Tech

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. 

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. 

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.

PwC has decided to “lean in” to cryptocurrency work after years of a more guarded approach, citing a friendlier U.S. policy environment under President Donald Trump and new legislation governing digital assets, according to the Financial Times. 

The UK government will examine the role of cryptocurrency donations in politics as part of a wider review of party-financing rules triggered by a bribery case involving a Reform UK politician, Bloomberg reported.

PayPal has applied to form a bank that would offer business loans and interest-bearing savings accounts, a move that would deepen the payments company’s push into core banking services, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The social-media giant Meta has tolerated widespread advertising fraud tied to Chinese customers in order to protect billions of dollars in revenue, even after internal teams repeatedly flagged the activity as problematic, Reuters reported. 

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved five national trust bank charters for firms focused on digital assets, in a move that brings more crypto-related activity into the federal banking system but under supervisory constraints.

A top Democratic senator has warned that Chinese intelligence is still inside U.S. telecommunications networks as part of a sweeping cyber campaign known as “Salt Typhoon,” saying the operation gives Beijing access to the unencrypted communications of almost anyone in America, the Financial Times reported.