Crypto

U.S. investigators are examining whether specific cryptocurrency platforms have helped Iranian officials and state-linked actors evade sanctions as crypto activity in Iran surges, a blockchain researcher with direct knowledge of Treasury’s concerns told Reuters.

An Abu Dhabi royal secretly backed a $500-million deal to buy nearly half of a Trump-linked cryptocurrency venture months before the United Arab Emirates secured expanded access to tightly controlled U.S. artificial-intelligence chips, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Chinese-language money laundering networks have become a central conduit for illicit cryptocurrency activity, processing an estimated 20% of known on-chain laundering over the past five years and accelerating far faster than illicit financial flows tied to centralized exchanges.

Major U.S. crypto companies and lobbyists are turning against a sweeping digital-asset bill they had championed, threatening efforts to lock in a regulatory framework while Republicans still control Congress.

California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) fined crypto lending platform Nexo Capital Inc. $500,000, alleging the company made crypto-backed consumer and commercial loans to Californians without the required state license. 

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has banned the use of crypto privacy tokens in the special economic zone the body oversees, citing anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance risks, CoinDesk reported. 

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has rolled out stricter identity verification requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges, aiming to curb money laundering and terrorist financing, CoinDesk reported, citing Press Trust of India.

Two UK-registered cryptocurrency exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, operated as front companies for an infrastructure that processed approximately $1 billion in funds linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to new analysis from TRM Labs. 

An elite unit of Portugal’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has taken over a money-laundering investigation involving Elvira Gavrilova Paterson, a Ukrainian movie producer who helped promote alleged crypto frauds linked to Russian entrepreneur Vladimir Okhotnikov, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. 

World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s flagship crypto venture, said an affiliated entity has applied for a national banking license, The Wall Street Journal reported.