Author: Bloomberg
Bitcoin kept advancing on Tuesday, briefly trading above $44,000 for the first time since Feb. 17 amid mounting signs that the war in Ukraine is bolstering demand for cryptocurrencies. The largest cryptocurrency rose as much as 6% to $44,183 and traded at $43,400 at 12:54 p.m. in Hong Kong, gaining along with other major digital tokens. Equities benchmarks across Asia were also mostly up, with Japan’s Topix index rising 1%. Bitcoin’s outperformance over the past few days of intensifying combat in Ukraine and escalating sanctions on Russia has some bulls pointing to a break from the narrative that crypto is…
BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani, charged criminally in the U.S. last week with a $2.4 billion Ponzi scheme, has vanished from his native India, officials said. Last September, the Securities and Exchange Commission separately sued Kumbhani, claiming he fraudulently raised more than $2 billion from investors in his cryptocurrency exchange platform. But the SEC didn’t know where he was and couldn’t serve him with the lawsuit. The mystery deepened a bit Monday. Kumbhani, 36, “has likely relocated from India to an unknown address in a foreign country,” SEC attorney Richard Primoff said in a court filing. “Since November, the commission…
Another firm has jumped into the race to deliver the first U.S. exchange-traded funds that would allow investors to make leveraged bets on a single stock. GraniteShares is planning 19 funds that would offer double the daily return on single companies including Coinbase Global Inc., Palantir Technologies Inc. and Tesla Inc., and one fund that would offer the inverse of Tesla, according to a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm is already the largest provider of single-stock exchange-traded products in the world with a number of listings in Europe. Its SEC request comes after AXS Investments and Direxion both made similar filings…
Bitcoin jumped as much as 10%, rebounding from a weekend selloff, amid speculation cryptocurrencies will gain favor in the wake of sanctions against Russia. “I definitely think that’s a possibility,” said Stéphane Ouellette, chief executive of Frnt Financial Inc. “Furthermore, with the banking situation unstable in the region as a whole, we may be seeing some flock to crypto as another potential means of payments. Either that or it could be speculators assuming that there will be more demand for crypto in the region, somewhat of a chicken or egg situation.” Digital coins formed a sea of green Monday, with…
One of the world’s most successful ransomware groups is reeling from a massive dump of its own internal data after the cybercriminal gang aligned itself with the Russian government. Conti, a cybercriminal group that researchers say is based in Russia, has extorted millions of dollars from U.S. and European companies in recent years. It provides affiliates around the world with malware that they deploy against victims in exchange for a cut of the ransom payments. The data leak, which lays bare unprecedented details of attack infrastructure, Bitcoin addresses, as well as internal conflicts and accusations, might never have occurred if the ransomware…
Bitcoin traded below $40,000 and Ether tumbled as much as 9.4% as the Ukraine crisis deepened, with Western nations imposing new sanctions on Russia after President Vladimir Putin refused to stop attacks on its neighbor. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, dropped by around 5% to about $37,450 as of 4:40 p.m. in New York, while Ether’s slump briefly took it below $2,600. The sell-off in crypto markets follows a global equities rally on Friday that saw the S&P 500 jump 2.2%. With Bitcoin’s correlation to stocks near a record high, declines in the token point to a lower…
The Biden administration is asking crypto exchanges to help ensure that Russian individuals and organizations aren’t using virtual currencies to avoid sanctions leveled on them by Washington, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The White House’s National Security Council and the Treasury Department have sought help from operators of some of the world’s largest trading platforms to thwart any attempts to sidestep the stiff restrictions levied by the U.S. and its allies after Russia invaded Ukraine last week, said the people. The effort comes as the Biden administration grapples with how to police the asset class amid concerns…
Coinbase Global Inc. jumped by the most in almost three months on Monday, reversing last week’s decline that was fueled by risk-off sentiment and the company’s warning that trading volumes could drop. Shares in the biggest U.S. crytocurrency exchange climbed as much as 8.7% on Monday to $192.23 amid a broader bounce in stocks linked to digital currencies. But the stock remains down around 25% this year due to a flight to haven assets amid the buildup to Russia’s war with Ukraine. The stock dropped 6.5% last week as Coinbase said trading volume would probably decline during the first quarter. Monday’s rally, which is lifting the…
Saying they were inspired by New York Mayor Eric Adams’ vow to make the city “the center of the cryptocurrency industry,” project developer CityCoins created NYCCoin in November. The project allows people to “invest” in New York by mining and buying the tokens while also potentially profiting themselves from any price appreciation. A percentage of the tokens created are designated to be deposited in a crypto wallet to be used to benefit New York. Adams hasn’t endorsed the coin and it has no official affiliation with the city. The coins are powered by the Stacks protocol, which uses so-called smart contracts to tie itself…
Banks must send messages to move funds. Sanctions against Russia underscore the need for Beijing to cut the cord to the U.S.-dominated system. Cutting some Russian banks’ access to SWIFT — the messaging network at the heart of global movement of money — may be a highly effective punishment for President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But it will give other geopolitical rivals, especially China, the excuse to promote digital versions of their own central banks’ money in global trade and finance. That could weaken the dollar’s international clout. The key pillars of U.S. economic hegemony are SWIFT, CHIPS, and the dollar. Weaponizing any one of…