The events in the world of cryptocurrency are unfolding at a brisk pace. UK government rejected a recommendation from the UK Treasury, proposing to regulate retail trading and investment activity in unbacked cryptoassets as gambling. The opposition voiced out their concern, stating that the approach posed the risk of misalignment with international standards and major jurisdictions, including the EU. The idea was that it could lead to ambiguous and overlapping mandates between financial regulators and Gambling Commission.
To foster growth and productivity in the digital space, the FCA intents to initiate a digital sandbox. The sandbox is envisaged to allow companies to experiment with proof of concepts to see how their products perform at the nascent developmental stage. The digital sandbox will officially be available from August 1, encouraging a broader range of innovative businesses, start-ups, and data providers to hop in.
In another corner of the world, Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has moved to ban all operations involving cryptocurrencies. The decision was made to fight against money laundering and comply with global recommendations for cryptoassets by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The move prohibits using crypto for payments or investments and puts an “absolute” ban on digital asset mining. It also went as far as advisiing against recognizing crypto as a decentralized currency, and warned the public providers cannot legally provide crypto-related services.
Push Protocol, a web3 communication network, has announced the public launch of Push Spaces, which they describe as the first decentralized audio and video streaming application. The application is built on top of Push Protocol’s existing communication ecosystem of 90k subscribers across 700+ applications and three blockchains. Push Spaces is currently available for audio streaming, with video streaming scheduled soon.
In the crime world, a worrying trend of high-value crypto investors being robbed in home invasions has been noticed by Canadian police. They suspect the victims are being specifically targeted for their involvement in cryptocurrency. They haven’t provided any specifics about the incidents, but highlighted the large amount of cryptocurrency involved.
Chinese police recently froze numerous accounts with a total value of $160 million in an online gambling case. It is reported, digital currencies were widely used to circumvent regulation. In another case in the central province of Shanxi, police claimed to have busted a money-laundering case involving 380 million yuan worth of USDT.
Bitget, a cryptocurrency exchange, plans to expand into the Middle East by hiring 60 new staff members. They are actively exploring for license applications to operate in their target Middle East markets, including Bahrain, the UAE with cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Ras Al Khaimah. Plans are afoot to set up a regional headquarter and recruit team members for various mid-office and back-office functions.
Source: Cryptonews
