Binance founder CZ sees positive shift in crypto regulation worldwide   

Australia’s crypto industry has expressed positivity after the recently reelected government named pro-crypto politician Andrew Charlton as assistant minister for the digital economy, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra during a May 12 press conference that Charlton would be the new assistant minister for science, technology and the digital economy, working with Tim Ayres, the minister for industry and innovation. Ayres and Charlton will administer policies and programs promoting advancements in emerging technologies, science, technology, innovation and the digital economy, according to Albanese. Charlton has shown strong support for the industry in the past. During a speech to parliament last November, he pushed for a balanced regulatory framework that encouraged industry growth.Cryptocurrency is shaping the future of finance. Governments must support a balanced framework that encourages growth while ensuring security and trust. Let’s embrace the opportunities of a digital economy! #Cryptocurrency #Innovation @DECAustralia pic.twitter.com/av8L2DA72g— Andrew Charlton (@Charlton_AB) November 27, 2024Speaking to Cointelegraph, Jason Titman, CEO of Australian crypto exchange Swyftx, said Charlton’s appointment is “unequivocally good news for crypto in Australia,” and he expects the “blockchain industry is cheering.” “Andrew has a deep understanding of blockchain, coupled with a genuine belief in its potential to support the Australian economy,” Titman said. Along with the new assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, Titman says he hopes Charlton “ fast tracks legislation around digital assets,” because the industry has been waiting for “six or seven years for legislative clarity.” Australian crypto industry continues to grow Vakul Talwar, head of the Australian arm of crypto exchange Crypto.com, said in a statement sent to Cointelegraph that Charlton’s appointment is a sign of the growing importance of the digital economy. Since the previous election in 2022, Talwar says the “industry has grown significantly,” and it’s important in the current term of Parliament to “ensure that as the digital economy continues to merge its way into traditional finance, appropriate regulations are in place.”Around 31% of Australian adults own or have owned crypto, which is roughly 6.2 million people, April 4 data from crypto exchange Independent Reserve shows, up from 28% last year.Roughly 6.2 million out of Australia’s more than 26 million population have owned or still own crypto. Source: Independent ReserveEdward Carroll, head of global markets and corporate finance at Australian crypto platform MHC Digital Group, said that Charlton has long recognized the importance of fostering a constructive and innovative financial ecosystem.“His specific support for digital assets and recognition of blockchain technology’s transformative potential, alongside the need to regulate it quickly and appropriately, should help Australia keep pace with the rapidly evolving global regulatory landscape,” Carroll said.At the same time, Damian Kassabgi, CEO of industry advocacy group Tech Council of Australia, said in a May 12 statement that the addition of “digital economy” to the ministry position is a “strong signal of the Government’s commitment to this critical area of future growth for jobs.”Related: Industry calls for urgent crypto law reforms after Australian electionThe reelected center-left Labor Party proposed a new crypto framework on March 21, regulating exchanges under existing financial services laws and has promised to tackle debanking.Meanwhile, in August 2022, it also initiated a series of industry consultations to draft a crypto regulatory framework.Magazine: Wealthy, isolated, and incredible beaches: Perth Crypto City Guide

Eric Council Jr., the SIM swap hacker who helped compromise the Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account last year, made $50,000 performing similar attacks and even searched how to tell if the FBI is investigating him, recent filings show.The recent filing was part of the prosecutor’s request to sentence him to two years in prison over his role in the hack, which saw the SEC X account publish a false announcement that a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund was approved, shaking up the markets. Council searched: “How can I know for sure if I am being investigated by the FBI” and “How long does it take to delete Telegram account,” US prosecutors discovered following a search warrant of his house, car and devices last June, according to a May 12 court filing.While Council’s Telegram chats were set up to be removed after two weeks, US prosecutors still found chats of Council discussing SIM swaps with others believed to be located overseas.Council also admitted to law enforcement that he received around $50,000 for performing SIM swaps for clients between January to June 2024. He advertised himself as a SIM swapping expert on Telegram under the username easymunny, offering services for payment between $1,200 and $1,500.How Eric Council Jr. pulled the hack off, then got caughtCouncil executed the SIM swap by creating fake identity documents to specifically impersonate someone that his co-conspirators identified as having access to the SEC’s X account.These fake documents were then used to trick a staff worker at telecommunications firm AT&T into reassigning the victim’s phone number to Council’s SIM card. Council inside an AT&T Store on Jan. 9, 2024. Source: US GovernmentCouncil had to share the last four digits of the victim’s Social Security number and driver’s license to effectuate the SIM swap.He then bought a new iPhone from an Alabama Apple store, inserted the new SIM and shared the access codes to the SEC’s X account with his co-conspirators, who later posted the fake news about the spot Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 9. The Bitcoin products received official approval the following day.Council received payment for the SEC SIM swap in Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, the prosecutors said.However, Council’s luck ran out on June 12, 2024, when surveillance agents observed him attempting to execute a SIM swap at an Apple store, impersonating another victim.Law enforcement executed a search warrant six days later and recovered several pieces of circumstantial evidence, including templates for fake identification cards on his laptop.Two fake ID documents recovered from Council’s Telegram account. Source: US GovernmentHe pleaded guilty on Feb. 10, after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Identity Theft and Access Device Fraud last October.Related: SEC Chair: Blockchain ‘holds promise’ of new kinds of market activityThe fake post accumulated over 1 million views before the SEC confirmed it had been hacked roughly 15 minutes later.The two announcements resulted in Bitcoin’s price initially rising $1,000 before abruptly falling nearly $2,000 shortly after, wiping out tens of millions of dollars worth of market positions.The security team at X confirmed that the SEC didn’t have two-factor authentication installed on its X account at the time of the incident. The SEC claimed it initially had 2FA enabled but was erroneously removed by X Support following a request by an SEC staff member.Magazine: Japanese porn star’s coin red flags, Alibaba-linked L2 runs at 100K TPS

Blockchain technology could enable “a broad swath of novel use cases for securities” and foster “new kinds of market activities that many of the Commission’s legacy rules and regulations do not contemplate today,” Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins said.During his keynote address at the Commission’s May 12 roundtable on tokenization and digital assets, Atkins welcomed “a new day at the SEC,” adding that “policymaking will no longer result from ad hoc enforcement actions. Instead, the Commission will utilize its existing rulemaking, interpretive, and exemptive authorities to set fit-for-purpose standards for market participants.”Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange CommissionA key priority will be to “develop a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets that establishes clear rules of the road for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to discourage bad actors from violating the law.”In particular, Atkins said the SEC would focus on establishing “clear and sensible guidelines” for crypto assets that could be considered securities. Another area of focus would be to allow brokers to offer a broader range of investment products on their platforms, which in some cases may mix securities and non-securities.Atkins’ approach moves away from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s, whose tenure was criticized by some industry participants for its “regulation by enforcement” method of oversight.Securities evolutionAtkins likened the tokenization of securities to the evolution of audio formats — from vinyl to cassettes to digital software — highlighting how each shift enhanced compatibility and interoperability across a wide range of devices and applications. This progression eventually gave rise to streaming content business models, which he said “greatly benefited consumers and the American economy.”SEC’s Crypto Task Force Roundtable on May 12. Source: SECSecurities tokenization is an ongoing topic at the intersection of traditional finance and crypto. Some asset management firms, like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton, have already jumped into tokenization through their respective BUIDL and BENJI tokenized US treasury funds. Robinhood is considering building a blockchain to allow European retail investors to trade tokenized US securities.Tokenized securities may attract interest from firms and brokerages due to features such as faster settlement times, reduced reliance on traditional financial infrastructure, and improved accessibility. Tokenization may also help provide liquidity to asset classes that have historically been illiquid.According to RWA.xyz, $22.6 billion of real-world assets are onchain, a 7.6% rise in the past 30 days. That doesn’t include stablecoins, which are often backed by real-world assets like treasury bills. Stablecoins have a $243 billion market capitalization as of May 12, according to data from DefiLlama. Tether’s USDt (USDT) alone has a market cap of $150.6 billion.Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered