In recent legal news, the UK national Joseph O’Connor, involved in the 2020 Twitter hack, has been extradited to the US and pleaded guilty to multiple charges. The US Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York emphasized O’Connor’s sophisticated technological abilities and malicious purposes, including a complex SIM swap attack and cyberstalking victims.
Further, a former Coinbase product manager, Ishan Wahi, was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the first-ever insider trading case involving cryptocurrency, according to the Wall Street Journal. Wahi provided confidential information to his brother and a friend over a 10-month period, despite being aware of the illegality of his actions.
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, a kidnapping case involving 16 suspects and $1.5M in stolen crypto is to be held next week. Interestingly, two former police officers are among the suspects.
In exchange developments, Binance launched a service platform, Capital Connect, to connect VIP users with investment fund managers. Capital Connect is a free service, available to Binance VIP users only, and aims to provide them with a platform to browse different crypto investment funds and connect with investment managers.
Xapo Bank, a private bank offering traditional banking access alongside Bitcoin and stablecoins, announced the integration ofTether (USDT)payment rails, building upon its existing USDC rails. The bank aims to attract those seeking an alternative to SWIFT payments as the new functionality will be fully available by the end of the month.
In metaverse news, Unstoppable Domains recently announced that it has joined the Board of Directors of OMA3 (Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3), a consortium of companies creating standards for the decentralized metaverse. This development underscores the importance of standardizing Web3 land domains in the metaverse and enhancing collaboration among industry players.
In the mining sector, Marathon Digital Holdings has announced its intention to build the largest-ever BTC mining data center in the Middle East. The company has partnered with Zero Two, a blockchain and digital asset infrastructure development company, to form the Abu Dhabi Global Markets JV Entity (the ADGM Entity). The partnership will be instrumental in developing and operating two state-of-the-art digital asset mining sites.
Concerning regulatory matters, Hester Peirce, a commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has expressed that the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) could serve as a model for crypto rules in the US. Peirce suggested that the UK’s regulatory approach might also be a source of inspiration for the US, highlighting the importance of learning from different regulatory contexts.
Source: Cryptonews
