🗞 Key News of the Week: main developments covered from August 3–7

🗞 Key News of the Week: main developments covered from August 3–7

🌏 China is preparing a 40-country anti-fraud alliance, Malaysia detained 336 people during raids on two scam networks, and Myanmar approved tougher penalties for scam-centre and crypto-fraud operations. Sentences in Myanmar may extend to life imprisonment, with the death penalty envisaged for aggravated forced-labour cases.

🇩🇴 The Dominican Republic is developing SGPI, a 24/7 instant-payment platform designed to settle retail transactions in ten seconds or less. It will connect banks, credit associations and other PSPs while separating everyday payments from the RTGS infrastructure used for high-value transfers.

🇨🇱 Chilean banks are building a Pix-inspired instant-payment system. The privately led platform will use aliases and interoperable QR codes for P2P and merchant payments. Its launch is expected in the coming months, subject to central-bank guidance.

🇨🇴 Colombia proposed a permanent 19% VAT on online gambling. The tax would apply to both licensed domestic operators and foreign platforms, reviving a measure previously invalidated by the Constitutional Court.

🇧🇷 Brazil investigated 73 of its 85 licensed betting operators. Among 39 completed cases, regulators issued 32 warnings and seven fines totalling approximately $2.17 million. Monitoring and player-compensation mechanisms are expected to strengthen in Q4.

🇦🇪🇮🇷 An investigation linked more than $4 billion in crypto flows to Dubai-based Shelbit, an unlicensed exchange allegedly connected to Iran’s financial system and around 2,000 Persian-language gambling websites. Dubai’s VARA ordered the company to cease operations.

🇧🇬 Bulgaria is preparing a broader gambling-law reform targeting affiliates, payment channels and other actors supporting unlicensed operators. Proposed measures include a domain blacklist and technical standards enabling financial intermediaries to identify payment beneficiaries.

🇱🇹 EGBA filed a complaint against Lithuanian PSP Walletto, alleging that it processed payments for illegal gambling platforms and misclassified merchant category codes. The Bank of Lithuania has not yet announced whether it will open formal proceedings.

🇪🇹 Ethiopia reaffirmed its nationwide betting ban. Authorities allege that operators previously processed $275–344 million daily, with funds transferred abroad through cryptocurrency exchanges and hawala networks while domestic aggregators understated transaction volumes.

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