From India to South Korea, crypto exchanges under regulatory lens

Seoul, (IANS): The financial regulator here said on Tuesday it will soon launch an inspection of virtual asset exchanges to check for any illegal or unfair transactions, as India cracks down on crypto platforms.

The planned inspection will be the first of its kind since the country introduced tougher rules against illegal trading of virtual assets in July under the new Virtual Asset Users Protection Act, which enabled maximum punishment of life imprisonment for those who gain more than 5 billion won ($3.7 million) through illegal transactions.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it will inspect two South Korean won-based cryptocurrency exchanges, considering what it called "unusual cases" detected in earlier reviews, reports Yonhap news agency.

There are said to be a total of four Korean won-based exchanges in the country.

In addition, three more cryptocurrency exchanges and one cryptocurrency wallet provider will come under the planned inspection, as well as any other exchanges when and if any problems or complaints are filed against them, the FSS added.

The inspection will check for any illegal or suspicious transactions, but will also seek to make sure the exchanges and related businesses are complying with regulations that include protection of virtual assets and keeping records of virtual asset transactions, according to the financial regulator.

"The FSS will establish market order through stern punishment against illegal activities that may be identified in the process of its inspection, and will push for the revision of regulations if necessary by identifying the areas in the system where improvements are needed," it said.

In India, the government country has put robust anti-money laundering rules and a tax structure for cryptocurrencies in place, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been busting fake cryptocurrency rackets across the country.In 2022, the Indian government introduced a 30 per cent tax on virtual currencies and a 1 per cent deduction for every crypto transaction. From India to South Korea, crypto exchanges under regulatory lens | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

Read More........ → September 19, 2024

Telegram CEO Durov released on bail, but formally put under investigation

Paris, (IANS): Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the encrypted messaging service Telegram, was released after paying a five-million-euro (about $5.6 million) bail, but he is required to report to the police twice a week, Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

Durov is officially placed under investigation on six charges and he was prohibited from leaving France during the investigation, Beccuau added on Wednesday night as reported by Xinhua news agency.

Durov was arrested by French Police at an airport outside Paris on Saturday night.

Beccuau said on Monday that the Telegram founder is accused of 12 criminal offences, including failing to act against Telegram users involved in cyberbullying, sharing pedophilic content and glorifying terrorism.

He added the arrest "comes in the context of a judicial investigation opened on July 8, 2024".

It also concerns "refusal to communicate, at the request of competent authorities, information or documents necessary for carrying out and operating interceptions allowed by law," the Paris prosecutor said.

In response to the arrest, the Telegram group said on its X account that the company "abides by European Union (EU) laws, including the Digital Services Act".

"It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for abuse of that platform," it added.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the arrest of Durov is "in no way a political decision".

Durov's arrest in France "took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation," Macron said on social media platform X.

After the arrest, Russia's embassy in Paris has referred a note to the French Foreign Ministry demanding consular access to Durov, the TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk, owner of the US social media platform X, and Edward Snowden, former US National Security Agency contractor, condemned Durov's arrest on Sunday. Source: https://www.morungexpress.com/telegram-ceo-durov-released-on-bail-but-formally-put-under-investigation

Read More........ → August 30, 2024

N Korea stole $300m in crypto to fund nukes: UN report

A confidential UN report claimed that North Korea has stolen more than $300 million worth of cryptocurrencies through cyberattacks in recent months to support its banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. -Reports AFP

Compiled by a panel of experts monitoring sanctions on Pyongyang, the report said the country’s “total theft of virtual assets from 2019 to November 2020 is valued at approximately $316.4 million”, citing a UN member state. 

Financial institutions and exchanges were hacked to generate revenue for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development, said the report, which was seen by AFP. 

The vast majority of the proceeds came from two thefts late last year. 

The North is known to operate an army of thousands of well-trained hackers who have attacked firms, institutions and researchers in South Korea and elsewhere. 

It has also been accused of exploiting its cyber capabilities for financial gain. 

The North is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which have made rapid progress under leader Kim Jong Un. 

A summit between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump in Hanoi in February 2019 broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return. 

Nuclear talks have been stalled ever since, while the North showed off several new missiles at military parades in October and last month when Kim pledged to strengthen his nuclear arsenal.

The UN panel said it was investigating a September 2020 hack against a cryptocurrency exchange that resulted in $281 million worth of cryptocurrencies being stolen. 

A second cyberattack siphoned off $23 million a month later.

“Preliminary analysis, based on the attack vectors and subsequent efforts to launder the illicit proceeds strongly suggests links to the DPRK,” the report said, using the initials for the North’s official name.

Pyongyang’s cyberwarfare abilities first came to global prominence in 2014 when it was accused of hacking into Sony Pictures Entertainment as revenge for “The Interview”, a satirical film that mocked leader Kim.

The attack resulted in the posting of several unreleased movies as well as a vast trove of confidential documents online.

The North is also blamed for a huge, $81 million cyber-heist from the Bangladesh Central Bank, as well as the theft of $60 million from Taiwan’s Far Eastern International Bank.

The North’s hackers have allegedly stepped up campaigns to raise funds by attacking cryptocurrency exchanges as the value of bitcoin and other cybercurrencies soared.

They were blamed for the 2017 WannaCry global ransomware cyberattack, which infected some 300,000 computers in 150 nations encrypting user files and demanding hundreds of dollars from their owners for the keys to get them back.Pyongyang has denied the accusations, saying it has “nothing to do with cyber-attacks”. - AFP Source:https://www.daily-bangladesh.com

Read More........ → February 10, 2021

Mexico`s ex-governor shot dead in restaurant’s toilet

Aristoteles Sandoval, the former governor of Mexico’s troubled western state of Jalisco was shot dead in a restaurant bathroom in the popular beach resort of Puerto Vallarta on Friday.

State attorney general Gerardo Octavio Solis said that Sandoval was dining with four others when at around 1:40 am he got up from the table and went to the toilet, where the killer shot him in the back. 

Although only one gunman fired at Sandoval, he may have been accompanied by as many as nine accomplices who waited outside the restaurant, Solis said. 

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that Sandoval did not die immediately, but when his bodyguards tried to evacuate him from the restaurant, their escape was blocked by more gunmen in the street outside, who opened fire, seriously injuring one of the bodyguards. The former governor died soon afterwards at a local hospital. 

According to officials, Sandoval had 15 police bodyguards assigned to him as well as bulletproof vehicles. Two of the bodyguards were present but were outside the restaurant when the attack took place. 

Solis said that staff at the restaurant cleaned the crime scene, removing blood and bullet casings, and erasing video of the attack. “There are no clues - they practically swept the place clean,” Solis told Televisa. He said eight to 10 suspects were involved in the attack but did not indicate who was responsible.

Jalisco is the heartland of one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal gangs, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The gang controls much of the state since it rose to power during the former governor’s term from 2013 to 2018. Mexico has been marred by gang violence for years. More than 34,500 murders were reported last year, but the country already set a new record as during the first six months of 2020 there were more than 17,400 murders - a 1.7 percent increase compared with the same period last year. - Aljazeera, The Guardian Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com

Read More........ → December 20, 2020

Gunmen attack in Naigeria school, hundreds missing

Hundreds of students feared missing after unidentified gunmen attacked a secondary school in north-western Nigeria on Friday evening.

No student was injured in the attack, said authority.

Witnesses said that the attackers targeted the Government Science Secondary School - where more than 800 students are said to reside - in Katsina state on Friday evening.

On Saturday, the military said it had located the gunmen's hideout in a forest and exchanged gunfire with them.

The outcome was unclear but officials said there were no reports of students being injured. However, witnesses said they saw a number of students being taken away by the gunmen.

In a statement on Saturday, police said that during an exchange of fire, some of the gunmen were forced to retreat. Students were able to scale the fence of the school and run to safety, they said.About 200 students who had fled - and were initially deemed missing - later returned. One police officer was taken to hospital after being shot and wounded, police said. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com/

Read More........ → December 15, 2020

NZ sex worker wins major payout in sexual harassment case

A New Zealand sex worker will receive a six-figure payout after filing a sexual harassment case against a business owner.

The sum is part of a settlement to compensate the woman for "emotional harm and lost earnings", said the human rights body that represented her.

The case served as a reminder that all workers have the right to freedom from sexual harassment at work, it added.

New Zealand passed a law decriminalizing sex work in 2003.

The details of the proceedings, including the identities of those involved, is confidential.

But the settlement announced on Monday was viewed as an important milestone for sex workers' rights.

"It's great to see a settlement of this type has been awarded in the context of sex work to a sex worker," Dame Catherine Healy, national coordinator of the New Zealand Sex Workers Collective, told the BBC.

"It takes courage to stand up in the workplace, any workplace," she added, saying it was a "wake-up call" for businesses.

Healy was at the forefront of a long campaign to decriminalise sex work in New Zealand, arguing that it would make the profession safer.

Her collective helped draft the landmark Prostitution Reform Act. It was passed in 2003, allowing brothels to operate as legitimate businesses and granting sex workers full employment rights.

On Monday Michael Timmins, director of New Zealand's Office of Human Rights Proceedings, which represented the sex worker, said the settlement "serves as an important reminder to businesses across the country"."All workers, regardless of the type of work they do, have the right to freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace. We encourage all business owners and employers to ensure that they understand and respect those rights," he said in a statement. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com/

Read More........ → December 15, 2020

Biden’s son Hunter under federal tax investigation

Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden who won the US presidential election, and a frequent target of Republican attacks, said Wednesday he was under federal investigation about his taxes, reports BBC.

The revelation about the probe included no details, but it promises to rekindle Republican rage about the Biden family, including Hunter Biden’s business dealings and the elder Biden’s anti-corruption push in Ukraine when he was US vice president.

I learned yesterday for the first time that the US Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs, Hunter Biden said in a statement released by his father’s presidential transition team.

I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors, he added.

It also presents a series of thorny issues during the president-elect’s transition into the White House in just over one month’s time, including the possibility his son will still be under investigation by the US Department of Justice.Hunter Biden, 50, is a lawyer who has founded consulting and investment firms, worked in private equity and served on the board of various organizations including national railroad corporation Amtrak. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com

Read More........ → December 10, 2020

800-page report shows how Tarrant eluded detection

New Zealand’s Royal Commission on Tuesday submitted a comprehensive report into last year’s Christchurch mosque shootings in which 51 Muslim worshippers were killed.

The nearly 800-page Royal Commission of Inquiry report shows that the attacker, Brenton Tarrant, kept a low profile and told nobody of his plans.

It concludes that despite the shortcomings of various agencies, there were no clear signs the attack was imminent aside from the manifesto Tarrant sent out just eight minutes before he began shooting, which came too late for agencies to respond.

But the report does detail failings in the police system for vetting gun licenses and says that New Zealand’s intelligence agencies were too alert on the threat posed by Islamic extremism at the expense of other threats.

Among 44 recommendations, the report says the government should establish a new national intelligence agency.

In 2019, 51 Muslims were killed in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch by a man named Brenton Tarrant.In August, the 30-year-old Tarrant was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to 92 counts of terrorism, murder, and attempted murder. https://www.daily-bangladesh.com/

Read More........ → December 08, 2020