United States-based crypto policy advocacy group Coin Center has followed through with its intention to take the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control, or OFAC, to court over sanctioning cryptocurrenc mixer Tornado Cash. In an Oct. 12 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, lawyers for Coin Center as well as crypto investor David Hoffman, an anonymous human-rights advocate known only as John Doe, and software developer Patrick O’Sullivan filed a complaint against OFAC, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and OFAC director Andrea Gacki. The complaint alleged that sanctioning Tornado Cash was “unprecedented and unlawful” …

The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network took enforcement actions against crypto exchange Bittex for allegedly violating sanctions programs as well as reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act, or BSA. In an Oct. 11 announcement, the U.S. Treasury said Bittrex had agreed to a more than $24-million settlement with OFAC for violations of “multiple sanctions programs” by failing to prevent individuals based in the Crimea region, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria from conducting roughly $263 million in crypto transactions between 2014 and 2017. According to the Treasury Department, Bittrex …

Flow blockchain developers Dapper Labs has suspended Russian accounts after the European Union (EU) imposed new sanctions against Russia and its nationals. Announced on Oct. 6, the latest set of EU sanctions on Russia stipulates a full ban on the provision of crypto-asset wallets, accounts and custody services, regardless of the total value of the assets. Following the sanction announcement, Dapper stated that accounts with connections to Russia will no longer be able to sell, purchase or gift nonfungible tokens (NFTs), withdraw funds from their accounts or add to their balances, stating: “It is now prohibited to provide crypto-asset wallet, …

In a statement released on Oct. 6, the European Union introduced another set of sanctions against Russia due to the prolonged and recently escalated conflict in Ukraine. The new sanctions include a complete ban on cross-border crypto payments between Russians and E.U. This statement includes the prohibition of, “all crypto-asset wallets, accounts, or custody services, irrespective of the amount of the wallet." New sanctions were installed as a response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory as the result of what the EU calls a “sham” referendum, along with troop mobilization and threats of nuclear escalation. The previous sanctions capped …

According to the CEO of blockchain development agency Labrys, Lachan Feeney, approximately 45% of all Ethereum blocks currently being validated run MEV-boost relay flashbots and comply with United States sanctions. Speaking to Cointelegraph in an interview on Sept. 30, Feeney noted that while reports have stated that 25% of all blocks validated since the Merge complies with US sanctions, this is a lagging indicator and the current number is likely to be closer to one out of every two blocks. Feeney pointed out that MEV-Boost relays are regulated businesses, often U.S. based, and are “censoring certain transactions in the blocks …

Despite Russia pushing the idea of using cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments, it still remains unclear what digital asset exactly the government plans to adopt for such transactions. Russian authorities are quite unlikely to approve the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) for cross-border transactions, according to local lawyers and fintech executives. Bank of Russia needs to control cross-border transactions It’s “highly questionable” that Russia would allow usage of Bitcoin or any other similar cryptocurrency for cross-border payments because such assets are “hard to control,” according to Elena Klyuchareva, the senior associate at the local law firm KKMP. Klyuchareva emphasized that …

Kazakhstan is ready to legalize a mechanism for converting cryptocurrencies to cash if there is demand, said President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, per local news agency Informburo on Sept. 28. Speaking at the international forum Digital Bridge 2022, Tokayev emphasized that Kazakhstan aims to become an international leader in the field of digital technology, cryptocurrency ecosystem and regulated mining. He noted that the government of Kazakhstan has drafted amendments in national law to pilot a mechanism for converting crypto at the Astana International Financial Centre. “We are ready to go further. If this financial instrument shows its further relevance and security, it …

The market capitalization of USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin issued by U.S.-based payment tech firm Circle, has dropped below $50 billion for the first time since January 2022. On the weekly chart, USDC's market cap, which reflects the number of U.S. dollar-backed tokens in circulation, fell to $49.39 billion on Sep. 26, down almost 12% from its record high of $55.88 billion, established merely three months ago. In contrast, the market cap of Tether (USDT), which risked losing its top stablecoin position to USDC in May, crossed above $68 billion on Sep. 26, albeit still down 17.4% from its record …

The sanctions on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash has left a vacuum for illicit fund mixing services, but more time is needed before we’ll know the full impact, according to Chainalysis’ chief scientist. During a demo of Chainalysis’ recently launched blockchain analysis platform Storyline, Cointelegraph asked Chainalysis chief scientist Jacon Illum and country manager for Australia and New Zealand Todd Lenfield about the impact of the Tornado Cash ban. Illum said whilst there is still some usage of the mixer, more time was needed to “see what's happening” and how the ”world responds to that designation,” adding that people are trying …

The sanctions imposed by the United States government on Tornado Cash have reignited a public debate on privacy. For many in the relatively young crypto community, such an intervention by the federal government seems groundbreaking. However, tussles between the private sector and the state on the issue of privacy are far from new and can provide compelling insights on what we might expect next for privacy in the crypto industry. In the 1990s, Phil Zimmermann released Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), one of the first openly available public-key cryptography applications that featured end-to-end (E2E) encryption. Zimmerman’s creation prompted a criminal investigation …

Elizabeth Rosenberg, the assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes at the United States Department of the Treasury, suggested sanctioning cryptocurrency mixers could help strengthen the government’s response to foreign entities looking to use digital assets for illicit means. In a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Banking Committee covering sanctions on Russia, Rosenberg said having the Treasury Department add crypto mixers like Blender.io or Tornado Cash to its list of Specially Designated Nationals could be an effective way to signal the U.S. government was acting to prevent entities from circumventing sanctions. “When [sanctions] can serve as a deterrent to …

Ethereum’s upgrade to proof-of-stake (PoS) may make it more vulnerable to government intervention and censorship, according to the lead investigator of Merkle Science. Speaking to Cointelegraph following the Ethereum Merge, Coby Morgan, a former FBI analyst, and the Lead Investigator for crypto compliance and forensic firm Merkle Science expressed his thoughts on some of the risks posed by Ethereum’s transition to PoS. While centralization issues have been broadly discussed leading up to The Merge, Moran suggested the prohibitive cost of becoming a validator could result in the consolidation of validator nodes to the bigger crypto firms like Binance, Coinbase, and …