Features Crypto News by Thebittimes.Com

Coinbase, Consensys, and Paradigm are urging the U.S. Treasury to reconsider its proposed reporting requirements for crypto mixer transactions, citing a lack of specificity and concerns over resource allocation. In a comment to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Jan. 22, Coinbase stated that regulated platforms already comply with existing rules for recordkeeping and reporting of suspicious activities and illicit crypto mixing. The firm is particularly critical of the proposal’s requirement for crypto platforms to report all crypto mixing activities, including those serving legitimate purposes. Coinbase contends that this broad approach would lead to inefficient use of resources and unnecessary bulk reporting of non-suspicious transactions. Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, shared his thoughts in a Jan. 22 thread on X, emphasizing the need for more targeted measures. He believes a data dump without a monetary threshold ...

CyberBunker, a German web hosting firm previously housed in a NATO bunker, appeals its controversial conviction for facilitating illicit transactions. Back in December 2021, eight people involved with Cyber bunker were sentenced despite the prosecutors being unable to prove that they facilitated the illicit activities of the services the company hosted. German news outlet DW then reported on the matter, highlighting that the case is “new legal ground.” Still, all eight defendants were convicted for running a “bulletproof hosting” service from a former NATO bunker in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The facility hosted illegal services that they had no proven involvement with. The service ran for nearly six years and allowed any content except child pornography and terrorism. The 62-year-old Dutchman, accused of purchasing the NATO bunker that housed the infrastructure, was sentenced to five years and nine months of prison. The remaining defendants had sentences ranging a...

Source: AdobeStock / Vladimir Kazakov The crypto think tank Coin Center has sued US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen over sanctions imposed on the coin mixer Tornado Cash, saying the service has legitimate use cases. In the lawsuit, filed in Florida on Wednesday this week, Coin Center said Tornado Cash is “an open-source software tool that helps Americans maintain their privacy while using cryptocurrency.” “The Administration’s use of the foreign-affairs power to punish domestic cryptocurrency users was unprecedented and unlawful,” the lawsuit added, referring to the sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). Among those named as defendants in the suit were US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and OFAC Director Andrea Gacki. New York-based crypto investor David Hoffman and Florida-based software developer Patrick O’Sullivan were among the plaintiffs named in the suit. Source: Coincenter.org According to the lawsu...