A federal district court judge will determine his sentence in accordance with the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Alexander Vinnik, the Russian co-founder of an allegedly illicit crypto exchange, BTC-e, has admitted guilt in a money laundering conspiracy involving cryptocurrency exchange. This admission follows a broader investigation revealing extensive illegal activities on the exchange from 2011 to 2017.The United States Justice Department (DOJ) reported that during Vinnik’s leadership, BTC-e processed more than $9 billion in transactions and had a user base exceeding one million globally, with many users from the United States. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence in accordance with the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.The U.S. Department of Justice highlighted that the platform was utilized to launder funds acquired from various criminal activities, including computer hacking, ransomware attacks, and drug trafficking.Read more
LayerZero Labs will enforce consequences for those who don’t self-report by May 17, 2024.
LayerZero Labs has unveiled a solution to address sybil activity, often known as ‘airdrop farming.’ The creator of the cross-chain communication protocol introduced a self-reporting mechanism, offering sybil users 15% of their planned token allocation for honesty within a defined 14-day period.The developer stated in a May 3 post on X that it believes it’s important for their protocol to distribute tokens to genuine, committed network users rather than individuals who engage in sybil farming. Sybil farming refers to the practice of creating multiple fake accounts to unfairly acquire tokens or rewards. The developers want to ensure that their token distribution benefits those who contribute positively to the network’s growth and sustainability rather than those who exploit it through deceptive tactics like sybil farming.Read more
Grayscale Investments’ GBTC has seen its first day of inflows, following over $17.5 billion in outflows since the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in January.
Grayscale Investments has recorded its first day of net positive inflows for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). This comes after nearly four months of continuous outflows since its conversion to a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in January.On May 3, Grayscale’s GBTC recorded $63 million in inflows after recording approximately $17.5 billion of outflows since the 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved on Jan. 11, according to Farside preliminary data.Among the other funds reported so far, Franklin Templeton’s Bitcoin ETF (EZBC) saw its highest ever inflow with $60.9 million. Read more
On May 3, the US DOJ announced charges against former executives of Cred, a bankrupt crypto lending and investing firm. Authorities alleged that the three accused individuals — Cred co-owner and former CEO Daniel Schatt, former CFO Joseph Podulka, and former CCO James Alexander — took part in a scheme that caused customers to lose […]
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After attending their initial court appearance on May 2, the former CEO and CFO of Cred must enter their plea on May 8.
Three former executives of bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Cred have been charged over allegedly engaging in wire fraud and money laundering prior to the firm declaring bankruptcy in November 2020.“This prosecution demonstrates our determination to keep our markets free of fraudsters and safe for investors,” the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California wrote in a May 3 statement.Former CEO Daniel Schatt and CFO Joseph Podulka face 13 charges of wire fraud and money laundering, while CCO James Alexander is charged with four counts.Read more
Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) has labeled crypto trading as a national security threat, signaling an impending crackdown on peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto transactions, according to local media reports and CryptoSlate sources. The move follows the decision of at least three major Nigerian fintech startups — Moniepoint, Paga, and Palmpay — to block accounts involved in […]
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Former SEC Division of Enforcement Assistant Director Jennifer Lee said on May 2 that Donald Trump’s possible reelection likely won’t change the SEC’s stance on crypto. Lee told CNBC the SEC “vigorously pursued crypto cases” during Trump’s first presidential term and that it brought “daylight and regulation” to the burgeoning industry. She predicted that the […]
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Coinbase’s stock price has surged since the company’s first-quarter earnings report. Will its Base offering be enough for investors to sustain the momentum?
Coinbase’s first-quarter earnings report — released May 2 — indicated the company has been thriving thanks to a vibrant market for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) over the last several months. However, the numbers indicated Base platform has shown even greater potential — and could make Coinbase the NVIDIA of decentralized finance (DeFi).Launched in August 2023, Base is a secure, low-cost Ethereum layer-2 solution built to scale Coinbase’s user base on-chain to make transactions faster. Coinbase’s vision is to decentralize Base and create an open, global crypto ecosystem leveraging the security of the Ethereum mainnet, which is accessible to everyone. According to Coinbase’s Q1 report, volume on Base has surged past its competitors, particularly after the rollout of Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade. DeFi crypto exchanges on Base saw daily trading volume surpass $1 billion per day, narrowing the gap between Coinbase’s main centralized exchange trading volumes, where almost 250 cryptocurrencies are traded.Read more
Daniel Schatt, a Cred co-founder and former CEO, Joseph Podulka, former CFO, and James Alexander, the former chief capital officer, were indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California.
Alexander Vinnick, the Russian national who was one of BTC-e’s operators, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering for his role with the crypto exchange.
Galaxy reported an assortment of VC investment data, including nearly $2.5 billion invested in the first quarter, on May 3. Crypto firms attracted funding across 603 deals during the period, representing 29% growth in dollar value and 68% growth in deal count quarter-over-quarter. The growth represents the first increase by both measures in three quarters, […]
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This week’s Crypto Biz features the Lightning Network rollout on Coinbase, Avalanche integration with Stripe, MicroStrategy earning results and BlackRock’s new tokenized fund.
While developers have long focused on the Ethereum network, the Bitcoin ecosystem is making a comeback, with several initiatives now aiming to innovate on the original blockchain.Recent developments include the growing ties between Bitcoin and decentralized finance (DeFi), driving the demand for layer-2 protocols to unclog the Bitcoin blockchain and reduce transaction fees as on-chain activity soars.Major players like Coinbase are also reviewing Bitcoin offerings. The crypto exchange finally added the Lightning Network as an alternative for users seeking to transfer Bitcoin (BTC), following Binance’s similar move nearly a year ago. Read more
Quick Take Over the past few days, Bitfinex has recorded a substantial 6% increase in Bitcoin (BTC) long positions held by whales — totaling a staggering 48,615 BTC. Analyzing Bitfinex whale activity in 2024 reveals a clear pattern: On Feb. 10, these whales held over 76,000 BTC, but by March’s all-time high, the holdings had […]
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DOGE price is up today as on-chain data shows and uptick in network activity and Dogecoin wallet balances.
Dogecoin (DOGE) price is up today as the wider crypto market undergoes a sharp recovery.DOGE price has climbed over 5% over the last 24 hours to an intraday high of $0.1409 on May 3, outperforming the crypto market, which rose by around 3.63% in the same period. The memecoin’s price followed a recovery in Bitcoin (BTC) that has witnessed nearly an 8.34% ascent in the last two days.Let’s take a closer look at the most likely reasons behind Dogecoin’s latest rally.Read more
A federal district court judge will determine his sentence in accordance with the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Alexander Vinnik, the Russian co-founder of an allegedly illicit crypto exchange, BTC-e, has admitted guilt in a money laundering conspiracy involving cryptocurrency exchange. This admission follows a broader investigation revealing extensive illegal activities on the exchange from 2011 to 2017.The United States Justice Department (DOJ) reported that during Vinnik’s leadership, BTC-e processed more than $9 billion in transactions and had a user base exceeding one million globally, with many users from the United States. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence in accordance with the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.The U.S. Department of Justice highlighted that the platform was utilized to launder funds acquired from various criminal activities, including computer hacking, ransomware attacks, and drug trafficking.Read more
On May 3, the US DOJ announced charges against former executives of Cred, a bankrupt crypto lending and investing firm. Authorities alleged that the three accused individuals — Cred co-owner and former CEO Daniel Schatt, former CFO Joseph Podulka, and former CCO James Alexander — took part in a scheme that caused customers to lose […] The post DOJ charges three Cred execs over $783 million in customer fund losses appeared first on CryptoSlate.
GBTC, the biggest spot bitcoin ETF, has seen its assets under management lead over BlackRock’s IBIT shrink.