Chainalysis

📢 PSA: We've received reports that bad actors are impersonating us. If you get any of these messages, don't hesitate to contact local law enforcement and [email protected]. We will NEVER reach out to you FIRST and: 💰Ask you for funds 💸Promise you lost funds from hacks 📵Send you unsolicited phone calls, emails, telegram messages, or texts Again, if you receive any message like this, please get in touch with your local law enforcement or [email protected].

🎧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐖𝐞𝐛3 Dima Romanov, Co-founder and CEO of Layer N, hits the nail on the head: “The best, the winner of this [web3] space, or the biggest player of this space, will be the one who will provide the best experience for developers and users.” Check out this episode of Public Key where Ian Andrews and Dima dive deep into tackling blockchain scalability, reducing transaction fees, and leveraging a range of custom Virtual Machines for diverse applications. Tune in: https://bit.ly/3LCe3Jg

📣 #Crypto Policy Update: 🇰🇷𝐎𝐧 19 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲, 𝐊𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚’𝐬 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞, 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐏𝐬) 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲. Under the new Act, Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will be responsible for day-to-day supervision of VASPs. Here’s what VASPs should note ✍🏻: The Act contains 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 🛡️, particularly on the safeguarding of user assets. Customer fiat is to be segregated and held with banks 🏦, and at least 80% of customer virtual assets must be stored in cold wallets. Reserves or insurance must also be maintained to shield users in the event of operational incidents like hacks and system failure. VASPs are not permitted to block user deposits or withdrawals without clear justification. One of the most significant elements of the Act is the 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 ❌ and the expectation for exchanges to detect and prevent such misconduct. In tandem, the FSS has worked with the five largest VA exchanges in the country to set up a monitoring framework for unfair trading. This pioneering framework includes: 🔹 a standardised data format for the recording of trade data 🔹 quantitative indicators for identifying abnormal trading behaviour 🔹 operational expectations for the monitoring and investigation of suspicious activity 🔹the establishment of a direct notification and reporting system between the authorities and exchanges. These changes are far reaching. VASPs have invested significantly in meeting the new requirements, with the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) rolling out new best practice guidelines. 🤝 Together, these steps mark a milestone in the Korean virtual asset landscape. For more, refer to: https://bit.ly/3SkzXEO

💡 Beware of cryptocurrency job scams! Scammers pretend to be employees of real companies, offering enticing work-from-home opportunities. Victims are asked to deposit their own money, via cryptocurrency or transfers, in order to complete tasks and receive a salary and commission. Here’s the catch: as tasks progress, scammers demand larger deposits, claiming bigger commissions. Eventually, victims find themselves unable to withdraw any money they’ve deposited, and the scammers make off with everything. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is actively investigating these fraudulent schemes. If you suspect you’ve been targeted, stop sending money immediately and file a report at the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov. For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/3Wt92Jc 🛡️

Reports as early as July 10, 2024 indicate there was a reported assassination attempt against Farrukh Furkatovitch Fayzimatov, an OFAC designated HTS recruiter and fundraiser we covered in our recent blog on terror financing (https://lnkd.in/eZhS8VdW). A fundraising campaign has been set up on one of his social media pages to reportedly help support his family. While at this point details remain murky on the validity of the reports, other war analyst accounts are skeptical, citing previous framed “deaths” of Fayzimatov for the sake of furthering his propaganda while increasing crowdfunding efforts. What do you think?

📣 #Crypto Policy Update: 🇭🇰 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 (𝐇𝐊𝐌𝐀) 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐜 2023 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐚𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 (𝐅𝐑𝐒). What should prospective stablecoin issuers note? ✍🏻 💰 FRS will need to be fully backed at all times by high quality and highly liquid reserve assets, which should generally be held by banks in Hong Kong. Issuers must obtain independent attestation on the reserve assets on a monthly basis. 🪪 Issuers will need to be incorporated in Hong Kong in order to obtain a licence. While HKMA is open to considering regulatory cooperation and mutual recognition arrangements in the future, the timeline for this would depend on international developments. 👥 Only specified licensed entities such as banks and virtual asset trading platforms will be able to offer FRS to the Hong Kong public. 📄 AML/CFT requirements for FRS issuers will be set out in guidelines. HKMA will take into consideration industry feedback and sandbox experience in formulating detailed requirements. Legislation to enact the stablecoin framework and will be introduced later in the year. Meanwhile, on 18 July, HKMA announced the first batch of participants in the stablecoin sandbox. The sandbox will allow prospective issuers to test operational plans in a risk-controlled manner, and will enable two-way dialogue in the development of detailed regulatory requirements. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3Y8wmxl

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 $2.7 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 #𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐬 since May 2021, revealing a significant challenge facing our community. That is why today, Chainalysis is proud to announce our global pioneering initiative, ⚡️𝑶𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑺𝑷𝑰𝑵𝑪𝑨𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑹 ⚡️, a series of operational sprints designed to disrupt and prevent scams through public-private sector collaboration. 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 1 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬: 🔹 2️⃣ months in 6️⃣ countries 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧🇳🇱🇪🇸🇦🇺 🔹 100 attendees 🔹 12 public sector agencies and 17 crypto exchanges 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜-𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 #𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐩𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦. We gathered actionable intelligence and enabled attendees with training and advanced tools to investigate over 7000 leads amounting to approximately $162 million of losses. Read more and hear from some of our participants, Calgary Police Service, Guardia Civil , National Police of Spain, National Crime Agency (NCA), Australian Federal Police, Politie Nederland, Binance and Ndax: https://bit.ly/46nAwnf

📺 HAPPENING TODAY: Our Middle East & Africa Policy Pulse webinar will begin at 5pm GST! Don't miss out on an in-depth conversation 🎙️ on #stablecoins regulations in the region, led by our MEA policy expert Arushi Goel and joined by Bryan Stirewalt, MENA Financial Services Regulatory Leader at EY and Stanford Cardoz, AML Director at BitOasis. 🔗 Register now: https://bit.ly/3Ss8p0r

🗓️ Mark your calendars for our Middle East & Africa Policy Pulse Webinar, happening 15 July, 5pm GST. Discover exclusive insights into the evolving #stablecoin regulatory landscape in the region. 🎙️ Join our MEA policy expert Arushi Goel, alongside Bryan Stirewalt, MENA Financial Services Regulatory Leader at EY and Stanford Cardoz, AML Director at BitOasis, as they unpack how the regulatory changes are reshaping markets and fostering innovation. Register now: https://bit.ly/3Ss8p0r

As the world embraces crypto, so do illicit actors quick to exploit powerful new technologies. Money laundering in the crypto context often involves concealing proceeds from on-chain crimes like darknet markets and ransomware, but increasingly bad actors are turning to crypto to launder proceeds from off-chain crimes — such as drug trafficking and fraud. Armed with the right tools and specialized knowledge, investigators can harness the transparency of blockchain to uncover and dismantle illicit activity both on-chain and beyond. Our new Money Laundering and Cryptocurrency report takes a deep look at the crypto laundering ecosystem and explores advanced data techniques to trace illicit funds and identify potential laundering activities. Learn how blockchain intelligence and data-driven insights are powering the fight against financial crimes: https://lnkd.in/gCi_U-2B