Today's Highlights:
⚖️ UK High Court grants permission to appeal to Chinese victims in the Qian Zhimin case concerning the ruling on the law applicable to property rights over more than 60,000 bitcoins
🚔 Retired Hong Kong woman loses over HK$4.5 million in cryptocurrency investment scam
🚔 Trump to emphasize crackdown on overseas crypto fraud at White House event
📋 OCC issues first final rule under the GENIUS Act: no automatic exemption for stablecoin yield; case-by-case determination
📋 Ruling party leader in South Korea: listening to views from all sides on crypto asset taxation
📌 Bitcoin Amsterdam 2026 will be held on November 5–6 at Sugar Factory in Amsterdam, focusing on institutions, regulation and community
UK High Court grants permission to appeal to Chinese victims in the Qian Zhimin case concerning the ruling on the law applicable to property rights over more than 60,000 bitcoins
Four days after ruling that Chinese law governs the dispute over property rights to more than 60,000 bitcoins in the Qian Zhimin case, the UK High Court held another hearing, and the judge granted permission to appeal the October 12 ruling on applicable law to approximately 16,000 Chinese victims participating in the UK recovery efforts. Lawyers for the parties also discussed litigation costs relating to the earlier dispute over applicable law, whether these individual applicants will continue their recovery claims, and how they may withdraw. The case is currently at the stage where permission to appeal has been granted, and substantive ownership of the property rights has not yet been determined.
Business impact
What the grant of permission to appeal changes is the preliminary issue of applicable law, not the ultimate ownership of the bitcoins: if the original ruling is overturned, English law rather than Chinese law will govern the determination of property rights over these bitcoins, and the basis for the victims' claims, the direction of evidence and the distribution path will all change accordingly. Approximately 16,000 applicants are participating in the recovery in their individual capacities, and the scope of their authorization vis-à-vis their lawyers, cost-sharing and withdrawal mechanisms directly determine who can continue to assert rights in subsequent proceedings; participants without clear authorization may lose their place at the appeal stage. How litigation costs are allocated among such a large number of applicants also constitutes a practical economic threshold.
Source: ChainCatcher · 2026/10/21 17:07
Hong Kong Retired Woman Falls Victim to Cryptocurrency Investment Scam, Losing Over HK$4.5 Million
The Hong Kong Police Force, in a post on the social media platform "CyberDefender," stated that over the past week it received more than 50 reports of investment scams, involving losses exceeding HK$30 million. In one case, a retired woman in her sixties met a man claiming to be interested in renting a property through a property transaction platform. The man, posing as an investment expert, recommended cryptocurrency investments, sent links to fraudulent investment websites, and induced her to invest funds by promising high returns. Following his instructions, the woman went to physical cryptocurrency exchange stores 20 times to purchase USDT, which she then transferred to designated wallets, nominally for investment in ETH. She initially succeeded in withdrawing some funds and subsequently continued to add to her investment, until, upon attempting another withdrawal, the other party demanded USDT worth approximately HK$7 million as tax; only then did she realize she had been defrauded, ultimately losing more than HK$4.5 million.
Business Impact
The fraud chain in this case falls into two identifiable stages: first, a fraudulent investment website gained the victim's trust under the guise of high returns; second, the victim purchased USDT at physical exchange stores 20 times and transferred it to wallets designated by the other party, with the funds leaving the victim's control once transferred. For Hong Kong-licensed virtual asset service providers and physical exchange stores, a customer repeatedly purchasing stablecoins in the name of investment and transferring them to unfamiliar wallets constitutes a recognizable abnormal transaction pattern, and existing anti-money laundering and customer due diligence obligations require institutions to record and assess the source of funds, the purpose of transactions, and the relationship with the recipient. The case is currently at the stage of police reports and public warnings; the original text does not mention any investigation or allegation against any exchange store or platform, and therefore it is inappropriate to conclude on that basis that exchange stores bear legal liability.
Source: Wu Blockchain · 2026/10/21 15:54
Trump to Highlight Crackdown on Overseas Crypto Fraud at White House Event
U.S. President Trump will on Wednesday highlight his administration's crackdown on overseas crypto fraud at a White House cybercrime prevention event. According to Reuters, citing White House officials, these overseas criminal networks lure Americans into fraudulent crypto investments. Trump and cabinet members plan to note that the government has seized multiple fraudulent crypto investment websites and is moving to shut down online impersonation scams. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Todd Blanche are expected to attend. The event follows an executive order issued in March of this year, in which Trump directed the Department of Justice to prioritize identifying and prosecuting online fraudsters, and a subsequent memorandum requiring the Department of Homeland Security to cooperate with private enterprises to monitor foreign criminal hacker groups. FBI data show that in 2025 Americans submitted more than 1 million cyber fraud complaints, a 17% increase over 2024, with record losses. Crypto fraud accounted for more than half of the losses; the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded 181,565 crypto-related complaints, with losses reaching US$11.366 billion, and crypto investment fraud causing US$7.2 billion in losses. Most of the fraudulent activity is traced to organized criminal groups in Southeast Asia, involving Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, where criminals use victims of human trafficking as forced labor in scam compounds. Americans aged 60 and over suffered the heaviest losses, with crypto-related losses reaching US$4.43 billion. Crypto ATM fraud caused US$389 million in losses, a 58% increase over 2024; secondary scams targeting prior victims caused a further US$1.4 billion in losses. The FBI's "Operation Level Up" notified 3,780 victims of ongoing crypto investment fraud in 2025, with an estimated US$225.8 million recovered.
Business Impact
The direct target of this event is overseas organized criminal networks, not licensed crypto service providers within the United States; for the latter, the real constraint comes from the Department of Justice's priority prosecution direction established by the March executive order and the memorandum requiring the Department of Homeland Security to cooperate with private enterprises to monitor foreign criminal hacker groups. Fraudulent investment websites and online impersonation scams being listed as targets for seizure and shutdown means that platforms serving U.S. users, when their domain names, brands and customer service channels are impersonated, need to demonstrate to law enforcement with verifiable records that they are unrelated to the impersonating sites. The loss figures for crypto ATM fraud and secondary scams show that cash entry points and lists of prior victims are specific areas of law enforcement focus, and the practices of relevant operators in identity verification and transaction record-keeping will directly affect their position in investigations.
Source: ChainCatcher · 2026/10/21 22:58
OCC Issues First Final Rule Under GENIUS Act: No Automatic Exemption for Stablecoin Yield, Case-by-Case Determination
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued the first final implementing rule under the GENIUS Act, clarifying regulatory requirements for stablecoin issuance, custody and third-party cooperation, effective January 18, 2027. Regarding stablecoin yield and reward programs, the OCC stated that existing programs will not be automatically deemed compliant merely because they were launched before the Act, nor does it provide a safe harbor exemption for existing business; regulators will determine matters on a case-by-case basis according to the specific arrangements. The GENIUS Act prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying holders yield arising solely from holding, using or retaining stablecoins, but this does not mean all third-party reward programs are prohibited; the OCC noted that if rewards are based at least in part on other reasons, they may fall outside the scope of the prohibition. Currently, platforms such as Coinbase, PayPal and Kraken all offer stablecoin reward programs, and the compliance of future arrangements remains uncertain.
Business impact
This OCC final rule places the analytical focus on the cause of returns and rewards: if an issuer pays holders a return that arises solely from holding, using, or retaining stablecoins, the arrangement falls within the GENIUS Act prohibition, and the fact that a program was launched before the Act does not create an exemption; existing reward programs must demonstrate compliance case by case based on their specific arrangements. For institutions that issue, custody, or distribute rewards in cooperation with third parties, it is necessary to return to the reward trigger conditions themselves, distinguish returns arising purely from holding the coin from components based on other reasons, and then decide whether to adjust product structures or contract terms. The rule does not take effect until January 18, 2027, and at this stage it does not support a conclusion that any particular arrangement is necessarily non-compliant on that basis.
Source: Wu Blockchain · 2026/10/21 22:01
Leader of South Korea's ruling party: currently gathering views from all sides on crypto asset taxation
On October 21, Kim Min-seok, leader of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party, posted on a social platform that views are being gathered from all sides on the issue of crypto asset taxation, and that discussions will take into account institutional improvement, the demands of young people, and practical conditions, with the aim of pushing the National Assembly and the government to seek a reasonable solution. South Korea's current arrangement is to tax income from the transfer and lending of crypto assets as other income at a rate of 22% (including local income tax) starting January 1, 2027; implementation of this arrangement has already been postponed three times. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Lee Hyoung-il also stated on October 6 during a National Assembly government audit that views from the National Assembly, experts, and industry would be broadly heard. The matter is currently at the stage of soliciting views and discussion, and no new legislation or adjustment plan has been announced.
Business impact
Under the current arrangement, individuals who derive income in South Korea from the transfer or lending of crypto assets may, starting January 1, 2027, be classified as having other income subject to a 22% tax rate, and record-keeping and user information reporting by trading platforms and intermediaries will directly affect whether taxpayers can complete their filings. The statements by the ruling party leader and the Minister of Economy and Finance remain part of the process of soliciting views and do not constitute a modification of the effective date or the tax rate; enterprises should not adjust filing and data processes already prepared on the basis of the 2027 effective date in reliance on them.
Source: ME News · 2026/10/21 19:10
Bitcoin Amsterdam 2026 will be held November 5–6 at the Sugar Factory in Amsterdam, focusing on institutions, regulation, and the community
Europe's annual Bitcoin conference Bitcoin Amsterdam will return to the Sugar Factory venue in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on November 5–6, 2026; the organizer released this arrangement on October 8, 2026. Now in its fifth edition, the conference is positioned as Europe's most influential annual Bitcoin conference. According to the available materials, this year's edition will bring together banks and funds that include Bitcoin on their balance sheets, policymakers who formulate related rules, and developers, builders, and community representatives who drive global Bitcoin adoption. The available materials are excerpts; specific information such as the agenda, the list of participating institutions, and ticketing is insufficient and cannot be further verified at this time.
Business impact
The conference itself does not create new regulatory obligations, but bringing together banks and funds that hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, rulemakers, and developers in one setting shows that accounting treatment, custody arrangements, and disclosure for institutional Bitcoin holdings remain the main interface of the European Bitcoin market. For enterprises providing Bitcoin-related services in the Netherlands or within the European Union, the topics discussed at the conference may reflect regulatory direction before formal legislative texts do, but statements at the conference do not constitute rules and do not change current licensing and compliance requirements.
Source: Techub News · 2026/10/21 14:22
This daily bulletin was compiled with AI assistance based on publicly available materials and is provided for reference only. It does not constitute legal advice or a recommendation.
