WonderFi CEO was forced into a vehicle but released after a ransom was paid.

The CEO of WonderFi, a publicly listed crypto holding company that owns one of Canada’s largest crypto exchanges, has been safely released after he was kidnapped, Canada’s CBC reported.

CBC says that Dean Skurka was forced into a car during rush hour in Toronto, and the assailants demanded money for his release. Skurka was released unharmed after he paid a ransom of Canadian Dollar 1 million ($720,660).

In a publicly released statement, Skurka said that “client funds and data remain safe, and were not impacted by this incident.”

Police in Ontario say crime in the province continues to rise, with gun violence in the Greater Toronto Area breaking records. Consensus 2025 will be held in Toronto in May.

As the crypto bull market continues, with bitcoin (BTC) recently breaking through an all-time high, crypto kidnappings and extortion are also rising.

Recently, police in Thailand arrested 12 people, including seven police officers, who were involved in a crypto kidnapping and extortion ring. The group had allegedly extorted a Chinese national for USDT 10 million after they reportedly fabricated charges and demanded payment to drop the case.

The post CEO of Canadian Crypto Holding Returns Safely After Paying $720K Ransom: Report appeared first on Crypto Insider.

The crypto tracing company’s latest report shines a light on potential money laundering.

Crypto criminals may not be the only ones trying to hide their illicit fund movements across blockchains. According to analytics company Chainalysis, traditional money launderers – criminals working outside crypto – may be moving their cash on-chain too.

Released Thursday, Chainalysis’ latest report on crypto money-laundering shines a light on an apparently flourishing world of on-chain money transfers that aren’t definitively illicit but nevertheless share the characteristics of transactions that would raise eyebrows in banks.

Traditional money launderers are starting to utilize crypto networks to create “large-scale money laundering infrastructure” to clean cash that originated outside of crypto, Chainalysis Head of Research Kim Grauer told CoinDesk.

These transfers don’t originate from the crypto scams, thefts and ransomware attacks that Chainalysis is famous for flagging on the blockchain, the transparent digital ledger of all crypto transactions. Their software and labeling systems help crypto exchanges and other entities avoid accepting funds from criminal activity and assist government investigators in tracking suspects down.

By contrast, this more opaque class of transaction comes from wallets that aren’t known to be illicit. And yet they flow across blockchains and into exchanges following strategies that traditional financial compliance departments would likely flag. For example: splitting into rounded tranches sized just below know-your-customer reporting thresholds, and then sticking them back together later on.

Grauer said most on-chain investigators won’t be surprised that this kind of thing has been a potential trouble spot for years. Still, she said the July report is Chainalysis’ first attempt to document how big the trend is across the entire blockchain. The company found it was orders of magnitude larger than even the known illicit transaction base.

Indeed, Chainalysis found a glut of transactions valued just below the $10,000 mark – at which point additional know-your-customer rules kick in – when analyzing all transfers sent to exchanges in 2024.

It’s worth noting that just because a crypto transaction to an exchange is, say, $1 below the $10,000 threshold, it isn’t definitively illicit. But banks and money services businesses in the traditional financial sector have long used heuristics like that to track down criminal activity.

“Our investigators take many things into consideration when they’re determining whether something is suspicious, and this would be one thing – but definitely not enough” to prove wrongdoing, Grauer said.

Far more telling are transactions that flow to over-the-counter brokers who advertise their willingness to turn criminal crypto into dollars, no questions asked.

“This is trying to advance the conversation about how we in crypto think about compliance techniques to mirror what was developed in traditional banking,” Grauer said.

The post Traditional Money Launderers Appear to Be Using Crypto, Chainalysis Says appeared first on Crypto Insider.

Member of Parliament Lisa Cameron called for the government to ensure that all stages of education and the workplace contribute to developing digital skills.

Members of the U.K. Parliament have made a unanimous call for the government to invest in building skills to match the demand for employment from crypto, blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors.

Member of Parliament Lisa Cameron, who chaired a Tuesday debate on the topic, urged the government to ensure that digital skills are taught from the early stages of education and even in the workplace.

“Although the U.K. is well placed to harness the opportunities presented by the growth of the digital economy, considerable preparation and investment in education, training and skills will be needed to make the most of these opportunities and to ensure that the U.K. has the necessary talent pipeline to help it realize its goal of becoming a tech superpower,” Cameron said in a press statement shared with CoinDesk.

The U.K. government has said it wants to make the country a hub for crypto. So far, it has put through legislation that recognized crypto as a regulated activity, with secondary legislation for stablecoins and other crypto activities on the way.

However, for Cameron, more still needs to be done. One of the issues that’s come to the forefront when speaking to employers in the digital sector is that they “can’t find the talent that they need,” she said.

Cameron also asked for there to be greater partnerships with blockchain companies such as Ripple, which launched a blockchain research initiative for universities in 2018; stablecoin issuer Circle, which partnered with academic institutions; and Tether, which launched an education initiative this year.

“We know that there are digital skills gaps to address. That gap is estimated to cost the U.K. economy £63 billion ($79 billion) a year,” the U.K. Minister for Skills, Luke Hall, said in response.

The post UK Lawmakers Call for Govt to Develop Crypto, Blockchain Skills Pipeline appeared first on Crypto Insider.

The phishing attempt has already led to $440,000 worth of crypto being stolen.

MicroStrategy’s X account was hacked on Monday, leading to a phishing message being posted for its followers, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT said.

The X account of Michael Saylor’s crypto investment firm sent out a post announcing the launch of an MSTR token and a link for claiming the fake token.

The phishing attempt has led to over $440,000 worth of crypto being stolen, ZachXBT added. The post has since been deleted.

The post MicroStrategy’s X Account Hacked, Leads to $440K Crypto Being Stolen: Blockchain Sleuth ZachXBT appeared first on Crypto Insider.

Elmaani pleaded guilty in April 2023, agreeing that he caused a tax loss of over $5.5 million.

Amir Bruno Elmaani, aka “Bruno Brock,” founder of the blockchain protocol Oyster Pearl, has been handed a four-year jail term for tax offenses, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday.

Elmaani, 31, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was also sentenced to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $5.5 million, the estimated tax loss. Elmaani pleaded guilty in April 2023. He had initially been charged in 2020 separately by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Elmaani used a coin mixer to conceal the true destination of cryptocurrencies on the blockchain before transferring funds to family members and friends and then to himself, according to the DOJ.

The origins of the case go back to 2017 when Elmaani made “millions of dollars” from an initial coin offering of its pearl (PRL) cryptocurrency, but instead of reporting the income from sales, he falsified his tax return and then used $10 million in proceeds to buy multiple yachts (where he stored gold bars), real estate and home renovations.

“I stated in public forums that after the ICO, the supply of PRL would not increase, and that the smart contract that created PRL would be “locked,” Elmaani admitted in the plea agreement, according to the announcement. “Contrary to these statements, on or about October 29, 2018, I used the smart contract to mint new PRL, without telling anyone, including others who worked on the Oyster Protocol project.”

“Amir Elmaani violated the duty he owed to pay taxes on millions of dollars of cryptocurrency profits, and he also violated the trust of investors in the cryptocurrency he founded,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “Participants in the cryptocurrency markets must play by the rules, and this Office will be tireless in prosecuting those who do not.”

The post ‘Bruno Brock’, Founder of Oyster Pearl, Gets Four Year Jail Term for Tax Evasion appeared first on Crypto Insider.

The government plans to propose legislation on fiat-backed stablecoins by early 2024.

The U.K. government published its final rules for the crypto ecosystem, saying it plans a phased introduction of regulation, with legislation for fiat-backed stablecoins being introduced early next year.

Other crypto areas, such as algorithmic stablecoins, will follow as the government brings activities like lending and trading into the fold of conventional financial regulation, according to an update published Monday. These rules will bring relevant activities under the purview of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The plans are in line with an April 2022 policy set out by Rishi Sunak, then finance minister and now prime minister, to make the U.K. a crypto-asset hub and are likely to be welcomed by an industry that has complained the government has been dragging its feet.

In a statement accompanying the document, Treasury Minister Andrew Griffith said he was “very pleased to present these final proposals for cryptoasset regulation in the U.K.” The finalized framework would mean “the U.K. is the obvious choice for starting and scaling a cryptoasset business.”

The Treasury, the government’s finance arm, published a crypto consultation in February and the consultation closed in April. Parliament passed the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 in June, enabling crypto to be treated like a regulated activity.

The government has already set out that it wants to bring crypto within the fold of traditional financial service regulation – but Griffith has now modified some of his proposals clarifying the treatment of cryptoassets it already considers traditional financial instruments as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

“The proposed regime does not intend to capture activities relating to cryptoassets which are specified investments that are already regulated,” such as traditional securities, the government document said, adding that unique NFTs that are akin to collectibles or artwork “should not be subject to financial services regulation.”

Further documents published by the government set out that issuance or custody of stablecoins backed by fiat currency will become regulated under existing 2001 rules designed for financial services, with further rules to ensure that any digital payment system can safely fail without bringing down the financial system. The central bank first launched its consultation on a regime for systemic stablecoins in May.

The government’s plans have not been without controversy. Lawmakers in the House of Commons’ Treasury Committee have previously argued that regulating the likes of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) on the lines of conventional financial services could lull users into a false sense of security, and the government has previously rejected calls to treat crypto like gambling.

The crypto industry, meanwhile, has complained of delays and poor feedback from the FCA, while recently introduced rules restricting crypto promotions have led some well-known firms to cut U.K. services altogether.

The post UK Publishes Final Proposals for Crypto, Stablecoin Regulation appeared first on Crypto Insider.

The push for revised margin trading caps aims to attract diverse traders, including institutional investors, while enhancing market liquidity.

Japan’s cryptocurrency exchanges are urging regulators to relax margin trading restrictions on popular cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC).

Exchanges in the country once offered leverage of up to 25 times principal capital, and trading volumes reached as high as $500 billion annually in 2020 and 2021, according to Bloomberg.

In early 2022, however, Japanese regulators limited crypto exchanges to offering leverage of only twice the principal capital, which led to trading volumes dropping drastically last year.

The Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA), a self-regulated body of local exchanges, is now arguing that these restrictions hinder market growth and discourage new participants.

Among the body’s demands is a request for higher leverage limits of at least 10 times the principal.

JVCEA Vice Chairman Genki Oda told Bloomberg in an interview that reforming the leverage rule could make Japan “more attractive for crypto and blockchain companies” and encourage more trading.

The regulators are expected to evaluate the proposals, taking into account market risks and investor protection. Any revisions to margin trading caps will undergo thorough reviews and consultations with industry participants.

The push for revised margin trading caps aims to attract diverse traders, including institutional investors, while enhancing market liquidity. Allowing higher leverage would also enable traders to manage their positions more effectively, JVCEA said.

Japanese crypto exchanges processed just over $110 million worth of trading volumes in the past 24 hours, data shows. Most volume was generated on bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and xrp (XRP) trading, the data shows.

JVCEA’s comments come as Japan warms up to crypto regulation and stablecoin usage. Lawmakers are said to be exploring Web3 regulations to support the growth of NFT and virtual lands-related businesses in the country, while local banks are working on plans to issue their own stablecoins – tokens pegged to a fiat currency such as the Japanese yen – in the coming months.

The post Japan’s Crypto Exchanges Push for 10 Times Leverage on Margin Trading: Bloomberg appeared first on Crypto Insider.

Perkins, who is also president of VC CoinFund, published a set of 10 regulatory principles that form the basis of his advocacy role with the CFTC.

Crypto-focused VC CoinFund President Chris Perkins, also an adviser to the Commodities and Futures Trade Commission (CFTC), has published a regulatory white paper, and warned that the U.S. is at risk of falling behind in cryptocurrency.

The U.S. is trapped in the clutches of a reactionary wave of regulation following the collapse of the FTX exchange, while other jurisdictions are now opening to the opportunity and moving ahead, said Perkins, a member of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC). He noted the re-opening of Hong Kong to crypto and the arrival of MiCA, the European Union’s just-passed crypto assets regulatory framework.

“Other countries are starting to recognize the opportunity and are springing into action,” said Perkins in an interview. “CoinFund just sent a team to Hong Kong,” he continued. “It’s buzzing right now. Government officials are actually going to conferences and encouraging adoption at this point in Hong Kong as they open back up. Meanwhile, MiCA has arrived and the U.K. is springing into action, acknowledging that the Europeans are moving on MiCA.”

The white paper offers policymakers 10 recommendations, including calling for the regulation of centralized intermediaries but not decentralized technology, prioritizing sandboxes and safe harbor programs aligned with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s proposals.

The post CFTC Adviser Chris Perkins Says U.S. Risks Falling Behind in Crypto appeared first on Crypto Insider.

The value of cryptocurrencies deposited in liquid staking protocols has increased to about $14 billion, trailing just deposits at decentralized exchanges.

Liquid staking, which allows users to earn rewards for locking cryptocurrency in a blockchain network while retaining the liquidity of the locked funds, is now bigger than decentralized lending and borrowing.

The total value of crypto assets deposited in liquid staking protocols was $14.1 billion as of European hours on Monday, making it the second-largest crypto market sector, according to data source DeFi Llama. The total value locked in the DeFi lending and borrowing protocols was $13.7 billion, the third largest, while decentralized exchanges, with deposits of $19.4 billion, held the top spot.

Ethereum’s upcoming Shanghai upgrade, which will allow stakers to withdraw the ether (ETH) they have staked and the accumulated rewards for the first time, has galvanized investor interest in liquid staking. Liquid staking is the best-performing crypto sector this year, with growth in total value locked (TVL) approaching 60%.

“It [the upgrade] will innovate the current space by allowing for healthy competition between liquid staking solutions, will strengthen ETH’s position by providing yield from staking/unstaking, and will give users the security of maintaining sovereignty over their assets,” Messari CEO Ryan Selkis said in a newsletter published Friday.

By opening up to withdrawals, the upgrade is expected to improve overall liquidity. Since December 2020, more than 16.5 million ETH has been staked in Ethereum’s Beacon Chain, of which 42% has been locked through liquid staking protocols, mainly Lido.

Users of liquid staking protocols like Lido receive derivative tokens such as staked ether (stETH) on a 1:1 basis. These derivative tokens represent user’s stake and can be used to generate additional yield across Defi protocols. Lido’s governance token LDO has rallied 220% this year, outperforming industry leaders bitcoin and ether by a huge margin. Governance tokens of Lido’s rivals Rocket Pool and Frax have also surged, according to CoinDesk data.

Liquid staking’s increased popularity relative to decentralized lending could also be attributed to the yield differential between the two sectors.

Lido, which controls over 75% of the liquid staking market, offers an annualized percentage return (APR) of 4.8% on staked ether, 6% on staked solana and 6.3% on Polygon’s MATIC token. That’s higher than the rates available for lending top stablecoins USDT, USDC and DAI on the DeFi giant Aave.

Liquid staking is expected to grow further, as the ETH staking ratio, which measures the percentage of the cryptocurrency’s supply staked, is significantly lower than other layer 1 cryptocurrencies.

“Only 14% of ETH is currently being staked vs 58%, the average for layer 1 coins, Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at Matrixport, said told CoinDesk. Its likely interest in staking will continue to swell.”

Binance Research recently voiced a similar opinion, forecasting more inflow of money into staking protocols after the Shanghai upgrade.

“It could be argued that many groups of individuals had been waiting for Shanghai to stake their ETH, as withdrawals will remove the liquidity risk and uncertainty of an previously undefined lock-up period,” Binance Research said in a report early this month.

The post Liquid Staking Replaces DeFi Lending as Second-Largest Crypto Sector appeared first on Crypto Insider.

Report says officials from China’s Liaison Office have been spotted at crypto events in the city.

As Hong Kong prepares for a consultation process that might eventually legalize a form of retail crypto trading in the territory, Bloomberg reports that The mainland government in Beijing might be subtly endorsing the idea.

According to Bloomberg, officials from China’s Liaison Office have been frequent guests at crypto gatherings in Hong Kong. The tone of their visits and follow-up calls with certain projects has been friendly.

Some stakeholders think that this can be seen as an endorsement of Hong Kong’s push to become a crypto hub, with the Special Administrative Region of China using its separate legal system and markets to be a testing ground – much in the same way as Hong Kong was China’s first test of open markets in the 20th century.

“As long as one doesn’t violate the bottom line, to not threaten financial stability in China, Hong Kong is free to explore its own pursuit under ‘One Country, Two Systems,’” Bloomberg quotes Nick Chan, a National People’s Congress member and a crypto lawyer, as saying.

On Monday, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) made its first push to open the door to retail crypto trading, beginning a consultation process for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) seeking a license to provide trading services for retail.

Some of the requirements the SFC proposes involve a due diligence process on tokens prior to listing, which would see only pre-approved tokens available to traders, as well as setting up a risk profile for clients to ensure their exposure is “reasonable.”

The SFC has just concluded a multi-year consultation process that will see exchanges being allowed to serve professional investors (defined as those with a net worth of over $1 million) on June 1.

It’s not known when the SFC will finish its consultation process on allowing retail investors access.

The post Crypto in Hong Kong Getting Soft Backing From Beijing: Bloomberg appeared first on Crypto Insider.