China Performs Crypto Money Laundering Sting

The Chinese police have arrested about 1,100 people on money laundering charges, CoinDesk reported, adding those arrested were allegedly using crypto to evade the law.

China has been undergoing a national crackdown on money laundering activities related to telecom fraud, which has been dubbed “Operation Card Breaking,” according to CoinDesk. In addition to the arrests, the Chinese police have shut down 170 criminal organizations.

Telecom criminals are known for using fake or stolen SIM cards and compromised bank accounts to launder their money through the regular banking system, CoinDesk reported.

In other news, Solana Labs has raised $314 million in new funding to develop tech to use in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

The transaction was structured as a buy of Solana’s digital tokens as opposed to a traditional equity share purchase, according to WSJ.

Solana has the ability to process over 50,000 transactions per second, WSJ reported. That capacity could also increase. The company uses less electricity than either Ethereum or Bitcoin, which could prove advantageous as concerns have risen over the energy use of crypto.

Meanwhile, eBroker Interactive Brokers plans to offer cryptocurrency trading on its platform by the end of the summer, CNBC reported.

The news comes as investors have been getting heavily into crypto, including Bitcoin and other assets, and as the digital coins are becoming more popular, according to CNBC. By offering bitcoin trading, Interactive Brokers could make it even easier for individual investors to access digital money.

Lastly, the Korea Financial Services Commission will impose fines of 100 million won (about $89,000) for any exchange employee trading on their own exchange’s platform, CoinDesk reported. There are no current laws preventing that kind of thing.

The updated Financial Transactions Reports Act (FTRA) in South Korea makes it so every crypto exchange has to register with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) by Sept. 24.

——————————

NEW PYMNTS DATA: CRYPTOCURRENCY PAYMENTS STUDY – MAY 2021

About The Study: U.S. consumers see cryptocurrency as more than just a store of value: 46 million plan say they plan to use it to make payments for everything from financial services to groceries. In the Cryptocurrency Payments Report, PYMNTS surveys 8,008 cryptocurrency users and nonusers in the U.S. to examine the ways in which they plan to use crypto to make purchases, what crypto they plan to use — and how merchant acceptance can influence merchant choice and consumer spend.