On Jan. 15, the United Nations warned that attending North Korea’s cryptocurrency conference in February will likely constitute a sanctions violation. According to Reuters, this notice was issued in a confidential report that will be submitted to the U.N. Security Council later this month. The warning comes after a series of events sparked suspicion around North Korea’s growing interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency. In August, a panel monitoring the enforcement of U.N. sanctions reported that North Korean agents have generated about $2 billion by stealing money from financial institutions and…
Month: January 2020
Cointelegraph Partners With Oxygen7 to Raise Funds for Australia Relief Efforts
January 16, 2020 — As a company, Cointelegraph cares about the environment and the world in which we all live. The wildfire crisis in Australia has mobilized us as an organization to take action to help the current recovery efforts down under. Cointelegraph is pleased to announce a partnership with ecological preservation organization Oxygen Seven. We have created a bitcoin donation fund with all money raised going directly to the Australian Wildfire Fund (https://aussieark.org/). Helen Vitalie Lang, Deputy CEO of Cointelegraph: “After seeing the horrific scenes coming out of Australia…
Chainalysis Finds Terrorists Are Refining Crypto Financing Operations
A new study by Chainalysis finds that terrorists are refining their financing operations using cryptocurrencies. Faster and broader funding Earlier today, Jan. 17, the blockchain analysts identified Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (AQB), Hamas’s military arm and noted terrorist organization, as the first confirmed case of terrorists using cryptocurrency to aid their activity. AQB used a website to generate a new Bitcoin address for each donor to deposit funds. It included a how-to video on donating with maximal anonymity. Compared to similar earlier campaigns, AQB raised as much money and garnered…
The Prospect of Building a New International Monetary System Is Getting Real
This is part of a series of op-eds previewing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. CoinDesk will be on the ground in Davos from Jan. 20–24 chronicling all things crypto at the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elite. Follow along by subscribing to our pop-up newsletter, CoinDesk Confidential: Davos. Jeremy Allaire is co-founder, chairman and CEO of Circle, which, with Coinbase, pioneered the open standards CENTRE Consortium and USD Coin (USDC) – a dollar-backed stablecoin used in millions of financial transactions around the world. He has also been named…
Ugandan Victims of Dunamiscoins Scam Petition Gov’t for Lost Investments
Over 5,000 victims of the alleged cryptocurrency pyramid scheme Dunamiscoins have petitioned the Ugandan Parliament asking to refund money lost in the scam. Arthur Asiimwe, the leader of the petitioning group who presented the request to the Parliament’s speaker Rebecca Kadaga, claims that the government has licensed the alleged scam firm, according to an official announcement by the Parliament of Uganda on Jan. 16. Dunamiscoins victims are not satisfied with investigation results First spotted in early December 2019, Dunamiscoins is allegedly involved in defrauding over 10,000 people, causing them losses…
Ex-NFL Team Owner Pleads Guilty to Running Unlicensed Money Transmitter
Former “shadow banker” Reginald Fowler pleaded guilty to charges of operating an unlicensed money transmission business during a court hearing Friday. In a hearing before the Southern District of New York, Fowler, a former co-owner of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, changed his original plea from not guilty, admitting to providing exchanges with banking services through his alleged operations with Crypto Capital, a payment processor which served exchanges like Bitfinex, QuadrigaCX and CEX.io. Additional charges of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank…
Ex-NFL Team Owner Intends to Plead Guilty to Running Unlicensed Money Transmitter
Former “shadow banker” Reginald Fowler intends to plead guilty to charges of operating an unlicensed money transmission business during a court hearing Friday. In a hearing before the Southern District of New York, Fowler, a former co-owner of the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings, changed his original plea from not guilty, essentially admitting to providing exchanges with banking services through his alleged operations with Crypto Capital, a payment processor that served exchanges including Bitfinex, QuadrigaCX and CEX.io. While Fowler intends to plead guilty, the prosecution and defense must first come…
Tyrone Ross on Why Financial Advisors Are Taking Notice of DeFi
Financial advisor and crypto advocate Tyrone Ross joins The Breakdown for a discussion on financial advisors, DeFi and the most important company in crypto. One man. Three piping hot takes. In this special interview episode of The Breakdown, financial advisor and crypto advocate Tyrone Ross shares his thoughts on: Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests…
Canadian Regulatory Group Targets Crypto Exchanges Holding Users’ Digital Assets
Canada’s top financial watchdog has told crypto exchanges they will be subject to securities law if they act as custodians to users’ digital assets. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) said in guidance published Thursday the common exchange practice of custodying users’ assets – “merely providing users with a contractural right or claim to an underlying crypto asset” – could subject them to securities legislation. “Whether a crypto asset has been immediately delivered to a Platform’s user is an important component in evaluating whether, and the extent to which, the transaction…
Canadian Regulatory Group Targets Crypto Exchanges Holding Users’ Digital Assets
Canada’s top financial watchdog has told crypto exchanges they will be subject to securities law if they act as custodians to users’ digital assets. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) said in guidance published Thursday the common exchange practice of custodying users’ assets – “merely providing users with a contractural right or claim to an underlying crypto asset” – could subject them to securities legislation. “Whether a crypto asset has been immediately delivered to a Platform’s user is an important component in evaluating whether, and the extent to which, the transaction…