Several Venezuelan leaders recently came under fire for alleged criminal acts, although, contrary to initial impressions, the situation did not directly involve cryptocurrency usage. “Maduro and his co-defendants are not alleged to have been involved with crypto, directly,” Ashok Ayyar, counsel at Experience Legal, told Cointelegraph. A number of Venezuelan officials, including former president Maduro, faced a slew of charges from U.S. governing bodies, according to a March 26 statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ). Despite the press release announcing the charges touting the Homeland Security Investigations’ ability to track cryptocurrency transactions, a close examination of the DoJ’s …

The experts have had a rough few days. Anthony Pompliano, co-founder and partner at Morgan Digital Creek, spoke to CNN about Warren Buffett’s poor view of Bitcoin. The Sage of Omaha had said that he doesn’t own any BTC and sees no value in digital currencies. Pompliano argued that Buffett might be a whiz when it comes to spotting stocks but he’s not so great when it comes to technology. Someone else who turned out not to be so great at technology is an anonymous Chinese crypto whale who is reported to have lost $30 million worth of BCH and …

25 leading pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, logistic partners, and other representatives of the pharma supply chain have published a report arguing in favor of adopting blockchain technology to track and trace prescription drugs after completing a pilot program with the US Food and Drug Administration. During early 2019, the FDA began accepting proposals for projects seeking to assist the office meet the 2023 requirements of the Drug Supply Chain and Security Act (DSCSA) - which requires the pharmaceutical industry to track “legal changes in ownership of pharmaceuticals in the supply chain.” In June 2019, the MediLedger Project was approved by the …

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conducted a training course on combating darkweb-facilitated crime. Law enforcement representatives from Central Asian countries were taught how the darkweb and cryptocurrencies function, in order to better combat drug-related crime. The training was held in the span of five days that ended on Feb. 21, an official announcement reveals. The course focused specifically on “new psychoactive substances,” synthetic replacements of common drugs that are designed to mimic their effect. They are often considered more dangerous due to their unknown history and particularly shady production practices. Law enforcement representatives from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, …

An alleged drug dealer lost 52 million euro (over $56 million) in Bitcoin (BTC) after the Irish High Court ruled that they were criminal proceeds and should be confiscated. Local news outlet Independent.ie reported on Feb. 19 that the court accepted that Clifton Collins was involved in drug trafficking. Collins did not contest the Criminal Assets Bureau’s (CAB) application for the seizure of his assets. Authorities began investigating Collins when police found a quantity of cannabis in his vehicle during a traffic stop. This led police to search an address in a village in Galway and discover a large number …

Ukrainian authorities will be able to “block crypto wallets” in order to seize illegally obtained assets, a notice on the country’s Ministry of Finance says. Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s Finance Minister, reportedly said that the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine (SFMS) will be the responsible authority for tracking the sources of origin of the funds on citizens’ crypto wallets. Authorities use an analytical product scanning for the crypto funds’ origins and uses As part of the regulatory policy, the SFMS will be able to not only find out the origin of crypto, but also detect how those funds have been …

China’s Zhejiang province has processed nearly $6 billion via a blockchain medical billing platform using Ant Financial’s blockchain technology, Chinese publication QNSB reports on Nov. 18. Successfully piloted in 2018, the blockchain-enabled platform allows citizens to make doctor’s appointments, get prescriptions as well as pay, record and store their medical bills online. At a local blockchain event on Nov. 18, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Finance announced that the platform had 480 medical institutions across the province as of Oct. 28. The officials said that the platform processed 41.7 billion Chinese yuan ($5.9 billion) as of October. The platform is …

In this week’s selected cryptocurrency and blockchain-related news from Japan, a new association promoting crypto assets in antiquing was born, a well-known cryptocurrency trader was arrested and the Kyoto University started participating in the XRP ledger. Here is the past week of cryptocurrency and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Crypto Antiquing Association Launches On Nov. 11, Cointelegraph Japan reported that the Crypto Assets Antique Association (CAAA) was established with the purpose of promoting the use of crypto assets in the antique trade. CAAA’s representative director Ji Komiya said, “I want to connect to new activities …

A United States court has ordered Christopher Bania, who recently pleaded guilty to drug distribution, to give up almost 17 Bitcoin (BTC) — worth roughly $150,000 at press time. The plea, order and sentencing Per the Oct. 19 order from a court in Wisconsin, Bania will need to forfeit “Approximately 16.91880054 Bitcoin seized from Bania’s ‘Local Bitcoins’ account.” Though worth roughly $153,100 as of publication, it is much less than the 124 BTC that the court is returning to the defendant, alongside various other cryptocurrencies and over $50,000 in cash seized from his residence upon arrest. Though originally charged with …

A former interpreter for the United States military forces was sentenced to 30 years in jail for dealing fentanyl, which led to the death of a U.S. Marine. Drugs paid for with cryptocurrencies According to a Reuters report from Oct. 3, a former Iraqi U.S interpreter was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole for using the darknet to sell fentanyl. Alaa Mohammed Allawi pleaded guilty to the drug charges and acknowledged using the now-defunct online darknet market Alpha Bay to sell a variety of hard drugs, such as oxycodone laced with fentanyl, while accepting …

From speculation about its inherent value to theories about it being the payment method of choice for criminals, cryptocurrency is having a tough time keeping a clean name. One of the most common accusations is that cryptocurrencies perpetuate the sale of illicit drugs, a view recently expressed by United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Cointelegraph takes a look at the impact of cryptocurrency on illegal drug sales and whether it should shoulder more of the blame than cash. U.S. government clamps down The watershed moment for the U.S. taking decisive action against illicit drugs being purchased with cryptocurrency happened in …

Neil Wals, chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Cybercrime Program, warned that cryptocurrencies have made combating money laundering significantly harder. Australian news outlet ABC reported on Aug. 29 that Wals said cryptocurrencies make fighting cybercrime, money laundering and financing of terrorism harder. Wals expressed the idea that criminals using crypto assets include global child sexual exploitation networks, which he says are more widespread than much of the public understands. Crypto adds a layer of secrecy He believes that cryptocurrencies add a layer of secrecy, which can facilitate crime. The news comes after Treasury Secretary Steven …