Macau Man Allegedly Defrauded of HK$4.68 Million in USDT Transaction / DriveWealth Granted MiCA Authorization by Bank of Lithuania / Binance Ceases Processing Transactions for MEXC-Affiliated Entities
About 12 min · 6 key developments
01Macau Man Suspected of Defrauding HK$4.68 Million in USDT Deal That Delivered Only 40,000 Tokens
Macau's Judiciary Police are investigating a Macau man on suspicion of fraud after a deal in which he and a mainland Chinese man, having previously lost money on a joint cryptocurrency investment, agreed to trade 640,000 USDT for HK$5 million. On November 6 the buyer deposited HK$5 million into the counterparty's account at a casino in Cotai, Macau, but received only 40,000 USDT; the seller then left the scene saying he was going out to smoke, and the remaining 600,000 USDT never arrived, an amount involving about HK$4.68 million. The Judiciary Police found that the suspect did not hold enough USDT to complete the trade and converted the payment into casino chips immediately after receiving it, indicating deliberate fraud.
Business implications
The issue here is whether the seller had the ability and intent to deliver 640,000 USDT when he took the money; the police reliance on his lack of sufficient USDT and the immediate conversion of the payment into chips goes to pre-trade capacity and the path of the funds, not to the legality of the trade itself. For institutions handling large over-the-counter USDT transactions in Macau, verifying that a counterparty actually holds the assets and keeping a traceable record of where funds go may determine whether they are treated as victims or as subjects of investigation in a criminal case. Until the police set out charges and the procedural stage, it would be premature to treat similar trans
Key points
- Keep records verifying a counterparty's holdings and delivery capacity before large USDT trades
- Retain traceable evidence of fund flows, including receiving accounts and chip conversions
02DriveWealth Wins Lithuanian Central Bank MiCA Authorisation, Plans Phased EU Rollout of Crypto Services
US brokerage infrastructure provider DriveWealth announced that its European affiliate, UAB DriveWealth Europe, has been authorised by the Bank of Lithuania as a crypto-asset service provider under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). UAB DriveWealth Europe already held a MiFID II licence issued by the Bank of Lithuania. DriveWealth plans to open the crypto-asset services to partners in phases from 2027, with specific launch dates to be announced separately. Once live, banks, fintechs, digital wallets and brokerages will be able to access crypto-asset services and existing investment offerings such as US equities, ETFs, fixed income products and options through a single set of interfaces. DriveWealth has also announced a partnership with Ripple to introduce RLUSD stablecoin settlement, cross-border payments and digital asset custody in Europe first.
Business implications
The Bank of Lithuania authorisation gives UAB DriveWealth Europe a MiCA crypto-asset service provider status alongside its existing MiFID II licence, so its interfaces for banks, brokerages and fintech partners can carry both traditional securities and crypto-asset services; partners should confirm before onboarding whether the specific service they use falls within the scope of that authorisation. Because the services are to be opened in phases from 2027 and launch dates are not yet fixed, partners cannot yet rely on the authorisation to begin live business, but can pre-agree scope of authorisation, service schedules and liability allocation in contracts. The Ripple arrangement covering RLU
Key points
- Check which crypto-asset services the Bank of Lithuania authorisation covers
- Confirm service scope and liability clauses in partner access agreements
- Track the specific timing and conditions of the phased 2027 rollout
03Helius Launches Permissionless Solana Privacy Rings on Solana Mainnet
On November 10, Solana infrastructure company Helius launched Solana Privacy Rings, a permissionless privacy protocol, on the Solana mainnet. Developers can use an API to add privacy features to new and existing Solana applications, covering private payments, private DeFi and enterprise-compliant privacy use cases. The protocol uses programmable shielded pools in which assets and amounts are stored on-chain in encrypted form while wallet addresses remain visible; users can decrypt balances with a viewing key. It supports SOL, SPL tokens and Token-2022 tokens, and zero-knowledge proof verification takes only a few hundred milliseconds.
Business implications
Teams handling payments, DeFi or enterprise fund flows on Solana can now keep asset types and amounts encrypted on-chain while addresses stay visible, so the practical privacy boundary turns on who holds the viewing key and how it is delivered rather than on the protocol itself. Whether to adopt it depends on whether the business already owes customers confidentiality over balances or transaction amounts, and on whether disclosing viewing keys conflicts with existing contracts or internal access controls. Deployment is permissionless, so each integrator makes its own compliance call; no regulatory mandate or exemption accompanies the launch.
Key points
- Confirm who holds the viewing key and how it is delivered
- Check the supported SOL, SPL and Token-2022 token scope
- Assess how visible addresses affect existing disclosure duties
04Binance Halts Processing of Transactions Involving MEXC and Affiliates, Deposits Subject to Compliance Review
Binance said in an announcement that it will stop processing transactions involving MEXC and its affiliated entities after the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently designated MEXC as a primary money laundering concern. Users may not send or receive funds to or from these entities directly or indirectly through Binance, and transfers initiated to them will be rejected. Inbound deposits from the entities will be temporarily held and subjected to compliance review, and affected users' accounts may face further restrictions or even termination of service. The entities named in the announcement include MEXC Global Limited, MEXC Estonia OÜ, MEXC Singapore Pte Ltd and other MEXC affiliates.
Business implications
Binance is cutting off funding channels on the ground that FinCEN designated MEXC a primary money laundering concern, which binds users, market makers and settlement counterparties that hold Binance accounts and transact with MEXC or its affiliates: outbound transfers through Binance will be rejected, inbound deposits will be held for review, and accounts may be restricted or closed. For firms serving clients on both platforms, the established cross-exchange rebalancing and clearing routes are no longer available, so treasury flows and counterparty selection need to be rearranged, and the timing of releasing held funds is not within the client's control.
Key points
- Check whether your firm or counterparty is among the listed MEXC affiliates
- Review settlement and default clauses in contracts involving MEXC fund flows
- Assess the review timeline for held deposits and contingency plans for restricted accounts
05Poland's lower house backs sanctions bill covering crypto freezes
Poland's lower house passed a sanctions bill that would broaden the grounds for adding individuals and companies to the country's national sanctions list and extend freeze measures to crypto assets. The bill has now been sent to the Senate and has not completed the legislative process.
Business implications
Once in force, the bill could allow crypto assets of individuals and companies placed on Poland's national sanctions list to be frozen, and would require trading platforms and custodians to identify and freeze the relevant accounts. The bill has only cleared the lower house and is now before the Senate, so it is not yet an effective rule; firms should not rework current compliance processes on that basis, but should track the Senate stage and the final text's conditions for applying freeze measures.
Key points
- Confirm whether the bill has completed Senate review and entered into force
- Check the final text's scope and conditions for crypto asset freezes
- Confirm the identification and freeze duties for trading platforms and custodians
06Coinbase, Kalshi and Payward seek to back CFTC as amici in single-stock perpetual futures suit
Coinbase, Kalshi and Payward have moved in a US lawsuit over single-stock perpetual futures for leave to file an amicus brief supporting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's authority to regulate such products. The filing is a procedural step in the litigation and remains subject to court permission to file the brief; it does not decide the legality of the contracts at issue.
Business implications
The dispute turns on whether the CFTC has regulatory authority over single-stock perpetual futures, which determines whether such contracts can be listed and sold lawfully in the US. The three crypto firms are intervening as amici, so product launch depends on the court's view of that authority rather than on the firms' own compliance arrangements. Until the court rules, the trading terms and sellable scope of the contracts remain unsettled.
Key points
- Identify the specific contract type and structure at issue
- Distinguish the amicus request from a merits ruling
- Track whether the court grants leave to file the brief