ICYMI: the biggest news stories of the week

eToro Cash Splash, Binance UK OK, ASIC Focus, Bitcoin

ICYMI: the biggest news stories of the week

Despite the Summer holidays being in full swing, it was a busy week in the Finance Magnates newsroom. Lets take a look back at the news stories that dominated the worlds of forex, fintech, and crypto, in our best of the week segment

Former Manchester United Player Charged with Crypto Money Laundering

Whilst much of the football world is lauding the return of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United, a former teammate of his not faring so well.

Anderson, a former Brazilian football team and Manchester United Player, has been charged for allegedly being involved in a crypto money-laundering scheme.

According to Globo, the retired midfielder was investigated by a court in Brazil after suspicions of his participation with seven other people on a R$35 million ($6.5 million) money-laundering operation via cryptocurrencies.

Australians Lose More than $70 Million to Investment Scams in H1 2021

They call Australia the lucky country, but when it comes to investment scams Australians dont appear to be so lucky.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), a competition regulator in Australia, recently published a report about the bogus investment opportunities in Australia and highlighted an alarming surge in the overall losses due to the investment scams.

According to the report, residents of Australia lost over $70 million to fraudulent investment schemes during the first half of 2021. Data from Scamwatch shows a 53.4 percent surge in reports about investment scams received in H1 of 2021. Scamwatch received 4,763 reports in the first six months of 2021, compared to 3,104 in H1 of 2020.

Additionally, ACCC highlighted that the projected losses are set to cross the level of $140 million by the end of this year. Cryptocurrency trading scams accounted for more than 50% of the total losses in the first half of 2021.

ASIC Mulls to Restrict Payment for Order Flow Model

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), financial markets regulator in the country, proposed on Wednesday further restrictions on the practice of the controversial payment for order flow (PFOF) model with an amendment of the market rules.

According to the Aussie watchdog, its existing market rules ‘do not deal with certain payment-for-order-flow scenarios such as arrangements between non-market participant intermediaries,’ and it is intending to fill this regulatory gap.