Daily Digest - 25 November 2022

Headlines

▌Belgian FSMA: Bitcoin and Ethereum Do Not Need to Comply With Financial Rules

Cryptocurrencies without issuers, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), are not securities and do not need to comply with financial rules, the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) said on Thursday. The regulator said it is receiving increasing questions about the regulatory treatment of cryptocurrencies and wants to address the most frequently occurring gray areas, including when digital assets can be classified as securities. The FSMA added that Belgium’s rules are “neutral in terms of technology,” suggesting that classification as a financial instrument or a security should not depend on whether the asset uses a blockchain or something more traditional.

Policy

▌UK Lawmakers Vote to Make It Easier for Law Enforcement Agencies to Seize Cryptocurrencies Linked to Terrorism

British lawmakers voted in favor of new rules that could make it easier for law enforcement agencies to confiscate cryptocurrencies linked to terrorist activities. The rules, proposed as amendments to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, include reforms that could help authorities fight local crime. The same lawmaker in the lower house of parliament has voted in favor of an amendment that would give local law enforcement the power to seize, freeze, and recover cryptocurrencies linked to crime. During the bill's second reading on October 13, they called for the measures to be reflected in the country's existing anti-terrorism legislation as well.

Cryptocurrency

▌OXT Researchers Verified the Amount of BTC Held by Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust Through on-Chain Analysis

Although Grayscale is not public, OXT researcher Ergo explained that measures have been taken to identify possible GBTC addresses and balances based on public information and blockchain forensics. Among them, it was found that 432 addresses holding 317,705 BTC may be GBTC custody addresses. Additionally, in this analysis, additional onchain forensics was used to confirm the approximately 633K BTC balance held by GBTC in Coinbase custody. Ergo concluded that after discovering that the top 50% of bitcoins were associated with Grayscale’s BTC, the team scanned the blockchain for other addresses that matched those found in Part 1.

▌British Police Uncovered an Online Fraud Case by Tracking Bitcoin Records

According to a statement from the London police, after cracking down on a fraudulent website called iSpoof, there were 200,000 potential victims in the UK alone, and more than 100 people were arrested in the "largest ever British case" by the London Police for fraudulent operation. iSpoof allows scammers to pose as officials from banks such as Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds, Halifax, First Direct, Natwest, Nationwide, and TSB. According to the police report, the criminals used Bitcoin to pay for the service. Scotland Yard's cybercrime unit shut down the site this week following a multinational collaboration that included US and Ukrainian authorities. Over a 20-month period, London police claim criminals made nearly £3.2 million ($3.9 million). It is reported that the cybercrime unit began investigating iSpoof in June 2021 and began tracking Bitcoin records.