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South Korean government to launch crypto transaction monitoring system

Crypto exchanges subject to a new South Korean law have implemented a system allowing authorities to receive reports on suspicious transactions.

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has launched a “continuous monitoring system” for suspicious crypto transactions on exchanges.

In a July 4 notice, the FSS said it had worked with South Korean digital asset exchanges to establish a system for “constant monitoring of abnormal transactions.” The system’s implementation will occur on July 19, when the Virtual Asset User Protection Act — legislation passed in 2023 to regulate unfair trade practices and protect investors — goes into effect.

According to the FSS, major crypto exchanges subject to the law have established a system allowing the regulator to filter out abnormal transactions, covering roughly 99.9% of the country’s trading volume. Once identified, the exchange’s system will report suspicious transactions to the FSS through a dedicated data transmission line. These transactions will include those intended to manipulate the market or engage in other illegal trading.

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Ex-fintech CEO sentenced to 3.75 years over price manipulation scheme

A federal judge in Florida recognized the HYDRO token as an investment contract qualifying as a security under SEC guidelines.

A Florida judge has sentenced Michael Kane, the former CEO of Hydrogen Technology Corporation, to roughly four years behind bars after a guilty plea.

According to a notice from the United States Justice Department, on June 24, a federal judge sentenced Kane to 45 months in prison for securities fraud related to a crypto price manipulation scheme. Shane Hampton, Hydrogen Technology’s former Head of Financial Engineering, received a sentence of 35 months for similar crimes.

“[F]or the first time, a jury in a federal criminal trial found that a cryptocurrency was a security and that manipulating cryptocurrency prices was securities fraud,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri. “This prosecution and the sentences imposed today should serve as a warning: The Criminal Division will not hesitate to use all tools at its disposal — including the federal securities laws — to protect the integrity of cryptocurrency markets.”

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US prosecutors oppose Ethereum dev’s motion to reduce 5-year sentence

In April 2022, a judge sentenced Virgil Griffith to 63 months in prison for violating U.S. sanctions on North Korea.

Officials with the United States Justice Department have written a letter opposing former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith’s motion to reduce his 2022 sentence for violating sanctions on North Korea.

In a June 17 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams argued that a judge should deny Griffith’s motion to reduce his sentence to as little as 51 months. A judge sentenced the former Ethereum developer to 63 months in prison and a $100,000 fine in April 2022, which, considering his time behind bars before the sentencing hearing, makes his expected release date in January 2026.

“Griffith chose to evade the sanctions of his own country to provide services to a hostile foreign power, specifically, services designed to teach and encourage the use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to further evade U.S. and United Nations sanctions,” said Williams. “Griffith acted despite knowing that North Korea was committing atrocities against its own people and had made threats against the United States, including nuclear capabilities.”

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FTX victims go after company’s assets from criminal forfeiture

Though Sam Bankman-Fried is currently serving a prison sentence, affected FTX customers and creditors are making claims on the firm’s assets, which are still worth millions.

Different groups have filed competing claims over some or all of the assets at issue in the criminal case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison.

In a June 14 filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, lawyers representing the FTX debtors and the firm’s Bahamian entity, FTX Digital Markets, argued that they had a “superior right” to assets that may be used to satisfy the court’s $11-billion judgment against Bankman-Fried. The legal team claimed that FTX’s aircraft, funds held at Signature Bank, Farmington State Bank and Silvergate Bank, the sale of shares of Robinhood stock and political contributions associated with former FTX executives should not be used for Bankman-Fried’s judgment but to benefit victims of the defunct exchange.

“Amending the Preliminary Forfeiture Order to provide for the return the Specific Property to the Debtors and/or FTX Digital will benefit all the creditors and stakeholders in the Debtors’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and FTX Digital’s liquidation in The Bahamas, including victims of Bankman-Fried’s crimes,” said the June 14 filing. “Distributing the value of the Specific Property to the more than 1 million victims of BankmanFried’s criminal scheme is no small feat, and doing so through the Debtors’ existing claims administration architecture and processes will maximize the funds available for distribution by minimizing the incremental administrative and professional costs.”

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Bitcoin is no ‘silver bullet’ for money’s ethical problems

Both Bitcoin and fiat currency are often in the firing line over ethical concerns, with a dedicated group of defenders and critics.

Fiat money and cryptocurrencies share similar use cases but both come with drawbacks that critics claim make them unethical to use. 

Common arguments for Bitcoin (BTC) being unethical include its impact on the environment through high electricity costs from mining, along with potential use by criminal elements, and the lack of regulation and user protections.

Conversely, critics of fiat money argue that it is unethical, as it is not backed by a physical commodity like gold. This means there is no limit on how much central banks can print, leading to severe social harm.

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Why was Ryan Salame given a sentence longer than prosecutors recommended?

U.S. authorities had requested a judge impose a sentence of five to seven years on the former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO, but one ordered Ryan Salame to spend 90 months in prison.

Months after his guilty plea to prosecutors, former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame learned he would likely be spending more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two felony charges.

On May 28, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York considered sentencing recommendations from Salame’s legal team and prosecutors and ordered the former FTX executive to spend 90 months in prison. The judge’s decision reflected more time behind bars than even prosecutors recommended — up to seven years — and was considerably higher than what Salame’s lawyers requested: 18 months.

Taking to X for the first time since November 2022, Salame said the situation was “going to get interesting quickly” without directly referring to his sentencing and suggested he had no plans to flee the United States as “family [was] more important than anything.” A May 14 court filing stated that Salame had a child with his partner, Michelle Bond, in November 2023.

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Do Kwon’s extradition to go back to Montenegro High Court after appeal

Since his arrest in March 2023, Do Kwon has been in Montenegro. He could be extradited to either his native South Korea or the United States to face fraud charges.

After another successful appeal from Do Kwon's legal team, Montenegro’s High Court will decide whether to extradite the Terraform Labs co-founder to the United States or South Korea.

According to a May 24 report from Montenegrin news outlet Vijesti, the country’s court of appeals accepted arguments from Kwon’s lawyers and returned the question of extradition to the High Court “for retrial and decision.” The appeal marked the latest legal maneuver Kwon’s team used to delay his transfer to the U.S. or South Korea, where he would face criminal charges.

“If the person whose extradition is sought gives his consent to extradition, it is a shortened procedure that has to be applied and in which case the court decides on extradition,” Montenegro’s court of appeals reportedly said in its decision, adding:

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Ex-FTX CEO ends up in Oklahoma prison despite request from judge

Records show Sam Bankman-Fried was in the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, suggesting authorities may still transfer him to a prison in California.

Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried is no longer incarcerated in New York or California, where his parents own a home — according to prison records, he’s in Oklahoma.

As of May 23, inmate records for the Federal Bureau of Prisons showed that Bankman-Fried was being held at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City. According to the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice, the facility confines inmates on a “short-term basis” for transfers within the prison system.

SBF’s relocation to Oklahoma, coupled with reports from May 22, suggested that authorities may transfer the former FTX CEO from the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Mendota. The transfer appeared to have happened despite Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recommending SBF stay at MDC Brooklyn.

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Freedom of speech isn’t a ‘trump card’ for Tornado Cash developers

Does code as freedom of speech mean that developers aren’t responsible for how their creations are used?

Crypto industry advocates are locked in a debate with regulators over whether a protocol’s code constitutes free speech, and what that means for liability. 

Lawmakers have long accused the crypto industry of facilitating illicit activities, from money laundering to financing terrorism. This has led to several court cases, arrests and even incarcerations.

Recent high-profile examples include the arrests of developers who worked on crypto mixers Tornado Cash and Samurai Wallet, as well as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SECs) planned enforcement action against decentralized exchange Uniswap.

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Tornado Cash verdict has chilling implications for crypto industry

The conviction of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev reinforces a very broad interpretation of criminal liability, which has major repercussions for blockchain.

The conviction of Alexey Pertsev, a developer of coin-mixing protocol Tornado Cash, comes from a chilling interpretation of criminal liability likely to have wider ramifications for crypto.

The Dutch court’s guilty verdict means Pertsev must now serve a sentence of five years and four months for money laundering through Tornado Cash. This is despite the fact that Pertsev had no direct involvement in the laundering itself.

Andrew Balthazor, a litigator with the legal firm Holland and Knight, spoke with Cointelegraph to explain the implications of the verdict.

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