Russia’s FSB Charges Man with ‘High Treason’ for ‘Donating Crypto to Ukraine’

Binance has withdrawn its application for a financial license in Abu Dhabi as part of its reassessment of global operations and compliance requirements. The application, submitted by BV Investment Management, a Binance unit, aimed to manage collective investment funds. The decision to retract the application was made to align with the company's revised compliance needs. Binance's former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who acquired UAE citizenship, has pleaded guilty in an anti-money laundering case and requested to return to the UAE before his sentencing. Binance has also ceased operations in several other countries, including Germany, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Russia, due to regulatory compliance efforts.

Several major South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges have started listing the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT as trading volumes increase. Bithumb, the second-largest exchange in the country, added support for USDT on December 7, following Coinone's listing on November 30. Both exchanges support USDT on the Tron blockchain protocol. South Korean exchanges have faced scrutiny in recent years and have been pressured to delist certain coins. Despite concerns about Tether's USD reserves, the South Korean exchanges seem unfazed and believe investors can check the audit reports and reserve details. USDT is popular in South Korea and Asia, where it is used for trading Bitcoin on peer-to-peer markets. Bithumb hopes that the USDT listing will help improve its financial results. As part of the listing event, Bithumb is offering customers fractional Bitcoin rewards for maker orders. This development comes after a customs service raid on an international gambling ring that used USDT. Officials suspect that the ring paid online casino users in USDT, which was then exchanged for fiat on an illegal crypto exchange in the Philippines.

More than 1,000 Bitcoins that were mined in 2010 during the early days of Bitcoin have been moved to trading desks. The transaction involved inputs from multiple addresses and the coins were consolidated into a separate address. The value of the coins at the time of mining was only $100, but they are now worth over $43 million. It is speculated that the original owner of the coins, who may have been a Bitcoin pioneer, has now sold them. The movement of old Bitcoins is not uncommon, as similar transactions have occurred earlier this year. These coins are typically considered lost by their former owners. Despite the reluctance of long-term holders to sell their coins at current prices, the price of Bitcoin remains higher than the average acquisition price.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, is set to be extradited to the United States. Kwon has been imprisoned in Montenegro since last March and both the US and South Korea have been vying for his extradition to face fraud charges. The decision on where to extradite Kwon lies with Justice Minister Andrej Milovic, who is expected to announce his decision once it is confirmed that Kwon will not appeal. If extradited, Kwon will face multiple charges of fraud in the US related to the collapse of Terra and Luna.