Crypto regulation in the world: weekly digest #112

UAE

The United Arab Emirates has unveiled a comprehensive national strategy for the period 2024-2027 aimed at combating money laundering, financing of terrorism, and proliferation financing. This initiative follows the UAE's removal from the Financial Action Task Force Grey List in February 2024, underscoring the country's commitment to adhering to the highest international standards.

The strategy is formulated around 11 strategic goals, which are designed to enhance the UAE's ability to combat financial crimes and maintain alignment with international standards. Key goals include continuing to deepen the understanding of risk to better combat financial crimes, improving law enforcement authorities' efforts in detecting and investigating money laundering and improving the effectiveness of regulatory and supervisory efforts for financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions.

The strategy is focused on several critical aspects, especially related to digital assets and virtual assets service providers:

• Enhancing risk-based compliance, particularly for entities operating within the digital asset space.

• Addressing the unique risks posed by digital assets and virtual currencies to prevent their exploitation for illicit activities.

• Improving national and international coordination to enhance the exchange of information and supervision of steps to tackle money laundering, financial crimes, and proliferation financing.

• Optimizing resources and enhancing data analysis to support effective investigations and asset recovery.

• Assessing and mitigating the risks posed by rapidly advancing forms of cybercrime and other emerging threats.

The General Secretariat of the National Committee will oversee the implementation of the strategy, ensuring alignment with UAE objectives and international standards. Regular progress reports will be submitted to the Higher Committee for Supervising the National Strategy.

USA

On September 4, 2024, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an order settling charges against [Uniswap][https://tokenscope.com/en/vasp/c694ef8c-fae8-465a-9d92-024cc11994fb] Labs, also known as Universal Navigation Inc., for violating the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).

The CFTC found that Uniswap Labs illegally offered leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions in digital assets via a decentralized digital asset trading protocol. Specifically, the platform allowed users to trade leveraged tokens that provided exposure to digital assets like Ether and Bitcoin, which did not result in actual delivery within 28 days. This type of transaction is only permissible on a board of trade designated or registered by the CFTC, which Uniswap Labs was not.

As part of the settlement, Uniswap Labs agreed to pay a $175,000 civil monetary penalty and to cease and desist from violating the CEA. The CFTC acknowledged Uniswap Labs' substantial cooperation with the investigation, which led to a reduced civil monetary penalty. However, Commissioner Mersinger noted that despite Uniswap's efforts to block trading of leveraged tokens, the settlement still penalized the company for actions taken before those tokens were blocked.

This settlement underscores the CFTC's ongoing enforcement efforts in the digital asset and DeFi space, emphasizing the need for compliance with existing regulations. From the other side, the United States currently lacks a comprehensive federal regulatory framework specifically tailored for digital assets. This absence leads to a patchwork of regulations, with different agencies and states applying various existing laws to cryptocurrencies, often resulting in inconsistent and sometimes contradictory rules

India

India has lifted the ban for two offshore crypto exchanges to operate in the country, subject to strict compliance with anti-money launderinglaws.

*KuCoin: The Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-India) lifted the ban on KuCoin in March 2024 after imposing a penalty of Rs 34.5 lakh. KuCoin has registered with the FIU and is now compliant with Indian regulations.

*Binance: Binance has also been allowed to restart operations in India after paying a penalty of about $2 million. It will operate as a fully-compliant entity registered with the FIU, adhering to all applicable laws including the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the VDA taxation framework.

Additionally, the FIU is reviewing requests from four more offshore crypto exchanges and is expected to approve at least two more exchanges by the end of the 2025 fiscal year, following a thorough compliance review.

The Indian FIU banned several foreign crypto exchanges due to their non-compliance with Indian AML regulations and other legal requirements.The ban was imposed because these exchanges were operating in India without necessary permits or approvals and were allegedly involved in money laundering activities. They failed to comply with Know Your Customer verification and AML laws.

The ban affected nine offshore crypto exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin, HTX, Kraken, Gate.io, Bitstamp, MEXC Global, Bittrex, and Bitfinex.

The ban was implemented in January 2023, following show-cause notices issued by the FIU-India on December 28, 2022. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology was directed to block access to these exchanges' websites, and Apple was asked to remove their apps from the App Store.

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