The Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) has arrested two men for allegedly laundering money with cryptocurrencies. According to a statement released by the International Revenue Service on Feb. 18, the two men were arrested on Feb. 17 in connection to two separate criminal investigations into money laundering using cryptocurrencies. Both investigations were led by the National Office for Serious Fraud, Environmental Crime and Asset Confiscation. The money trail One of the suspects was a 45-year-old man who is accused of laundering 2.1 million euros. He purportedly used large purchases with a cryptocurrency-backed credit card that the Netherlands tax …
Two letter bombs exploded in the Netherlands on Wednesday and an anonymous criminal is asking for a Bitcoin payment to prevent future attacks, Dutch police say. The first bomb went off at a postal sorting office in ABN Amro bank in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning. The letter bomb exploded moments after a mailroom worker tossed away the package. “The colleague who was sorting the mail heard a hissing sound, and threw the package away,” Mr. van der Varst said. The second explosion came less than an hour later in a border town called Kerkrade. The package was mailed to a …
Deribit, a crypto futures and options exchange that is moving from the Netherlands to Panama to avoid Europe’s new Anti-Money Laundering law has released its newly updated Know Your Customer (KYC) policy. In a Jan. 17 blog post, Deribit clearly said that its relocation to Panama has been mainly caused by the new Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), a major European law that aims to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing by stricter regulation of crypto-related businesses. While 5AMLD was enforced on Jan. 10, 2010, 5AMLD has not been adopted in the Netherlands to date, but is still expected to come …
Suspected crypto con artists are once again using the likeness of British financial expert Martin Lewis to defraud unsuspecting victims. In 2019, Lewis settled a defamation suit against Facebook for similar Bitcoin (BTC) scam adverts. Instagram says deceptive advertisements have no place on its platform and plans to continue improving its detection protocols for such content. Social platforms have been known to censor crypto-related content, instituting blanket bans on crypto ads on several occasions. However, Facebook has recently relaxed this policy amid the roll-out of its own digital currency project. The social media giant is one of the main backers …
Crypto traders see potential for other market platforms to exit after crypto derivatives exchange Deribit announced a move to Panama from its EU base in the Netherlands. "This is something they had hinted at in an interview months ago, and it’s something I fully expect we see more of going forward in the crypto space,” trader, Twitter personality and co-host of the Crypto Street Podcast Prince told Cointelegraph in a message. Exiting EU Deribit broke the news on Jan. 9, explaining its platform will move to Panama from the Netherlands, owing to stringent EU regulations the Netherlands may soon adopt, …
Crypto derivatives exchange Deribit is leaving the European Union for Panama to avoid new AML rules while changing its Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. Deribit B.V., the current Netherlands-based company responsible for the Deribit.com exchange, will officially delegate the trading platform to its daughter company, DRB Panama Inc. on Feb. 10, 2020, a Jan. 9 statement from Deribit said. Changing regulatory winds Deribit has decided to transfer to Panama based on the stated likelihood of tightening regulatory demands in the Netherlands, resulting from similar demands seen across the EU, the Deribit statement noted. These requirements, known as 5AMLD, pertain to …
Proof of Impact, a blockchain-based, global marketplace for natural and social capital has closed a funding round led by American asset management firm Franklin Templeton Investments. On Dec. 12, Proof of Impact announced that it closed its first institutional investment round led by Franklin Templeton, a global fund manager that manages around $700 billion in assets. The scale of Franklin Templeton’s investment remains unknown, but as part of the agreement, a Franklin Templeton representative will take a seat on the Proof of Impact board. Proof of Impact co-founder Fleur Heyns said: “We are extremely pleased that a global financial institution …
Amsterdam-based bank ING is reportedly developing cryptocurrency custody technology, Reuters reported on Dec. 12. The digital assets custody service being developed by ING is purportedly part of one of the bank’s several blockchain-related initiatives and is still at an early stage of development. ING reportedly said that it “sees increasing opportunities with regard to digital assets on both asset backed and native security tokens.” When reached for comment, ING did not provide specific details about the project, but said that it is, “particularly active to further develop the technology behind digital assets to empower its clients with a compliant access …
The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) trialed a new blockchain-based ticketing app during yesterday’s Netherlands-Estonia European Championship qualifying match. The news was reported by Ajax Life, a fanzine associated with the top tier Dutch football club AFC Ajax, on Nov. 19. Replacing tickets with an app Yesterday’s match was hosted at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam, which the Netherlands won 5-0, as the BBC has reported. According to Ajax Life, the KNVB used the event as an opportunity to trial its new blockchain-based app, designed to combat ticket counterfeiting and black market sales. The solution dispenses with ticket PDFs, …
Dutch police have arrested the founder of blockchain game development startup Komodore64 that allegedly raised 78 million euros ($86 million) from investors, business-focused news outlet Sprout reported on Nov. Komodore64 — which launched in June with the objective to create a game platform where transactions are tracked on blockchain — appeared to be a fraudulent scheme that deceived both investors and its own employees. The project and its native crypto coin K64, which have reportedly secured roughly $86 million in investments, have declared bankruptcy. Involvement of a “well-known investment company” Komodore64’s founder Sam N. allegedly lured investors claiming that the …
A Dutch court has ruled that Facebook must remove Bitcoin (BTC)-related fraudulent investment ads following local billionaire and television producer John de Mol’s lawsuit against the company, Reuters reported on Nov. 11. De Mol initiated judicial proceedings against the social media giant in June 2019, claiming that Facebook failed to respond to multiple requests to remove ads of a scam that misused his and other celebrities’ images and eventually resulted in the loss of 1.7 million euros ($1.8 million) by investors. The ruling, fine and Facebook’s stance Following de Mol’s claim, a Dutch court ruled that Facebook must pull the …
Five European Union member countries have reportedly teamed up to prevent the issuance of Facebook’s stablecoin Libra. Private meetings to turn EU against Libra Following a series of private meetings in October, France is reportedly leading the anti-Libra effort with Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, political news publication Politico Europe reports on Oct. 30. Citing sources familiar with the matter, Politico states that the countries’ deputy finance ministers have presented their unified position against Libra to other EU ministers at a private meeting on Oct. 28 in Brussels. According to the report, the group intends to prevent Libra from …