ChainCatcher News: A U.S. federal judge has dismissed the SEC's request for sanctions against Elon Musk, citing his absence from a court order related to his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled that Musk should not be sanctioned for his testimony on October 3 and ordered the SEC to reimburse him $2,923 for travel expenses. The SEC argued that Musk violated an order from May 31 and sought stronger deterrents, but Corley found the issue to be without merit.Musk attributed his absence on September 10 to overseeing SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission.The SEC's investigation aims to determine whether Musk delayed disclosing his purchase of Twitter stock in 2022, which could violate securities laws. Critics argue that this delay allowed Musk to acquire shares of the company at a lower price before disclosing his 9.2% stake.Musk previously acknowledged a misunderstanding of SEC rules. He had settled with the SEC in 2018 over tweets related to Tesla. The case is still pending in the Northern District of California. (Bitcoin.com)

ChainCatcher news, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino responded to the FUD news by stating, "As we told The Wall Street Journal, there is no indication that Tether is under investigation. The Wall Street Journal is just repeating old news."Previously, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Treasury Department is considering sanctions against the stablecoin issuer Tether. According to informed sources, the federal government is investigating whether the cryptocurrency company Tether may have violated sanctions and anti-money laundering regulations.

ChainCatcher news, the U.S. Treasury is considering sanctions against Tether. According to informed sources, the federal government is investigating the cryptocurrency company Tether for potential violations of sanctions and anti-money laundering regulations.Prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office have launched a criminal investigation into whether Tether's cryptocurrency has been used by third parties to fund illegal activities such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and hacking, or to launder the proceeds from these activities.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg Terminal information, as the BRICS summit opens in Kazan, Russia, cryptocurrency issues have been brought to the agenda. Russian lawmakers are promoting the idea that Russian miners can sell their tokens to international buyers, while domestic buyers can use BitCity and other cryptocurrency markets to pay for imported goods, effectively bypassing Western sanctions. Richard Wolf, an American economist and emeritus professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, commented on this situation, stating that the BRICS alliance is surpassing the already peaked United States. The U.S. is in decline and is trying to maintain its international dominance.

ChainCatcher news, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) jointly imposed sanctions last week on key members of the ransomware gang Evil Corp.At the same time, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment accusing a member of Evil Corp of deploying BitPaymer ransomware within the United States.It is reported that the Evil Corp organization developed and spread Dridex, a malware that infected computers worldwide and stole login credentials, resulting in over $100 million being stolen from hundreds of banks and financial institutions in more than 40 countries.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. government has sanctioned two Russian cryptocurrency exchanges, PM2BTC and Cryptex, related to underground financial activities, as well as two individuals.The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Treasury Department has designated PM2BTC and its associated individual Sergey Ivanov as "primary money laundering concerns," as the exchange is suspected of handling proceeds from ransomware and other illegal activities. Cryptex is alleged to be linked to Russian cybercriminals, involved in over $720 million in illegal transactions.The U.S. Secret Service Cyber Investigations Division, Dutch police, and the Dutch Financial Intelligence and Investigation Service have seized the network domains and infrastructure associated with PM2BTC, Cryptex, and Ivanov.

ChainCatcher news, the latest report from blockchain analysis company Chainalysis points out that Russia is building financial infrastructure to use cryptocurrency for international trade and evade Western sanctions. The report emphasizes that a bill recently passed by the Russian parliament legalizes cryptocurrency mining and allows the use of cryptocurrency for international payments. These bills were signed into law by President Putin on August 8, and a pilot program for crypto payments will begin this September. The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) will oversee the pilot for cross-border cryptocurrency transactions and is testing the digital ruble, which is expected to launch in 2025.Valerie Kennedy, head of investigations at Chainalysis, stated that the CBR is leading the way in integrating cryptocurrency into the Russian financial system for cross-border payments. The report notes that centralized cryptocurrency exchanges within Russia, such as Garantex, may be used to process cross-border payments.Chainalysis also stated that Russia is exploring other methods to bypass Western sanctions, including blockchain initiatives with BRICS countries and a potential collaboration with Iran to launch a gold-backed stablecoin.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi Data reports, the United States is formulating new sanctions against Venezuelan government officials in response to the controversial re-election of President Maduro in July.The U.S. Treasury is set to announce 15 individual sanctions against officials subordinate to Maduro, stating that these officials "hinder the holding of free and fair presidential elections."The U.S. claims that these measures target key leaders who collaborated with Maduro to undermine the voting on July 28, including members of the electoral authority, the Venezuelan Supreme Court, the National Assembly, as well as the National Intelligence Service and the Military Counterintelligence Directorate. The plan is expected to be announced as early as this week, and changes may occur before finalization.

According to ChainCatcher news, the plaintiff Van Loon appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court on September 2, suing the U.S. Department of the Treasury for its decision to place Tornado Cash on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. The plaintiff argues that the Treasury imposed sanctions on this open-source project without clear guidelines, which could threaten programmers' First Amendment rights. Van Loon and his team sued the Treasury in September 2023, accusing it of overstepping its authority.Tornado Cash was sanctioned for allegedly being involved in money laundering activities, with the government claiming that the platform has been linked to over $7 billion in illegal funds since 2019. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) supports this lawsuit, expressing concerns that government sanctions could have a chilling effect on open-source software development. A lower court previously dismissed the lawsuit, stating that the sanctions were limited to transactions involving Tornado Cash smart contracts and did not affect the development and discussion of open-source code. However, the EFF and other digital rights advocates remain vigilant about the broader implications of the case, emphasizing the importance of protecting programmers' rights.

ChainCatcher message, the global government affairs team of platform X issued a statement in response to "the Brazilian Supreme Court will suspend X's operations in the country before August 29":"Shortly, we expect Judge Alexandre de Moraes to order the shutdown of X in Brazil—simply because we will not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents. These opponents include a formally elected senator and a 16-year-old girl, among others. When we tried to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened to imprison our Brazilian legal representative. Even after she resigned, he froze all her bank accounts. Our challenges to his obviously illegal actions have either been dismissed or ignored. The fundamental issue is that Judge de Moraes is asking us to violate Brazil's own laws.In the coming days, for the sake of transparency, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes's illegal demands as well as all relevant court documents. Unlike other social media and tech platforms, we will not secretly comply with illegal orders. For users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech."

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, a recent report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank reveals that Ethereum block builders have largely cooperated with the sanctions against Tornado Cash.The report states that block validators downstream of transactions may collaborate and notes that the sanctions may not apply to non-U.S. citizens.

ChainCatcher message, according to a recent study by the Central Bank of Russia, trading by Russian citizens on global trading platforms has surged in the past two quarters, prompting officials to warn that users face increased risks. During this period, visits to some leading cryptocurrency exchange websites exceeded 104.6 million, marking a 16.4% increase compared to web traffic in the second and third quarters of 2023.Additionally, the average monthly number of independent Russian users on major cryptocurrency exchanges grew by 15.1%. In the first quarter of 2024, these users accounted for 7% of the total traffic on these platforms, although this is still below the peak of 9% in the first quarter of 2023.The report also highlights the potential risks posed to users by the increased adoption of cryptocurrencies. Specifically, if Western countries intensify pressure on digital asset issuers, Russian users may face additional challenges and uncertainties.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, the non-custodial Bitcoin exchange Hodl Hodl has changed its service agreement to explicitly exclude residents from the United States (including its states and the District of Columbia), the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba, North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Puerto Rico, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and any countries and regions subject to United Nations sanctions from accessing its lending platform. This change is part of Hodl Hodl's stricter policy to address regulatory uncertainty and ensure the security and integrity of the platform.Although the platform has never provided services to U.S. customers, this update still affects some users in emerging markets. Catrya, co-founder of the Cuban Bitcoin community Cuba BTC, expressed regret over this, stating that this move "closes another door for Cubans." However, Hodl Hodl has promised that existing users in these restricted jurisdictions will still be able to complete current loan transactions but will not be able to participate in new lending activities.

ChainCatcher news, according to Reuters, three insiders revealed that as the United States reimposes oil sanctions on Venezuela, the state-owned oil company PDVSA plans to increase the use of digital currencies in its crude oil and fuel exports.It is reported that the U.S. Treasury Department requested PDVSA's customers and suppliers to end transactions by May 31. This move will make it more difficult for Venezuela to increase oil production and exports, as companies will have to wait for separate authorization from the U.S. to conduct business with Venezuela.Since last year, PDVSA has been slowly shifting towards USDT in oil sales, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar. Insiders stated that the restoration of oil sanctions is accelerating this shift, aimed at reducing the risk of sales revenue being frozen in foreign bank accounts due to sanctions.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury made a formal statement to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, claiming that Russia is using Tether's USDT stablecoin to evade economic sanctions.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, the United States and the United Kingdom are reviewing over $20 billion in cryptocurrency transactions conducted through a Russian virtual trading platform. Sources say the payments under scrutiny were made using the Moscow-based cryptocurrency exchange Garantex with the dollar-pegged cryptocurrency Tether (USDT).It is reported that the U.S. and the U.K. imposed sanctions on Garantex in April 2022, citing its alleged involvement in money laundering, terrorist financing, and ransomware attacks. This $20 billion transaction would be one of the most serious violations since the sanctions began.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 13 entities and two individuals on Monday for facilitating Russian nationals in evading sanctions by establishing services related to cryptocurrency.OFAC stated in a press release that many of the individuals and entities sanctioned on Monday facilitated transactions or provided services to help other designated entities evade sanctions. The statement emphasized that the Treasury will continue to expose and disrupt those companies attempting to assist sanctioned Russian financial institutions in reconnecting with the global financial system.