This week was particularly interesting in the cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin’s price charted a new 2020 high, surging to as much as $13,217 on Binance. The entire market cap surged and gained almost $40 billion throughout the past seven days. The catalyst for this major move was PayPal. The world’s largest online payment processor announced that...Read More
Local government networks were the target of a recent ransomware attack in a county in the state of Georgia. The key voting infrastructure assault reportedly managed to affect “critical systems” within the network. The First Ransomware Attack For This Election Season According to a recent CNN news report, the attack on Georgia’s Hall County was disclosed...Read More
BitMEX, one of the world’s leading Bitcoin margin trading exchanges, appears to be taking major steps to increase its value proposition. In a couple of recent announcements, the exchange said that it’s going to reduce some of its fees while also adding more cryptocurrencies for trading. This comes months after the exchange had to introduce...Read More
During his appearance on DC Fintech Week 2020, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks praised decentralized networks, highlighted the expanding role of cryptocurrencies and the necessary regulations, and hinted that central banks could actually become nodes to blockchain networks. Brooks On Crypto And Regulation In Brooks’ opinion, banks have treated cryptocurrency assets as...Read More
Octavio Marenzi, founder and CEO of capital markets consultancy firm Opimas LLC, recently predicted that the current economic situation will shoot Bitcoin’s price “through the roof.” Simultaneously, he suggested that the traditional financial markets will suffer as the COVID-19 fears grow. Opimas CEO: Bitcoin Will Shoot Through The Roof Appearing on RT’s Boom Bust, Marenzi...Read More
The United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has just struck another low blow to privacy enthusiasts after announcing the first penalty for a Bitcoin mixer. According to an official press release, FinCEN issued a $60 million civil penalty against Larry Dean Harmon, the man responsible for several Bitcoin privacy-focused services. Larry Dean Harmon was the...Read More
They say that to see the future, one should only learn history. Oftentimes, though, we tend to ignore history altogether. Exactly 33 years ago, on this day, October 19th, 1987, Wall Street and global markets tumbled in a massive selloff that saw the S&P 500 lose about 20% and the DJIA about 22%. One might...Read More
US Fed Chair Powell believes that the United States should focus on getting right the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), rather than attempt to be first. While speaking on a panel hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Powell reassured that the US is “committed to carefully and thoughtfully evaluating the potential...Read More
After a week of utilizing the $1.5 million worth of digital yuan sent to 50,000 Shenzhen citizens, those who used the funds to make regular everyday purchases weren’t impressed. However, analysts claimed that the trials are a significant step towards a real-life practical usage for China’s digital currency. Digital Yuan Doesn’t Impress Shoppers Numerous world...Read More
Coinbase has released its recent Transparency Report, and the results are not at all encouraging for privacy advocates and believers in an “anti-establishment” philosophy of cryptocurrencies. According to the company, out of 1914 requests for information it received, 1848 of them corresponded to subpoenas and interactions made by criminal investigation agencies, and only 66 came...Read More
Hester Peirce, the Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believes that the charges against BitMEX brought by the CFTC were a “loud and clear” message. In a recent podcast, the so-called ‘Crypto Mom’ also noted that a Bitcoin ETF could be beneficial to all parties but didn’t specify if such a product...Read More
Another week has passed, and it’s safe to say it was an intense one. First things first, the major headline is that the US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged the owner-operators of 100x Group, the parent company of BitMEX, with illegally running a derivatives exchange. Needless to say, BitMEX is one of the...Read More
A few days after being charged and arrested by the US Department of Justice, BitMEX CTO Samuel Reed has been released on a $5 million appearance bond. His release came with two conditions. Those are: Reed has to appear for court proceedings, and if convicted, to “surrender to serve a sentence that the court may...Read More
The United States Department of Justice is focusing its attention on the crypto-verse and how to control that ecosystem. On October 8, 2020, the US Attorney General released a report talking about the dangers associated with the adoption of cryptocurrencies and the expectations of the DOJ in this regard. The “Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework” is an...Read More
The government of Venezuela does not know what else to do to control its economy and is trying to save its financial life by doing what all the world governments are doing: printing more money… A lot of money. Sources close to the Venezuelan government revealed that the country’s Central Bank has just bought 71...Read More
Contour, the trade finance enterprise based on blockchain, has officially launched. The digital platform is set to deliver a global network and services for trading finance over a distributed ledger, uniting buyers, suppliers, and banks on its platform. Contour Goes Live Singapore-based Contour has officially announced its step forward, launching its trading network based on...Read More
The wife of the famous tech entrepreneur John McAfee weighed in on the most recent events, thanking and calling for the community’s support. John McAfee’s Arrest: Injustice Those who have been following McAfee on social media for the past few years know that he has been particularly vocal about intentionally not paying taxes. As CryptoPotato...Read More
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed fraud charges against the popular cryptocurrency proponent and well-known tech entrepreneur, John McAfee. According to the documents, McAfee has taken advantage of his massive Twitter following and has “leveraged his fame to make more than $23.1million in undisclosed compensation by recommending at least seven initial coin...Read More
To say that a lot has happened over the past seven days would be an understatement. Starting off with Bitcoin’s price, it’s currently trading at around $10,500, down $150 over the week. Everything was going relatively well for BTC. It peaked above $10,900, giving many people hopes that we will finally see a breach above...Read More
The principal of a cryptocurrency escrow company, Jon Barry Thompson, has pled guilty in Manhattan federal court to commodities fraud. In 2018, he took over $3 million from one company and failed to deliver bitcoins worth that amount. Crypto Fraudster Pleads Guilty Thompson served as the director of Volantis Escrow Platform LLC and Volantis Market...Read More
Yesterday, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commissions (CFTC) filed charges against BitMEX and its executive team, pressing both criminal and civil allegations. Its CTO, Samuel Reed, was arrested. The platform’s CEO, Arthur Hayes, and its cofounder Ben Melo are still under the radar. The news spread quickly throughout Crypto Twitter, and of course, the...Read More
Following a positive Covid-19 test result from one of Donald Trump’s closest aides, the POTUS himself took the test which produced the same result for him and the First Lady. He tweeted the news a couple of hours ago. Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process...Read More
In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, the United States Commodities and Futures Trading Commission has pressed charges against the owner-operators of BitMEX for illegally running a cryptocurrency exchange and failing to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. As CryptoPotato reported earlier today, this had an immediate impact on Bitcoin’s price, which dropped by as much...Read More
In a recent tweet, the popular Bitcoin proponent and permabull Mike Novogratz explained the reasons for which he got into it. He also said that if BTC’s price reached $100,000, he would donate most of his profits to charity. Mike Novogratz and Why He Got into Crypto and Bitcoin One of the things that make...Read More
Is the era of the transparent Monero approaching? The United States government hopes so. After several days of waiting, the IRS finally granted a contract to Chainalysis to develop a tool that will allow authorities to track privacy coins like Monero and second-layer solutions like Lightning Network. Cracking Monero is an Expensive Task According to...Read More
“Will you shut up, man?” “You graduated either the lowest or the next lowest in your class, don’t ever use the word ‘smart’ with me!”, “Maybe you could inject some bleach in your arm.”, “It’s hard to get any word in with this clown.” …no, this is not an argument between two heated-up highschool teenagers...Read More
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seems to have found a way to block crypto tax evasion, following an update of its tax form. IRS: No Excuses for Crypto Traders According to the Wall Street Journal on Friday (September 25, 2020), the IRS is planning to alter its 1040 tax form. The revised tax form will...Read More
Another action-packed week took place in the crypto field. Unfortunately, the market is currently in decline as the entire capitalization lost around $16 billion over the past seven days. The good news for Bitcoin bulls is that BTC managed to maintain itself above the critical psychological and technical support of $10,000. Things were looking rather...Read More
Major bank JP Morgan is in the news once again. US authorities have slapped a penalty of almost $1 billion on the country’s largest bank to resolve investigations into its purported manipulation of metals futures and Treasury securities. This comes after a FinCEN report name-dropped JP Morgan for contributing to moving $2 trillion worth of...Read More
A UK national has pled guilty and will be sent to prison for his involvement in the notorious hacker’s group “The Dark Overlord.” The organization breached and stole sensitive information from numerous companies and demanded the ransoms to be paid in Bitcoin. The Dark Overlord Member Imprisoned The US Department of Justice announced yesterday that...Read More
