A United States financial regulator is looking to gain feedback from the banking industry about how decentralized finance (DeFi) may affect the bureau’s efforts to stop financial crime. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said it is “looking carefully” at DeFi, while the agency’s acting director, Himamauli Das, said the digital asset ecosystem and virtual currencies are a “key priority…
A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot program in Australia has received more than 140 use case proposals from the finance industry, but the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) warns that it could displace the Australian dollar and result in people avoiding commercial banks entirely. The RBA released a speech on Dec. 8 to be given by Assistant Governor Brad…
Messaging app Telegram has rolled out a new update enabling users to create accounts using blockchain-based anonymous numbers, as opposed to cell phone numbers. Telegram already hides people’s private phone numbers from non-added users on the app, however, users will now be able to hide numbers from everyone, which is likely to please people who value privacy-focused features. The messaging…
The crypto mining industry may see a two-fold increase in its share of Russia’s power consumption in 2022, according to a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Energy. The department supports a bill designed to regulate the sector which is likely to be adopted this year. Russian Energy Ministry Forecasts Rise in Crypto Mining’s Electricity Consumption The share of cryptocurrency…
Crypto lending platform Genesis has informed its customers that its withdrawal freeze is likely to last “additional weeks” amid efforts to stave off a potential bankruptcy filing. In a Dec. 7 letter to its customers shared by Genesis to Cointelegraph, interim CEO Derar Islim — who took the temporary helm of the company in August — said it will be…
A federal judge has ordered crypto lender Celsius to return crypto worth around $44 million to the platform’s custody program customers. According to Bloomberg, the verbal order was delivered by United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in a Dec. 7 hearing, with the judge noting: “I want this case to move forward. I want creditors to recover as much as…
A federal judge in California has dismissed a class action lawsuit against reality TV star Kim Kardashian, boxing champ Floyd Mayweather and the founders of EthereumMax, explaining that the submissions failed to meet the “heightened pleading standards” for fraud claims. The judge has, however, left room for the plaintiffs to refile the proposed class action lawsuit if certain provisions are…
The new management for bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has reportedly hired a team of financial forensic investigators to track down the billions of dollars worth of missing customer crypto. Financial advisory company AlixPartners was chosen for the task and is led by former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief accountant, Matt Jacques, according to a Dec. 7 report from the…
Did Sam Bankman-Fried have a hand in the collapse of the Terra blockchain and its Luna stablecoin? According to a Wednesday report by the New York Times, Manhattan prosecutors are looking into it. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the FTX founder manipulated the market price of the two doomed, interlinked currencies earlier this year, the Times says. The publication echoes…
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says crypto tokens are like pet rocks. The executive also believes crypto regulation should be strengthened, stating: “The regulators who beat up on banks should maybe focus a little more on crypto.” JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon Compares Crypto to Pet Rocks The chairman and CEO of global investment bank JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, talked about…
