The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 78: Veteran prosecutor leads DOJ crypto team, UAE opening soon to VASPs, HandCash partners with Circle and Fabriik

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As part of its bid to ramp up the federal level crackdown of illegal use of digital currency technologies, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has appointed a seasoned prosecutor to head the country’s new ‘crypto’ team. 

Veteran prosecutor Eun Young Choi is the first director to lead the DOJ’s newly formed ‘crypto’ team National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). Choi began her career in the DOJ as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where she served as the office’s Cybercrime Coordinator and investigated and prosecuted cyber, complex fraud and money laundering crimes, with focus on network intrusions, digital currency, the dark web, and national security investigations.

The new NCET director has served as the lead prosecutor in a number of digital asset cases, including against the unlicensed exchange Coin.MX and was known to have successfully argued the appeal against Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. 

The NCET aims to stop the growth of crimes involving the illicit use of digital assets and digital ledger technologies. The team will also assist in the ‘support and training to federal, state, local, and international law enforcement’ to investigate and prosecute digital currency-related crime. 

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is now preparing for the rollout of federal licenses an effort to attract digital currency companies and the world’s largest fintech groups.

According to media reports, the UAE is set to issue licenses for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) by the end of Q1 2022. A legislation to allow setting up of VASPs is also in the final stages of amendment by the Securities and Commodities Authority, according to an anonymous government official.

Some of the country’s financial free zones have already issued permits for VASPs after completing risk assessment in 2021. This evaluation has involved 14 public sector agencies and 16 private sector groups

The said licensing system for digital asset firms will help the UAE compete with financial centers Singapore and Hong Kong, which are also working on their respective regulatory regimes.

These initiatives have attracted more digital asset technology events in the country including the first ever BSV Global Blockchain Convention, taking place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on May 24 to 26.

In other news, digital commemorative collection NFTs marking Beijing’s success of hosting 2008 Summer Olympics and the recent 2022 Winter Olympics are now up for grabs. 

The online cultural activity “Snowflakes Illuminate the Centenary Journey of Winter Games” was officially launched with a set of non-fungible tokens or NFTs. The collection includes images featuring the mascot “Xiao Cang” as an athlete in five different Winter Games.

The Sports Culture Development Centre of the General Administration of Sport of China, the China Sports Museum, the Chinese Olympic Museum, Cultural Investment Holdings (an official sponsor of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) and the Shanghai Pudong Science Fiction Association launched the collection on the NFTonShow platform, which is powered by the BSV blockchain, where minting fee per NFT is only about $0.015. 

In an exciting development, HandCash has partnered with payment giant Circle and Fabriik to offer an easy and instant in-app BSV top-up experience. By integrating Fabriik’s Weave API into the client onboarding experience, it is now easier to provide BSV liquidity in app and to trade digital currencies seamlessly. 

The top-up feature is available on the latest HandCash 4.0. Other features include a new user interface and section distribution, app gallery for iOS users, updated QR scanner, all new send money flow, downloadable receipts, as well as some cute animations.

This week, check out the latest episode of the BSV Stories hosted by Patrick Thompson and shot in Las Vegas. Watch the full video of ‘What is the Metaverse?’ on the CoinGeek YouTube Channel.