The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed the Lazarus Group and APT38 as the culprits behind the $100 million Harmony Bridge Hack from June 2022. The North Korea-linked cyber group had long been suspected of being behind the attack but their involvement hadn’t been confirmed by authorities until now. According to a Jan. 23 statement, the FBI noted that “through our investigation, we were able to confirm that the Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with the DPRK, are responsible for the theft of $100 million of virtual currency from Harmony’s Horizon bridge.” The Harmony Bridge hack in …

Megan Crowell, the chief people officer at crypto lending firm BlockFi, has petitioned a court to allow bonuses for “key employees” amid Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. In a Jan. 23 declaration for United State Bankruptcy Court in the District of New Jersey, Crowell said without giving certain financial incentives, BlockFi might be unable to retain employees in a “highly competitive” crypto industry. According to the BlockFi executive, many staff were “highly likely to leave the company” amid the Chapter 11 process without “competitive compensation”, potentially adding to costs down the road. “The war for talent remains active, and the Participants …

The New York Department of Financial Services, or NYDFS, has released guidelines on how licensed crypto firms should handle customer assets should they face “insolvency or similar proceeding”. In a Jan. 23 announcement, NYDFS superintendent Adrienne Harris said crypto firms and exchanges operating under a BitLicense — required in New York state — should segregate corporate funds from users’ virtual currency holdings both on-chain and in the “internal ledger accounts” of the company’s custodian. According to the regulator, crypto firms are expected to hold users’ assets “only for the limited purpose of carrying out custody and safekeeping services”: “A [virtual …

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, or Europol, has reported authorities took control of crypto wallets containing more than $19 million in cryptocurrency as part of enforcement actions against crypto firm Bitzlato. In a Jan. 23 announcement, Europol reported that roughly 46% of assets — 1 billion euro, or $1.09 billion at the time of publication — moved through Bitzlato were linked to illicit activities. The government agency’s analysis suggested that Bitzlato received more than 2.1 billion euro in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Dash (DASH), and Dogecoin (DOGE), much of which was converted into Russian rubles. “While the …

Japan’s new regulations allowing investors to trade using stablecoins like Tether (USDT) are expected to be adopted no later than in June 2023, according to a local financial authority. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan is working on lifting the ban on the domestic distribution of stablecoins, planning to allow certain stablecoins later this year. “This does not mean that all foreign products of so-called ‘stablecoins’ will be allowed without any restriction,” a spokesperson for Japan's FSA said in a statement to Cointelegraph. FSA will only allow stablecoins that successfully pass individual checks ensuring that such cryptocurrencies are safe …

The good news of the last week is that Bitcoin (BTC) continued to review, making around 10% up from Jan.16 to Jan. 23. But it has yet to change a worrying trend of crypto companies making headlines due to their troubles with the law. The United States Department of Justice launched a “major international cryptocurrency enforcement action” against China-based crypto firm Bitzlato and arrested its founder, Anatoly Legkodymov. The enforcers consider Bitzlato to be a “primary money laundering concern” connected to Russian illicit finance. While the exchange attracted little attention until the DOJ action, it had received $206 million from …

South Africa’s Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has included a new clause for the cryptocurrency industry aimed at protecting consumers from unethical advertising. Companies and individuals in South Africa must abide by certain advertising standards pertaining to the provision of cryptocurrency products and services in a new clause introduced to Section III of the country’s advertising code. The first clause requires that adverts, including cryptocurrency offerings, must ‘expressly and clearly’ state that investments may result in the loss of capital ‘as the value is variable and can go up as well as down.’ Furthermore, adverts must not contradict warnings about potential …

Australian crypto executives have urged caution over lumping all digital assets in the same boat as financial products, after recent comments from Australia's assistant treasurer on the ma Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald on Jan. 22, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones was commenting on the state of crypto regulation in the country. He confirmed that the government was on track with its “token mapping” exercise this year to determine which crypto assets to regulate, with a consultation process "to start soon" with the industry, according to a crypto exchange executive. However, Jones said he was …

A former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official has slammed "cryptocurrency lobbyists" for labeling SEC enforcement actions as "regulation by enforcement" — calling the term a "Bogus Big Crypto Catch Phrase." John Reed Stark, a former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Internet Enforcement and a crypto skeptic, opined in a Jan. 22 post that the argument is "sorely misguided" as it was just how securities regulations worked. "Litigation and SEC enforcement are actually how securities regulation works," he argued. "The flexibility of SEC statutory weaponry is an SEC hallmark, enabling SEC enforcement to keep fraud in …

Central African Republic (CAR), a developing country in Central Africa, set up a 15-member committee responsible for drafting a bill on the use of cryptocurrencies and tokenization in the region. According to Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the president of CAR, cryptocurrencies can potentially help eradicate the country’s financial barriers. He believed in creating a business-friendly environment supported by a legal framework for cryptocurrency usage. A rough translation of the official press release reads: “With access to cryptocurrencies, the monetary barriers existing until now will disappear, the main objective of the measures adopted by the government being the development of the national economy.” …

The small Nordic country of Norway may not be particularly notable on the global crypto map. With its 22 blockchain solution providers, the nation doesn’t stand out even at the regional level. However, as the race to test and implement central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) accelerates every day, the Scandinavian nation is taking an active stance on its own national digital currency. In fact, it was among the first countries to begin the work on a CBDC back in 2016. Dropping cash In recent years, amid a rise in cashless payment methods and concern over cash-enabled illicit transactions, some Norwegian …

Amid ongoing investigations around the defunct crypto exchange FTX, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) questions the due diligence conducted by institutional investors and their accountability regarding the loss of users’ funds. CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero stated that VCs that had to write down their investments in millions of dollars to nearly zero raises “serious questions” about the due diligence conducted over the last year, speaking to Bloomberg. She raised concerns about FTX CEO John Ray’s revelations in court about not having any records and controls over the exchange’s financials. I'm glad Mr. Ray is finally paying lip service …