Regulation

The UK’s antitrust regulator is considering initiating a merger investigation into Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar collaboration with OpenAI. This announcement resulted in a response from Microsoft, declaring that it only plays a non-voting observer role on the board of the ChatGPT maker. The investigation announcement follows the ChatGPT maker’s disclosure that the U.S. tech giant would

This year, Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency (AFM) blocked access to almost a thousand crypto exchanges that were serving the country’s citizens without proper registration.  According to the press release from Dec. 7, published on the government’s website, the AFM denied access to 980 illegal platforms in 2023. It also launched nine investigations into “illegal exchange

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao must stay in the United States until his February sentencing as he’s unlikely to return to the country if allowed to travel to the United Arab Emirates, a federal judge has ruled. On Dec. 7, Seattle District Court Judge Richard Jones ordered Zhao to stay in the U.S. until his

Officials with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission are reportedly discussing aspects of Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, proposed by asset managers. According to a Dec. 7 Reuters report, industry insiders said the SEC and certain asset managers were discussing “key technical details” related to U.S. exchanges listing shares of a spot Bitcoin

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon will reportedly be extradited to the United States rather than South Korea to face criminal charges. According to a Dec. 7 Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, Justice Minister Andrej Milovic in Montenegro plans to grant U.S. officials’ request for extradition. Kwon was arrested in Montenegro

The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has added crypto exchange Poloniex to its warning list of non-authorized companies. The Seychelles-based exchange is one of the three companies owned by or related to entrepreneur Justin Sun, that have cumulatively suffered four hacks in the last two months. The warning to Poloniex was published on the FCA’s

One of the first cross-border payment platforms in Russia has officially announced its launch and says it will be facilitating local legal entities to process international settlements in cryptocurrency. Exved, a local digital settlement platform — which describes itself as a “digital counterparty search system” — announced the launch on Dec. 7, stating that Russian

The surge in generative AI development has prompted governments globally to rush toward regulating this emerging technology. The trend matches the European Union’s efforts to implement the world’s first set of comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence. The artificial intelligence (AI) Act of the 27-nation bloc is recognized as an innovative set of regulations. After much

Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy came down hard on SEC chair Gary Gensler and other “three letter agencies” during the recent Republican presidential debate, claiming that regulators had failed to keep up with crypto. During the 4th Republican presidential debate of the 2024 cycle on Dec. 7, Ramaswamy said it was “nothing short of embarrassing” that

A United States House Committee has unanimously passed a pro-blockchain bill, which would task the U.S. commerce secretary to promote blockchain deployment and thus potentially increase the country’s use of blockchain technology. On Dec. 5, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce voted 46-0 to pass H.R. 6572, the Deploying American Blockchains Act of 2023,

Despite the risks and the failures associated with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), global policymakers are pushing forward to make them a reality.  In November alone, officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bretton Woods Committee, and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued rallying calls for governments to push forward on CBDCs with courage and

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has launched his final attempt to appeal a Montenegrin court’s decision that could see him extradited from the country.  In a Dec. 6 report, local state media stated that lawyers for Kwon had officially appealed the Nov. 24 decision from the High Court of Podgorica, which approved that Kwon could

A federal judge has accepted Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s guilty plea to money laundering but hasn’t decided if he can leave the United States before his February sentencing date. In a Dec. 6 filing to a Seattle District Court, Judge Richard Jones said he accepted Zhao’s guilty plea to one count of Bank Secrecy

Anatoly Legkodymov, co-founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money services business on Dec. 6. Legkodymov appeared in New York Eastern District Court in Brooklyn before Judge Eric Vitaliano.  In court, Legkodymov agreed to dissolve Bitzlato and forfeit $23 million in cryptocurrency. He had filed

JPMorgan Chase chair and CEO Jamie Dimon told several United States lawmakers that if he had the authority in government, he would try to shut down crypto. In a Dec. 6 hearing of the Senate Banking Committee on oversight of Wall Street Firms, Dimon responded to questioning from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who claimed North

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong has issued a warning related to suspected fraud involving crypto entities Hong Kong Digital Research Institute and BitCuped. In a Dec. 6 notice, the SFC said the Hong Kong Police Force had blocked access to the websites of BitCuped and Hong Kong Digital Research Institute —

In the race for market supremacy among artificial intelligence (AI) firms, a coalition of technology leaders spearheaded by IBM and Meta established the AI Alliance. Rather than competing, these companies aim to collaborate, emphasizing their commitment to fostering transparent innovation and responsible development in artificial intelligence. In a joint statement, IBM and Meta outlined the

Four United States senators have written to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan requesting information on efforts taken by the FTC to track the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in scamming older Americans. In the letter addressed to Khan, U.S. Senators Robert Casey, Richard Blumenthal, John Fetterman and Kirsten Gillibrand highlighted the need to

Société Générale, France’s third-largest bank, has debuted its native euro-pegged stablecoin, making it one of the first European banking giants to venture into the stablecoin market. The EUR CoinVertible (EURCV) stablecoin will debut on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp crypto exchange, the Financial Times reported. EURCV will be fully backed by the euro, allowing bank customers to participate

DEBT Box and other defendants in a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit want the case tossed after the court found the agency lied to secure a temporary restraining order against them. “The SEC got this case wrong. Badly wrong,” lawyers for Digital Licensing Inc., which does business as DEBT Box, told Utah federal court Judge