Today in crypto, Bitcoin Suisse reportedly plans to shift up to half of its Swiss jobs abroad, Blockstream said it won’t pay a ransom to recover the remaining funds from Liquid hackers and a revised CLARITY Act would direct US regulators to determine the compliance obligations of people controlling “non-decentralized” DeFi protocols.
Bitcoin Suisse to shift up to half of Swiss jobs abroad
Bitcoin Suisse plans to shift up to half of its Swiss jobs abroad as the crypto financial services firm expands its international operations.
Founded in Zug in 2013, the company provides crypto trading, custody, staking and lending services. The restructuring could affect up to 60 of the company’s 120 Swiss positions, primarily in back-office and administrative roles, according to a Friday report from Swiss financial publication Finews.
The affected functions are expected to move to lower-cost hubs in Bratislava and Vietnam, where Bitcoin Suisse plans to establish a new location in the coming years.
CEO Andrej Majcen said cost was a key factor in the move, telling Finews that operating the affected services in the two countries would be significantly less expensive. He added that the restructuring was not a response to weakness in the crypto market, but part of Bitcoin Suisse’s strategy to expand internationally and build a broader wealth and asset management business.
Blockstream rejects ransom as Liquid hackers hold nearly 600 BTC
Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream said it will not pay a ransom to recover funds still held by the Liquid Network hackers.
“Taking assets without authorization and withholding their return is a crime, not responsible disclosure,” Blockstream said Friday. “It is not white-hat activity. It is theft.”
The company said it had engaged with the hackers in good faith to recover user funds but would not accept their demands.
The hackers demanded that Blockstream pay a 10% bounty from its own funds in an onchain message shared by Jan3 CEO and former Blockstream chief strategy officer Samson Mow on Wednesday. They warned that Liquid holders would otherwise face a 15% loss.
Blockstream urged the hackers to return the remaining Bitcoin voluntarily. If not, it said it would work with law enforcement, exchanges, service providers and forensic specialists to trace the assets and identify those responsible.
On Sept. 6, Liquid, a Bitcoin sidechain, paused operations after self-described white-hat hackers withdrew about 4,000 Bitcoin, then worth about $320 million, from its federation wallet.
The actors subsequently returned 3,400 BTC after Blockstream said that affected bridge nodes had been patched, leaving about 598 BTC outstanding.
Revised CLARITY Act targets ‘non-decentralized’ DeFi operators
A revised version of the CLARITY Act would direct United States regulators to determine whether people or groups controlling “non-decentralized finance trading protocols” must comply with securities, commodities and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements.
The revised text, posted on Senator Cynthia Lummis’ website, defines such a protocol as one whose functionality, operation, or rules can be materially altered by a person or coordinated group. The definition also covers protocols whose controllers can restrict users or whose transactions are not governed solely by transparent, pre-established code.
Under the proposal, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would develop activity-based rules addressing registration, conduct, disclosure, recordkeeping and supervision. Meanwhile, the Treasury would establish how existing Bank Secrecy Act obligations apply to affected controllers.
The bill specifies that software and distributed ledger systems would not be required to register in their own capacity. It also says participation in an incident-response or security council would not, by itself, establish control over a protocol.
The revised text arrived ahead of a procedural Senate vote scheduled for Sept. 15. The measure requires 60 votes to advance, meaning Republicans will need support from Democrats despite continuing disagreements over ethics, anti-money laundering protections and stablecoin rewards.