(*_ The crisis surrounding China’s second largest property developer, Evergrande Group, triggered a sell-off in the cryptocurrency markets at the start of the week. Below is a summary:

Dubai World Trade Centre Authority will add support for cryptocurrency trading

On Wednesday, the UAE’s Dubai World Trade Centre Authority and the Securities and Commodities Authority reached an agreement that allows the listing, regulation, and trading crypto-assets within the country.

Helal Al Marri, Director-General at the DWTCA, explained that due to the rapid growth of the industry, it was necessary for the DWTCA to provide support for crypto products like NFTs. These products are expected to play a significant role in the future financial world. It is also expected that the SCA would provide regulatory guidance to assist in the adoption (issuing, and listing) these assets by all entities who wish to operate crypto assets within the DWTCA’s scope.

The FCA would have to supervise, inspect and investigate entities operating within the zone. In July 2021), the UAE stated that it would launch its CBDC by 2023..

Suex is sanctioned for illegal operations

The US Treasury Department made a unique move on Tuesday by securing Suex’s crypto exchange. It was concerned about Suex’s connection to ransomware offenders and money laundering. Because the exchange had processed ransom payments for at least eight ransomware variations, it was sanctioned.

The sanctions against the Czech-based crypto exchange come at a time President Biden’s government is struggling to get a grip on crypto and the laws surrounding it. Although ransomware attacks have historically been linked to extremist groups, some cases may involve nation-states. The Treasury Department discovered earlier this year that Evil Corp, a Russian intelligence agency, had connections to Evil Corp, a ransomware organization. This group was responsible for the ransom attack against Colonial Pipeline.

Further, the Treasury Department stated that although cryptocurrencies are legal, the technology used to facilitate payments in these currencies can be easily exploited by rogue actors to make large sums of money. Ransomware attacks have affected several institutions in the US in recent months. These ransomware attacks have caused losses of $400 millions in 2020, and more than 300% growth from 2019..

FTX expands its presence to Gibraltar

The crypto exchange FTX had a good week. On Monday, the exchange announced that it has been granted the legal go-ahead by the Bahamas to operate through its subsidiary. This was in addition to last week’s announcement about a similar arrangement with Gibraltar.

FTX was granted a license by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to operate as a provider of DLT services through its Zubr Exchange subsidiary. The approval was conditional on the resolution of issues raised by the regulatory feedback. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, had praised the move at the time as one that would push FTX toward compliance and trust for all its users worldwide.

In Bahamas, FTX’s affiliate, FTX digital markets, was registered with the securities commission as a digital asset company. Ryan Salame, the chief of FTX Digital markets, was announced. The company’s headquarters are in Nassau, Bahamas.

CEO bankman-fried has taken a positive approach to regulatory requirements. In recent days, he has been more pro-regulation. He argued that the absence of regulations would lead to illegal activity (scams), which would make it harder for regulators to crack down further on the industry.

Coinbase calls it quits on Lend program plans

Crypto exchange Coinbase had planned the scheduled release of a new Lend feature for months now, but the SEC intervention may have well led the Lend product to its demise. Coinbase announced that it will stop the launch of the Lend feature. It is currently trying to understand the regulatory obstacles. According to Coinbase, the exchange stated that hundreds of thousands of customers had signed up for the program even before launch.

The exchange assured its customers that they would continue to find innovative, trusted products and programs for them. The Coinbase decision came as Gary Gensler, the SEC chair, takes a more firm approach to crypto.

Gensler stated to the US Senate Banking Committee, that the crypto setup needed to speak to regulators. Gensler also pointed out that there was a high likelihood that some tokens could be securities due to the variety of these platforms. These securities must be registered under the law. The SEC was in agreement that Lend by Coinbase was a security feature, but Coinbase disagreed.

Turkish President declares war against crypto

Bloomberg reported that Recep Tayyip Erdan, the Turkish President, stated that Turkey was at war over cryptocurrencies. He also announced that Turkey had taken several measures to simplify their use, even though the country is preparing to launch its digital Lira. While the Turkish president spoke to students in 81, he said that he has no issues with the widespread use of digital assets. However, he stressed that the Turkish Lira’s sovereignty would need to be maintained.

Erdogan said that the country’s currency was a part of its national identity. Turkey is hostile to crypto. The Turkish central bank had banned crypto payments in April.

The main reasons for the ban were market volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and criminal activity associated with crypto. One month later, the Turkish government placed all cryptocurrency asset providers under existing anti money laundering and terrorist financing regulations. This was as per a Presidential Decree.