- Japan on course to get a new crypto-friendly head of the financial regulator
- Chinese authorities arrest a group of 10 men on suspicion of selling fake Huobi Tokens
- The Cardano Foundation issued a warning against individuals claiming to have ties to the core team of the people behind Cardano (ADA) cryptocurrency.
Japan Gets a Pro-Crypto Head of Financial Services Agency
Japan is set to appoint Ryozo Himino as the head of the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the country’s financial watchdog. The appointment will be officially announced next month.
Himino is the current Deputy Counselor for International Financial. What makes Himino’s appointment as the Commissioner of the FSA is his friendliness towards cryptocurrencies. He played a big role in getting Blockstream’s Adam Back to attend a seminar held in June.
He wanted stakeholders to gather at G20 and discuss the potential of blockchain in building decentralized financial systems.
Himino is taking over from Toshihinde Endo, who has also been crypto-friendly. Despite this, the FSA has become more strict about the emerging industry especially considering the introduction of two controversial crypto laws.
Himino spoke about Facebook’s Libra in September last year, calling the proposed stablecoin a wake-up call.
“Libra’s alarm bell in now making regulators and central bankers to open their eyes and see squarely the issues they need to face sooner or later. And many other clocks may be waiting to ring next,” he said.
Chinese Police Confiscate $15 Million from Alleged Fraudsters Selling Fake Tokens
The police in China have seized $15 million in cryptocurrency from a group of alleged fraudsters who sold fake tokens to unsuspecting investors.
China’s Ministry of Public Security announced the news on Thursday, stating the ten suspects are alleged to have sold fake Huobi Tokens (HT) to more than 1,300 people. Huobi Tokens are native to the Huobi cryptocurrency exchange which has a large footprint in Asia.
The crew created several Telegram Chat Groups in which they advertised smart contracts that generate HTs and give investors an arbitrage opportunity to earn an 8 percent return on their investment.
Li, a victim who spoke to the police said that you send one ETH to a given address and you get 60 HT in return. You can then sell the HT tokens to make a profit.
Li sent 10 ETH to the designated address and received 600 HT which turned out to be fake as they could not be deposited for trading. Sensing that something was not right, Li reported the matter to the authorities.
Apart from cryptocurrency, the police also seized two luxury vehicles – a Ferrari and a McLaren.
Japanese Online Securities Firm Lists Cryptocurrency CFD
Monex Securities, a Japanese online securities company, has become the first firm in the country to offer cryptocurrency contract-for-difference (CFD) service. Monex Securities is a subsidiary of Monex Group, which runs Coincheck cryptocurrency exchange.
A CFD is a derivative in which the party buying the contract pays the seller the difference between the price of an asset when the contract is opened and the future price of the asset when the contract is closed.
According to an announcement, the CFD is available for bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and XRP. The cryptocurrencies will be traded against the Japanese Yen and leveraged 2X.
Cardano Foundation Issues a Warning on Suspicious Activities in Japan
The Cardano Foundation, the non-profit entity behind cryptocurrency Cardano, issued a warning that a suspicious firm is trying to score points by claiming ties to Cardano core members.
The foundation wrote on July 9 that someone from BTCNEXT, a Caribbean firm claims to personally know some of Cardano’s members.
Because of their proximity to Cardano members, the individuals say that investments with them are “safe.”
“Neither the Cardano Foundation nor any of its ecosystem partners are in any way associated with BTCNEXT, and they are also not our partners of any sort,” said Cardano.
Singapore Fines 52-Year Old Man for Promoting One Coin Cryptocurrency
A Singaporean has been fined after being convicted of promoting the cryptocurrency OneCoin, which is believed to have been involved in a multi-level marketing scheme.
The 52-year old man, Fok Fook Seng, was fined around $72,000 for a crime he committed between January 2016 and June 2017, the local police force said.
Seng was charged in April in a case in which the police said it was the first of its kind.
