As the West and America tighten their economic sanctions on Russia, concerns have emerged about how this will affect the cryptocurrency market. The country has been largely cut off from the SWIFT international payment system, and businesses in the United States and other Western nations are banned from doing business or transacting with Russian banks
Regulation
A New York State proposal to suspend fossil fuel-powered proof-of-work mining for three years across the state has gained support from two more Assembly members. Members Amy Paulin and Ken Zebrowski have thrown their names in along with 43 other cosponsors for bill A7389B. In addition to the three-year suspension of mining at former fossil
Economy and finance ministers representing nations in the European Union have said they will address Russia’s potential use of cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions imposed on it following its operations in Ukraine. Speaking to reporters through an interpreter following an informal video conference of EU economy and finance ministers on Wednesday, France’s finance minister, Bruno Le
Federal Reserve Chair Pro Tempore Jerome Powell and some members of the United States House of Representatives called for congressional action on crypto in response to discussions about Russia potentially evading sanctions. In a Wednesday hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on “Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy,” California Representative Juan Vargas
Major global cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is finally moving forward with its security token platform (STO) in Kazakhstan, opening the first day of trading. Bitfinex Securities, Bitfinex’s blockchain-based investment platform, is officially starting on Tuesday, the company representatives announced to Cointelegraph. Announced in September 2021, the new STO platform is regulated within Kazakhstan’s national financial hub
South Korea’s crypto market grew to 55 trillion Won ($45.9 billion) by the end of 2021, as per a new study from the country’s chief financial regulator, the Financial Service Commission. South Korea is considered among the strictest crypto markets in terms of regulatory policy implementations and made regular headlines throughout 2021 for its new
Indicted by the United States Department of Justice in a $2.4 billion Ponzi scheme, BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani remains untraced following conviction. In a court filing on Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the whereabouts of Kumbhani remains unknown. The SEC noted that Kumbhani’s last known location was in his native country India, but
U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether (USDT) witnessed a spike of over 30% in five days against the Russian ruble — highlighting the negative and immediate impact of the ongoing war on the traditional financial system. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and crypto exchange Binance show that the ruble (RUB) is undergoing inflation as the USDT/RUB trading
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement director has reportedly said cryptocurrency companies will not receive amnesty for reporting themselves for possible violations of securities laws. According to a Monday report from Reuters, the SEC director of the agency’s division of enforcement, Gurbir Grewal, said the agency may view crypto companies’ conduct “more favorably” if
On Feb. 17, United States Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced at the Munich Cyber Security Conference the formation of the new task force “dedicated to cryptocurrency” within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Coming four months after the launch of the Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), this marks another major step in
As the West continues to impose more sanctions against Russian banks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one Ukrainian official has called for sanctions on Russians’ cryptocurrency holdings as well. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, took to Twitter on Sunday to urge the global cryptocurrency exchanges to block addresses of Russian users. He emphasized
Within the first week of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Ukrainian government has reached out to the crypto community on Twitter for raising funds to support its civilians and troops. Ukraine has now started accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT) as donations. As Russia threatens to take over Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, the
Crypto is going mainstream, and the world’s younger generation, in particular, is taking note. Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com recently predicted that crypto users worldwide could reach 1 billion by the end of 2022. Further findings show that Millennials — those between the ages of 26 and 41 — are turning to digital asset investment to build
The founder of the infamous crypto exchange BitConnect, Satish Kumbhani, has been charged for allegedly misleading investors globally and defrauding them of $2.4 billion in the process. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), a San Diego-based federal grand jury specifically charged Kumbhani for orchestrating the alleged Ponzi scheme via BitConnect’s “Lending Program”: “BitConnect operated
The parliament of the European Union is delaying a vote on a framework aimed at regulating cryptocurrencies amid concerns over proof-of-work mining. In a Friday Twitter thread, European Parliament economics committee member Stefan Berger said the government body had canceled a vote on the Markets in Crypto Assets, or MiCA, framework scheduled to take place
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), has called on lawmakers to approve a regulatory framework on crypto, hinting at potentially preventing Russia from getting around economic sanctions. Speaking to reporters at an informal meeting of economics and finance ministers on Friday, Lagarde said the European Central Bank would be “decisively and rigorously”