ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, blockchain security company Elliptic reported that the illegal trading platform Huione, with a total transaction volume of $24 billion, has launched its own stablecoin USDH and chat service.The platform previously primarily used USDT, but after Tether froze its accounts in July 2024 due to involvement with North Korea's Lazarus group, it developed USDH to circumvent regulatory restrictions.Elliptic's investigation shows that the platform is related to the Cambodian Huione Group and is involved in illegal activities such as money laundering, fraud, and human trafficking, including forced online scam activities within the Golden Fortune Technology Park.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Travis Hill, the vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), recently expressed criticism of the FDIC's stance on digital assets during a public speech and called for banking regulators to issue new guidelines for digital assets. Hill was appointed to the board by the Republicans two years ago, and he criticized the FDIC's role in pressuring banks to abandon crypto clients.He stated, "The long-term goal of the FDIC is to reduce the number of unbanked individuals. It is unacceptable to deprive law-abiding customers of banking services, and regulators must work to put an end to this behavior. Anyone who overtly or covertly pressures banks to stop providing services to law-abiding customers has no place at the FDIC."Current FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg has informed agency staff that he will resign on January 19 (the day before Trump's inauguration). In the absence of the chairman, Vice Chairman Travis Hill will temporarily assume the role of chairman.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptonews, in the fourth quarter of 2024, the demand for cryptocurrency mining machines and related services in Russia is expected to triple year-on-year. Sergey Bezdelov, chairman of the Industrial Mining Association, stated that this is due to new regulations allowing individuals and businesses to mine legally within a certain energy consumption range.The new regulations grant legal status to mining and require miners consuming over 6000 kilowatt-hours to register, but they still operate in a relatively relaxed regulatory environment. The Russian Ministry of Finance expects that cryptocurrency miner taxes could reach up to $500 million annually.Meanwhile, lawmakers have indicated that they may further simplify regulations, especially for businesses using cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, in order to promote market development.

According to ChainCatcher news reported by The Block, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia has indicted three Russian citizens for crimes related to operating two cryptocurrency mixers. According to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice, the defendants Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov are accused of running two mixing companies named Blender.io and Sinbad.io. They are charged with conspiracy to launder money and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.In May 2022, the U.S. discovered that North Korean hackers used Blender to launder $20.5 million from the $600 million Axie Infinity hack, leading to sanctions against Blender. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic pointed out in 2023 that Sinbad is likely a rebranded version of Blender, operated by the same organization. Blender maintained a "no-logs policy" and deleted user transaction details.The company operated from 2018 until 2022, with its successor Sinbad emerging a few months after Blender's shutdown. On November 27, 2023, law enforcement took action to shut down Sinbad. If convicted, the defendants could face up to 20 years in prison for money laundering and up to 5 years for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Ostapenko and Oleynik were arrested on December 1, 2024. Tarasov remains at large.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Ian McGinley, the Enforcement Director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced he will resign on January 17. He joined the agency in February 2023 and led enforcement actions against companies such as Binance, KuCoin, and Falcon Labs. In a statement announcing his resignation on January 17, Ian McGinley stated that "making the CFTC the primary enforcement agency for digital assets" was a top priority during his tenure.Reports indicate that Trump's transition team has set its sights on a long list of potential CFTC leaders, but has not acted as swiftly as it did during appointments at the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, if cryptocurrency legislation progresses in 2025, the CFTC may replace the SEC as the dominant regulator of the U.S. digital asset market.

ChainCatcher news, as reported by Bitcoin Magazine, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz recently stated that he invests in Bitcoin through Dollar-Cost Averaging and has been doing so for several years.He noted that during this period, the value of Bitcoin has approximately tripled.

ChainCatcher News, U.S. regulators plan to strengthen customer protections for cryptocurrency accounts.U.S. consumer banking regulators suggest that U.S. cryptocurrency companies should be responsible for refunds when customer accounts are hacked, aligning the standards for digital wallets with those of bank accounts.The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) stated on Friday that it hopes to mandate service providers to compensate consumers who lose funds due to hacking or unauthorized transactions. This move by the CFPB will force digital asset companies to enhance security and reserves to address operational threats.The CFPB is seeking to expand the scope of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to protect customers from payment fraud. The agency aims to broaden the term "funds" to include any asset that "acts or is used like money." The proposal states that this would include stablecoins, cryptocurrency tokens similar to digital dollars, and "any other fungible assets in similar positions that serve as a medium of exchange or a means of payment for goods or services."

ChainCatcher news, the Berachain ecosystem liquidity aggregator Ooga Booga has announced the completion of a $1.5 million strategic funding round, which will be used to accelerate its next phase of development within the Berachain ecosystem. This round of financing was led by Primal, with participating institutions including CitizenX, Quantstamp, Rubik, ViaBTC Capital, TempleDAO, and others. Several angel investors participated, including individual investors from Infinex, GMX, Saison Capital, Movement Labs, and more.According to RootData, Ooga Booga is a decentralized exchange aggregator based on Berachain that finds the cheapest cryptocurrency trades for traders by searching multiple different exchanges.

ChainCatcher news, the Web3 AI creator platform Oh has completed a $4.5 million seed round financing, with participation from Tangent, Big Brain Holdings, Kosmos Ventures, Tagus Capital, and Bodhi Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to expand its product range and reshape the digital creator economy.The main product of this creator platform, OhChat, is capable of creating AI-driven "digital twins" for online creators. The platform plans to launch its utility token in the first quarter of 2025, which will be deployed on the Solana blockchain along with all on-chain assets of the protocol.According to RootData, Oh is an AI infrastructure and product aimed at digital creators, supporting ownership of personalized, interoperable AI characters, thereby unlocking significant monetization opportunities both within and outside the ecosystem. Anyone can build and own a supermodel, and creators can have their own digital twin, monetizing through their likeness without the restrictions of other creator platforms (earning 80% of the net revenue from the characters).

ChainCatcher news, the Sui Foundation Hydropower Accelerator Program announced 12 winning projects, including the DeFi aggregator 7k, the peer-to-peer advertising network AdToken, the stablecoin-based fintech operating system CryptoMate, the digital rewards platform Gifted, the DeFi analytics and insights platform InsiDeX, the decentralized market maker and high-frequency trading infrastructure Lotus Finance, the liquidity layer Nativerse, the yield trading platform Nemo Protocol, the DePIN project Pomerene, the tokenization and financing platform Printr, the media Protocol Media Labs, and a project currently under confidentiality.Winning projects will have the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of Sui, meet with other developers, receive mentorship, learn from experts in the Web3 field, and gain practical support from the Sui Foundation.

ChainCatcher message, regulatory risk management AI platform Abstract completes $4.8 million financing, with blockchain venture capital firms Communitas Capital and Bonfire Ventures leading the round. The new funds will be used to build its AI smart platform to provide real-time analysis of proposed and existing government policies and regulations.It is reported that the portfolio of Communitas Capital also includes currency infrastructure B2B marketplace AbbeyCross, crypto wallet API Tweed, crypto market trading solution provider Finery Markets, and cryptocurrency intelligence company Coin Metrics, among others.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the Cosmos-based crypto AI company Fetch.ai has announced the launch of a $10 million accelerator to support AI agent startups, helping them develop solutions focused on AI agents, quantum computing, and high-performance technology. It is reported that the accelerator operates through Fetch.ai's innovation lab, aiming to connect research with practical applications. Fetch.ai will provide funding and guidance to help startups expand globally.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Fetch.ai announced the launch of a $10 million accelerator program aimed at supporting startups focused on AI agents, quantum computing, and high-performance technologies.

ChainCatcher news, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommends that Kenya create a clear and predictable regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency market to protect consumers and address risks related to anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT).The IMF points out that Kenya currently relies on outdated regulations from traditional markets and lacks legally binding regulation for the crypto market, leading to an increase in crypto-related scams and criminal activities.The IMF suggests that Kenya develop a cryptocurrency regulatory environment that aligns with international frameworks and standards, while also considering the unique challenges and opportunities of the local market, ensuring that the regulatory framework protects consumers, maintains financial stability, and promotes innovation.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, the chairman of the financial regulatory authority in Taiwan, Peng Jinlong, stated that he adopts a cautious and friendly attitude towards the virtual asset market. The draft of the special law on virtual assets has been completed and will soon enter the public hearing process. The draft of the special law on virtual assets will be submitted to the administrative management agency of Taiwan before June 30 this year.

ChainCatcher news, according to the soon-to-be outgoing chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler, who stated in a media interview on Wednesday that the cryptocurrency space is filled with "bad actors" and is a "non-compliant" area, with market sentiment impacting it far more than fundamentals.Gensler emphasized that while Bitcoin accounts for 60% to 80% of the cryptocurrency market value, the remaining 10,000 to 15,000 cryptocurrency projects have also raised funds from the public, many of which ultimately fail, with a significant number of "pump and dump" scams and other issues.Gensler mentioned that he has achieved some results in the field of cryptocurrency regulation since taking office, continuing the work of his predecessor Jay Clayton. Over the past four years, the SEC has initiated about 100 enforcement actions in the cryptocurrency space, accounting for 5% of its enforcement work. He is proud of the SEC's regulatory efforts in the cryptocurrency field but believes there is still much work to be done.