Back in 2017, the Estonian government rocked the legislative side of the crypto world when they introduced a raft of new laws designed to support crypto projects. These licenses split into two different categories: those looking to operate a crypto exchange and those looking to undertake an initial coin offering. Both company types stood to benefit from the first “real” cryptocurrency licenses anywhere on the planet. As a result of these licenses, entrepreneurs digitally flocked to the small but great Baltic nation. The Estonian government was ahead in a number of ways. Not only was the country a trailblazer with …

LocalBitcoins, a major peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchange, has purportedly managed to significantly cut the amount of criminal funds on its platform in 2020. The P2P platform has seen a decline of over 70% in transactions from darknet markets between September 2019 and May 2020, LocalBitcoins claims. Jukka Blomberg, chief marketing officer at LocalBitcoins, told Cointelegraph that the drop comes in response to Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer regulations adopted by the platform in September 2019. The calculations are based on blockchain analysis by major crypto analytics firm Elliptic as well as LocalBitcoins’ own “clustering tools,” the firm said. The …

On June 25, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged the issuer of AML Bitcoin — not to be confused with Bitcoin itself — with conducting a fraudulent offering. These charges follow up on a criminal filing in San Francisco from June 22. AML Bitcoin’s story Per the complaints, Rowland Marcus Andrade and his NAC Foundation raised upwards of $5.6 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) for AML Bitcoin beginning in August 2017 and continuing through 2018, amid the huge ICO boom of that time. The criminal charges filed against Andrade in San Francisco on June 22 refer …

The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, on Monday urged all national cryptocurrency businesses to submit their registration with the regulatory watchdog. According to the FCA’s statement, firms must submit completed applications by June 30. The regulator says that the anticipated deadline is necessary to ensure that all applications are processed by the end of the grace period on Jan. 10, 2021. As Cointelegraph reported at the time, this follows the FCA’s appointment as a direct regulator of U.K. cryptocurrency businesses, announced on Jan. 10, 2020. The regulator set forth compliance requirements for certain types of crypto-related activity, which …

New Zealand police have recovered $90 million connected to the case against suspected Bitcoin money launderer Alexander Vinnik. According to Jared Savage at the New Zealand Herald, the police Asset Recovery Unit have frozen roughly 140 million NZD ($90 million) controlled by a company in connection to the investigation of Vinnik. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told the publication that local authorities had been coordinating with the United States Internal Revenue Service to address the lost funds. The money recovered is “likely to reflect the profit gained from the victimisation of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people globally as …

At the height of the unprecedented crypto boom of 2017, Estonia emerged as the digital trailblazer of the European Union, issuing hundreds of licenses to crypto companies. The country’s regulators moved to authorize the issuance of operating permits to crypto companies back in 2017 under Estonia’s e-Residency permit program. The e-Residency program is a government-issued digital identity and status that allows entrepreneurs, freelancers and digital nomads to run and manage paperless companies while living or traveling abroad. The lax rules at the time even enabled companies with no physical presence in the Baltic state to receive licenses. As a result, …

Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis is partnering with institutional digital-asset security specialist Fireblocks to integrate its Know Your Transaction (KYT) system to monitor crypto transactions within the platform. According to an announcement on June 15, the addition will strengthen Fireblocks' security standards and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance. Strengthening AML compliance KYT allows users to automatically screen transactions based on risk standards and ensure that non-approved trades aren’t executed without manual review. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov said: “Compliance and security are two of the most important pillars of storing and transferring digital assets today. By integrating with Chainalysis KYT, …

A third intriguing transaction has taken place, this time with a 2,310 Ether (ETH) transaction fee valued at over $540,000 at time of press. Occurring less than 24 hours after the first two transactions with over $5.2 million (10,668.73 Ether each) in fees were processed on the Ethereum blockchain, this new transaction has raised the question of whether there is more than one person involved. Transaction details of the third unusual transaction. Source: Etherscan A surprise twist Unlike the previous two transactions, this one had a substantial transaction volume of 3,221 Ether with a value higher than the fee. Adding …

A second transaction of 350 Ether (ETH) (worth $86,000 at press time) with an incredible $2.6 million gas fee has just been confirmed on the Ethereum blockchain, less than 24 hours after the first transaction for 0.55 ETH ($130 at press time) with an identical fee amount was processed. Both transactions were processed with a fee of exactly 10,668.73 ETH. Transaction details of the second unusual transaction. Source: Etherscan Unlikely laundering These mysterious transactions have stumped the wider community with some suggesting money laundering or revenge from a disgruntled exchange employee. Both transactions originate from the same address, but the …

According to Bithumb, the 0.55 Ethers (ETH) that incurred a $2.6 million transaction fee ended up in one of the exchange’s wallets. Mistake or money laundering? Earlier today, someone paid 10,668.73 Ethers in gas to move $134 worth of the asset from one wallet to another. For comparison, today’s average gas price is $0.34. The most natural assumption is that the sender must have made a mistake. Transaction That Incurred $2.6 Million Fee. Source: Coinfirm Though the sender has not come forward, SparkPool, the miner that mined the transaction’s block, has frozen it until they can figure out what happened. …

Treasury Prime aspires to bring U.S. banks out of the stone age by providing automation through APIs. It appears that they internally use rudimentary blockchain technology to handle their compliance efforts. Time travel The company focuses on connecting fintechs and banks “the most comprehensive banking API ever”. Treasury Prime CEO Chris Dean told Cointelgraph that U.S. banks are way behind the curve, technologically speaking: “The interesting thing here is that in the U.S., the banking system is 50 years behind. And all we're trying to do is really move that up 20 or 30 years.” The company serves several cryptocurrency …

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has a plenary meeting scheduled on June 24 to assess the progress of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) worldwide in enforcing the organization’s “travel rule”. According to Pawel Kuskowski at Forbes, the FATF meeting will be held virtually in two weeks to discuss the organization’s guidelines intended to make VASPs compliant with anti-money laundering (AML) and Anti-Terrorist Financing (ATF) regulations. He says FATF member jurisdictions “must demonstrate progress” on implementing the travel rule, as their efforts will be reviewed at the June 24 meeting. Background on the travel rule In June 2019, the FATF …