South Korea plans interagency crackdown on illegal crypto transactions

South Korea’s top financial regulator established dedicated crypto investigation teams across the country last week. Several South Korean financial authorities are planning to join forces to combat illegal operations involving cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). The interagency crackdown comes in response to growing concerns over speculative investments and potentially illegal activities amid the ongoing boom in crypto markets, Koo Yun-cheol, head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, said Monday. “There is a need to pay special attention to the occurrence of illegal activities using virtual assets,” he stated at a vice ministers’ meeting on crypto, according to local news agency Yonhap. As part of the crackdown  — which is slated to continue until June — the Financial Services Commission will require local financial institutions to strengthen the monitoring of withdrawals of cryptocurrencies.

Why DeFi needs to strike a fine balance regarding FATF's guidelines

The Financial Action Task Force [FATF] published draft guidance on the risk-based approach to virtual assets in March.

India's government orders companies to disclose crypto holdings

Recent amendments to India’s Companies Act will see firms in the country include their crypto involvement in all public financial reporting. While the legal status of cryptocurrencies remains undecided in India, companies in the country involved in virtual assets must now report their activities as part of their financial statements. The new rule follows amendments made by the country’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs to Schedule III of the 2013 Companies Act. According to the document published on Wednesday, Indian firms both public and private that have invested or traded in crypto during the financial year must disclose their profits or losses. Other crypto-related disclosures include the amount of cryptocurrency held by the company as of the reporting date as well as additional advance deposits made by customers for the purpose of cryptocurrency investment or trading. The amendments to the Companies Act of 2013 will come into effect at the start of April.

New FATF Guidance Applies Regulatory Standards to Decentralized Exchanges, Defi and NFTs

On March 19, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published draft guidance on the risk-based approach to virtual assets.

Russia's money laundering watchdog monitoring crypto to ruble transactions

Rosfinmonitoring has informed the Russian parliament that it is paying close attention to transactions involving the conversion of crypto to rubles. Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service, or Rosfinmonitoring — the country’s Anti-Money Laundering body — is policing crypto to fiat transactions. The federal executive body responsible for AML oversight made this known while addressing the members of parliament on Tuesday, according to a report by Russian news agency Regnum. In a meeting with members of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Herman Neglyad, deputy chief of Rosfinmonitoring revealed that the AML watchdog was working with commercial banks to police crypto to fiat transactions, stating: “Banks have already begun to pay attention to exchange operations, that is, when they see that an operation has come after the exchange of virtual assets for hard currency, they have already begun to evaluate them and actually inform us about these operations.” According to another Rosfinmonitoring spokesperson, the AML agency and the central bank are developing a framework to track suspicious crypto to fiat transactions. As a federal executive body, Rosfinmonitoring reports directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bank of Korea: CBDCs Are Fiat Currency Not Virtual Assets

Some legal changes would be needed before a potential central bank digital currency launch in South Korea, research indicates.

Kyrgyzstan's central bank opens up crypto draft laws to public discussion

The central bank of The Kyrgyz Republic has drafted regulations that recognize cryptocurrency exchanges in the country for the first time. Kyrgyzstan’s central bank has completed the drafting of two bills designed to recognize and regulate the country’s emerging crypto sector. According to an official announcement, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic has opened up the two bills, "On the Processing of Cryptocurrencies" and "On amendments to legislative acts in the field of virtual assets," to public discussion. Interested parties have until Feb.

The Global Challenge of Regulating Virtual Assets

Moving through the high-level confusion of an emergent field of digital assets during a pandemic presented unique challanges.

Crypto firms still not widely adopting ‘travel rule,’ says FATF deputy

David Lewis, executive secretary and G20 deputy at the Financial Action Task Force, says crypto firms still have a long way to go before they're compliant. In 2019, the Financial Action Task Force asked jurisdictions worldwide to adopt its regulatory guidelines for virtual assets.

South Korea Finalizes Cryptocurrency Income Tax of 20%

South Korea has finalized a new 20% tax rate for income generated from crypto trading. The South Korean government has announced a 20% tax rate for income generated from cryptocurrency trading. Following a Tax Development Review Committee meeting on July 22, the Ministry of Economy and Finance published its revised tax code detailing the new rules.  In a section headed, “Taxation on Virtual Asset Transaction Income,” the ministry introduced the new rules with a note that at present, both personal (resident and non-resident) and foreign corporations’ virtual assets are non-taxable.  The government states that introducing taxation for virtual assets is now necessary, pointing to the approach taken by other countries, where cryptocurrencies are already taxed under similar regimes for income from stocks and derivatives trading. What the new crypto tax rules stipulate Under the new framework, gains made from virtual currencies and intangible assets will be classified as taxable income, calculated annually.

FATF Virtual Assets Guidelines for Cryptosphere Review

With the growing concern of virtual assets/cryptocurrencies being used as a medium for the financing of illegal activities, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issues revised guidance from time to time to combat money laundering and terrorist financing involving virtual assets (VAs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs).

Bitfinex Must Face New York’s Accusations Over the Loss of $850M in Co-Mingled Funds

The popular digital currency trading platform, Bitfinex must deal with the New York Office of the Attorney General (NYAG) over the alleged hiding of over $800 million in client and corporate funds.