Tech

The UK government is taking aim at corrupt bankers, lawyers, and accountants and deploying new tech tools to identify dirty money as part of a new strategy to root out tens of billions in illicit funds entering the country each year.

China’s central bank has restated its hard line on cryptocurrencies, warning that a renewed wave of speculation is testing regulators and vowing tougher action against illegal activities involving stablecoins, according to Reuters.

The United States, Britain and Australia have imposed coordinated sanctions on Russian technology companies and individuals accused of providing key online infrastructure for ransomware and other cyberattacks, Reuters reported. 

Brazil’s government is weighing plans to tax the use of cryptocurrencies in international payments, targeting a fast-growing channel for moving money across borders, according to a Reuters report.

Brazil’s central bank unveiled long-awaited rules for virtual assets on Monday, extending anti–money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism financing (CTF) obligations to crypto firms and classifying fiat-pegged crypto transactions as foreign-exchange operations, Reuters reported. 

The Central Bank of Ireland has fined cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase €21.5 million for failing to properly monitor transactions, including activity potentially linked to child sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, money laundering and other crimes. 

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned eight individuals and two entities allegedly tied to laundering illicit proceeds from DPRK cybercrime and overseas IT work. 

Brazil’s central bank is changing how capital requirements are calculated for financial institutions following a recent spate of probes into organized crime groups exploiting the services offered at Fintech firms, Bloomberg reported. 

Eric and Donald Trump Jr. have turned a family-branded cryptocurrency venture into a cash machine that eclipses the Trump Organization’s traditional businesses, according to a Reuters investigation that traces opaque token purchases by overseas investors and a wave of U.S. policy shifts friendly to digital assets.

President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of Binance, after months of behind-the-scenes efforts by Zhao and his allies to secure clemency.