News – Page 48

FTX Executive Details Sam Bankman Fried’s “Excessive” Spending On Celebrity Deals

Nishad Singh, FTX’s former director of engineering, testified at Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial on Monday. Singh pled guilty to both money laundering and campaign finance violations, breaking down his involvement in the company’s over $100 million in donations to political candidates. Singh said his impression of Sam grew sour over time. “I’ve been intimidated. I came to distrust him,” he said of Bankman, who he described as “a formidable character.”

Source: Andrew Throuvalas, 2023-10-17; https://cryptopotato.com/ftx-executive-details-sam-bankman-frieds-excessive-spending-on-celebrity-deals/

Funds Stolen from 2023 Crypto Thefts Down More Than 50% from 2022

The dramatic fall in overall thefts is attributed to a drop in attacks against Decentralized Finance (DeFi) tools. DeFi tools cut out regulated institutions, such as the banking industry, from financial transactions. Of the $1.7 billion stolen in 2023, almost two-thirds stemmed from hacks that targeted DeFi protocols. One explanation behind the drop in money lost to crypto attacks, is that DeFi security protocols are becoming more adept at plugging holes in their software.

Source: Written by Henry Pope, 2024-01-27; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/18408-funds-stolen-from-2023-crypto-thefts-down-more-than-50-from-2022

Bitcoin Price Nosedives Toward $40K as Crypto Markets Cool Off: This Week’s Recap

The cryptocurrency market seems to have been cooling off throughout the past seven days, decreasing to its current capitalization of $1.69 trillion. This comes a week after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved a spot Bitcoin ETF. In general, BTC dropped by 8.4%, SOL – by 6.1%, XRP – by 9.1, ADA – by 15%, AVAX – by 14%, and so forth. The best performer seems to be Binance Coin (BNB), which is up 1.3% on the w.

Source: George Georgiev, 2024-01-20; https://cryptopotato.com/bitcoin-price-nosedives-toward-40k-as-crypto-markets-cool-off-this-weeks-recap/

Zero-Transfer Phishing Losses Surge to 451M USDT on Tron Network: Data

Zero-transfer phishing scams have continued to plague the crypto space. Market participants have lost more than 451 million Tether (USDT) on the Tron network. Scammers often use addresses similar to the ones the victim has sent tokens to, beginning and ending with the same set of characters. They do not need the user’s private key; the attackers have to send transactions of zero value, and their addresses would appear in the user’s transaction history. Crypto users who fall for the scam mistakenly copy and paste the attacker’s address from their transaction history and send their assets to them.

Source: Mandy Williams, 2023-10-15; https://cryptopotato.com/zero-transfer-phishing-losses-surge-to-451m-usdt-on-tron-network-data/

Unstoppable Domains Expands into .com to Bridge Web2 and Web3

Unstoppable Domains has become the first player in the industry to offer both traditional .com domains and third-party Web3 domain names for use in web3. The decision to enter the world’s most popular type of traditional web2 top-level domain (TLD), which boasts over 157 million registrations through its website, aligns with its recent expansion efforts. The company plans to enable all the features currently available for web3 domains to work with users’ .com domain.

Source: Chayanika Deka, 2023-10-31; https://cryptopotato.com/unstoppable-domains-expands-into-com-to-bridge-web2-and-web3/

Hackers Drain Fantom Foundation Wallets For $7 Million

The Fantom Foundation has been drained of hundreds of millions of dollars from its crypto wallets by a phishing scammer. Fantom is a smart contract and Dapp platform focused on enhanced speed, making transactions more efficient than other layer-one blockchains like Ethereum. The foundation, which oversees development for the Fantom blockchain, lost at least $470,000 on Fantom and another $187,00 on Ethereum. According to , stolen funds have now been consolidated into a wallet holding roughly 4,500 ETH, worth approximately $7 million.

Source: Andrew Throuvalas, 2023-10-18; https://cryptopotato.com/hackers-drain-fantom-foundation-wallets-for-7-million/

Bitcoin Hit ATH in Nigeria, Argentina, and Turkey Amid Raging Inflation

The leading cryptocurrency is hitting new all-time highs in Nigeria, Turkey, and Argentina as residents turn to the safe haven asset amid soaring inflation rates. Bitcoin surged to 28.4 million Nigerian naira (NGN), 12.4m Argentine pesos (ARS), and 979,000 Turkish lira (TRY) as the fiat currencies of these countries continue to free-fall. According to from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Argentina is currently facing triple-digit inflation, with the Argentine peso ranking fourth in the list of currencies with the highest annual inflation rate.

Source: Mandy Williams, 2023-10-28; https://cryptopotato.com/bitcoin-hit-ath-in-nigeria-argentina-and-turkey-amid-raging-inflation/

Crypto Giants Gemini, Genesis, and DCG Hit with Billion-Dollar Lawsuit by NY Attorney

New York Attorney General Letitia James has taken decisive action against major players in the cryptocurrency industry. James filed a lawsuit against Gemini Trust, Genesis Global Capital, and Digital Currency Group (DCG) The legal action centers around Gemini Earn, a joint effort between Genesis and Gemini that offered investors significant returns on their cryptocurrency deposits. James asserts that these returns were founded on misleading information, resulting in significant financial losses for unsuspecting investors. The lawsuit alleges that internal risk analyses at Gemini indicated that loans to Genesis were precarious, information allegedly not disclosed to investors.

Source: Wayne Jones, 2023-10-20; https://cryptopotato.com/crypto-giants-gemini-genesis-and-dcg-hit-with-billion-dollar-lawsuit-by-ny-attorney/

US: CEO of Bitcoin Platform Charged in Multi-Million Dollar Ponzi Scheme

Horst Jicha, 64, founder and CEO of USI Tech, is alleged to have defrauded investors of approximately US$150 million. He departed the U.S. in early 2018 and did not return until December 2023 when he attempted to go on vacation in Miami, Florida, where he was promptly arrested. According to the indictment, USI tech advertised itself as a European-based cryptocurrency investment platform perfect for entry level investors. Prosecutors, however, argue it was a Ponzi scheme.

Source: Written by Henry Pope, 2024-01-24; https://www.occrp.org/en/daily//en/daily/18394-us-ceo-of-bitcoin-platform-charged-in-multi-million-dollar-ponzi-scheme

These American States Have Asked Binance.US to Cease Services: WSJ

Florida and Alaska authorities have instructed Binance.US to cease its services in the regions. The move follows the guilty plea of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Binance, in November 2023. CZ pleaded guilty to failing to implement a strong anti-money laundering (AML) program on the platform, accepting to pay a $50 million fine and resign from the CEO position. Besides stepping down as Binance’s CEO, CZ also his role as chairman of B finance.US’ board of directors and transferred his voting rights to Norman Reed.

Source: Mandy Williams, 2024-01-27; https://cryptopotato.com/these-american-states-have-asked-binance-us-to-cease-services-wsj/

Archives