“Cryptocurrencies are more popular in countries perceived as corrupt or with strict capital controls, boosting the case for greater regulation of the industry, the International Monetary Fund said in a recent report. The report shows why countries might want to require intermediaries, such as digital currency exchanges, to implement know-your-customer procedures — ID verification standards that are designed to prevent fraud, money laundering and terrorism financing, the organization said. Some countries, like the U.S., have already instituted those kinds of controls.”

“Chainalysis , the blockchain data platform, today announced a partnership with Cross River , a technology-driven financial services organization that provides core infrastructure and embedded financial solutions. Cross River is known for providing financial services to the fintech and crypto sectors and will utilize Chainalysis tools to compliantly expand its offerings to additional cryptocurrency businesses.”

“President Joe Biden’s cryptocurrency executive order put the nation’s two federal consumer protection regulators front and center in regulating digital money. The Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have largely taken a back seat to other financial regulators when it comes to crypto. But Biden’s March 9 order directed the CFPB and FTC to study how they can police crypto transactions for fraud and abuse, a mission both agencies are equipped to do.”

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed into law a bill that effectively legalizes the cryptocurrency sector in the country. The decision comes as Ukraine has received cryptocurrency donations worth tens of millions of dollars from individuals and groups hoping to help the country’s war effort against Russia.”

“Utrust, a Portugal-based on-chain crypto payments firm, has received a license from the Portuguese central bank (Banco de Portugal) to operate as a virtual asset service provider, Nuno Correia, Utrust co-founder and chief strategy officer, told CoinDesk on Wednesday.”

“The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned that any crypto ATMs operating in the country are illegal and must be shut down. Operators must be registered with the FCA to offer ATM services and comply with money laundering regulations, the FCA said in a statement on Friday .As none of the 27 fully registered crypto firms have been approved to offer ATM services, any crypto ATMs in the U.K. are operating illegally. According to data by Coin ATM Radar , there are 81 bitcoin ATMs/tellers in the U.K.”

“Global payments giant Stripe has announced that it now supports crypto businesses including exchanges, wallet providers, and NFT marketplaces, among others. According to a statement on its website on Thursday, Stripe now offers fiat payments API integration for crypto businesses to process crypto-to-fiat currency payments.”

“What emerges is a picture of Silicon Valley executives who thought they could charge into finance and make billions, if only they could surmount technical and regulatory barriers. What they failed to realise was that the very fact Facebook had conceived the idea, doomed it. As one government official involved in the process puts it: “Diem spent years trying to reverse engineer their project to fix all of its faults. But they could never fix being linked to Facebook. It was their original sin.””

“President Biden will sign an Executive Order outlining the first ever, whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology. The Order lays out a national policy for digital assets across six key priorities: consumer and investor protection; financial stability; illicit finance; U.S. leadership in the global financial system and economic competitiveness; financial inclusion; and responsible innovation.”

“The U.S. Treasury Department is launching an initiative to raise awareness about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies as the digital asset moves from the fringes of the financial system to the mainstream, a top official said. The Treasury’s Financial Literacy Education Commission will create educational materials and organize outreach to inform the public about how crypto assets work and how they differ from other forms of payment.”

“Binance , the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, has today announced the launch of Bifinity as its official fiat-to-crypto payments provider.  Powered by Binance, Bifinity is a payments technology company that connects businesses, merchants and millions of users to the world of crypto and blockchain. Merchants can use Bifinity’s intuitive APIs to get their business crypto-ready and start accepting crypto payments.”

“The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether certain non-fungible tokens qualify as securities and thus should be regulated, according to a report from Bloomberg , citing sources familiar with the matter. Over the last few months, SEC attorneys have sent subpoenas to NFT creators and various crypto exchanges requesting more information, according to the report.A particular focus of the probe are fractional NFTs, in which a token is broken down into many units that are sold separately, according to the sources.”

“The UK’s top finance watchdog said Thursday that 50 crypto firms are under active investigation. The figure was included in a statement issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which as previously reported has developed and slowly built out a registry of crypto firms under its auspices.”

“Major e-commerce marketplace eBay could integrate crypto payments soon, said CEO Jamie Iannone in a recent interview. The internet marketplace is among the oldest e-commerce platforms, now looking to become the go-to platform for Gen Z and Millennials. The CEO said in an interview with The Street that the firm has been looking to integrate crypto payment options for quite some time and an official announcement could be made during the upcoming investor’s day on March 10.”

“The Biden administration is asking crypto exchanges to help ensure that Russian individuals and organizations aren’t using virtual currencies to avoid sanctions leveled on them by Washington, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.”

“The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team and announced on Thursday that the FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure.”

“A coalition of some of the US’s largest crypto firms is rolling out a solution to heightened anti-money laundering standards. The so-called Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology, or “TRUST,” allows crypto firms to securely collect and transmit customer data in accordance with the travel rule.”