The founders behind the alleged $340 million “global Ponzi” scheme Forsage have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Oregon. The four Russian founders — Vladimir Okhotnikov, Olena Oblamska, Mikhail Sergeev, and Sergey Maslakov — have been formally accused of having key roles in the scheme which raised approximately $340 million from victim-investors, according to a Feb. 22 Department of Justice (DOJ) statement. “Today’s indictment is the result of a rigorous investigation that spent months piecing together the systematic theft of hundreds of millions of dollars,” said U.S. Attorney Natalie Wight for the District of Oregon, …

Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (LN) capacity recently surpassed an all-time high of 5,000 BTC. The Lightning Network is a neutral protocol built on top of Bitcoin and currently it does not have a “native” token attached to it like many decentralized finance platforms. Although the Lightning Network’s total liquidity is less than 0.5% of the ETH in DeFi contracts, the uptrend in Bitcoin’s LN capacity versus a downtrend in the amount of ETH locked in smart contracts is encouraging for LN development. While the liquidity on the LN has been rising consistently, the number of channels on the peer-to-peer network dropped …

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking to bring cryptocurrencies under its scope and beef up its authority over the local cryptocurrency industry under new draft rules. According to a Jan. 25 report in local media outlet, the Manila Bulletin, the securities regulator put forward for public comment draft rules relating to financial products and services which also cover cryptocurrencies and digital financial products. The SEC said in a statement the draft rules will operationalize a newly signed law and give it “rule-making, surveillance, inspection, market monitoring, and more enforcement powers.” The guidelines expand the definition of a …

The Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), one of the largest universal banks in the Philippines, debuts cryptocurrency trading via a partnership with a Swiss crypto firm. UnionBank has launched a pilot program for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) custody and trading services for select retail customers, the firm said in a joint announcement on Nov. 2. The new investment and trading feature launches in collaboration with the Swiss crypto technology firm Metaco, with UnionBank going live on Metaco’s digital asset platform Harmonize. UnionBank initially partnered with Metaco for the development of crypto trading services in January 2022. Licensed and …

The blockchain-based gaming industry will need to look at localized strategies to attract Web3 gamers, says decentralized gaming guild Yield Guild Games (YGG). Speaking with Cointelegraph at the 2022 Tokyo Games Show last week, Andy Chou, YGG’s head of ecosystem development, and Brian Lu, partner of Taiwan-based VC firm Infinity Ventures Crypto (IVC) gave a rundown of YGG’s plans moving forward, including how it is using its subDAOs. YGG was initially launched in the Philippines in late 2020, but following an early-stage investment from IVC, the duo teamed up to expand YGG across the globe via subDAOs, initially starting in …

The pressure on crypto is growing swiftly in the Philippines. After a recent series of controversial moves from the state regulators and local think tanks, the country’s central bank published a warning to the citizens, discouraging them from engaging in any operations with unregistered or foreign crypto exchanges. The announcement itself doesn’t sound menacing but taken in the context of accompanying developments, it makes a 112-million nation a restive region for crypto. On Aug.17, The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) published a warning note to the country’s citizens, “strongly urging” them not to deal with Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) …

Summer is still on, harvesting the fresh names for its list of the crypto companies in deep trouble. This time, the trouble came not from the market or management but from the United States Treasury Department. The regulator has added more than 40 cryptocurrency addresses allegedly connected to crypto mixer Tornado Cash to the Specially Designated Nationals list. These individuals and groups allegedly laundered more than $7 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Accusations like this don’t come easy — one of the co-founders of Tornado Cash has reported his account suspended at GitHub, while the issuer of the USD Coin (USDC) …

Amid the rising cryptocurrency adoption in the Philippines, the country’s central bank is seeking measures to better protect investors through elevating local crypto awareness. The Philippine central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), wants to promote crypto education as the authority sees a lot of benefits associated with crypto and blockchain, a BSP representative said in an interview with Cointelegraph. “The BSP’s focus is on virtual assets’ capacity to improve the delivery of financial services, particularly payments and remittances services, as it has potential to provide faster and economical transfer of funds, both for domestic and international setting,” the BSP …

While many believe that the Philippines can become a new crypto hub, that dream may be shattered in the meantime as the country’s central bank announced a 3-year hiatus from accepting new virtual asset service provider (VASP) applications. According to a memorandum signed by Chuchi Fonacier, a financial supervision official at the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), they aim to balance the promotion of innovation in finance and managing the risks associated with virtual assets (VAs). She wrote: “The Bangko Sentral recognizes that as VAs offer opportunities to promote greater access to financial services at reduced costs, they also pose …

Despite the Philippine Securities and Exchanges Commission warning the public against investing with Binance, the crypto exchange stays positive and relentless in bringing its services to the Southeast Asian country. In an interview, Binance’s Head of Asia-Pacific Leon Foong told Cointelegraph that they are very optimistic about being able to enter the Philippines. The executive highlighted that despite the efforts of a lobbying group to ban Binance, the firm will continue to be focused on trying to bring the benefits of crypto to the country. He explained that: “We tend not to really get distracted by what some of these …

Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange, has recently acquired a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license from the Bank of Spain in order to operate in the country. In its ambitious expansion plans that the cryptocurrency exchange is persisting despite the global jump and market slump in the cryptoverse, there is another country that Binance is looking toward — the Philippines. In June, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, stated in a press briefing in Manila that the exchange is looking to obtain a VASP license in the Philippines. In addition to the VASP, Binance wants to get an e-money issuer license …

Despite some level of regulatory uncertainty around cryptocurrency in the Philippines, one platform has recorded a massive influx of Bitcoin (BTC) trading activity recently. Bitcoin trading volumes in the Philippines have been on the rise over the past few months on the major peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto exchange Paxful. According to data from the Bitcoin tracking website Coin Dance, Bitcoin trading volumes denominated in the Philippines peso (PHP) have been steadily growing on Paxful and eventually hit a new high in July. Paxful’s Bitcoin trading volumes peaked at 111 million PHP ($1.9 million) during the week ending on Saturday, July 9, …