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Following the regulatory approval in France, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Cyprus and Sweden, the crypto exchange Binance announced on 18 January that it had also been registered as a virtual asset services provider (VASP) in Poland to provide crypto assets and custody services in the country. Its local unit in Poland, Binance Poland sp. z o.o., will comply with the country’s regulatory standards. The existing users are required to sign new Terms and Conditions with the Polish entity to continue using its services. Kyrylo Khomiakov, Binance’s Head of Ukraine and Eastern Europe stressed the company would continue following the strictest KYC requirement in the industry and improving its security systems.

Fidelity-backed digital asset platform OSL which provides digital assets trading and custody services, and software solutions for institutional investors, is reportedly laying off staff and reducing its headcount to reduce the operating cost by about a third. Hugh Madden, CEO of OSL’s parent company BC Technology Group said the decision was due to the current market conditions. The company refuses to respond to the number of employees affected

The California-based Silvergate Bank has announced a $1 billion net loss in the fourth quarter of 2022, resulting in a loss of $949 million last year. Customer deposits also plummeted to $6.3 billion in that quarter. The Bank said it was preparing for a sustained period of lower deposits and would be offboarding certain non-core customers. The crypto-focused bank has been accused of assisting FTX in transferring its clients’ funds for Alameda Research

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand has published regulation mandating virtual asset service providers that offer crypto custody services to establish a digital wallet management system. The requirements include a contingency plan to be in place in the event of any situation that may affect the management system of digital wallets and keys. The regulator also expects policy and procedures for designing, developing and managing digital wallets as well as policy and guidelines for overseeing risk management and management of digital wallets and keys. The regulation has taken effect since 16 January and full compliance with the regulation is required within six months from the effective date.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the launch of the first stage of the city’s metaverse project on 16 January. Mayor of the country’s capital Oh Se-hoon said the virtual environment will be a place of communication for Seoul’s citizens, who could virtually visit many city’s attractions and access official documents. They may also lodge complaints and raise questions about filing municipal taxes. The first stage of the project costs around $1.6 million. He added that the next phase is expected to be more accessible to the elderly.

According to the report from Bloomberg, the Bank of Thailand will allow virtual banks to provide services in the country by 2025. The application will be opened later this year and the central bank plans to grant three different licenses to applicants by 2024. There are already 10 parties expressing interest in applying for the licenses. Virtual banks operating in the country will be subject to the same regulatory standards as those for traditional financial institutions and they will also be under close supervision by the authority in their first years of operation.

Tokyo-based online brokerage firm Monex Group has reportedly expressed interest in buying FTX Japan, which is one of the four FTX assets on sale following the exchange’s bankruptcy proceedings. Monex CEO Oki Matsumoto said the Japanese crypto market has much potential and it would be a very good thing for the company if there were less competition in the domestic market. There are reportedly 41 potential buyers showing their interest in buying FTX Japan.

The Central Bank of Iran is reportedly working with Russia to issue jointly a new stablecoin to facilitate payment for cross-border transactions. According to Alexander Brazhnikov, the executive director of the Russian Association of Crypto Industry and Blockchain, the new stablecoin will be pegged to gold. The crypto would operate in a special economic zone in Russian city Astrakhan. However, a Russian lawmaker emphasized that the project would only be implemented when the country’s digital asset market becomes fully regulated.

Binance Nordics AB, which is the crypto exchange Binance’s local arm in Sweden, has reportedly received approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority on 10 January to manage and trade digital currencies in the country. The decision comes after Binance obtained similar regulators’ approval in France, Bahrain, Spain and Dubai to provide crypto services. The exchange stressed that great care had been taken to ensure that the local unit had adopted risk and AML policies to meet the regulatory standards in both the EU and Sweden.

Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com announced on 13 January that it will lay off 20% of its global workforce. The co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek said the ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events were part of the reasons leading to the decision. However, he stressed that the decision was not related to the exchange’s performance and that it was necessary to position the company for long-term success. The exchange cut 5% of its staff in June 2022.

According to a report from the blockchain data platform Chainalysis, the total value of illicit crypto transactions in 2022 is $20.1 billion. The value is at an all-time high, and is slightly higher than the value in 2021 and is far more than the $8 billion recorded in 2020. The platform attributed the increase to the crypto sanctions launched by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control last year, which resulted in a surge in the number of sanction-related transactions.

Nigeria-based crypto exchange Roqqu has reportedly received a virtual currency license for the European Economic Area. The exchange currently operates in Nigeria with 1.4 million users and it hopes to increase its user base to 5 million by the end of 2023. It also plans to provide services in South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in the coming months. Roqqu CEO Benjamin Onomor is bullish about the exchange’s business opportunity in Europe. He cited the data that there was foreign remittance of over $5 billion sent to people in Africa annually and he believes crypto could help reduce fees of such foreign remittance.