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South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) proposed a new bill on 11 July, requiring all firms that issue or hold crypto to disclose their holdings. The new rules, which are expected to come into effect on 1 January 2024, aim to increase transparency in crypto asset accounting and reporting, adhering to the supervision guidelines that mandate accounting for each crypto-related transaction. FSC will also revise accounting standards of mandatory disclosure of virtual asset transactions. The draft supervision guidelines currently cover fungible assets based on distributed ledger technology or a “similar technology”, or those issued using cryptography, security tokens or digitised securities under the Capital Markets Act. Source: https://cointelegraph.com

Following Ripple Labs’ partial victory over the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 13 July, Ripple (XRO) has ascended to become the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation. The District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the offer and sale of XRP on digital asset exchanges did not constitute offers and sales of investment contracts. The ruling resulted in an immediate increase of Ripple’s market capitalisation by $21.2 billion, reaching a yearly high of $46.1 billion and surpassing Circle’s USD Coin and Binance’s BNB token. Ripple’s price also skyrocketed, rising by 98% and causing the Uphold exchange to briefly crash due to a sudden increase in volume. Source: https://cointelegraph.com

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is encouraging more lenders to participate in the pilot programs of its central bank digital currency, the e-rupee. The pilot program, which began last year, covered both the wholesale and retail markets. Some large state-owned and private lenders such as the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Yes Bank have taken part in this project. RBI aims to achieve one million CBDC transactions daily by year-end and has asked smaller banks to either team up with fintech firms or develop their own systems to launch e-rupee pilots this year. Source: https://www.reuters.com

Japan’s second-largest lender, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, has entered the US consumer banking market with a new digital banking service. The digital banking arm has been established under Manufacturers Bank, a California state-chartered wholly owned by Sumitomo Mitsui for offering personal loans. With a starting team of 270, the digital banking venture targets a net profit of tens of billions of yen within a decade, says Daisuke Tanaka, an executive of the bank’s corporate development group. Further offerings, including a savings product, will be available in the upcoming months. Source: https://www.reuters.com

Crypto crime has seen a substantial decrease of 65% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from blockchain analytics company Chainalysis. However, the figure does not account for transactions linked to entities subject to global sanctions or non-cryptocurrency-related crimes using crypto as payment. The firm also highlights a surge in crypto payments to ransomware attackers, which climbed to $449.1 million, a rise of nearly $176 million from the same period in 2022. If this trend persists, this year is set to record the second-highest total in ransomware payments. Source: https://www.reuters.com

The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) of Dubai has reportedly suspended the licence of crypto exchange BitOasis, citing unmet mandated conditions within the prescribed timeframes. BitOasis had been granted a conditional minimum viable product (MVP) operational licence on 12 April to offer broker-dealer services to Dubai’s institutional and retail investors, provided that they fulfilled specific requirements within 30 to 60-day timeframes. BitOasis’ license will remain non-operational until it meets the conditions. VARA said it would closely monitor BitOasis’ compliance efforts. Source: https://cointelegraph.com

Standard Chartered predicts Bitcoin’s value could climb to $50,000 in 2023 and to $120,000 by 2024-end. This marks a 20% increase from the bank’s previous forecast in April. The bank’s top FX analyst, Geoff Kendrick, suggests that the recent surge in Bitcoin price would encourage miners to limit its supply and thus drive up the price. As Bitcoin’s value crosses the $50,000 mark, it’s expected that miners will sell just 20-30% of their new coins. Notably, the total number of Bitcoins mined each day is slated to halve next April or May due to an inbuilt supply and issuance mechanism. Source: https://www.reuters.com

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has reportedly halted 26 cryptocurrency ATMs across the nation, cautioning consumers about their potential risks. This follows an incident in Sheffield where a citizen lost £1,000 after attempting to buy crypto from a crypto ATM. Since the beginning of the year, the FCA, along with other law enforcement agencies, have inspected 34 suspected locations of hosting crypto ATMs, and disrupted 26 machines. Steve Smart, FCA’s Joint Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, warned the public of the risks due to the absence of consumer protections. Source: https://www.reuters.com

Asian-based cryptocurrency exchange HashKey Pro has reportedly applied for a licence upgrade to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). The exchange is currently restricted to trading only a few digital currencies like bitcoin, ether, tether and USD Coin, but it plans to offer a wider range upon licence approval. It targets to begin offering services to small-scale investors in the upcoming weeks. This application follows an announcement by parent company HashKey Group of plans to raise $100-$200 million to leverage the recent introduction of Hong Kong new licensing regime for Virtual Asset Service Providers. Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an umbrella body for central banks worldwide, has introduced a seven-point plan “Polaris security and resilience framework” aimed at safeguarding the countries from cyber attacks against central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Two BIS reports published on 7 July highlighted the complexity and elevated risk of CBDC systems, indicating “gaps” in the security attack modelling systems of CBDCs. BIS advises central banks to acknowledge the new threat landscape brought by CBDC systems, utilise modern enabling technologies supporting security and resilience, leverage existing capabilities, and identify areas for improvement, with a specific recommendation to utilise the global ”MITRE ATT&CK” database of past cyber attacks and “official extension” of the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Source: https://www.reuters.com

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is experiencing a wave of high-level departures. Key figures including Patrick Hillmann, Chief Strategy Officer; Steven Christie, Compliance Executive; Hon Ng, the General Counsel, and Yibo Ling, Chief Business Officer, have all announced their resignations. These departures come at a time when Binance is grappling with lawsuits filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), accusing the exchange and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, of deceptive practices. In addition, the US Justice Department is probing Binance for potential money laundering and sanctions violations. Source: https://www.reuters.com

In an effort to attract global investors and companies, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, is advancing a bill exempting foreign residents from capital gains tax on the sale of digital currencies. Sponsored by Knesset member Dan Ilouz and passed through a preliminary reading in the parliament on 5 June, the bill also proposes to lower the tax rate on crypto bonuses with employee stock options from 50% to 25%. Nir Hirshman and Shauli Rejwan, co-founders of Israeli Crypto Companies Forum (ICBW3), welcomed the move, perceiving it as the country’s endorsement of cryptocurrencies. The bill also seeks to differentiate the term “digital currency” from “security”. Source: https://cointelegraph.com