ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the Italian data protection authority has fined OpenAI $15.7 million (€15 million) after investigating data collection related to OpenAI's flagship artificial intelligence model, and has ordered the ChatGPT manufacturer to conduct a six-month public awareness campaign.The Italian Data Protection Authority (IDPA), also known as Garante, stated in a declaration on December 20 that its investigation found OpenAI did not report a data breach that occurred in March 2023 to the agency.The supervisory body stated that OpenAI also "processed users' personal data" to train the chatbot but did not first establish "sufficient legal grounds" for this action, violating the "principle of transparency and the obligation to provide relevant information to users."

ChainCatcher news, according to Protos, Tether's main asset custodian Cantor Fitzgerald has agreed to pay a $6.75 million fine to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC accused its two special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) of issuing misleading statements to investors before raising $750 million in IPO funds, concealing substantial discussions with potential merger targets.The SEC stated that Cantor Fitzgerald merged its SPACs with View, Inc. and Satellogic Inc., but claimed in public documents that it had not contacted any target companies. Cantor did not admit or deny the allegations but emphasized that no investors were harmed by the related issues.Additionally, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Cantor Fitzgerald holds a 5% stake in Tether and manages most of its assets, charging tens of millions of dollars in fees.

ChainCatcher news, Kraken's Australian operator Bit Trade is required to pay 5 million dollars plus legal fees. Judge John Nicholas ordered Kraken's Australian operating company Bit Trade to pay the fine and cover legal costs within 60 days. The court found that Bit Trade failed to fulfill its design and distribution obligations and acted as a credit institution without a license.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, the fines and investor relief obtained by the U.S. CFTC reached a record $17.1 billion, largely due to the agency's crackdown on FTX. Most of the fines and relief for the fiscal year 2024 are related to FTX and its sister hedge fund Alameda Research, leading to over $8.7 billion in compensation and $4 billion in illegal gains, the highest in CFTC history.The regulatory agency also ordered a $2.85 billion fine and relief against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao to settle allegations of operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange. In October, the agency took action for the first time against the voluntary carbon credit market, accusing former CQC Impact Investors CEO of falsifying data to obtain carbon credits.CFTC Enforcement Director Ian McGinley stated in a release, "This year, we have seen large-scale, complex cases and settlements in both our traditional markets and increasingly important areas like the voluntary carbon market. We are committed to prioritizing strong, effective, and targeted enforcement to deter future misconduct."

ChainCatcher news, the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea ruled to cancel the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)'s fine of 1.9942 billion won (approximately 1.42 million USD) imposed on the virtual asset exchange Hanbitco for KYC violations. The court found that the FIU failed to provide evidence proving that 197 customers met the "aggravating conditions" under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, nor did it conduct relevant investigations. The so-called "aggravating conditions" refer to the suspicion of customer identity, which may involve the concealment of the actual owner's identity, money laundering activities, or risks of financing terrorism.This ruling may affect the FIU's review of KYC violations by other exchanges, including the recent investigation into 700,000 violations against Upbit.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received $8.2 billion in fines for the fiscal year 2024, setting a record high in its history, with more than half ($4.5 billion) coming from the SEC's fines against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon. Without this settlement, the SEC's finances would have reached their lowest level since 2013, at $3.72 billion.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, the EU warns that when calculating fines for the social media platform "X", revenue from Musk's other businesses, including SpaceX and Neuralink, may be taken into account. This approach would significantly increase the potential penalties for violating content moderation rules. Under the EU's Digital Services Act, if illegal content and misinformation issues are not addressed, or if transparency requirements are not met, the EU can impose fines of up to 6% of the platform's global annual revenue.Regulators are considering whether to include sales from SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI, and theBoringCompany, in addition to revenue generated by the social network, when determining potential fines for "X". One insider indicated that Tesla's sales would not be affected by this calculation, as it is a publicly traded company and not under Musk's complete control. The potential fine amounts are still under discussion. If "X" finds a way to address the regulators' concerns, it may avoid penalties.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) is one of the regulatory bodies for the cryptocurrency industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The authority stated that it has fined seven "entities" for operating without the required licenses and violating marketing regulations.VARA did not disclose the names of these entities and stated that it is investigating them in collaboration with local authorities. The fines for each entity range from 50,000 dirhams (13,600 USD) to 100,000 dirhams. The statement said: "All relevant entities have been instructed to immediately cease all activities and stop any marketing or advertising of virtual asset services." VARA indicated that this move also serves as a public warning to everyone to avoid dealing with any unlicensed companies.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency's new media, the social media platform X, owned by American tech tycoon Elon Musk, announced on the 4th that it has paid all fines and applied to lift its operating ban in Brazil. However, the Brazilian Supreme Court responded the same day that the decision on whether to allow the X platform to resume operations would be delayed due to the fines being transferred to the "wrong" bank account.According to Reuters, earlier on the 4th, the X platform submitted an application to the Brazilian Supreme Court, stating that it has paid all previously owed fines and hopes to restore its operating services in Brazil. Reuters cited a related document reporting that X platform's lawyers stated the company has paid a fine of 28.6 million reais (approximately 5.24 million USD).

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, Elon Musk's social media platform X has paid the fine imposed by the Brazilian Supreme Court, and the company will submit a new request to restore its services in the country.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Sina Finance, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined Meta Platforms (META.US), the parent company of Facebook, €91 million (approximately $102 million) following an investigation into password storage at its Irish subsidiary, according to a statement from the regulatory agency.The owner of Facebook had previously notified the Data Protection Commission that it had inadvertently stored certain passwords of some social media users in "plain text" within its internal systems, without encryption protection or measures, prompting the Commission to begin an investigation into the password leak incident in April 2019.Last year, the European Commission accused the tech giant of transferring user data to the United States and imposed fines of up to €1.2 billion (approximately $1.3 billion), and this fine can be seen as a supplement to the fines imposed by the European Commission last year.

ChainCatcher news, according to ZDNet Korea, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) of South Korea has fined the Worldcoin Foundation and Tools for Humanity (TFH) for violating personal data protection laws.The Worldcoin Foundation was fined 725 million won (approximately $546,000) for improperly handling sensitive information and transferring it abroad. Tools for Humanity (TFH) was fined 379 million won (approximately $285,000) for violating local regulations regarding the outbound transfer of personal data.The investigation began in February, triggered by complaints and reports that Worldcoin collected biometric data without permission to provide cryptocurrency services.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler announced the full text of his testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee.It disclosed that the work of the enforcement division is at the core of the SEC's investor protection responsibilities. In fiscal year 2023, the SEC took 784 enforcement actions, with fines and recoveries totaling $4.9 billion. Whenever possible, civil penalties and recoveries obtained by the SEC in civil enforcement actions will be returned to the harmed investors, with $930 million allocated to harmed investors in fiscal year 2023.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Tuesday that it has charged TrueCoin LLC and TrustToken Inc., the companies responsible for the TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin, for allegedly selling fraudulent and unregistered investment contracts.The regulator stated that TrueUSD is a "so-called stablecoin" and accused these companies of making false marketing claims regarding the security and backing of the crypto asset pegged to the dollar. The two companies have reached a settlement without admitting or denying the charges and will jointly pay approximately $700,000 in fines.Jorge G. Tenreiro, acting head of the SEC's Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, stated in a release: "TrueCoin and TrustToken exposed investors to a significant amount of undisclosed risks through false statements about the safety of their investments for their own benefit. This case is a typical example of why registration is important, as investors still lack the key information needed to make fully informed decisions regarding such products."However, the SEC pointed out that TrueCoin and TrustToken made false statements regarding the backing of TUSD. These companies allocated a "significant portion" of TUSD's backing to a "speculative and high-risk offshore investment fund for additional returns."

ChainCatcher news, the U.S. CFTC has imposed a fine of $36 million on New York resident William Koo Ichioka for allegedly deceiving cryptocurrency investors through promises of high returns and using the funds for personal expenses.According to a statement on September 20, the CFTC ordered Ichioka to "pay $31 million in restitution" to victims and an additional $5 million in civil penalties for operating fraudulent forex and cryptocurrency schemes. The CFTC stated that Ichioka launched the scheme in 2018, accepting funds from investors and falsely promising "a 10% return every 30 business days." It further claimed that while Ichioka did invest "some funds" in foreign currencies and cryptocurrencies as promised to investors, he "mixed" investors' money with his own for personal expenses, including "rent for personal residences, jewelry including watches, and luxury cars."This decision came more than a year after a court's "preliminary consent order for a permanent injunction against Ichioka" in August 2023. At that time, the regulator prohibited him from "trading in any CFTC-regulated markets and also barred him from registering with the CFTC."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shown a significant increase in enforcement actions in the cryptocurrency industry in 2024. According to a report released by Social Capital Markets, the total fines imposed by the SEC on cryptocurrency companies and executives this year have surged to $4.7 billion, a staggering 3018% increase from $150.3 million in 2023.The report indicates that the SEC has carried out 11 enforcement actions this year, a decrease of 19 from the previous fiscal year, but the total fines have reached a historic high. Notably, the $4.47 billion settlement reached by the SEC in June 2024 with Terraform Labs and its former CEO Do Kwon constitutes the "largest single enforcement action to date."Data analysis shows that the SEC is shifting towards a strategic adjustment targeting high-impact cases. Since 2020, 46% of the total fines have been below $1 million, while 30% fall within the range of $1 million to $10 million. It is worth noting that the SEC's $1.24 billion enforcement action against Telegram in 2019 (which included a $18.5 million civil penalty and $1.2 billion in asset recovery) led to an almost 2000% year-on-year increase in the average fine amount for that year, exceeding $70 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reported on Tuesday that Judge Mary Rowland of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has ordered Oregon resident Sam Ikkurty and several of his entities to pay a fine of $209.61 million.The entities involved include Jafia LLC, Ikkurty Capital LLC, Rose City Income Fund I LP, Rose City Income Fund II, and Seneca Ventures LLC. The court's decision was based on the CFTC's findings of fraudulent solicitation and misappropriation of funds, which the CFTC described as a Ponzi scheme disguised as cryptocurrency and carbon investment projects.The judgment requires Sam Ikkurty to pay $83.7 million in restitution to investors, offsetting $36.9 million in illegal proceeds forfeiture, in addition to a civil penalty of $110.9 million.