Cryptocurrency Defense and Investigations

Governor Hochul and New York State’s decision to ban cryptocurrency mining could be detrimental to innovation and will likely impede efforts to regulate the blockchain industry. Gov. Kathy Hochul executed a draconian ban on cryptocurrency mining. Hochul’s rationale is primarily based on concerns about the high energy consumption of the mining process, despite many other…

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) announced that Bittrex, a cryptocurrency exchange, was fined $24 million for breaking U.S. sanctions. This is a record-high penalty that the government has imposed on a crypto business for violating sanctions. For over three years, Bittrex allowed…

Jon-Jorge Aras Discusses What Crypto Investors Can Learn From This Case Kim Kardashian will pay over $1 million to the SEC for unlawfully promoting a crypto asset security offered and sold by EthereumMax without disclosing her payment. The SEC’s order finds that Kardashian failed to disclose to the public that she was paid $250,000 to…

Cryptocurrency broker-dealer, Binance, has paired with Mastercard to develop a crypto credit card issued in Argentina. This partnership will make Argentina the first South American country to utilize a money services business, allowing main street customers to pay in Bitcoin. The blockchain technology behind the Binance Mastercard converts cryptocurrency to fiat for each transaction without…

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned the virtual currency Tornado Crash after news emerged that the owner may have inadvertently (and allegedly) laundered more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since 2019. Tornado Crash was also used to launder nearly $100 million of malicious cyber attackers’ funds derived…

Cryptocurrency used to be going to the moon. Now, winter is coming, and surviving the daily dips has been an exercise of restraint and patience. Still, most crypto-billionaires are now just crypto-hundred-millionaires. Naturally, the crypto crash has significantly affected those with an extensive portfolio. Instead of the significant and steady gains, the market got accustomed…

There is a positive correlation between the rise of NFTs and the need for Intellectual Property rights. This issue has become so prevalent that the United States Copyright Office and the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) announced they would be conducting a study analyzing how NFTs will change the IP field. This study was brought to…

Federal prosecutors in New York have charged three individuals with wire fraud in connection to an insider trading cryptocurrency scheme – one of these individuals being a former Coinbase employee. These charges are very significant to the crypto industry as they are the first official insider trading charges related to digital currency. Former Coinbase employee…

The FBI has recently released a PSA warning cryptocurrency investors and financial institutions of fraudulent cryptocurrency investment apps. Cybercriminals often lure investors by claiming to offer legitimate investment platforms and ultimately convincing the victim to download fraudulent apps. Between December 2021 and May 2022, cybercriminals defrauded at least 28 investors of more than $3.7 million,…