virtual

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission announced that BiFinance has been listed as a suspicious virtual asset trading platform. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission stated that the company claims to be licensed in Hong Kong and asserts that it provides digital asset trading services such as spot, futures, and wealth management on its website, as well as other services related to digital assets. However, the company is not licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission and is suspected of conducting unlicensed activities.In addition, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has also listed DFX Labs Company Limited as a suspicious virtual asset trading platform and has included "fgzc," "dwzc," "tarikron," and others as fraudulent websites.

According to the Korea Herald, in order to combat drug trafficking using virtual assets, the South Korean police have established a specialized virtual asset tracking and investigation team consisting of 41 members, and have intensified investigations into drug sales networks on platforms such as Telegram since August 3.In the first half of this year, South Korea conducted large-scale crackdowns from March to June, arresting a total of 5,203 drug offenders and detaining 1,039 individuals; compared to the same period last year, the number of arrests increased by 94 (an increase of 1.8%), and the number of detentions increased by 75 (an increase of 7.8%).

According to a report by Hong Kong 01, "Fun Coffee," which claims to be rooted in Vietnam, just entered Hong Kong at the end of 2025 and was warned by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in July 2026 for being a suspicious investment product. The company appears to be investing in the coffee business, but in reality, it is a virtual currency investment scam with annual interest rates as high as 222%, ultimately "collapsing" at the end of July.The victim group has over 370 people, with each person defrauded of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Multiple investment groups combined have a total of 4,000 people involved, with funds exceeding 1 billion Hong Kong dollars. A middle-aged woman in her 50s claims that she unknowingly became a shareholder and director of one of Fun Coffee's Hong Kong registered companies, and she has over a hundred "downlines." After being contacted by reporters, she has gone to the police to report the case. The police have received 115 reports, which have been handed over to the Commercial Crime Bureau's fraud investigation team for follow-up.The report states that Fun Coffee held a marathon event in Hong Kong at the end of last year, inviting artist Yuen Siu Cheung to host and distributing anti-fraud leaflets for promotion in various districts. The company's headquarters in Kowloon Bay and its storefront in Mong Kok are now empty, with notices of unpaid rent posted. The Securities and Futures Commission issued a warning on July 13, and the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security also warned in May that it is suspected to be a Ponzi scheme.

According to statistics from Hong Kong law enforcement, from July 24 to 30, a total of 25 cases of investment fraud involving online romance were reported, with total losses nearing 70 million Hong Kong dollars. In one large online romance investment fraud case, a 50-year-old insurance practitioner was deceived by an online romantic partner claiming to be a "car dealer" into investing in virtual currency. Until last month, the victim discovered that the investment platform showed account earnings exceeding 800%, but when attempting to withdraw funds, the request was denied. Subsequently, both the online romantic partner and the so-called investment expert went offline, and the victim ultimately confirmed a cumulative loss of over 26 million Hong Kong dollars.The police remind investors to be vigilant about the behavior of recommending investment projects after establishing relationships through social platforms, especially those involving virtual currency, guaranteeing high returns, or requiring transactions through unfamiliar platforms. Do not relax financial safety precautions due to emotions or trust.

Recently, the public security agencies of Zhanjiang and Leizhou in Guangdong, China, launched a concentrated crackdown operation, successfully dismantling a money laundering criminal gang that used virtual currency transactions to transfer funds from telecom network fraud. Sixteen members were criminally detained in accordance with the law.The gang, led by a couple named He and Zhang, began laundering and transferring fraudulently obtained funds through virtual currency trading models since the end of 2025. They illegally profited by earning transaction price differences and amassed a large number of personal bank cards, WeChat, Alipay, and other payment accounts to build a money laundering chain. In the early hours of July 24, the police conducted a precise cross-regional operation, dismantling the entire gang. The Zhanjiang Public Security Bureau solemnly reminds that "score running" money laundering is an important accomplice in telecom network fraud. Involved individuals will be charged based on the severity of their actions, suspected of aiding information network criminal activities, concealing and disguising criminal proceeds, and crimes related to the benefits of criminal proceeds.Citizens are strongly advised not to rent, lend, or sell personal bank cards and various payment accounts for the sake of small commissions. They must resolutely avoid participating in illegal activities such as virtual currency fund transfers and money laundering. Everyone should consciously protect their personal credit and property safety and actively stay away from all types of fraud-related criminal activities.

Caixin published an article titled "The Collapsed Balance Sheet of the Boxing Champion," which reveals that for the six individual creditor friends of Zou Shiming and his wife, the funds invested in P2P and virtual currencies are the only amounts that still have the possibility of recovery compared to other losses.Real estate has been sold, luxury goods have been discounted, the boxing gym renovation has been written off, and cross-industry projects have been shut down; these are all irreversible sunk costs. However, P2P and virtual currencies are different: if the platform has not completely liquidated, or if the wallet address can still be traced, there is theoretically room for subrogation. For example, the Beijing procuratorial authorities have successfully recovered over 89 million yuan in illicit funds by using penetrating reviews combined with blockchain big data analysis tools to trace the flow of virtual currencies.

According to a report by The Paper, the Intermediate People's Court of Xilin Gol League in Inner Mongolia upheld the original verdict in the second trial of the case involving Ma for illegal business operations. This case is part of a series of cases where the Sifang payment platform provided funding and payment settlement for gambling platforms. Some defendants in this case were accused of receiving commissions or rebates in the form of virtual currencies such as USDT.It was found that from May 24, 2022, to October 18, 2023, Ma and four others illegally collected and paid funds through third-party payment accounts, and received USDT virtual currency and bank card payments through virtual wallets. They settled amounts exceeding 2.95 billion yuan through 105 merchants of 10 third-party payment companies.Ultimately, the court determined that Ma was guilty of illegal business operations, sentencing him to four years and six months in prison and imposing a fine of 3 million yuan. The five individuals who turned themselves in have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 6 years for illegal business operations.

The People's Bank of China Shenzhen Branch, Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau, Municipal Internet Information Office, and Municipal Local Financial Supervision Administration continue to carry out special rectifications, urging local website platforms to strictly implement their main responsibilities and legally handle a number of illegal self-media accounts.Some typical cases include: "USDT Merchant Group Chat," "Gather Together to Play Virtual Currency," "Search for Bitcoin," "WeChat Quick Exchange," "Zhongchain Laojiu," "Medicine Breaks a Good Sleep," "Little Goldfish 9884," "User 0767527971," and other accounts that illegally provided marketing and promotional information related to virtual currency business activities within the country, enticing the public to participate in illegal financial activities related to virtual currency. According to the relevant policy provisions such as the "Notice on Further Preventing and Handling Risks Related to Virtual Currency," the aforementioned accounts have been permanently closed and dealt with by the platform in accordance with the law and agreements.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) stated in a report released on Tuesday that if identifiable individuals retain "control or sufficient influence" in DeFi arrangements, its rules apply, regardless of how decentralized the project claims to be.FATF noted that many DeFi projects still frequently exhibit centralized elements in practice, including the concentration of governance tokens, management authority, upgrade control, and fees and rewards flowing to insiders. The report categorizes DeFi into three types: those with identifiable controllers, those that are actually centralized but where operators are hidden, and those that are truly leaderless, with only the last category not subject to its standards.The report stated that nearly 93% of jurisdictions responding to the survey have not applied the relevant standards to any qualifying DeFi arrangements, with only 26 out of 142 jurisdictions having assessed risks, 4 having established licensing rules, and only 2 having registered or licensed relevant platforms. FATF requires countries to mandate or encourage DeFi projects to embed anti-money laundering controls into smart contracts or interfaces; for platforms that refuse to cooperate, jurisdictions may prohibit them from operating locally as a last resort. The report also stated that the total value locked in DeFi reached $86.6 billion this year, an increase of approximately 85% compared to 2023.

According to Dawn, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of Pakistan has established a virtual currency investigation department within the newly launched National Command and Control Center (NC3), focusing on combating money laundering and terrorist financing using virtual assets.Officials responsible for the counter-terrorism department stated that this department will work in conjunction with the newly established Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) to specifically investigate criminal activities related to crypto assets, and recommend that the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) and the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) set up similar units to address the use of crypto assets in cybercrime and drug trafficking.The FIA has also integrated functions such as anti-money laundering, border entry and exit monitoring, human trafficking, and smuggling investigations within the NC3, and is promoting new regulations and personnel expansion to shorten case processing times and enhance law enforcement coordination efficiency.

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed an executive order to coordinate the regulation of virtual assets, strengthen cooperation among the country's financial, tax, and capital market institutions, and address the fragmentation of digital asset regulation. The executive order establishes a virtual asset committee composed of heads of Nigeria's main financial regulatory agencies, responsible for guiding relevant policies. The Nigerian tax authorities will update digital asset policies and provide more details on their impact on taxpayers.The President's Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga stated that the executive order does not establish new regulatory bodies nor transfer power between institutions; each agency retains its statutory responsibilities and independence, and registration requirements will be determined based on the nature of the activities and the assets involved. A report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June indicated that since 2019, Nigeria has accounted for about 60% of the stablecoin inflows to sub-Saharan Africa; from July 2023 to June 2024, the country's cryptocurrency inflows are estimated to be around $59 billion.

According to the latest report released by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), FATF conducted the seventh special assessment of the implementation of Recommendation 15 (R.15) across global jurisdictions. The report indicates that since the last update in 2025, countries have continued to advance in the regulation of virtual assets (VA) and virtual asset service providers (VASP), including conducting risk assessments, improving licensing and registration frameworks, implementing travel rules, and strengthening law enforcement actions.However, the report also points out that significant gaps still exist, mainly reflected in: the difficulty in effectively translating risk assessment results into mitigation measures, insufficient implementation of licensing and registration frameworks, challenges in identifying VASP activity subjects, and inadequate effectiveness of risk-based supervision and law enforcement. In terms of emerging risks, the report focuses on the following areas: the exacerbation of the "industrialization" trend of organized crime groups using virtual assets to commit fraud, the rising risk of stablecoin abuse, risks associated with non-custodial wallet peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions, offshore VASPs operating outside of regulation, and ongoing challenges in the DeFi sector. FATF calls for the public and private sectors to jointly strengthen the implementation of R.15, enhance risk mitigation capabilities, and deepen domestic, international, and public-private cooperation mechanisms.

According to Digital Asset, officials from the Korean National Tax Service have proposed legislative suggestions, believing it is necessary to amend the Criminal Procedure Act to allow for the seizure of virtual assets held by individuals. Individual ownership of digital assets refers to the situation where the private key is directly held by the individual, without the need to entrust a third party for custody or disposal.In June of this year, four individuals, including Zhang Xiyuan, the head of the National Tax Service investigation team, published a paper titled "Limitations and Legislative Review of Self-Protecting Virtual Asset Seizure Execution" in the journal "Criminal Policy Research" of the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice. The paper explains that separate regulations must be established for the requirements and procedures for transferring to a public wallet or obtaining control. The paper first points out that when a suspect or owner holds access means such as a private key, the search warrant must clearly specify the following: the type and quantity of digital assets to be seized; verified addresses; addresses to be transferred; methods of transfer; and storage methods after the transfer. Furthermore, due to the risks of theft associated with transferring assets to wallets managed by a single entity, the paper proposes a method for transferring to a joint address managed by both the court and investigative agencies.

According to South Korean media KBS, the Financial Services Commission of South Korea has announced the results of virtual asset market regulation. Since the implementation of the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act" two years ago, approximately 40 investigations into unfair virtual asset trading have been completed, and more than 30 cases have been reported or notified to judicial authorities, focusing on cracking down on market disorder behaviors such as short-term manipulation and "pump and dump."In the future, the ability to monitor the market will be further strengthened, and an AI-based virtual asset regulatory system will be established, including real-time market monitoring, second-level price manipulation analysis, and automatic identification of suspicious accounts and trading intervals.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order on virtual assets aimed at regulating virtual assets and combating unregistered operators. The measure has taken effect immediately and will establish a new supervisory framework to coordinate the fragmented regulatory environment.The newly established Virtual Assets Committee will serve as the main policy-making and coordinating body, chaired by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (NSEC) as vice-chairs. An Office of Virtual Assets will be set up within the CBN to handle daily inter-agency operations and information sharing. Securities-related financial activities will be managed by the NSEC, while payment, settlement, and custody services for non-securities virtual assets will be managed by the CBN.The CBN plans to launch a regulatory sandbox that allows qualified operators to test virtual asset products and blockchain solutions in a monitored environment. The Virtual Assets Committee is required to develop an implementation framework for the executive order within 30 days.

According to official data, in just over a week since its launch, the trading volume of Agents on the Robinhood Chain has exceeded $100 million, with over 2,440 Agents launched, raising $1.8 million for developers from well-known companies such as Google and General Dynamics.Previously, it was reported that the Robinhood Chain integrated the AI Agent infrastructure of Virtuals from day one, allowing users to launch, fund, own, and use Agents in the tokenized market. Currently, Virtuals has become an important AI Agent infrastructure on the Robinhood Chain.

According to a report by the Procuratorial Daily, researchers from the People's Procuratorate of Yuhu District, Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, and the Law School of Xiangtan University have jointly written an article proposing a systematic response plan to the regulatory dilemmas of money laundering crimes using virtual currency. The article points out that current judicial practice faces three major dilemmas: first, Article 191 of the Criminal Law limits money laundering crimes to seven types of upstream crimes, resulting in many cases being treated as "concealment crimes"; second, methods such as mixers, privacy coins, and cross-chain transfers lead to fragmented evidence chains, making traditional investigative methods difficult to penetrate; third, conflicts in the legal attributes of virtual currency, a vacuum in procedural rules, and barriers to cross-border cooperation make it difficult to recover assets.In response, the article suggests promoting "dual investigations for one case," establishing the principle of self-authentication of blockchain data, constructing a tiered standard of proof, and establishing a national-level custody and disposal platform for involved virtual currencies, while actively promoting the signing of special agreements for international criminal justice assistance in virtual currency crimes.

The Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited (Hong Kong Clearing) announced that it has recently discovered multiple counterfeit websites that lure users into submitting personal information such as ID card numbers, ID card photos, and phone numbers under the guise of "Buyer Online Security Assurance" for so-called "real-name authentication," and use cash rewards as an incentive, allowing users to recharge and withdraw funds through virtual wallets.The Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited urges the public to be cautious of suspicious calls, websites, or other communications, and to report to the police as soon as possible if they suspect they have been scammed.

According to a report by Sing Tao Daily, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Professionals Association stated that after a meeting with representatives from the regulatory authorities, including Deputy Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Chen Haolian and Executive Director of the Securities and Futures Commission's Intermediaries Division Ye Zhiheng, the Securities and Futures Commission has committed to advancing measures such as the separation of the "Virtual Asset Platform Practitioners Examination" (CVAP) exam and curriculum, optimizing review materials, and reducing assessment fees.The association will follow up on the relevant timeline and continue to communicate with the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Securities and Futures Commission on practical issues such as self-custody operation guidelines for private equity funds, the boundaries of technology services and regulated activities, and the VA Payment regulatory framework.