Zero-knowledge technology could let companies verify who you are without storing your identity documents. So why isn’t it already standard practice? The massive theft of more than 153 million US and Canadian driver’s licenses earlier this month should make one thing abundantly clear: the safest place for a copy of your driver’s license is nowhere at all. The leaked IDs, which appear to have come from an identity verification provider, ended up on a dark web identity service dubbed Nexus, alongside millions of other stolen identity and travel documents. The danger was underscored this week after fintech Revolut revealed it had been tricked by a hacker into handing over reams of sensitive customer data, including copies of passports and verification selfies. The hacker is now drip feeding the identification documents of 680 customers onto the web in an attempt to secure a 10,000 Bitcoin ransom. Read more
Both parties say they want US crypto market structure legislation, but a dispute over ethics rules and who enforces them is becoming the bill’s biggest obstacle. The long-awaited US Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY) has hit another snag. This time, it’s not software developers or the turf war between federal regulators at stake, but the thornier question of ethics — ironic, given many politicians’ demonstrable disdain for them. After months of negotiations and what Coinbase’s chief executive Brian Armstrong called “thousands of hours of work on both sides,” disagreement over a code of conduct could make or break CLARITY once and for all. Read more
Kraken, Bitstamp, 1inch and Bitfinex have all set up shop in the British Virgin Islands — but you might find it tricky to book an on-site meeting with one of their executives. More than $1 out of every $10 of the world’s tokenized US Treasuries is issued by a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. That places the small Caribbean territory behind only the United States as a key jurisdiction for the rapidly growing asset class, according to BVI Finance. BVI Finance’s Destination Digital report in June found that BVI entities accounted for approximately $1.5 billion of the $14.98 billion global market for tokenized US Treasuries as of June 1. Read more
From July, crypto exchanges operating in Australia will prompt for additional information on all outgoing and incoming transfers. Crypto exchange users in Australia will soon face stricter rules on all transfers as the country’s travel rule is set to come into force on Wednesday, aligning it with similar rules in the EU, US and UK. From July, all crypto sent and received on locally-regulated crypto exchanges will require users to provide additional information, such as the name of the person the crypto is being sent to or received from, and the name of the platform. Gabby Lewis, the head of fraud and financial crime at Swyftx, told Cointelegraph that for most exchange users, “the impact should be very limited. They’ll provide the required details once, and then these will be saved for future use.” Read more
Bitcoin rallied alongside stocks and investors’ hope for interest rate cuts, but is the rejection at $76,000 a sign of a bull trap? Key takeaways: The US Federal Reserve's shift toward balance sheet expansion may provide the liquidity needed to boost Bitcoin and broader risk markets. The war in Iran and high oil prices might be driving investors toward scarce assets to hedge against rising inflation. Read more