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The European Union is considering a sweeping prohibition on all cryptocurrency transactions involving Russia as part of efforts to restrict Moscow’s ability to use digital assets to bypass existing sanctions, according to a document obtained by FT. The proposed measures would specifically target efforts to prevent sanctioned Russian crypto infrastructure from re-emerging under new guises. Officials are seeking to block "copycat Russian crypto entities spun out of already sanc

Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, is moving closer to launching loans secured by cryptocurrency and said on Friday that it is ready to work alongside the country’s central bank to help develop the regulatory framework required for such products, according to Reuters. The bank has already carried out an initial test of the model, having issued the country’s first bitcoin-backed loan in January to one of Russia’s largest bitcoin mining firms, IntelionData. Sberbank described t

A dramatic selloff in ether this week turned an aggressively bullish wager into a costly unraveling for Trend Research, a trading firm led by Liquid Capital founder Jack Yi, after ETH prices plunged below the $2,000 mark. Trend Research had spent months constructing a massive long position in ether valued at roughly $2 billion. The strategy relied on a high-risk “looped” structure: the firm deposited ether as collateral on the DeFi lending protocol Aave, borrowed stablecoin

Italy’s financial police have carried out a search operation targeting the offices of Triestina Calcio, a third-tier football club currently owned by U.S.-based cryptocurrency firm House of Doge. Investigators are examining allegations involving money laundering, falsified accounting records, and the use of fake invoices. The operation included searches at the club’s headquarters in Trieste, a city in northeastern Italy, as well as inspections at the private residences of 15

Law enforcement agencies across Wyoming are raising urgent concerns after residents lost more than $3 million to cryptocurrency ATM scams in 2025 alone. In response, State Representative Ken Clouston is leading a legislative effort to place these automated kiosks under the direct supervision of the Wyoming Division of Banking. The proposal comes amid a sharp national increase in fraud tied to crypto kiosks, with federal data showing losses exceeding $333 million last year. Au

New research from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has identified specialised underground groups linked to Chinese money laundering operations that processed more than $16.1bn in transaction volume during the 2025 calendar year. According to the findings, these networks handled an average of roughly $44m per day and relied on at least 1,799 active digital wallet addresses to sustain their activity. Chainalysis said the growth of these organisations has dramatically o

A specialist money launderer who played a central role in supporting fugitive cryptocurrency fraudster Zhimin Qian has been ordered to repay £5,603,305.81 or face an extended prison term. Seng Hok Ling was sentenced to four years and eleven months in November 2025 after admitting involvement in a sophisticated criminal enterprise. On the same day, the primary defendant, Zhimin Qian, received a sentence of eleven years and eight months for her leadership of the conspiracy. The

The Korea Customs Service has successfully dismantled a major criminal network that laundered 148.9 billion won through unauthorized digital asset transfers, authorities confirmed. Investigations revealed that three Chinese nationals orchestrated the elaborate scheme by exploiting domestic bank accounts and international cryptocurrency platforms between September 2021 and June of the previous year. The suspects have been referred to the prosecution for serious violations of t

Nigeria has embarked on a sweeping overhaul of how digital assets are monitored, embedding national identification numbers directly into crypto systems to strip away the anonymity that once protected bad actors. The push arrives alongside the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, which compels every virtual-asset transaction to be tied to a verified, real-world identity. By synchronizing its domestic rules with the global crypto-asset reporting framework, the government intend

The global server market surged to an unprecedented $112.4 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2025, marking a new record, according to figures from the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker. The quarter delivered another period of robust expansion, with total vendor revenue climbing 61 per cent year-on-year compared with the same quarter in 2024. Growth was driven by strong demand across both traditional and accelerated server seg

Indian authorities have successfully brought 49 virtual digital asset service providers into the country’s formal financial reporting system during the ongoing fiscal year, marking a decisive step in tightening oversight of the cryptocurrency sector. This development follows an intensive compliance drive led by the Financial Intelligence Unit, aimed at ensuring that all crypto-related platforms function within the framework of existing transparency and anti–money laundering l

Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, together with the Securities and Futures Commission, have concluded consultations on the introduction of new licensing regimes for virtual asset dealers and custodians, confirming that operating such businesses without a licence will constitute a criminal offence. Under the proposed framework, unlicensed activity will be punishable by a fine of HK$5 million and up to seven years’ imprisonment, marking a major expansion o

South Korea has established a high-level task force aimed at overhauling the nation’s financial transaction regulations and reinforcing the domestic framework against illicit capital flows. Authorities confirmed that entities failing to comply with reporting obligations under current legal statutes may face administrative fines of up to 100 million won for non-compliance. Officials stated that the initiative directly responds to the growing complexity of transborder financial

Lawmakers in the UK Parliament are calling on the country’s central bank to rethink its proposed regulatory approach to digital settlement assets, arguing that the current strategy could undermine Britain’s competitiveness in the fast-growing financial technology sector. The intervention follows consultations in which regulators suggested imposing strict limits on how much digital currency individuals and businesses would be permitted to hold within the domestic market. Mem

As many in the market anticipated, cryptocurrency brokerage Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) confirmed on Wednesday that it is moving into prediction markets through a partnership with Kalshi. Speculation around Coinbase’s plans to offer prediction-style contracts has circulated for months and gathered pace last week ahead of an event held earlier today. Event contracts now form part of a wider strategic push by the company, which also includes tokenized equities, aimed at broa

Poland’s ongoing failure to implement a comprehensive legal regime for digital assets aligned with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation has created a mounting anti-money-laundering threat, one intensified by the recent presidential veto of the enabling legislation. With this decision, Poland now stands as the lone EU member state without a MiCA-compliant framework, a position that has prompted sharp warnings from political leaders about the country’

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled a new slate of growth initiatives for 2026, with a major focus on enabling UK-issued stablecoins to deliver quicker and more convenient payment options. As part of this effort, the regulator plans to open its sandbox to allow firms to test stablecoin issuance in a controlled environment, promoting both safe experimentation and forward-looking policymaking. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the FCA noted that nearly

A wide-ranging fraud network built around sham crypto investment platforms and extensive money-laundering channels has been brought down following a sweeping Europol intervention, shutting off an ecosystem that had channelled more than EUR 700 million through counterfeit trading dashboards and complex cross-border blockchain movements. Coordinated raids across Europe exposed the full architecture of the operation, showing how digital anonymity, fabricated interfaces, and orga

Growing unease in the United Kingdom has focused on whether political donations made through digital assets could conceal the true financial source behind contributions. Officials argue that the country’s political finance rules must be updated to confront vulnerabilities that did not exist when the current framework was drafted. Scrutiny intensified after a major political party began accepting digital tokens from supporters early in 2025, triggering debate over transparency

Speaking in Rome on November 28, 2025 at the UIF Bocconi Workshop on economic crime, Paolo Angelini, Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy, delivered a detailed examination of how rapid shifts in digital finance are transforming the mechanics of illicit money movement, creating operational blind spots that European authorities are struggling to close. He argued that the accelerating adoption of digital tools by criminals has outpaced the regulatory frameworks meant to