New Zealand police have recovered $90 million connected to the case against suspected Bitcoin money launderer Alexander Vinnik. According to Jared Savage at the New Zealand Herald, the police Asset Recovery Unit have frozen roughly 140 million NZD ($90 million) controlled by a company in connection to the investigation of Vinnik. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told the publication that local authorities had been coordinating with the United States Internal Revenue Service to address the lost funds. The money recovered is “likely to reflect the profit gained from the victimisation of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people globally as …

For crypto enthusiasts, choosing a location to live in that supports an ideal lifestyle extends beyond searching for a city with a high number of shops and retail outlets that accept crypto. Sure, any crypto enthusiast will benefit from living in an area with easy access to crypto-related amenities. However, as the world of crypto evolves and more crypto debit cards appear, crypto enthusiasts are realizing that direct crypto spending is not the only factor to consider when choosing a place to call home. The political stability of the location, the weather and internet broadband speed are some of the …

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Rupert Colchester, the head of blockchain at IBM Australia and New Zealand, discussed how distributed ledger technology is transforming supply chain systems worldwide. Colchester also provided insight into some of IBM’s current blockchain initiatives and the state of the industry in Australia, and he shared his excitement for the emerging era of digitization that DLT is driving. Cointelegraph: What is the state of blockchain adoption within Australia at present? Is Australia behind or ahead of the curve regarding DLT? Rupert Colchester: I think Australia's progress on DLT as a technology over the past two years …

New Zealand police issued an alert on April 13 regarding a crypto-related scam that threatens victims with release of information on their porn use. According to a report published in the NZ Herald, the authorities say that the scammers extort victims through email. The scammers claim to have obtained information about the targeted victim’s consumption of pornography and threaten to leak that information if victims do not pay a ransom of NZ$1,900 (US$1,150) in Bitcoin (BTC). Victims receive an alert from the fraudsters, in which they assure that they have hacked the user’s computer and spied on internet activity, mainly …

Hacked cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia today informed its users that the High Court of New Zealand has delivered its judgment on the status of their compromised assets. In a tweet thread published on April 8, the exchange shared the 74-page court document detailing the judgment, summarizing: “Today, 8 April 2020, Justice Gendall delivered his judgment finding firstly, cryptocurrencies are “property” [...] and secondly, that account holders' cryptocurrency were held on multiple trusts, separated by individual crypto-asset type. This means that the cryptocurrencies are beneficially owned by the account holders and are not assets of the company.” Some creditors to get less …

Amid the apparent global surge of cryptocurrency-related scams, New Zealand’s financial regulator has warned the public against another suspected Bitcoin (BTC) investment scam scheme. In an April 6 statement, the country’s major financial watchdog, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), issued an official warning against “Profit Bitcoin” — an alleged get-rich-quick scam that promises returns by using software that “wins” Bitcoin trades with “99.4% accuracy.” Scam purportedly involved false claims from the New Zealand’s government The FMA noted that the entity and its website, theprofitbtc.com, have the “hallmarks of a scam,” emphasizing that Profit Bitcoin is not registered as a financial …

New Zealand’s tax authority has issued new proposals on the Goods and Services tax (GST)-related policy in regard to cryptocurrencies and is seeking public feedback on the issue. On Feb. 24, New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) released a paper, which includes proposals on the improvement and simplification of tax invoice requirements and exclusion of cryptocurrencies from specific GST provisions. To minimize a distortion in the crypto market The document admits that New Zealand has a fast-growing crypto assets market and expects that most stakeholders will welcome the proposed regulations, or suggest wider tax and regulatory reforms. The country’s tax …

New Zealand’s ASB Bank, owned by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, has participated in a new $1.7 million funding round by blockchain startup TradeWindow. The startup provides a software-as-a-service supply chain solution to create a “single trading window” accessible by all parties involved in the transaction from the importer to the exporter. ASB Bank is now the second-biggest shareholder after TradeWindow CEO, owns 21% Following the seed round, ASB Bank now owns a 21% stake in the company and is the second-largest shareholder after TradeWindow’s founder and CEO AJ Smith, The New Zealand Herald reports Dec. 16. According to an announcement …

Liquidators of hacked New Zealand cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia have recovered almost $11 million in the past six months, but say the process remains difficult. In its second report into its operations at Cryptopia, Grant Thornton confirmed that receipts from May to November totaled around 10.9 million New Zealand dollars ($7.18 million). Funds trickle back from oblivion Expenses, including payments to certain preferential creditors, came to NZ$3.74 million ($2.46 million), resulting in a net recovery of NZ$7.2 million ($4.74 million). “We continue to investigate the affairs of the Company and its directors in the period prior to our appointment to determine …

The national police force of New Zealand have seized between NZ$6.2 and NZ$6.7 million in cryptocurrency from a man who allegedly was involved in online movie piracy in the United States. Two accounts of the seizure At 5:00 AM local time, on Nov. 23, the New Zealand Herald reported that New Zealand police had restrained around NZ$6.7 million (USD$4.2 million) in cryptocurrencies and NZ$1.1 million (USD$700,000) in bank funds under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act (CPRA) from the 31-year old software programmer, allegedly Jaron David McIvor. An hour later, authorities released a press statement claiming that they had seized $6.2 …

Only a few weeks after the United States Internal Revenue Service published new guidance for crypto taxation, the United Kingdom’s tax, payments and customs authority, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, has updated its cryptocurrency taxation policy paper for businesses and individuals. The HMRC's approach in this policy paper is, as expected, conservative, and it stands in line with other countries’ tax treatment for cryptocurrencies. The HMRC explicitly states that it does not consider crypto as a currency, and the policy paper uses the term "cryptoassets" and not cryptocurrency. The policy paper on individuals considers crypto activity as a personal investment …

New Zealand radio personality Duncan Garner, who hosts The AM Show on MagicTalkRadio, has denied promoting Bitcoin (BTC) on Facebook. I don’t do any of that ‘Coin’ Local news daily NewsHub provided a video of Garner denying his involvement in the Facebook promotions on Aug. 26. Following an interview about a recent privacy breach in the government of New Zealand, Garner said: “That is not me on Facebook pumping up Bitcoin [...] I don’t do Bitcoin, I don’t do any of that ‘coin,’ I haven’t been on Facebook for a couple of years. It’s not me. But people say, ‘Hey, …