According to reports, late last month the FBI raided the offices of a Michigan-based nonprofit technology center in what appears to be an action related to unlicensed operation of a cryptocurrency exchange business. Late last week, U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken reported that the number of inquiries it received from U.S. law enforcement agencies tripled from 2017-2018, with a total of 475 inquiries from global law enforcement agencies received in 2018. Also last week, a U.S. district court judge denied a motion to dismiss and set a Sept. 30 trial date for a civil lawsuit against Australian businessman and self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator Craig Wright, who is being sued by the estate of his deceased former business partner. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim Wright fraudulently took possession of over $11 billion of bitcoin that belonged to the deceased. Also, a second private class action lawsuit was recently filed related to the theft of $170 million in cryptocurrency assets from an Italian-based exchange.

In India, police recently arrested a suspect accused of involvement in a $71.6 million fraud scheme related to the sale of cryptocurrency tokens. In the United Arab Emirates, according to reports, the UAE financial regulators intend to introduce new regulations governing initial coin offerings sometime in the first half of 2019. Additionally, this week the European Banking Authority issued a report on "crypto-assets" that advised the European Commission to perform a cost-benefit analysis to assess "whether EU-level action is appropriate and feasible" to address the effects and implications of crypto-assets on the financial sector. On the same day, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a report on initial coin offerings and crypto-assets for the EU Commission, EU Council and EU Parliament. Issues highlighted in the ESMA report include anti-money laundering risks and investor risks related to certain crypto-assets that fall outside of current regulatory frameworks.

For more information, please refer to the following links:

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.