Schlagwort: crypto regulation

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Korean cybercrime unit requests exchanges to freeze LFG assets: Report

South Korean police have reportedly requested exchanges to ‘freeze’ the assets of the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), the non-profit organization set up to support the Terra (LUNA) cryptocurrency.

A news report published on Monday by Korean national broadcaster KBS says that the cybercrime police unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency had written to several exchanges highlighting the need to block withdrawals of corporate funds initiated by the LFG.

Per the report, investigators attached to the 1st Cybercrime Investigation Unit are convinced embezzled funds related to the LUNA collapse are being held in LFG accounts, thus the need for a freeze.

Exchanges not under obligation 

But despite the Police’s request, the report states that exchanges are currently under no obligation to comply. Because there’s no legal requirement to do so, exchanges are at liberty to take action as deemed fit, KBS noted.

LUNA and TerraUSD (UST) collapsed dramatically this month, with the value of the stablecoin de-pegging from the dollar to zero. The LUNA coin also crashed 100%, setting in motion actions that include a lawsuit against Terraform Labs and potentially tougher sanctions from regulators, including from South Korean lawmakers.

Amid all these are question marks on how LFG handled the reserves under its control, with the organization saying it spend 80,000 BTC trying to save the UST peg.

An update from the Foundation on 16 May showed that its reserves balance included 313 BTC, 39,914 BNB, and 1,973,554 AVAX as well as 1.8 billion UST and over 222 million LUNA.

The post Korean cybercrime unit requests exchanges to freeze LFG assets: Report appeared first on Coin Journal.

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33 central banks and 12 financial authorities to meet Nayib Bukele to discuss BTC

Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, tweeted that he would be meeting with 33 central banks and 12 financial authorities today Monday to discuss the Bitcoin rollout among other things.

According to the Twitter thread that followed the tweet about the meeting to “discuss financial inclusion, digital economy, banking the unbanked, the #Bitcoin rollout and its benefits in our country,” some of the banks expected to meet Bukele include the bank of Rwanda, Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) Kenya, Central Bank of Egypt, Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Maldives Monetary Authority among others.

The central banks and regulatory authorities mentioned by Bukele are primarily from developing countries, especially from Africa. 

At the time, it is clear are explicitly meeting to discuss Bitcoin or if there are other issues to be discussed.

Bukele’s tweet didn’t however capture the world by surprise since about five days after the tweet from the president, someone under the Twitter account going by the name “Bitcoin Beach” had said that several countries are flying to El Salvador.

El Salvador and Bitcoin

El Salvador is the first country to make Bitcoin a legal tender and it recently took advantage of the falling BTC price and bought 500 bitcoins.

Besides making BTC a legal tender in the country, El Salvador has accumulated more than 2,000 bitcoins worth over $60 million at the current Bitcoin price. 

The post 33 central banks and 12 financial authorities to meet Nayib Bukele to discuss BTC appeared first on Coin Journal.

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Despite the Terra debacle, the UK to recognise stablecoins as legal tender

We only seek to legalize fully backed stablecoins says the Treasury   

As the crypto world gears up to deal with the consequences of the death spiral suffered by the Terra ecosystem last week, the United Kingdom’s Department of Treasury announced that its plans to regulate stablecoins as a legal tender continue to stay in place.

The announcement has reinstated Her Majesty’s Treasury’s commitment to supporting innovation in the country.

The department has confirmed that the legalisation of stablecoins as a payment mechanism was part of the financial legislation section of the Queen’s speech.  Prince Charles explained that the nation was undertaking various legislations across the board to improve living standards and promote growth.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will play an important role in achieving these goals as they strengthen the power of law enforcement officers to tackle illicit finance and reduce economic crime, which will facilitate business growth, the Prince of Wales said.

While the UK’s Economic and Finance Ministry department confirmed last month that its constitution would be amended to make way for the use of stablecoins, scepticism regarding the future of such legislation grew as the markets crashed last week following the downfall of LUNA and UST due to the crash witnessed by Terra, one of the most popular stablecoins.     

The Treasury’s Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, hinted that the events of last week did not impact the country’s plans, adding that the government will take all steps to ensure the UK financial services industry is always at the forefront of technology and innovation.

A Treasury spokesperson further pointed out that the UK will not legalize payments via “algorithmic stablecoins” like Terra but instead supports 1:1 fully-backed stable coins like USDT or USDC:

“The Government has been clear that certain stablecoins are not suitable for payment purposes as they share characteristics with unbacked crypto assets.

 We will continue to monitor the wider crypto asset market and stand ready to take further regulatory action if required.”

The post Despite the Terra debacle, the UK to recognise stablecoins as legal tender appeared first on Coin Journal.

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SEC official says tougher US stablecoin regulations ‘closer’

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Hester Peirce has said that the stablecoin market has attracted a lot of attention this past week and that the sector could be looking at “stricter” regulations.

The top SEC official said this in comments made during an online discussion organised by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF). This is an independent think tank on central banking and economic policy headquartered in London, UK.

A news report by Reuters quotes the SEC official as saying that one place likely to “see some movement is around stablecoins.” She added that this follows events this week that have helped shine a spotlight on the sector.

Hester’s comments came at OMFIF’s annual Digital Monetary Institute symposium, whose panel also included Algorand CEO Steve Kokinos and former CFTC chair Timothy Massad.

UST depeg and LUNA’s collapse

Indeed, this week has seen the cryptocurrency market rocked by the crushing loss of dollar parity by the stablecoin TerraUSD (USD). The UST token fell as low as $0.25, losing its peg to the dollar by 75% amid rumours of a coordinated attack.

Apart from that, the algorithmic stablecoin’s depegging has sent the Terra (LUNA) coin to near zero (currently at $0.01), and a cascade of sell-off pressure has also pushed Bitcoin price to lows last seen in January 2021.

And with the stablecoin turmoil also seeing Tether (USDT) lose its peg earlier on Thursday, a tougher regulatory framework could be ‘closer’ indeed.

The post SEC official says tougher US stablecoin regulations ‘closer’ appeared first on Coin Journal.

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Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority to launch headquarters in The Sandbox

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has announced that it shall create a metaverse headquarters in The Sandbox virtual world. The virtual headquarters shall be referred to as “MetaHQ” and shall be based at an unknown location within The Sandbox virtual world.

The launch of “MetaHQ” is part of Dubai’s attempts to become a virtual asset hub.

In a statement to WAM news agency, the Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said:

“Our presence in the metaverse… marks the beginning of a new phase in the Dubai government’s march for the future; one that will have a positive impact in the long run.”

The role of the “MetaHQ”

The VARA has not provided a lot of details about the actual role of the MetaHQ.

The VARA however said that the virtual headquarters would:

“serve as its primary channel to engage [Virtual Asset Service Providers] across the globe to initiate applications, enable younger licensees [to] enter the metaverse, openly share knowledge and experiences with consumers and peer regulators to raise awareness, enable safe adoption, and drive global interoperability.”

The development shows how fast Dubai is turning into a crypto hub after the VARA was launched at the beginning of March. VARA was created to aid in advancing the legal framework and regulatory system of virtual assets in the UAE and specifically in Dubai.

Among other things, crypto firms wishing to operate in the UAE must obtain a crypto license from the VARA. The VARA was also assigned the duty of regulating the activities of asset managers and custodians within the crypto space in the UAE.

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