ChainCatcher news, the Chief Legal Officer of Variant Fund posted on X yesterday, stating that as U.S. regulators continue to crack down on the cryptocurrency space, many cryptocurrency founders are considering geofencing as a compliance strategy.In short, geofencing means blocking access to a product for people in specific "geographical locations" by creating a virtual "fence" around the product. If a company cannot comply with regulations, such as providing disclosures and KYC, it can serve as a backup compliance strategy.However, Chervinsky added, "Regarding the issue of regulatory uncertainty, this is a rather extreme solution—completely abandoning the U.S. market—but sometimes there is no choice." He noted that geofencing "is an extreme and costly measure to ensure compliance with U.S. laws."

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that Geoffrey K. Auyeung, a resident of Newcastle, Washington, has been charged in connection with an alleged cryptocurrency money laundering scheme, facing "conspiracy to commit money laundering and nine counts of money laundering through concealment or expenditure."The DOJ stated that Auyeung, who was arrested on August 12, posed as a custodial agent for oil and gas investments to defraud investors, subsequently transferring client funds to accounts under his control. "Once the funds entered accounts controlled by Auyeung, the money would quickly be transferred to other accounts, moved overseas, or used to purchase cryptocurrencies such as BTC, USDT, USDC, and ETH through cryptocurrency exchanges like Gemini, Bitstamp, and Coinbase." Investigators from the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have traced $64 million flowing into 74 different bank accounts linked to Auyeung. The indictment seeks the forfeiture of approximately $2.3 million seized from Auyeung's bank accounts. "Millions converted into cryptocurrency from telecom fraud proceeds have been frozen and are awaiting seizure. HSI has identified 22 victims with total losses of $7.7 million. However, law enforcement believes there may be more victims," the DOJ noted.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the Ethereum EVM Object Format (EOF) improvement proposal has been included in the Pectra hard fork, which is expected to be executed later this year or early next year. The EOF proposal is a series of smaller changes aimed at making significant upgrades to Ethereum's core programming environment, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). EOF will make smart contracts more developer-friendly, especially for those building decentralized applications using the Solidity or Vyper programming languages. This series of changes is quite subtle and may disrupt existing smart contracts, so developers have added a new version that allows DApp builders to choose which version of the EVM to use when deploying code.Ethereum Foundation core developer Parithosh Jayanthi stated that EOF will be the first major change related to the EVM in years, laying the groundwork for future upgrades to the EVM and demonstrating the intention to continue improving the EVM.

ChainCatcher news, Galaxy's Vice President of Research Christine Kim summarized the 192nd Ethereum Core Developers Execution (ACDE) conference call, where developers shared their latest progress on implementing various code changes, including Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 7702 and the addition of the Ethereum Object Format (EOF) in Pectra. The EF Developer Operations team's "pk910" also shared updates on Pectra Devnet 1.Developers have differing views on EOF and decided to temporarily incorporate EOF into Pectra. Additionally, before making decisions on EIP 7742 or RIP 7212, developers should focus on the release of Pectra Devnet 1 and the development of EOF and EIP 7702.

ChainCatcher message, Ethereum core developers have agreed to include the EVM Object Format (EOF) in the upcoming Pectra upgrade. As described in EIP-7692, EOF involves about 11 EIPs that provide an optional container for EVM code to improve code verification and introduce new features.If EOF becomes a blocking factor, it will be separated into a different fork to ensure that Pectra can proceed without significant delays. EOF will not be part of the initial version of devnet 1. The Pectra upgrade will also include the account abstraction standard EIP-7702 proposed by Vitalik Buterin. Overall, Pectra is considered a comprehensive upgrade, planned to include 19 EIPs, making it one of the broadest upgrades in Ethereum's history.

ChainCatcher news, the expert known as the "godfather of artificial intelligence," Geoffrey Hinton, recently consulted with members of the UK government at Downing Street, suggesting that lawmakers consider adopting Universal Basic Income (UBI) to address the impending threat of unemployment.Hinton believes that the AI revolution will primarily benefit the wealthy. Laypeople, blue-collar workers, and those in jobs that can be automated may lose their sources of income. He stated in a recent interview with the BBC, "This will be detrimental to society."Hinton indicated that before the issue becomes urgent, he estimates "within the next 5 to 20 years from now, we have a 50% chance of having to face the problem of AI trying to take over."

ChainCatcher news, cryptocurrency miner Bitfarms has announced the immediate dismissal of CEO Geoffrey Morphy. Bitfarms Chairman and Co-Founder Nicholas Bonta has been appointed as interim President and CEO.On May 10, Geoffrey Morphy filed a lawsuit against the company in the Ontario Superior Court, seeking damages for breach of contract, wrongful dismissal, and aggravated and punitive damages in the amount of $27 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to TechCrunch, SoftBank is selling its venture capital division in Korea, SoftBank Ventures Asia (SBVA), to Singapore-based venture capital firm The Edgeof. This acquisition comes after SoftBank and its Vision Fund faced significant losses amid a tech downturn and macroeconomic slowdown. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but The Edgeof aims to complete the acquisition this year.The Edgeof was founded last month by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's brother Taizo Son and Mistletoe Managing Director Atsushi Taira, with the goal of transforming the startup ecosystem across Asia through αStartups (using advanced technology to solve fundamental problems in the world).SoftBank Ventures Asia has approximately $2 billion in assets under management (AUM) and invests in many companies across Asia, including the South Korean home application OHouse, the Japanese sneaker resale platform SODA, the Indonesian cloud kitchen startup Yummy, and the hyper-localized social commerce company Super. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the NFT platform OneOf has acquired the blockchain rewards tool Tap Network to help the company connect with its consumers in Web3. OneOf will launch OnePlatform, a turnkey option for companies looking to expand into Web3, combining elements of e-commerce, data, and loyalty programs.It is reported that Tap Network was founded in 2018 and allows consumers to exchange loyalty points for cryptocurrency, having established partnerships with companies such as the internet browser Brave, ride-sharing company Uber, and entertainment company Warner Music Group. (source link)

Chain Catcher News: The Recording Academy behind the 64th Grammy Awards has partnered with the music NFT platform OneOf to sign a three-year NFT release plan. The first NFT series will be launched at the 64th Grammy Awards ceremony in October. (Source link)