In a series of events involving the cryptocurrency market, the U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned Ekaterina Zhdanova on Wednesday for her involvement in money laundering using virtual currency. Zhdanova provided Russian elites and Ryuk ransomware actors access to Western financial markets, thus breaching financial regulations.
Earlier, on Monday, federal prosecutors initiated the forfeiture of $54 million in cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and Ether. These digital assets were linked to Christopher Castelluzzo's illegal narcotics distribution scheme on the darknet.
On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sought a summary judgement against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon. The alleged securities violations led to substantial market losses, estimated at $45 billion.
On Thursday, the trial of Avraham Eisenberg, accused of hacking Mango Markets, was postponed until April 8 due to his transfer to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Eisenberg rejected the allegations, referring to the exploit as a "highly profitable trading strategy." In another cybersecurity incident on the same day, Bitfinex resolved a minor issue involving a hacked customer support agent. The breach led to access to stale information; however, no customer funds or systems were compromised.
These developments highlight an increasing focus on cybersecurity and regulatory compliance within the cryptocurrency sector.
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