2024-05-14
Can't say I'm surprised by the conviction of Alexey Pertsev. The Tornado Cash case was always a fairly cut & dried example of money laundering, despite efforts to portray it as something bigger than that.
CoinDesk
A Dutch judge finds Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev guilty and sentences him to 64 months; Pertsev was jailed in August 2022 over alleged money laundering
Alexey Pertsev was first jailed in the Netherlands in August 2022. — Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was sentenced to 64 months in jail for money laundering
2023-12-11
In 2022, Tether was adamantly against the idea of freezing OFAC-sanctioned wallets, describing any sort of blacklisting of secondary market addresses as “disruptive and reckless.” In a u-turn, Tether will now start freezing wallets on OFAC's list: https://tether.to/... [image]
The Block
Tether freezes the wallets of people sanctioned by the US Treasury's OFAC to stop “potential misuse” of its tokens, one of its new CEO's first significant moves
2023-12-10
In 2022, Tether was adamantly against the idea of freezing OFAC-sanctioned wallets, describing any sort of blacklisting of secondary market addresses as “disruptive and reckless.” In a u-turn, Tether will now start freezing wallets on OFAC's list: https://tether.to/... [image]
The Block
Tether freezes the wallets of people sanctioned by the US Treasury's OFAC to stop “potential misuse” of its tokens, one of its new CEO's first significant moves
- Tether has frozen its coins held in crypto wallets sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Controls, the company announced today.
2023-10-29
Interesting little detail about Japan's new stablecoin regulations. Circle will likely have to create a special strain of Japanese USDC if it wants to be listed on local crypto exchanges. Plain vanilla USDC won't cut it. https://www.coindesk.com/... [image]
CoinDesk
Japan is leading the race to regulate stablecoins, starting with a law that took effect in June 2023 and has terms to protect the assets underlying stablecoins
Japan's new law tries to address one of the biggest fears about major stablecoins: Do issuers really have the assets to back them?
2023-10-20
Invoking Section 311 of the Patriot Act, FinCEN has just put an entire class of crypto transactions - mixing - on its list of “primary money laundering concerns.” The upshot is that if an exchange suspects that you've deposited mixed crypto, it'll have to report this to FinCEN.
CoinDesk
The US Treasury's FinCEN proposes labeling international crypto mixing as a “primary money laundering concern”, citing its use by Hamas and other illicit actors
Under pressure to address reports that Hamas and other terrorist groups are partially funded with crypto …
FinCEN says that crypto mixing is of primary money laundering concern, yet it also admits that there are legitimate reasons to mix. Given this admission, why doesn't it set a threshold, say $5k, below which mixing is exempt, rather than declaring all mixing to be of concern? [image]
CoinDesk
The US Treasury's FinCEN proposes labeling international crypto mixing as a “primary money laundering concern”, citing its use by Hamas and other illicit actors
Under pressure to address reports that Hamas and other terrorist groups are partially funded with crypto …
2023-08-24
@naomibrockwell Reading through the indictment, the DoJ alleges that they still had control of the Tornado Cash UI. [image]
Blockworks
The US DOJ charges Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm, of Washington, and Roman Semenov, a Russian national, with money laundering and sanctions violations
Katherine Ross / Blockworks :
It was always indisputable that there was someone in the Tornado Cash stack engaged in money laundering. The question was who. Well, we now know who the guilty party is: https://www.justice.gov/...
Blockworks
The US DOJ charges Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm, of Washington, and Roman Semenov, a Russian national, with money laundering and sanctions violations
Katherine Ross / Blockworks :
2023-05-14
Canada has set a number of basic requirements that exchanges must meet to serve Canadians. Several offshore exchanges have committed to compliance, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Cryptodotcom. Alas, Binance can't meet those requirements. It's beating a retreat. https://twitter.com/...
CoinDesk
Binance announces its exit from Canada, saying the country's “new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits” makes the market “no longer tenable”
the one-time home of cofounder CZ—claiming market conditions are ‘no longer tenable’ Benson Toti / CoinJournal : Binance announces exit from Canada Sarah Wynn / Cryptonews : Binanc...
2023-05-13
Canada has set a number of basic requirements that exchanges must meet to serve Canadians. Several offshore exchanges have committed to compliance, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Cryptodotcom. Alas, Binance can't meet those requirements. It's beating a retreat. https://twitter.com/...
CoinDesk
Binance announces its exit from Canada, saying the country's “new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits” makes the market “no longer tenable”
The world's largest crypto exchange by volume said new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits prompted the exit.
2023-03-16
ChipMixer taken down by the DoJ: https://www.justice.gov/... With Blender and Tornado already sanctioned, that leaves only Wasabi still standing. https://twitter.com/...
CoinDesk
German and US authorities seize up to €44M from ChipMixer and shut down its crypto mixer, alleging the service helped people launder 152K bitcoin since 2017
Jamie Crawley / CoinDesk :
2023-03-12
Silicon Valley Bank is a very American mess. The Basel rules that protect against these sorts of banking flameouts were not applied in the the US, or at least, they were only applied to very large banks. Silicon Valley Bank was exempt: https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Bloomberg
As the “Bank of Startups”, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed from its exposure to interest-rate risk, a lack of diversity among depositors, and VC herd mentality
an unsecured illiquid claim on a failed bank. Absent @jpmorgan @citi or... https://twitter.com/... Bob Elliott / @bobeunlimited : Fed/FDIC decisions on SVB determine whether they r...
2023-03-11
Silicon Valley Bank is a very American mess. The Basel rules that protect against these sorts of banking flameouts were not applied in the the US, or at least, they were only applied to very large banks. Silicon Valley Bank was exempt: https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Bloomberg
As the “Bank of Startups”, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed from its exposure to interest-rate risk, a lack of diversity among depositors, and VC herd mentality
Programming note: Money Stuff was supposed to be off today, but: bank run! — SVB
2023-03-09
One of the crypto industry's favorite narratives has always been that it would overwhelm traditional banks by providing superior services. Well, crypto has finally overwhelmed its first bank - not because crypto was superior, but because it was unsafe. https://twitter.com/...
The Block
Silvergate Capital plans to wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate Silvergate Bank, including “full repayment of all deposits”; SI drops 40%+ to ~$5
- Silvergate Capital Corporation said it will wind down operations and voluntarily liquidate Silvergate Bank in accordance with applicable regulatory processes.
2023-02-09
According to today's attestation report, Tether is approaching $1 billion in equity, which actually isn't too shabby. Tether users are finally getting the protection of a fairly decent capital cushion. https://assets.ctfassets.net/ ...
The Block
Tether claims $700M in Q4 profit, in addition to its reserves, and $67.04B in total assets and $66.08B in liabilities; Tether-secured loans were down by $300M
- Tether issued its latest attestation report, saying its assets exceeded its liabilities as of December 2022.
2023-01-04
Back in 2021 the OCC said that banks could issue stablecoins (https://t.co/...). New guidance from the Fed, FDIC, and OCC (https://t.co/...) suggests the opposite. Issuing crypto-assets is now seen as being “inconsistent with safe and sound banking practices.” https://twitter.com/...
Wall Street Journal
The US Federal Reserve, FDIC, and OCC warn banks that issuing or holding crypto “is highly likely to be inconsistent with safe and sound banking practices”
Regulators say holding cryptocurrencies is likely inconsistent with safe banking practices — Crypto's Crash Has Been Swift but Largely Self-Contained.
2022-12-14
- Binance introduced 1:1 stablecoin conversions last fall, effectively pegging the price of BUSD and USDC - A peg requires a supply of both stablecoins. Binance ran out of USDC - Instead of letting USDC's price float, Binance halted USDC withdrawals as it waits for new supply https://twitter.com/...
Bloomberg
Memo: Changpeng Zhao tells Binance staff to expect a “bumpy” several months but the exchange “will survive any crypto winter”, following massive withdrawals
Binance Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao warned his colleagues to expect tough months ahead …
- Binance introduced 1:1 stablecoin conversions last fall, effectively pegging the price of BUSD and USDC - A peg requires a supply of both stablecoins. Binance ran out of USDC - Instead of letting USDC's price float, Binance halted USDC withdrawals as it waits for new supply https://twitter.com/...
The Block
Binance CEO addresses major USDC outflows, saying users can “withdraw any other stablecoin”; Nansen: users withdrew ~$1.6B on the Ethereum network in 24 hours
2022-12-13
- Binance introduced 1:1 stablecoin conversions last fall, effectively pegging the price of BUSD and USDC - A peg requires a supply of both stablecoins. Binance ran out of USDC - Instead of letting USDC's price float, Binance halted USDC withdrawals as it waits for new supply https://twitter.com/...
The Block
Changpeng Zhao seeks to reassure Binance users on USDC outflows, saying they can “withdraw any other stablecoin”; Nansen shows $1.6B in ETH outflows in 24 hours
- Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has addressed major USD Coin outflows. — Some $1.6 billion has been withdrawn …
-Binance introduced 1:1 stablecoin conversions last fall. It effectively pegs the price of BUSD and USDC -A peg requires having a supply of both stablecoins on hand. Binance ran out of USDC -Binance could let USDC float. Instead, it halted withdrawals as it waits for new supply https://twitter.com/...
The Block
Changpeng Zhao seeks to reassure Binance users on USDC outflows, saying they can “withdraw any other stablecoin”; Nansen shows $1.6B in ETH outflows in 24 hours
- Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has addressed major USD Coin outflows. — Some $1.6 billion has been withdrawn …