🗞 Key News of the Week: main developments covered from October 11–16

🗞 Key News of the Week: main developments covered from October 11–16

🇬🇧 UK sanctions reached Cryptomus, Heleket and TokenSpot. The measures target alleged sanctions-evasion infrastructure linked to Russia. For merchants, exposure extends to the processors and settlement services connecting their payment chain.

🇪🇸 Spain tightened identification and payment-ownership rules. Royal Decree 813/2026 requires identification at crypto ATMs regardless of transaction size. Online gambling operators must verify that deposit and withdrawal methods belong to the player, with six months for technical adaptation.

🇬🇷🇦🇷 Identity checks are central to proposed gambling reforms. Greece is considering centralized verification and examining VIP practices across 18 operators. Buenos Aires province is debating biometrics, deposit limits and 60-minute sessions. These changes remain proposals.

🇵🇰🇰🇿 Pakistan’s FIA reported a gambling payment investigation involving companies with nearly PKR120 billion in incoming turnover. Kazakhstan reported dismantling two money-mule networks using foreign nationals’ bank accounts. Both cases put account control and payment intermediaries at the centre of enforcement.

🇰🇷 South Korea blocked 27 unregistered crypto services, including KuCoin, MEXC and BingX. Restrictions cover websites and apps. Information about 44 providers was passed to investigators, reinforcing the importance of local registration for international exchanges.

🇧🇷 Binance is restructuring its Brazilian offering. From October 27, eight services face restrictions and trading in 22 tokens will end as customers move to local legal entities. Withdrawals of the affected assets will remain available.

🇧🇷 Stake’s temporary court protection was suspended. The October 8 order allowing operations until October 25 was suspended by the TRF3 on October 9, removing the company’s temporary exemption from the betting ban.

🇧🇷 Our interview with LBPay showed the risk of relying on one sector. Bruno Gonçalves said gambling operators had generated 80% of payment volume over the previous five months. Diversification options include e-commerce, education and payroll payments.

🇨🇱 Traffic to 17 monitored gambling operators rose 28% year on year, reaching 24.9 million visits in August, according to Similarweb data. The sample’s growth despite blocking orders highlights the limits of domain enforcement.

🇨🇴 Bre-B reached 83% of Colombian adults in its first year, according to EBANX’s analysis, compared with 65% for Pix at the same stage. Daily transactions exceed eight million, with business payments a planned next step.

🇪🇨 Ecuador plans to use Palantir for betting-related AML analysis. UAFE intends to introduce the technology from January 2027 to identify suspicious money flows. This remains a planned deployment.

🇪🇹 Ethiopia is preparing a possible betting relaunch under tighter oversight. A provisional audit identified substantial unpaid obligations. A digital monitoring system is planned; authorities had yet to announce a new licensing process or reopening date.

#news #digest

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