Dan Berkovitz, general counsel for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, said he will be leaving the agency after more than a year. In a Dec. 22 announcement, the SEC said Berkovitz will depart on Jan. 31. A former commissioner with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Berkovitz joined the agency in November 2021. At the time, he said he planned to work with SEC chair Gary Gensler on a “regulatory agenda that will enhance investor protection.” "After thirty-four years of public service, it is time for me to pursue new and different challenges and opportunities," said Berkovitz. It's unclear …

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has been banning artists and collectors from Cuba, citing United States sanctions as the key reason behind its action. According to a report published by Artnet, 30 artists and collectors have been banned from the popular NFT marketplace until now. The most noted artist to face the axe includes well-known Havana-based artists Gabriel Guerra Bianchini and Fábrica de Arte Cubano. OpenSea marketplace has mentioned in its terms of service that it explicitly prohibits sanctioned individuals and individuals in sanctioned jurisdictions. The NFT marketplace's adhesion to U.S. sanctions was widely known and included countries such as …

Embattled crypto exchange FTX asked for the assistance of a United States bankruptcy judge to prevent crypto lending firm BlockFi from claiming around $450 million worth of Robinhood shares purchased by its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. On Nov. 28, BlockFi filed a lawsuit demanding Emergent Fidelity Technologies, Bankman-Fried's holding company, to turn over 56 million Robinhood Markets shares. The stocks were allegedly put up as collateral for BlockFi's loans to crypto trading firm Alameda Research. Both FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy before settling the BlockFi loans. However, FTX argued through a filing in a US bankruptcy court that the …

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) could potentially find some mutually beneficial interactions with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), according to one industry executive. While crypto is often associated with financial freedom, the concept of CBDC is frequently seen as the exact opposite. But this doesn’t mean that there cannot be a balance between the two, according to Itai Avneri, chief operating officer and deputy CEO at the crypto trading platform INX. CBDCs and regulated cryptocurrencies could potentially complement each other in the future as the two types of digital currencies have their own benefits, Avneri said in an interview with Cointelegraph …

A senior official from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has warned investors to be “very wary” about relying on a crypto company’s “proof-of-reserves.” “We’re warning investors to be very wary of some of the claims that are being made by crypto companies,” said SEC’s acting chief accountant Paul Munter in a Dec. 22 interview with The Wall Street Journal. A number of crypto firms have commissioned “proof-of-reserves” audits since the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, aiming to quell concerns over their own exchange’s financial soundness. However, Munter said the results of these audits isn’t necessarily an indicator that …

A start-up accelerator co-founded by Hong Kong legislative council member Jonny Ng Kit-Chong wants to attract 1,000 Web3 businesses to set up shop in the city-state over the next three years. Ng Kit-Chong is a member of the legislative council for the election committee constituency and has been in office since January this year. The engineer and politician has his finger in a lot of pots as he has declared owning shares in roughly 40 different companies. One such company is the start-up accelerator G-Rocket, which he co-founded alongside Casper Wong in 2016. Wong is the current CEO and spoke …

Crypto Twitter has seemingly taken issue with Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail bond, allowing him to spend Christmas in his parent’s Palo Alto home without paying a single dime upfront. The former FTX CEO arrived in New York from the Bahamas on Dec. 21 and appeared in court on Dec. 22 where he was released on bail via a “personal recognizance bond” — essentially a written promise from the defendant that they will show up for future court appearances and not engage in any illegal activity while out on bail. According to the release agreement filed on Dec. 22, no …

The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, has been dealing with a torrent of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) since the downfall of FTX. The firm is now fighting back with its latest blog post. On Dec. 22, Binance published a blog post in Chinese to address seven key issues the company wanted to clear up. At the time of writing, there was no English language version available. The first of which was the temporary suspension of USDC withdrawals earlier this month. It explained that this was done during a "token swap" conversion period with the exchange consolidating its stablecoin reserves …

The last year has been an eventful one for the crypto space. The collapse of the Terra ecosystem and its TerraUSD (UST) algorithmic stablecoin saw $50 billion wiped off the market in a flash. And more recently, FTX, an exchange many thought was “too big to fail,” came crashing down. There’s been no shortage of drama in the space, which has seen name-stay businesses and projects disappear along with investors’ funds. Given the events of this year, it’s inevitable that serious government attention is coming for the space, in every major jurisdiction — and on the time scale of a …

The Republic of the Marshall Islands, an independent island state located in the Pacific Ocean near the Equator, has announced that the Decentralized Autonomous Organizations Act of 2022 has officially been passed into law. The law recognizes decentralized autonomous organizations and enables legal entities registered in the country to formally adopt DAO structures and governance tools. The government hopes this latest move will encourage the growth of decentralized entities and their accompanying elements within the state. According to the announcement, the DAO Act of 2022 will allow DAOs to incorporate under Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), enabling them to identify as …

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX now facing criminal charges that could land him in jail for the rest of his life, may be granted bail in the United States ahead of his trail, Reuters reported Dec. 21. Prosecutor Nicholas Roos has reportedly proposed granting Bankman-Fried, often referred to as SBF, bail on the conditions of a $250 million bond, home detention, location monitoring and the surrender of his passport. The New York Times reported that SBF’s bail was approved and he will live with his parents in Palo Alto, California. His parents secured his bail with the equity …

Inflation, cross-border payments, assets tokenization and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) were among the major drivers for crypto adoption across Latin America in 2022, sources in the region told Cointelegraph, with exciting examples of progress across many countries. Latin America made up 9.1% of the global crypto value received in 2022, reaching $562 billion between July 2021 and June 2022 — representing growth of 40% in the period. Four Latin American countries ranked among the top crypto adopters in the latest Chainalysis Global Adoption Index. Major developments have contributed to these results over the past 12 months. Authorities have been working on …