Weekly Wrap: Interpol Unveils Crypto Crime Task Force

Dubai Police Force Opens a Metaverse Branch, a First Worldwide

According to an Oct 16 report from local publication Khaleej Times, the United Arab Emirates has taken another major step in its metaverse agenda. Under the leadership of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE is gunning to become a global metaverse hub. As such, the Dubai Ajman Police has become the world’s first law enforcement agency to function inside of the metaverse.

Per the report, the Ajman Police General Command unveiled a new innovative service dubbed “Request for Sponsorship.” With the service, members of the general public can get in touch with the police remotely. The agency announced it during Gitex Technology Week.

The Dubai Police General Command also attended the Dubai Metaverse Forum, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Abdullah Abu Shehab explained. According to Abu Shebab, the agency hopes to incorporate beneficial metaverse technology into law enforcement.

Interpol Creates Unit Dedicated to Crypto Crime

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has heightened its efforts to tackle crypto crime in its 195 member nations. Indeed, the organization has established a branch with a specific focus on illicit activities involving cryptocurrencies. News of the move emerged via a report from the Indian news outlet Business Standard on Oct 17.

The police organization announced the new team at a press conference before its 90th general assembly in Delhi. Interpol secretary Jürgen Stock explained that law enforcement organizations run into major issues given the lack of regulation for assets like Bitcoin. Stock noted that most of the time, agencies are not properly trained or equipped to deal with crypto crimes.

The Stock also said that Interpol members are considering the future of the police amidst rising digitization globally. As such, Interpol’s general assembly in India focused mainly on cryptocurrency and cybercrime.

Japan to Ease Token Listing Process Beneath Soft Regulatory Approach

According to an Oct 19 release, Japan is set to ease up on its crypto regulations by making it easier for crypto exchanges to list digital assets. The East Asian nation reportedly hopes to attract leading platforms in the crypto sphere such as Binance and more.

Per the report, Japanese authorities plan to do away with rigorous screening exercises crypto platforms typically undergo to list virtual coins. However, this does not apply to tokens that are new to the nation’s crypto market. Japan’s new less severe policy may take effect two months from now.

Following the regulatory update, crypto startups will have a greater chance to compete with companies that have been around for longer. Japan is taking a step away from the strict regulatory measures it imposed a couple of years ago. The nation is intent on bolstering the crypto industry within its borders.

Notably, Binance is applying for an operational license in the nation 4 years after leaving its crypto market due to the regulatory crackdown.

El Salvador’s Residents Tag Bitcoin Policy a Failure

Around 80% of El Salvadorans have tagged the country’s Bitcoin adoption policy as a failure according to a Barrons report.

The publication cited a recent study by the University of Central America showing that three-quarters of the population have not used crypto this year. In fact, most of these dissenting factions went further to insist that the president cease spending public funds on Bitcoin.

Last year, the republic of El Salvador became the first nation to adopt the king coin as a legal tender. This move was motivated by the need to facilitate remittances which made up a quarter of El Salvador's GDP. However, recent data revealed that barely 2% of remittances actually involve Bitcoin as of this year.

The data coupled with the current bear market is causing the people of El Salvador to call for a policy review. Albeit, President Nayib Bukele remains adamant in his pro-Bitcoin stand.

JPMorgan Appoints Ex Celsius Exec as Head of Crypto Regulatory Policy

Major investment bank JPMorgan Chase has brought ex-Celsius executive Aaron Lovine on board as the executive director of its digital assets regulatory policy. Lovine updated his linked-in profile to reflect his new position with the company. Notably, Iovine has functioned as the head of policy and regulatory relations for failed cryptocurrency lender Celsius for 8 months.

A spokesperson for the firm confirmed the news of the appointment with JPMorgan. This occurred only a few days after the chief executive at JPMorgan Jamie Dimon described cryptocurrencies as fraudulent and decentralized Ponzi schemes. Dimon’s statement only further contributes to JPMorgan's wavering on the crypto market.

Indeed, at the Institute of International Finance meeting last week, Dimon said Bitcoin was worthless. However, he then proceeded to promote JPMorgan’s services which reportedly can grant clients “legitimate as clean as possible access” to the cryptocurrency.

OlympusDAO Hack Sees Attacker Return $300k in Stolen Funds

On Friday, crypto protocol Olympus DAO fell victim to an attack that drained the platform of 30,437 OHM tokens, roughly $300k. The team behind the project alerted community members to the hack via a post on the Olympus DAO Discord page.

“An exploit occurred through which the attacker was able to withdraw roughly 30K OHM ($300K) from the OHM bond contract at Bond Protocol,” it read. “This bug was not found by three auditors, nor by our internal code review, nor reported via our Immunefi bug bounty.”

The Olympus team explained a phased rollout ensured only a limited quantity of funds were vulnerable. Also, the hacker was only able to steal a small portion of what would have been a possible $3.3M bounty had they reported the weakness.

In an impressive turnaround, the hacker returned all of the stolen tokens mere hours after the exploit.