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The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on an Ethereum (ETH) wallet tied to alleged Sinaloa cartel money launderer Jimenez Castro. The action aims to crack down on cartel crypto operations. According to OFAC’s updated sanctions list, the Ethereum address received around $740,000 worth of deposits on Binance. The deposits happened within a two-month period, starting in January 2022. Also read: Kraken Expands European Footprint: Secures Regulatory Approvals in Ireland, Spain Source: CNBC US Treasury accuses Castro of funneling funds using crypto The Treasury alleges Castro runs an organization that utilizes cryptocurrency and bank transfers to funnel proceeds from U.S. fentanyl sales back to Sinaloa leaders in Mexico. In addition, he is one of 10 new Sinaloa-linked names sanctioned in a counter-narcotics push. The Sinaloa cartel is considered among the world’s most dangerous and prolific drug traffickers, responsible...

The firms were cited anonymously in the CFTC's complaint describing Binance’s alleged facilitation of U.S. clients. Trading firms Jane Street Group, Tower Research Capital and Radix Trading have been reportedly identified as Binance’s three “VIP” clients that were cited anonymously in the recent lawsuit filed against Binance by the United States commodities regulator. According to an April 5 Bloomberg report citing "people familiar with the matter,” Radix Trading is “Trading Firm A” as described in the Commodities Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) suit while Jane Street was “Trading Firm B” and Tower Research was “Trading Firm C.” The firms on the CFTC's list were examples of U.S. clients allegedly able to access Binance. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) first reported on March 28 that Radix Trading was “Trading Firm A.” Radix co-founder Benjamin Blander told the WSJ in a March 30 report that he believed the firm acted legally even when trading with Binance's offs...

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz believes regulators have got it "completely upside-down" on crypto vs AI regulation. Mike Novogratz, the CEO of digital asset investment firm Galaxy Digital told investors he is shocked over the amount of regulatory attention for crypto rather than artificial intelligence (AI), a technology he believes will trigger a “deep fake” Identity crisis. The chief executive explained at the firm’s fourth-quarter conference call on March 28 that the U.S. government has it “completely upside-down” in choosing to focus so much on crypto regulation and yet turn a blind eye to AI: “When I think about AI, it shocks me that we’re talking so much about crypto regulation and nothing about AI regulation. I mean, I think the government’s got it completely upside-down.” This concern appeared to stem from Novogratz’s fear that AI will trigger a “deep fake” Identity crisis. “In lots of ways, one of the best use cases for crypto is going to be identity around AI,...