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compensation

In a $37 million cryptocurrency money laundering case, a suspect was sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California has announced that a suspect involved in a large-scale cryptocurrency money laundering scheme has been sentenced. Jingliang Su, a 45-year-old Chinese national, was sentenced to nearly 4 years in federal prison on Tuesday local time for his role in laundering nearly $37 million in illegal digital assets, and he was ordered to pay over $26 million in restitution.Prosecutors noted that Jingliang Su was a member of a transnational criminal network that contacted U.S. victims through text messages, phone calls, and online dating platforms, luring them into participating in fraudulent cryptocurrency investments. Victims were directed to counterfeit websites of legitimate trading platforms and were falsely informed that their investments were generating profits, while the actual funds were being transferred and embezzled.Investigations revealed that the relevant funds were laundered through U.S. shell companies, digital asset wallets, and international bank accounts, with approximately $36.9 million ultimately being wired to an account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas and converted to USDT. Subsequently, accomplices located in Cambodia transferred the USDT to the masterminds behind the regional scam centers.The U.S. government has confirmed at least 174 American victims. Jingliang Su had previously pleaded guilty in June to a charge of "conspiracy to operate an illegal money transmitting business." A total of 8 individuals involved in the case have pleaded guilty, including another suspect who has been sentenced to over 4 years in prison.

Stablecoin company Kontigo completes full compensation after being hacked, covering over 1,000 users

The stablecoin banking startup Kontigo, focused on the Latin American market, announced that it discovered and quickly blocked a security vulnerability over the weekend and has completed full compensation for 1,005 affected users, totaling $340,900 in stablecoins. Co-founder and CEO Jesus A. Castillo stated that his personal account was also compromised and described it as a direct attack on the company's management and users.Castillo posted on the X platform that the company has identified the attacker and that the individuals "will not escape consequences." This security incident occurred during Kontigo's rapid expansion phase. Just weeks ago, on December 22, the company announced it had completed a $20 million seed round led by FoundersX Ventures, with funds intended for product development and expansion into emerging markets.Founded less than a year ago, Kontigo has the support of Y Combinator. The company claims to have achieved an annualized revenue of $30 million in the past 12 months, processed payments exceeding $1 billion, and surpassed 1 million active users, all with a team of just 7 people. However, Kontigo has also faced scrutiny over "de-banking" issues. Media reports indicated that bank accounts used through intermediaries were frozen due to compliance risks, but Castillo denied the allegations, stating that the issues originated from the intermediary agencies, not the banks themselves.

The South Korean Digital Asset Basic Law is set to include a no-fault compensation mechanism and a bankruptcy isolation system for stablecoins, with the government proposal possibly being postponed until next year

The South Korean government is formulating the "Basic Law on Digital Assets" (Phase Two Legislation on Crypto Assets), which is expected to include several investor protection measures, such as introducing strict liability for digital asset service providers and establishing bankruptcy risk isolation mechanisms for stablecoin issuers. However, due to significant disagreements on core issues such as the issuers of stablecoins, the submission time for the government proposal is expected to be delayed until next year.According to reports, in the government draft that the Financial Committee is studying, stablecoin issuers may be required to allocate their reserve assets in low-risk assets such as deposits and government bonds, and to deposit or trust funds equivalent to no less than 100% of the issuance balance with banks or other management institutions to prevent the risk of issuer bankruptcy from being passed on to investors. At the same time, the information disclosure obligations, terms, and advertising regulatory standards for digital asset operators will be close to the level of traditional financial institutions. In the event of a hacker attack or system failure, strict liability for damages may be applied in accordance with the Electronic Financial Transactions Act.In addition, the draft may allow the sale of digital assets within South Korea under the premise of strengthening information disclosure, in order to correct the previous practice of "overseas issuance, domestic circulation" caused by administrative restrictions on ICOs.Although the legislative framework has initially taken shape, there are still disagreements between the Financial Committee and institutions such as the Bank of Korea on key issues such as the qualifications of stablecoin issuers, approval mechanisms, minimum capital requirements, and whether exchanges can serve both issuance and circulation functions. The Financial Committee stated that relevant departments are continuously working to narrow the gap in positions, and no final conclusions have been reached on the proposed plan.

South Korea plans to require cryptocurrency exchanges to bear "no-fault compensation obligations," with Upbit's hacking incident serving as the catalyst

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, the South Korean government is advancing legislation to introduce "no-fault compensation" rules similar to those in the banking industry for major cryptocurrency exchanges.It is reported that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea is evaluating a requirement for virtual asset service providers to bear compensation responsibilities even in cases of hacking or system failures that result in user losses, regardless of fault. Currently, such mandatory compensation only applies to traditional financial institutions and electronic payment companies.This policy direction stems from a security incident on the Upbit platform, where approximately 44.5 billion won (about 30.1 million USD) worth of assets were transferred to an external wallet within 54 minutes, while regulatory authorities were unable to enforce compensation under existing regulations. South Korean financial regulators have also pointed out that the cryptocurrency trading industry has experienced frequent system failures in recent years. Data shows that from the beginning of 2023 to September of this year, the five major exchanges have experienced 20 system failures, affecting over 900 users, with total losses amounting to about 5 billion won, of which Upbit accounted for 6 incidents with losses of approximately 3 billion won.The draft also proposes to raise technical security requirements and increase the maximum fines for hacking incidents to 3% of annual revenue, similar to traditional financial institutions, up from the current fixed cap of 5 billion won. Additionally, the Upbit incident has sparked controversy over "delayed reporting." The platform discovered the anomaly at 5 AM but only reported it to regulators at 10:58, leading some lawmakers to question whether it intentionally waited until the merger process with its parent company Dunamu and Naver Financial was completed before disclosing the incident. Regulatory authorities are investigating the matter, but it is expected to be difficult to impose severe penalties under the current framework.
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