Cryptocurrency & Blockchain News and Discussions

[wjfox]

Do Kwon: Fugitive 'cryptocrash' boss arrested in Montenegro

2 days ago

South Korea police say that Do Kwon, the fugitive cryptocurrency boss behind the $40bn (£32.5bn) collapse of the terraUSD and Luna tokens, has been arrested in Montenegro.

He has since been charged with fraud by prosecutors in the US.

Earlier this year US regulators accused Mr Kwon and his company Terraform Labs of "orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud".

The firm did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

South Korea authorities issued an arrest warrant for Mr Kwon last September as they believed Terraform Labs had violated capital market rules.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-65058533



Reuters

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

This Telegram Bot is Crypto's Silver Lining
by Brady Dale
September 14, 2023

Introduction:

(Axios) Telegram is infested with bots, and that's the good news — at least for true believers in cryptocurrency looking around for anything to feel good about.

Driving the news: Unibots is one of a small handful of Telegram trading bots that are seeing profits, excitement and value creation (for now).

• Yes, but: These kinds of platforms all tend to be run by anonymous teams, because they are non-compliant and likely quite risky.

In short: These bots make it really easy to trade crypto on your phone. They even enable complex trades, like limit orders, copy trading (doing anything a successful trader does) or even scam insurance.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2023/09/14/crypt ... ram-bot

[caltrek]

Criminal Activities Cause Losses of $30 Billion in the Crypto Sector
October 16, 2023

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Digital financial products are increasingly coming under the crosshairs of cyberattacks. However, evidence-based results are not yet available regarding the actual magnitude of this threat. Researchers from the Complexity Science Hub and the University of Montreal have now, for the first time, shown that the global damage amounts to at least $30 billion and is on the rise. A preprint of the study was recently published on arXiv.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) represents a new financial paradigm where financial services, such as lending, are offered through decentralized computer programs running on so-called blockchains. It's well-known that numerous criminal attacks occur in this space. However, "since there is no central point of contact for criminal cases, evidence-based statements about the total damage could not be made until now," explains Bernhard Haslhofer, head of the Cryptofinance research group at the Complexity Science Hub.

AT LEAST 1,155 CRIMINAL INCIDENTS

Therefore, the researchers have now compiled documented criminal incidents in the crypto sector from various databases for the first time. In doing so, they identified a total of 1,155 criminal events from 2017 to 2022. "But this doesn't mean there couldn't be more cases. Accordingly, all our results are minimum values," emphasizes Haslhofer. The resulting total damage: $30 billion, roughly equivalent to Luxembourg's state revenue in 2022.

These 1,155 cases might not be the whole picture, but they constitute one of the most extensive set of events analyzed to date, which represents the first step towards assessing the size and scope of the DeFi crime landscape,“ says Catherine Carpentier-Desjardins of the University of Montreal.

Conclusion:

WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?

This study shows where attacks are most likely to occur and the extent of the damage. However, tracking the money trail in the DeFi sector is currently extremely difficult. That's why the "DeFi Trace" project is currently underway at the Complexity Science Hub, led by Bernhard Haslhofer. "Over the course of two years, we aim to develop methods to automatically trace illegal payment flows in the DeFi sector, thereby containing criminal activities," says Haslhofer.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1004782

[TanishaTanTan]

[spam deleted]

[erowind]

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[wjfox]

Not just SBF: seven other crypto icons who fell in 2023

December 25, 2023 at 8:00 AM

They were billionaires. They were megastars.

They were the very best their generation had to offer, and they vowed to revolutionise the world of finance and money itself.

But crypto can be slippery and when the boom of 2021 gave way to the hard reality of a bear market, many of the industry’s icons fell.

In 2023, a legal reckoning followed the financial fallout, and criticisms that had long been levelled at the digital assets industry — theft, money laundering, fraud — became actual charges, verdicts, and guilty pleas.

Here’s a roll call of eight crypto figures who are spending their holidays behind bars or out on bail awaiting trial, or sentencing.

https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people- ... l-in-2023/



Sam Bankman-Fried is one of many crypto icons that faced a legal reckoning in 2023. Credit: Andrés Tapia

[Time_Traveller]

Not just SBF: seven other crypto icons who fell in 2023

December 25, 2023 at 8:00 AM

They were billionaires. They were megastars.

They were the very best their generation had to offer, and they vowed to revolutionise the world of finance and money itself.

But crypto can be slippery and when the boom of 2021 gave way to the hard reality of a bear market, many of the industry’s icons fell.

In 2023, a legal reckoning followed the financial fallout, and criticisms that had long been levelled at the digital assets industry — theft, money laundering, fraud — became actual charges, verdicts, and guilty pleas.

Here’s a roll call of eight crypto figures who are spending their holidays behind bars or out on bail awaiting trial, or sentencing.

https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people- ... l-in-2023/



Sam Bankman-Fried is one of many crypto icons that faced a legal reckoning in 2023. Credit: Andrés Tapia

Update on this: -

Sam Bankman-Fried: Disgraced 'crypto king' jailed for 25 years after stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers

Thursday 28 March 2024 19:00, UK



Disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of stealing billions of dollars from his customers.

He was the chief executive of FTX, which suddenly went bankrupt in November 2022 - leaving millions of users frozen out of their accounts and unable to make withdrawals.

The 32-year-old American could have faced up to 100 years behind bars - but last month, his lawyers argued such a sentence would have been "barbaric" and a five-year term would be more appropriate.

Initial reports said he had been sentenced to 20 years - but this has since been corrected to 25.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to jail Bankman-Fried for 40 to 50 years, arguing the public needed protecting from the fraudster and a harsh punishment would deter other criminals.

https://news.sky.com/story/sam-bankman- ... s-13103158

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

More on that by Reuters:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/russ ... 024-07-30/

My first thought was "sanctions evasion"

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/2 ... ypto-role/

[wjfox]

Bitcoin now above $100K for first time:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqj0wkwv1x2o

[Tadasuke]

Bitcoin (BTC) first got to:
• $10 per piece on 02/08/2012
• $100 per piece on 02/04/2013
• $1000 per piece on 02/01/2017
• $10,000 per piece on 28/11/2017
• $100,000 per piece on 05/12/2024

It rose in price extremely quickly between $10 and $100, also between $1000 and $10,000 (only 10 months and 26 days!!). However, it took 2564 days to rise from $10,000 to $100,000. If 1 million USD per 1 BTC ever happens, it may take 14-17 years.

Back in April 2013 I was very seriously considering buying 10 Bitcoins, but I decided not to, as I thought that even if cryptocurrencies are the future, there will be a much better cryptocurrency than Bitcoin, so no point in investing in it. I bought Bitcoin in 2020.

I thought similarly about Nvidia (stocks), I reckoned that the future will be decided and won by companies which will make 3D nanotube lattice photonic processors (million times faster than GPUs of 2013). Not ordinary electronic 2D silicon ones (with more CUDA/RT/Tensor cores).

[JohnMeeks]

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