July 23, 2019 @ 1:03 am By Cali Haan  |  

Data from the Korean ministry of Justice indicates that South Koreans lost $2.7 billion USD (2.7 trillion KRW) in cryptocurrency scams between July 2017 and June 2019, Korea Herald reports. The ministry also said it has indicted and detained 132 individuals accused of cryptocurrency fraud and… Read More

July 22, 2019 @ 9:53 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An accused narcotrafficker has been charged with money laundering by the State of New York for allegedly trying to “wash $19 million in illicit cryptocurrency.” Hugh Brian Haney, 60, allegedly came by the funds as, “proceeds of his narcotics trafficking on the Dark Web site… Read More

July 22, 2019 @ 6:42 pm By Cali Haan  |  

InWara, a firm specializing in the analysis of cryptocurrency/token offerings and “blockchain” startups has issued its “Half-Yearly report — H1 2019: Deciphering Token Offerings-IEOs, STOs and ICOs.” The firm is seeing interest in new types of tokens (IEOs and STOs) but significant drops for ICOs (many projects… Read More

July 20, 2019 @ 12:47 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The US Commodity Futures and Trade Commission (CFTC) is engaged in a “months-long” investigation of BitMEX, a cryptocurrency exchange that made its mark by enabling retail investors to conduct 100x leveraged trades of bitcoins, Bloomberg reports. According to “people familiar with the matter,” the CFTC… Read More

July 20, 2019 @ 11:40 am By Cali Haan  |  

Wong Ching-Kit, a flashy 25-year old cryptocurrency promoter who tried to drum up business by throwing at least $6000 in HK $100 bills off a high-rise in one of Hong Kong’s poorest districts, has received a sentence of 10-day’s imprisonment suspended for 2 years, South… Read More

July 19, 2019 @ 5:54 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Dmitry Vasiliev, a 32-year old Russian who took over and rebranded the notorious BTC-e exchange when its alleged admin, Alexander Vinnick, was arrested in Greece in 2017, is now under arrest in Italy, the BBC reports. Vasiliev rebranded BTC-e, “the largest Russian-language platform for the… Read More

July 19, 2019 @ 1:56 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An Australian couple in the 70’s have lost their entire retirement savings -$900 000- in a cryptocurrency scam, 7News reports. “That was the whole of our superannuation – That’s now gone,” Mike Taylor told the outlet. Mike and Karen Taylor were traveling Australia in a… Read More

July 19, 2019 @ 7:43 am By Cali Haan  |  

Indian “blockchain lawyer” Varun Sethi has leaked a copy of draft legislation proposing a ban on cryptocurrencies in India. Text from the eighth chapter, six-part and 27 clause bill in its present iteration reads as follows: “No person shall mine, generate, hold, buy or sell… Read More

July 19, 2019 @ 7:27 am By Cali Haan  |  

About two years ago, crypto-forensics startup Chainalysis figured out it that its software could be adapted to help banks and cryptocurrency exchanges comply with anti-money laundering requirements, and Forbes believes the company is set to become a unicorn as a result. “We’re now helping banks… Read More

July 19, 2019 @ 2:36 am By Cali Haan  |  

Speaking from outside G7 meetings being held in Chantilly, France, on Thursday, US Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, elaborated on his government’s recently expressed sentiments towards Facebook’s Libra and cryptocurrencies in general. “Anybody in the US that touches a Bitcoin is responsible for (enforcing)… Read More

July 19, 2019 @ 1:30 am By Cali Haan  |  

On the heels of a controversial debate held recently in Taipei, crypto skeptic and NYU Professor Nouriel Roubini has written an article, “The Great Crypto Heist,” to come back again against, “Some of the biggest crypto players…openly involved in systematic illegality.” Roubini singles out Hong Kong-headquartered… Read More

July 18, 2019 @ 10:29 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Attorney General of New Jersey and the Chief of the New Jersey Bureau of Securities have filed a civil action complaint against Sarvajnya G . Mada (“Mada”) and Pocketinns, Inc., accusing them of selling, “approximately $410,000 of unregistered securities to 217 investors in violation of…New Jersey… Read More

July 18, 2019 @ 9:20 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A young student at Moscow State University, Alexey Andryunin, and his unnamed partner, have come up with a lucrative sideline that has made them much less interested in their studies: the wash trading of crypto tokens to make it look like there’s a market for… Read More

July 17, 2019 @ 9:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Vanbex, a Vancouver-based “blockchain consultancy” now contending with a formal fraud investigation and civil forfeiture actions, is now contending with a civil lawsuit brought by a former employee. According to Business Vancouver, lawyer Blair Hogg filed documents naming Vanbex Group Group, Inc., Vanbex Labs, Inc…. Read More

July 17, 2019 @ 8:29 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange that suffered a $44 million USD hack in May, recently processed some of the Bitcoins stolen from it on behalf of the hackers, digital currency Regtech firm Coinfirm reports. According to data Coinfirm furnished to Coindesk, hackers have been moving… Read More

July 17, 2019 @ 2:51 am By Cali Haan  |  

Bitcoin’s recent rollercoaster ride, involving multiple thousand-dollar fluctuations between $9000 and $14 000 USD within very short time frames (sometimes less than 2 hours) is being brought about by an increase in leverage available at exchanges, “CZ Binance” told Bloomberg recently. Changpeng Zhao or “CZ”… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 11:24 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, one of the world’s largest banks, told analysts in a conference call this week not to “spend too much time” considering Libra, Facebook’s proposed global currency system, CNBC reports. “To put it in perspective, we’ve been talking about… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 8:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

House minority leader and a Republican Congressperson from California Kevin McCarthy repeats appealing claims in his New York Times missive espousing the virtues of blockchain, “Don’t Count on Government to Protect Your Privacy: Let’s look to technologies like blockchain and other innovations to keep our… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 6:41 pm By Cali Haan  |  

In keeping with its Business Plan 2019-2022, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) may, “adapt the current regulatory framework to address the unique challenges brought by crypto-assets that fall under the CSA jurisdiction.” At present, “There are currently no platforms facilitating…trading of crypto-assets that are regulated as… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 10:06 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The private keys of Dash crypto coins being held in online software “hot wallet” called MyDashWallet have been exposed to hackers for two months, and anyone using the wallet should immediately move funds out. A “hot wallet” is any cryptocurrency software “wallet” connected to the… Read More