotten gains. …