Amid a major economic downturn, countries in Latin America (LATAM) are increasingly suffering from money laundering through cryptocurrencies, a new report says. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) have become a major tool of organized crime groups and hackers in LATAM countries, according to a Feb. 27 report issued by threat intelligence firm IntSights. Titled “The Dark Side of Latin America,” the report claims that LATAM countries top the list of the world’s worst money laundering nations, while local crypto-related firms apparently lack Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations. To issue the report, IntSights partnered with major global blockchain …

South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb, has announced it will take another step towards global expansion by strengthening integration with its international arm. On Feb. 26, Bithumb launched a new digital asset transfer service between the South Korean exchange and Bithumb Global, an new international digital asset exchange released by Bithumb in October 2019. Meanwhile, South Korean authorities are considering imposing a 20% tax on income from cryptocurrency, evidently pushing the biggest local exchanges to reinforce their foreign operations. KYC tier 2 verification is required to use the new service In order to use the new asset transfer service, Bithumb …

Moody’s Corporation has said that a new blockchain-based Know Your Customer (KYC) platform in the United Arab Emirates is credit positive for the nation’s lenders. According to a report by local media outlet The National on Feb. 26, the ratings agency has said that the platform will improve asset quality and boost profits. As Cointelegraph reported last week, a consortium of six banks, holding nearly 45% of total banking assets in the UAE, was formed this month to share verified customer data using blockchain technology. According to Moody’s, the new KYC platform will improve compliance with local and international regulations, …

The French cybersecurity company Nigma Conseil and the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) have revealed to have collaborated on developing a new blockchain forensics tool. The agreement was signed on Feb. 25 to work on e-Nigma, a proposed compliance tool. E-Nigma provides its users with a way of conducting due diligence investigations in response to Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulation. Like other similar tools, it monitors and organizes blockchain transactions. The platform provides several advanced features such as risk scoring and wallet clustering. It is able to identify addresses with real-life identities by scraping through both …

As the new decade unreels, a new wave of disruption seems to be coming to the shores of the global financial system. That wave is called decentralized finance protocols. Decentralized finance, or DeFi, simply refers to financial software that is built on the blockchain to make it easy for anyone to piece together digital assets and financial smart contracts. Think of DeFi as a Lego system for the finance industry. According to Defi Pulse, an analytics site that tracks the sector’s growth, the entirety of the DeFi ecosystem achieved its highest valuation in 2019 when its value peaked beyond $600 …

Earlier this week, the decentralized lending protocol bZx was exploited in back-to-back “flash loan” attacks. While the two exploits were distinct, the end results remained the same. In total, $954,000 was gleaned from the platform. But what exactly happened? Was it an exploit, a simple case of arbitrage or a malicious attack? And where does decentralized finance go from here? It hasn’t been a good PR week for the DeFi sector. For some, the movement promising an alternative to the legacy financial system is starting to look like a failed experiment. For others, the attacks amounted to little more than …

NSX Limited, the operator of the National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSXA), is working on a joint blockchain-based project to enable same-day settlements. According to a Feb. 20 announcement, NSX has partnered with iSignthis (ISX), a publicly listed firm specializing in payment authentication services, to establish a new venture that would provide “multicurrency, real-time and same day clearing of share trades across multiple exchanges.” CHESS system will meet new competitor, DESS Dubbed ClearPay, the new venture will develop a delivery versus payment (DvP) platform that is designed to replace the existing system of clearing and settlement process offered by current …

One of the financial hubs of the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is continuing to expand blockchain-driven developments. The Department of Economic Development (DED) of Dubai has established a Know Your Customer (KYC) blockchain consortium with six major banks. Dubbed “KYC Blockchain Consortium,” the new blockchain-powered regulatory platform is designed to accelerate processes like exchange of digital customer data and documents while ensuring security. The project also intends to bring a unified platform of KYC efforts among existing and future ecosystem members like qualified financial institutions and licensing authorities. UAE’s first KYC blockchain platform to launch in Q1 …

It’s been nearly eight months since the Financial Action Task Force issued its divisive crypto directives, establishing traditional banking regulations within the crypto sector. With the year-long adoption deadline fast approaching, how have the world’s regulatory authorities responded to the guidelines so far? The FATF — an intergovernmental organization tasked with combating money laundering — found itself at the center of controversy last June after issuing its latest crypto guidance. The directive merged the cryptocurrency industry into existing banking policy, requiring firms to comply with the same requirements as traditional financial institutions. Among the more notable directives is the travel …

Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, the venture arm of the fourth-largest bank in the U.S., is contributing $5 million to Elliptic’s Series B funding round. According to a Feb. 13 press release, the investment will help the company build products for large financial institutions. The latest investment brings Elliptic’s Series B raise to more than $28 million. Previous investors include Japan’s SBI Group and Santander InnoVentures, an investment branch of the Spanish bank. The additional resources will be used to fuel Elliptic’s expansion in Asia. Additionally, the company hopes to accelerate development of Elliptic Discovery, a compliance solution for banks. The …

A major global company that helps fight illicit cryptocurrency-related activity does not think that privacy in crypto markets is necessarily bad. Despite representing one of the primary sources of crypto transaction data for federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI, Chainalysis does not exactly oppose the privacy and decentralization of crypto. “Complete transparency is not necessarily an ideal place” Jonathan Levin, co-founder and CSO at blockchain and crypto analytics firm Chainalysis, reiterated his stance to privacy in crypto, claiming that full transparency of cryptocurrency transactions might not turn out to be the best situation. Speaking in an …

India has developed a somewhat paradoxical relationship with cryptocurrencies, blockchain and other emerging technologies. On one hand, the Indian government is a huge proponent of distributed ledger technology, with several government-led initiatives gaining ground across the country. On the other hand, the Reserve Bank of India issued a de facto ban on cryptocurrencies when it prohibited banks from conducting any transactions or dealings involving digital assets and related services in 2018. Related: Cryptocurrency Regulation: An Indian Perspective Grappling for legitimacy This measure came as a huge blow to the country’s crypto ecosystem, and since then, India’s crypto community has been …