According to court filings, Thor Technologies and its creator David Chin have been found guilty of executing an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities worth $2.6 million, and as a result, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted a default judgment against them.A district court in San Francisco rendered a decision on Wednesday, and the SEC made an announcement on Thursday. The SEC first filed accusations against Thor Technologies on December 21, 2022, over a year ago. Default judgments usually arise from the other party’s failure to comply with specified requirements, such as missing deadlines for document submission or trial attendance.The SEC had filed charges against Thor and Chin for marketing and selling “Thor Tokens” in order to raise money for a software platform that catered to gig economy employees and businesses.According to the SEC, offers and sales of Thor Tokens were advertised as investment opportunities but were not registered with the agency.In April of 2019, Thor declared that it was going to cease operations because of “many regulatory challenges.” Thor and Chin are not permitted to take part in any crypto asset securities offerings by the court, and a disgorgement of $744,555 along with $158,638.06 in prejudgment interest has been ordered.Chin is free to buy and sell stocks for his own account, including crypto-asset securities, despite the order.

Users of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance were notified on Thursday that additional fiat service providers for deposits, withdrawals, and payments in euros (EUR) have been added.According to a blog post on Binance, the business has agreements with “a number of new regulated and authorized fiat partners” to offer EUR services to its users in Europe.According to the post, services include buying and selling digital assets via SEPA, bank cards, or fiat balances; EUR spot trading pairs; and EUR deposits and withdrawals via the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payment network. Following Paysafe’s September withdrawal from serving Binance users, the exchange’s previous euro service provider made the news.Last month, a few European Binance users expressed dissatisfaction over their inability to withdraw euros from the exchange prior to Paysafe’s deadline. Either in the email or the blog post, the corporation did not identify the new service providers.Remarks were requested, but no one from Binance responded right away.This year, multiple executives have left Binance and its affiliates, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world based on trading volume, due to legal action from various authorities and regulatory pressure.As to Bloomberg, the most recent departure was the CEO of Bifinity UAB, a subsidiary of Binance that is registered in Lithuania and handles fiat payments. The CEO resigned on Thursday.

A joint opinion statement on regulating a digital euro was released by the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Data Protection Board. In response to the European Commission’s July 2023 proposal, the European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor jointly released a statement recently. In order to improve the personal data

Increased confidence around the possible approval of numerous spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has contributed to the rise in Bitcoin (BTC) this week, according to a research report released by JPMorgan (JPM). The applications’ clearance is getting closer thanks to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision not to appeal a recent decision in the

The U.S.-based automaker Tesla (TSLA) reported updated earnings on Wednesday that showed its holdings of bitcoin (BTC) remained stable in the third quarter.The company may not have bought or sold any bitcoin in the three months that ended in September if the quarterly report on bitcoin did not include it.For the fifth consecutive quarter, the holding’s value has stayed constant at $184 million at the conclusion of the third quarter.At 9,720 bitcoin, Tesla still holds the third-largest bitcoin holdings of any publicly traded firm, according to bitcointreasury.net.The only companies that dwarf it are MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA). With a reported 43,000 tokens, the company, headed by cryptocurrency enthusiast Elon Musk, invested $1.5 billion on bitcoin in February 2021.Within that same month, Tesla announced that it would start taking bitcoin payments.Nonetheless, in the months that followed, the business abandoned its plans.First quarter 2021 saw the sale of 4,320 bitcoin, and last year it liquidated 75% of the remaining amount at a significant loss.Tesla’s earnings per share dropped from 95 cents to 53 cents during the July-September quarter, representing a 44% decrease from the same period last year. The company posted a net income of $1.85 billion. On Wednesday, Tesla’s stock price was down 4.78% at $242.68.

In an effort to move toward a more decentralized form of governance, Polygon, a scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain, published a proposal on Thursday to establish a “Polygon Protocol Council.” The proposal nominated 13 initial members, including representatives from Coinbase and the Ethereum Foundation. The proposal, known as PIP 29, will be “responsible for the narrow-in-scope, timelock-limited changes to system smart contracts implemented on Ethereum for existing and future Polygon protocols,” Polygon said in a press release. According to the announcement, the council will “execute the community-led process to initiate future upgrades, including those proposed in the Frontier

According to a recent court hearing, bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX utilised consumer cash to repurchase all of the company’s shares owned with rival exchange Binance. As part of the repurchase, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated in a 2022 post that the business has received nearly $2.1 billion in FTX’s FTT tokens and Binance US dollar

Customers have been alerted by Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) regarding the MEXC exchange providing financial services on its website without the necessary authorization. BaFin authorization is required for MEXC’s crypto custody services. The regulator stated on its website that a company may only offer financial services in Germany if it has received the

According to the business, Coinbase has chosen Ireland as its EU regulatory hub. Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA), a new set of EU regulations, will permit cryptocurrency service providers to operate throughout the EU with a licence from any one of its 27 national regulators. Coinbase’s Vice President and Regional Managing Director for Europe,

The European Union’s data privacy watchdog warned in a statement on Wednesday that there should be no “excessive centralization” of the European Central Bank in plans for a digital euro. The European Central Bank (ECB) is scheduled to make a decision later on Wednesday about the implementation of its plans for a central bank digital

According to TechCrunch, Reddit is ending its Community Points program, which was founded on blockchain technology and lasted for about three years. “Though we saw some future opportunities for Community Points, the resourcing needed was unfortunately too high to justify,” Tim Rathschmidt, Reddit’s director of consumer and product communications, told TechCrunch. “The regulatory environment has since added to that effort,” he added. Reddit’s native currency, Moons (MOON), is down 85% on the announcement, while Bricks (BRICK), which is given out as payment for contributions on the r/Fortnite subreddit, is down 67%.The coin called DONUT, which stands for the r/ethtrader subreddit’s community points, is currently 66% off. “Part of why we’re moving past this product is that we’ve already launched,

The Fantom Foundation declared that a number of their wallets have been compromised. According to reports, there was a loss of about $550,000 in Fantom Foundation cash earlier today in a number of Fantom wallets. That being said, it’s comforting to know that more than 99% of the Fantom Foundation’s finances are safe and undisturbed

WeStreet Credit Union, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has announced a Crypto Portal to help its members and the public purchase, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies in a step towards accepting digital money. The portal was first released in August 2023 as a members-only service, and in October it opened up to the general public. The trading

To increase the likelihood that his own energy conservation bill would pass, a representative from Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives removed a two-year prohibition on crypto mining licences.In order to enact the restriction, Democratic Rep. Greg Vitali said in June that he intended to submit the Cryptocurrency Energy Conservation Act. “The crypto mining industry is a massive energy user,” Vitali said at the time. “Globally, crypto mining consumes more energy than the countries of Argentina and Australia. This high level of energy usage places more stress on the environment and accelerates the climate crisis, in addition to raising costs for consumers.” However, he did not include the moratorium in the measure when he submitted it to the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee of the California House of Representatives on Monday.He is the chairman of the committee, and both the bill and the amendment were approved. The bill was approved by a one-vote margin.On Monday, Vitali told the Pennsylvania Capital Star that he had discovered the hard way that “there is not a high tolerance for strong environmental policy,” and that he had removed the ban to give the legislation a chance to reach the House. After the ban expired, the bill mandated an impact analysis from the Department of Environmental Protection and defined reporting guidelines for certain crypto-mining operations. In New York, a two-year prohibition on new mining facilities was put in place last year. American lawmakers are becoming more concerned about cryptocurrency mining and its energy implications.Meanwhile, miners are advocating in Washington, DC, for friendlier laws.

According to proposed guidance released by international standard-setter the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on Tuesday, banks must report both quantitative and qualitative information about their cryptocurrency activity. Following volatility impacting crypto-linked lenders like Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank, the plans increase the stringent capital requirements already established by the committee to deter banks from holding unbacked crypto like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). Under the proposals, which would take effect in 2025, “banks would be required to disclose qualitative information on their activities related to cryptoassets and quantitative information on exposures to cryptoassets and the related capital and liquidity requirements,” said the committee, which is linked to the Bank for International Settlements, a network of central

Regulators from the European Union issued a warning on Tuesday, stating that “complex and opaque” international crypto firms may attempt to take advantage of regional differences by operating from EU-based shell businesses even after the historic Markets in Crypto Assets Act (MiCA) goes into effect.Even as national regulators scramble to create the procedures that would help exchanges and wallet providers obtain a sought-after crypto license, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Tuesday urged large global crypto firms to start preparing for MiCA now. MiCA license regulations go into effect in December 2024, however businesses can operate until July 2026 without a complete license if they are registered under one of the nation’s current, less stringent anti-money laundering laws, as has been done by companies like Binance in France and Coinbase in the Netherlands. Officials from ESMA are now concerned that the temporary provision may cause customers to get confused, which MiCA is trying to avoid, and may allow businesses to take advantage of regional regulatory variances. “Opaque group structures may also render it difficult for clients of service providers to know which entity they are dealing with and its regulatory status,” ESMA said in a statement today, adding that some existing crypto companies “may lack a strong compliance culture … and their large scale and geographic scope allow

Coinbase.Following an update to the exchange’s conditions of usage, US users are no longer able to withdraw dollars directly from the platform. “In the event that customers wish to withdraw U.S. dollar funds from their account, they may do so by converting U.S. dollar funds to stablecoin or other digital assets, which can subsequently be

BitGo, a cryptocurrency custody specialist, has purchased HeightZero, a company that offers software solutions to financial managers whose customers may wish to allocate a portion of their portfolios to digital assets and cryptocurrency. The transaction’s financial specifics were not disclosed to the public. Cryptocurrency trading is known for its frantic, risky, and intricate trading methods.

Fileverse, a Web3 workspace and file management tool, raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round. According to a news release issued by the company, the investment was led by venture capital firm Factor and privacy-focused Gnosis Chain. Provider of cryptocurrency wallets Secure social media privacy fix In addition to Mask Network, other angel investors in