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A South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon, CEO of Terraform Labs, four months after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, its native Luna token and its TerraUSD algorithmic stablecoin — which together wiped out some $40 billion in value.

Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, was first to report the news. The warrant was issued by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Joint Investigation Team on Financial Securities Crimes (led by director Dan Sung-han) and 2nd Division of Financial Investigation (led by chief prosecutor Chae Hee-man), according to the report. 

Kwon is currently believed to reside in Singapore, per the report, which stated that there have also been warrants issued for the arrest of Nicholas Platias, another of Terraform Labs’ founders, and Han Mo, another employee. They are charged with violating the Capital Markets Act.

The report also stated that the warrant is valid for one year, and that prosecutors are hoping to work with Interpol to carry out the arrests.

In the months since the demise of UST and LUNA, Kwon launched an audacious plan to rebuild the Terra ecosystem with a new version of its native currency.

He gave an interview in mid-August in which he claimed South Korean investigators looking into the Terra crash had not tried to contact him, despite reports that investigators had raided South Korean crypto exchanges while probing Terra.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Uruguay’s executive power has proposed a bill that would allow the country’s central bank to legally oversee virtual assets, local newspaper El Observador reported on September 8. 

The bill, proposed to Uruguay’s parliament for consideration, suggests putting virtual asset service providers into a “new category” of businesses, the newspaper said. These businesses would ultimately answer to the Superintendent of Financial Services (SSF), which is part of Uruguay’s central bank. 

These virtual asset service providers, known as PSAVs for their acronym in Spanish, are defined as entities that professionally offer virtual asset services to third parties on a regular basis. Such activities include the custody and exchange of virtual assets among one another or to fiat currency.

The bill would require “all entities that operate with virtual assets” in Uruguay to be subject to global anti-money laundering standards, no matter whether they are part of the country’s financial system. El Observador explains that the bill would also update Uruguay’s securities market law to put crypto assets under the definition of “book-entry securities.”

So far, it is unclear how the bill might move through Uruguay’s bicameral General Assembly. If introduced, the proposal would have to pass through the country’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies with or without modifications before the executive branch could consider whether to make it law.

According to the text of the bill, Uruguay’s central bank defines virtual assets as a “virtual representation of value or contractual rights that can be stored, transferred and negotiated electronically through distributed ledger technology (DLT) or similar technologies.” Blockchains fall within the wider DLT category, the text clarified. 

The bill then goes on to describe different classifications of virtual assets, with categories including virtual asset securities, virtual assets of utility, “stable” virtual assets such as stablecoins and central bank virtual currencies (CBDCs), and virtual assets of exchange such as bitcoin and ether. 

Uruguay was one of the first countries to explore a central bank virtual currency (CBDC) pilot project back in 2017, but so far has not passed any crypto-specific regulations. The conversation around doing so picked up in August 2021 when senator Juan Sartori proposed a bill that would legalize virtual assets, but it has not become law. 

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Uruguay’s executive branch has proposed a bill that would allow the country’s central bank to legally oversee virtual assets, local newspaper El Observador reported on September 8. 

The bill, proposed to Uruguay’s parliament for consideration, suggests putting virtual asset service providers into a “new category” of businesses, the newspaper said. These businesses would ultimately answer to the Superintendent of Financial Services (SSF), which is part of Uruguay’s central bank. 

These virtual asset service providers, known as PSAVs for their acronym in Spanish, are defined as entities that professionally offer virtual asset services to third parties on a regular basis. Such activities include the custody and exchange of virtual assets among one another or to fiat currency.

The bill would require “all entities that operate with virtual assets” in Uruguay to be subject to global anti-money laundering standards, no matter whether they are part of the country’s financial system. El Observador explains that the bill would also update Uruguay’s securities market law to put crypto assets under the definition of “book-entry securities.”

So far, it is unclear how the bill might move through Uruguay’s bicameral General Assembly. If introduced, the proposal would have to pass through the country’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies with or without modifications before the executive branch could consider whether to make it law.

According to the text of the bill, Uruguay’s central bank defines virtual assets as a “virtual representation of value or contractual rights that can be stored, transferred and negotiated electronically through distributed ledger technology (DLT) or similar technologies.” Blockchains fall within the wider DLT category, the text clarified. 

The bill then goes on to describe different classifications of virtual assets, with categories including virtual asset securities, virtual assets of utility, “stable” virtual assets such as stablecoins and central bank virtual currencies (CBDCs), and virtual assets of exchange such as bitcoin and ether. 

Uruguay was one of the first countries to explore a central bank virtual currency (CBDC) pilot project back in 2017, but so far has not passed any crypto-specific regulations. The conversation around doing so picked up in August 2021 when senator Juan Sartori proposed a bill that would legalize virtual assets, but it has not become law. 

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increased by 3.45%, down from the previous jump of 9.26% but the fourth positive adjustment in a row. 

The change since Aug. 31 is reflected in data published by BTC.com, which tracks network mining difficulty and posts an update as adjustments take place roughly every two weeks. 

The mining difficulty had fallen significantly earlier this summer as bitcoin miners turned off their machines in response to conservation demands during peak power demand due to extreme heat. 

Mining difficulty refers to the complexity of the process behind mining, during which miners are repeatedly trying to find a hash below a set level. Miners that “discover” this hash win the reward for the next transaction block. The difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks (roughly every two weeks) in sync with the network’s hash rate.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The Federal Trade Commission filed Tuesday to join the bankruptcy proceedings of crypto lender Celsius. 

According to court documents, FTC attorneys Katherine Aizpuru and Katherine Johnson have asked to represent the commission in the case. Johnson applied to “represent the Federal Trade Commission in the above-referenced jointly administered cases and any related adversary proceedings,” according to a filing.

CoinDesk first reported the legal development.

As of press time, the court had not officially greenlit the FTC lawyers’ requests. The consumer protection agency has joined other bankruptcy proceedings, like that of an education technology company in 2014, when it believes sensitive consumer information could be exposed as part of the unwinding of the company. The sensitivity around personal data potentially adds another layer of complexity to bankruptcy cases.

Celsius declared bankruptcy in July. Since then, both creditors, as well as American regulatory bodies, have sought to shape the process and outcome. The U.S. government is seeking the appointment of a third-party examiner amid allegations of misleading statements by Celsius. 

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Most of the bitcoin mining stocks tracked by The Block were down on Tuesday as the coin plunged from $22,700 in the morning, following the news that U.S. inflation rose 8.3% year-on-year, above estimates.

Bitcoin was trading at roughly $20,300 at closing time, according to data from TradingView.

Hut 8’s stock fell by 15.42% on Nasdaq, followed by Stronghold Digital Mining (-12.65%), Core Scientific (-11.45%) and Bitfarms (-11.35% on Nasdaq).

Here’s how crypto mining companies performed on Tuesday, Sept. 13:

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Twitter Inc, shareholders voted to approve a proposed $44 billion buyout of the company by billionaire Elon Musk, Bloomberg reported.

A preliminary vote held Tuesday saw a majority of shareholders support the decision to accept Musk’s $54.20-a-share offer to acquire Twitter. Shares of the company are currently trading below that offer at $41.92.

Although the deal now has the necessary shareholder approval to be ratified, in July Musk made clear his intention to pull out from the deal, citing concerns over bot and spam accounts on the social media platform. In turn, Twitter filed a lawsuit in an effort to compel Musk to follow through with the deal to which he signed an agreement.

The coming trial has been a source of spectacle as lawyers representing both Musk and Twitter continue to grapple over witnesses, evidence, and the court date, now set for Oct. 17 in Delaware Chancery Court.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Crypto-focused investment firm North Island Ventures is launching a new $125 million investment fund.

The company is looking to make 30 to 40 early-stage investments in emerging crypto and Web3 companies and protocols, it said in a statement Tuesday.

Initial investments will range between $250,000 and $3 million, the company said.

“We launched NIV in 2020 based on our belief that crypto is the next great enabling technology,” said co-founder and managing partner at North Island Ventures Travis Scher. “The industry has advanced tremendously since then, but we believe the real potential of this technology has barely been realized.”

NIV Fund II is North Island ventures’ second new investment vehicle within the past year, the company said. North Island currently has around $300 million in total assets under management.

North Island ventures has invested in companies such as bug bounty platform Immunefi, blockchain interoperability protocol Axelar and BCB Group. 

“We’ve entered a multichain world, and have a strong thesis that the end-state of crypto is as an invisible, interoperable network-of-networks, where both users and developers don’t have to think about the underlying blockchain their assets and apps live on,” Scher said.

North Island launched a $72 million crypto fund last year with the participation of investors like billionaires Paul Tudor Jones, recording artist and producer LL Cool J and SoFi CEO Anthony Noto, among others.

“NIV Fund II empowers us to continue partnering with extraordinary entrepreneurs aiming to build transcendent businesses,” said co-founder and managing partner James Hutchins. “Supporting early-stage founders in their journeys is our true passion – and our broad network, honed research capabilities, and depth of experience enables us to add real value, helping founders take their businesses from the idea stage to launch, product-market fit, and maturity.

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Quick Take

• Plans to publicly launch ecosystem stablecoin Coyni by end of year 2022 
• Surpassing +$1.0bn in payment remittance volume 
• Continued M&A and consolidation as GreenBox acquired Transact Europe and Sky Financial & Intelligence’s assets earlier this year 
• Despite recent remittance volume milestones and topline growth, share price performance remains lackluster

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Chatter around investment giant Fidelity’s plans to expand its crypto footprint to a broader, retail-centric customer base broke into the open this week.

Yet job ads posted in recent months by Fidelity itself offer clues about the investment firm’s retail crypto ambitions, including roles that would play a part in the development of crypto wallet services.

A query of Fidelity’s careers portal shows at least half a dozen roles with a specific focus on wallets.

One ad, for a Senior Java Engineer, Wallet Blockchain, highlights that “Fidelity Digital Assets, a Fidelity Investments Company, is developing a full-service enterprise-grade platform for storing, trading, and servicing digital assets, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.”

The ad, posted in June, later positions the role as operating on a dedicated wallet team within the broader FDA organization:

“Within Fidelity Digital Assets, the Wallet Blockchain Foundations Team is responsible for the backend services and APIs that support digital assets transactions on networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The team will also lead tokenization efforts.”

Other listed roles touch on crypto wallet functionalities in addition to other responsibilities. For example, the description for a Principal Software Engineer/Developer role posted this month calls for “performing crypto wallet optimization — lending and spot rates and social market analytics — in an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud environment, using Java, Oracle, Spring Boot, and Docker”.

Another role, for a Principal Java Engineer on the Wallet Blockchain Foundations team, calls for “1+ year experience developing and maintaining smart contracts using Solidity” as a preferred skill area. Solidity is a coding language built for use on Ethereum.

In a since-removed job post for a Squad Leader, Crypto Data Analytics role, previously available on LinkedIn, Fidelity made specific reference to a retail clientele.

“Your team will be delivering to market, revenue generating decision support tools to help inform the trade decisions of Fidelity’s retail crypto clients,” the post read. Despite its removal, the metadata remains visible in a Google search.

Sources with knowledge of the process tell The Block that the retail-focused plans have been in the works for some time, and these descriptions appear to track with details reported this week by the Wall Street Journal. To date, Fidelity’s crypto efforts have been geared toward institutional investors.

When reached for comment, a representative for the firm told The Block: “While we have nothing new to announce, expanding our offerings to enable broader access to digital assets remains an area of focus.”

Galaxy Digital chief executive Mike Novogratz stirred the rumor pot during a Monday conference appearance, commenting: “A little bird told me Fidelity are going to shift retail customers into crypto soon.”

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.