S. Korea Financial Watchdog Eye Crypto Laws

The South Korean finance watchdog is looking at fast-tracking a review of proposals for new crypto laws, a Coindesk report said.

The task force plans to review proposed virtual asset legislation, of which there are 13 proposals currently.

This comes after Terra collapsed and sent shock waves through the crypto industry, with numerous companies freezing withdrawals as of late and several filing for bankruptcy.

The Indian Enforcement Directorate has reportedly been looking into 10 crypto exchanges for laundering over $10 million (Rs 1,000 crore) for being proceeds of crime, Economic Times of India said.

Many of the firms have links to China.

The report said a lot of the firms have approached exchanges to buy crypto coins being sent to international wallets, quoting anonymous sources.

Binance Labs has invested in Ankr, a web3 infrastructure provider, a press release said.

The funds will help Ankr add more work for its remote procedure call service and build out more of its web3 developer suite.

This comes as Ankr has made open-source contributions to the BNB chain and BNB Liquid Staking.

Furthermore, almost half of Australian retail investors owned cryptocurrency in the end of 2021, with even more getting their information about the coins from YouTube videos, Reuters wrote.

The Australian securities watchdog said that’s a “strong case for regulation.”

Around 25% of the investors surveyed said the crypto they had was their only investment.

In other news, the Ethereum “Merge,” an extremely ambitious upgrade, will likely happen in September, Reuters wrote.

The Merge has been in talks for years and will change the way Ethereum orders transactions to be more energy efficient.

Finally, the DOJ has asked for more court oversight of the plans for Celsius to make employee severance pay and sell bitcoins, Reuters wrote, as the company navigates bankruptcy.

The DOJ bankruptcy watchdog, the U.S. Trustee, filed an objection opposing the company’s proposed severance payments of $409,000 to 19 employees.

The DOJ said there should be more transparency about Celsius’ assets and plans before going forward.