Tag: Report

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud charges: Report

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Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, the former CEO and co-founder of crypto exchange FTX, has pleaded not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges levied in an updated indictment by prosecutors, according to a report.  The latest court proceedings against SBF were heard by Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn. The former FTX CEO was charged with seven counts of fraud and money laundering along with an additional charge of campaign finance. Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty on all counts. Judge Netburn: You are charged in seven counts [Count 8, campaign finance charges, is gone]…

Germany proposes screening Chinese investment in AI and related sectors: Report

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The vice chancellor of Germany has reportedly proposed tightening the screening process for foreign direct investment from China, according to reports from local media outlets.  Rober Habeck, a member of the Green coalition and federal minister for economic affairs and climate action, said the tightening of restrictions on Chinese foreign investment would be in “critical sectors,” which include semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI). It aims to consolidate and simplify a number of existing rules pertaining to sectors in which China is dominant, such as those mentioned above. He also reportedly…

South Korean city to seize crypto from thousands of tax evaders: Report

The South Korean city of Cheongju, the capital of North Chungcheong province, has said it intends to begin confiscating cryptocurrency from local tax delinquents. The administration of Cheongju has requested seven South Korean crypto exchanges to inquire into holdings of thousands of tax evaders, the local news agency Yonhap reported on Aug. 22. City authorities reportedly ordered trading platforms like Upbit and Bithumb to inquire into crypto assets of 8,520 users who owe at least 1 million won ($750) in local taxes. Following the inquiry, Cheongju authorities plan to confiscate…

Oman launches $350M crypto mining center: Report

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The Sultanate of Oman has launched a new cryptocurrency mining center, the second mining facility to open in the country in the past 10 months. According to a local publication, the Oman Daily Observer, a data hosting and cryptocurrency mining center, was opened in the Salalah Free Zone, which is a special economic zone in the country with low corporate taxes. A local company, Exahertz, will run the center in cooperation with Dubai-headquartered blockchain company Moonwalk Systems. The center reportedly cost 135 million Omani rials (roughly $350 million) to construct, and…

Friend.tech denies report that database of over 100K users was ‘leaked’

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The team behind the viral decentralized social media platform friend.tech has refuted a report which claimed that the personal information of more than 100,000 of its users was “leaked.”  The now-amended report, first posted by The Block, suggested that data posted by Banteg, a pseudonymous developer for Yearn Finance, was “leaked” information. The friend.tech team however clarified that the information came from scraping its public API. “It’s like saying someone hacked you by looking at your public Twitter feed,” the official friend.tech account argued. This is just someone scraping our…

China proposes to bring its social credit system to the metaverse: Report

China is reportedly looking to implement a system akin to its social credit system, but in the Metaverse and other online virtual worlds. Proposals viewed by POLITICO and reported on Aug. 20 show the state-owned telco China Mobile proposed a digital ID for all metaverse and online virtual world users that work with “natural characteristics” and “social characteristics.” The proposals say “to keep the order and safety of the virtual world” the ID would harbor a slew of personal information and identifiable signs including a person’s job and suggested such…

Ether Futures ETFs could all get approval at same time: Report

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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is likely to approve multiple applications for Ether futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) at the same time, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.  Since July, the regulator has been flooded with applications from several investment firms, including requests combining futures Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether strategies. As of now, the SEC has not instructed the firms to withdraw their applications, a change from 2021 when firms were instructed to withdraw similar applications. This suggests that the regulator won’t block…

New Zealand parliamentary report advises against hasty crypto regulation

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While the cry for crypto regulation is becoming ever louder in much of the world, and regulation by enforcement is a controversy, a report prepared for the New Zealand Parliament has recommended a slow, agile approach. The report was commissioned by the Finance and Expenditure Committee of the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2021 and titled “Inquiry into the current and future nature, impact, and risks of cryptocurrencies.” Cowritten by a partner at the law firm MinterEllisonRuddWatts and a University of Auckland associate professor of commercial law, the 99-page…

North Korean hackers have stolen $2B of crypto since 2018: Report

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North Korean hackers continue to threaten the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem, having stolen an estimated $2 billion of crypto over the past five years. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs released its latest deep dive into the murky world of cryptocurrency-related hacking, focusing on the exploits of North Korean cybercriminals. According to TRM Labs’ data, North Korea has stolen around $200 million of crypto in 2023, accounting for 20% of all stolen funds this year. North Korean cyberattacks are estimated to be 10 times larger than attacks by other malicious actors. Hackers…

Ethereum surges 11% after report SEC is set to approve Futures ETF

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The price of Ether (ETH) surged around 11% to $1,700 following news that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is set to allow the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on Ether Futures. According to an Aug. 17 report from Bloomberg — which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter — the regulator does not look as though it will block the applications of nearly twelve companies, including ProShares, Volatility Shares, Bitwise and Roundhill, that have filed to launch Ether (ETH) futures ETFs in recent weeks. Breaking The SEC is expected…