Author: Bloomberg
Cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee, in custody in Spain facing U.S. tax charges, was indicted for fraud and money laundering over his use of social media to promote cryptocurrencies, as prosecutors go after illegal activity in the sector. McAfee and another man, Jimmy Gale Watson Jr., used McAfee’s Twitter account to push a variety of digital currencies without disclosing that they were being paid for the promotion, earning more than $13 million, according to federal prosecutors in New York. Watson, who the U.S. said was the executive director of McAfee’s crypto team, was arrested Thursday night in Texas and pleaded not…
Disgruntled investors are speaking out against (Israel-headquartered) eToro’s decision to force liquidate the first of possibly multiple Russian equities offered on its platform. eToro is a large brokerage firm with regulated operations in Europe, the United States, and a research center in Ukraine. It has 25 million users, 2.1 million funded accounts, and $10.6 billion of client assets under administration. Clients were informed on Thursday that eToro will no longer list Magnit PJSC, the stock of a large food retail chain in Russia, in its platform citing “severe” liquidity concerns. eToro is deciding whether it will follow suit with nine other…
Ukraine has already spent $15 million of the donations it received in cryptocurrencies on military supplies, including bulletproof vests that were delivered Friday, according to Alex Bornyakov, deputy minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The Ukrainian government anticipates doubling the $50 million of crypto donated so far in the next two or three days, Bornyakov said in an Zoom interview from an undisclosed location inside Ukraine. Most of the donations have been in Bitcoin and Ether. The 250-person ministry has managed to find suppliers in Europe and the U.S. for everything from the vests to food packages to bandages and…
China reiterated it would continue its crackdown on crypto speculation in a call conference, according to a statement from the country’s central bank on Friday. The annual meeting, which is convened by the People’s Bank of China, maps out regulatory priorities for the country’s financial market in the coming year. Heads of local banks, National Internet Finance Association of China, foreign currency settlement and clearing services providers participated the meeting on Tuesday, POBC said in the statement. Beijing carried out one of the most comprehensive crackdowns on crypto trading and mining last May, forcing major crypto exchanges and mining companies out of…
Japan’s financial regulator and the country’s industry body for cryptocurrencies have begun discussions to assess how to effectively enforce sanctions against Russia, a regulatory official said. The Financial Services Agency and the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association are examining ways that could effectively block the transfer of crypto assets involving people and entities on the nation’s sanctions list, said the official, who asked not to be identified. The discussions do not currently involve any proposal to shut off access for all Russian clients, the official said. A key concern for Japan’s regulator is how to ensure that digital…
Coinbase Global Inc. isn’t banning all Russian users for the moment, though would comply if the U.S. government decides to impose such a restriction, according to Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong. The cryptocurrency exchange will block transactions from IP addresses that might belong to sanctioned individuals or entities, as will any other regulated financial services business, Armstrong said in a Twitter thread. But it won’t pre-emptively ban all Russians from using Coinbase, he said. “Some ordinary Russians are using crypto as a lifeline now that their currency has collapsed. Many of them likely oppose what their country is doing, and…
Rich in energy, but starved of foreign currency, Russia may use Bitcoin mining to dent the impact of ever tougher sanctions as the war in Ukraine drags on, according to one analyst. “It wouldn’t be a stretch for the Russian government or certain sanctioned entities to look to mining as a way to get access to Bitcoin,” said David Carlisle, director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. “They could be translated to goods and services or just hard cash.” Countries such as Iran might have already leveraged mining of crypto currencies, which is highly energy intensive,…
While anecdotal evidence that the NFT market is beginning to cool abounds, there are no bigger red flags that what’s going on with sales and prices. The average selling price of a nonfungible token has declined to under $2,000, compared with an all-time high of almost $6,900 on Jan. 2, according to industry data tracker NonFungible. The daily total sales average was about $26.2 million on March 3, the data show. The tally was $160.2 million on Jan. 31. Since Feb. 24, when Russia attacked Ukraine, the average selling price has dropped by about 30%. Nonfungible tokens — most often digital art…
As the world’s largest digital currency rallied 12% Monday, expectations of surging demand from Russia-based investors was cited by some in the industry as the proximate cause. But recent blockchain data suggest residents in the sanction-hit nation have been in no hurry to trade crypto on major exchanges. Ruble-denominated crypto activity was just $34.1 million on March 3, according to Chainalysis. That’s down significantly from a recent peak at $70.7 million on Feb 24 — and the $158 million record back in May 20 2021. “This is a fraction of the volume that was seen during the all-time highs of…
President Nicolas Maduro announced a 18-fold increase in Venezuela’s monthly minimum wage to roughly 126 bolivars ($28) by pegging it to the value of half a petro, the government’s cryptocurrency. “You proposed to set the workers’ basic minimum wage to half a petro, approved!” said Maduro during a televised speech he gave before an assembly of 10,000 government workers. “And that pushes all salary tables upwards.” The money to finance the increase, the first in almost a year, comes from “months” of saving tax revenue, which Maduro claimed has been rising substantially. He said he’s instructed Vice President Delcy Rodriguez…