Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A U.S. District Court has indicted three individuals behind the now-defunct Geek Group for their role in running an illegal money transmission business that used bitcoin to move funds across states. According to the indictment documents, it was Christopher Allan Boden then president of the Geek Group, who “sold bitcoin to numerous customers, in exchange for U.S. currency, primarily cash.” Violation of Money Transmission Laws The indictment of Boden and his accomplices comes more than two years after federal law enforcement raided the Michigan-based not-for-profit organization. Immediately after the raid, the Geek Group, which had previously been involved in charity work, announced the shut down of the organization. Meanwhile, as the indictment documents show , Boden would obtain the BTC from Daniel Reynold Dejager, who lived in Washington. As part of their conspiracy, Dejager would “periodically travel to Michigan to meet with Boden.” According to their adopted practice, Boden a...

A major Russian mining firm is facing legal troubles in St. Petersburg, as three individuals are accusing the company of fraud. Cryptouniverse will now face a trial after a city court issued a criminal case order during the week. A District Court Rejected to Launch a Criminal Case Against the Firm in 2020 According to RBC , the St. Petersburg City Court accepted the appeal of three customers of Cryptouniverse — a bitcoin ( BTC ) and litecoin ( LTC ) miner founded in 2018 — and considered the case should go before a trial. At first, the legal case against the firm made the headlines in August 2020. Businessman Alexei Burik launched the legal initiative, who claimed that Cryptouniverse allegedly embezzled his crypto mining equipment and his mined coins worth 25 million rubles ($340,000). At the time, the Kuibyshevsky District Court rejected the police decision to launch a criminal case on fraud, with the trio now involved, after the mining company filed an appeal. As the St. Peters...

PRESS RELEASE. The Taraxa Foundation, a non-profit body supervising research and development of the Taraxa project, announced a public sale kicking off on March 4 at 6 PM PST . The token sale follows the launch of Taraxa’s public testnet and the release of a flagship application , with the main purpose of distributing TARA tokens to community members and funding ongoing technology and community development. Participants will be required to provide documentation and verify their eligibility in order to participate. The offer is not being made within the United States or to any U.S. persons (as defined under U.S. federal securities laws). TARA token purchasing options and allocation The token sale will take place from March 4 till March 15, with pre-registration starting at 6 PM PST on March 4. This is the first public sale held by the company after the 2018 private rounds led by Fenbushi Capital (an early investor in Ethereum), KuCoin, and LongHash Ventures. Through the sale, inves...

Tech entrepreneur and former anti-virus tycoon John McAfee has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on money laundering and fraud charges. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI unsealed the indictment charging McAfee and his associate Jimmy Watson with securities fraud. John McAfee Indicted by US Law Enforcement for Fraud and Money Laundering Tied to Crypto Schemes According to a press release published by the DoJ on March 5, John McAfee has been indicted for a number of charges tied to his cryptocurrency operations and his so-called “McAfee Team.” The Federal Attorney, FBI, and DoJ also charged McAfee’s alleged partner Jimmy Watson, who purportedly served as an “executive adviser” to McAfee’s alleged cryptocurrency squad. McAfee and Watson have been charged with “conspiracy to commit commodities and securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities and touting fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and substantive wire fraud, and mon...

While bitcoin prices have been coasting along between $46k to $48k during the last three days a number of proponents are still bullish about the crypto asset’s long-term value. On Thursday, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said that he thinks bitcoin could easily reach a million-dollar valuation per coin. “When you measure it in terms of dollars, you have to think it’s going to infinity,” Powell insists. Bitcoin to Infinity and Beyond During the last few weeks as bitcoin ( BTC ) prices saw a climactic rise above the $58k handle a number of crypto proponents and analysts think BTC could region six-digits in USD value. There have been a lot of calls suggesting BTC will reach $100k this year and even people who say it could hit $200 to $350k per unit. After bitcoin touched an all-time high (ATH) on February 19, 2021, on Thursday the CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken told Bloomberg reporter Lynn Thomasson that he believes the leading asset could make it to $1 million someday. In 20...

As bitcoin prices keep exchanging hands above the $48k handle as of press time, South Korea notices a particular growing trend in a specific profile of crypto investors. A recent study revealed that a new era of “crypto moms” is emerging across the board in the country. Millennials Are Lagging Far Behind, Says Study Per Maeil Kyungjae , citing data from research firm Wiseapp, females aged 40-49 in the Asian country have been actively buying bitcoin (BTC) in recent weeks. The data was collected via major domestic exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb. The report calls this trend the “second boom” of cryptocurrencies in South Korea, as females surveyed were mostly mothers. According to the figures, over 30% of Bithumb and Upbit users belong to that age range, while 21% are over 50 years old. On the other hand, millennials are losing ground in holding cryptos, as the numbers unveiled that only 19% of the users are just aged 20-29. In contrast, teenagers are at the bottom with just 1.5...

Cipher Mining, a bitcoin mining operation of Bitfury, has announced that it is going public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The deal values the combined company at $2 billion, with funding from investors such as Morgan Stanley and Fidelity. Cipher Mining Technologies Inc., a newly formed U.S.-based bitcoin mining operation of Bitfury, announced Friday it will go public through a merger with Good Works Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: GWAC). The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter. According to Cipher Mining, the deal values the combined company at $2 billion and “will provide the merged entity with gross cash proceeds of $595 million, which includes $425 million from investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company and Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global,” Reuters reported . The deal is also backed by 25 other institutions. The merged company, to be named Cipher Mining Inc., is expected to be listed on Nasdaq under t...

Galileo Exchange is an innovative ‘hybrid’ trading platform built with elements of a crypto exchange, a DeFi project, and a gaming platform. It combines these essential elements to bring trustworthiness, innovation, value and entertainment. Among the most interesting features it introduces are the Gelt (GLT) token and ‘Zero Edge’ trading. Zero Fees, Zero Spread, Zero Commissions Galileo Exchange is a breakthrough in trader engagement, fun, and profitability. The platform is designed for leveling the playing field by removing all frictions to trading, offering excellent user experience, super-fast action, high-profit potential, and generous incentives. It is powered by the GLT token, guaranteed to return 100% of funds wagered back to its users. The Galileo platform has elements of a Crypto exchange, a DeFi project, and a Gaming platform. As an exchange, traders can speculate on the price movement of hybrid digital assets; as a DeFi project, it has a token (GLT) with multiple use ca...

On Friday, the incorporated and publicly listed business intelligence (BI) firm, Microstrategy announced the company has acquired an additional $10 million in bitcoin. The company’s CEO Michael Saylor revealed the latest purchase on Twitter with a link to a Form 8-K Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing registered on March 5, 2021. Microstrategy’s Bitcoin Buying Spree Continues Microstrategy continues its bitcoin (BTC) buying spree announcing it bought an additional $10 million worth on Monday. The BI company’s CEO revealed the new acquisition on Friday, March 5, when he tweeted about the latest purchase on Twitter. “Microstrategy has purchased an additional ~205 bitcoins for ~$10.0 million in cash,” Saylor wrote . “At an average price of ~$48,888 per bitcoin,” he explained to his 598,000 Twitter followers. Saylor added: As of 3/5/2021, we hodl ~91,064 bitcoins acquired for ~$2.196 billion at an average price of ~$24,119 per bitcoin. In addition to the tweet, Saylor ...

The U.S. Federal Reserve is in a predicament as fiscal deficits erode the American economy and the nation is seeing a spike in benchmark 10-year Treasury yields. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed zero worries about inflation during an interview at a Wall Street Journal Jobs Summit on Thursday. Powell didn’t explain when the easy-money policies would end and after his commentary, U.S. bonds and stocks saw a massive sell-off. The US Fed Juggles Shaky Treasury Yields and Easy-Money Policies On March 3, 2021, Reuters reported on how the benchmark 10-year U.S. note saw some steep declines for three days straight ahead of the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell interview at the summit. But then Treasury bond yields spiked, which gave market investors the impression that easy-money policies would be stifled. Moreover, Fed Governor Lael Brainard discussed the concerning bond yields before Powell’s summit interview as well. This was after the fact that Powell s...

University of California, Berkeley and Parity Technologies are joining forces on several blockchain fronts, including educational development and awareness, by leveraging Parity’s expert team and the Substrate framework as knowledge-building resources. UC Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator Partners with Parity to Promote Blockchain Adoption To bring more resources to the University of California, Berkeley community and Blockchain Xcelerator, Parity Technologies and the academic institution are expanding existing ties by forming a resource-rich educational framework for the 2020-2021 academic year. This deepening cooperation follows Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator’s existing familiarity with Parity and Polkadot ecosystem startups through its program, which has already accelerated 45 high-value blockchain projects since its inception in 2019. These growing ties will see the Parity development team help expose the University’s students to innovation through a multi-pronged approach, star...

PRESS RELEASE. IOST has announced it is now at the final development stage for building a cross-chain transfer bridge to the Polkadot Ecosystem. The move is part of IOST’s plans to promote its cross-chain interoperability, bringing tremendous value for IOST users & developers and drive bigger adoption scenarios for its blockchain, according to a blog post on 5 March 2021. IOST Joins Forces with Polkadot In a bid to make its decentralized solutions available across multiple blockchains, promote trust and data sovereignty for users, IOST, the Proof-of-Believability smart contract leader is joining forces with Polkadot, a new generation blockchain that focuses on promoting interoperability across different distributed ledgers. As stated in a blog post by the IOST team, the new alliance will enable the transfer of the information, transactions, and asset values and make it available across all blockchains supported by Polkadot. The IOST cross-chain transfer bridge has entered th...

The Kentucky House Budget Committee approved a bill in a 19-2 vote to eliminate the sales tax on electricity for use in cryptocurrency mining operations. The bill, designed to attract more miners to the state, is now in the Kentucky Senate for review. Lawmakers Urge Greater Crypto Appeal Despite Purported Costs Motivated by the explosive growth in blockchain technology and the increased spotlight at cryptocurrencies, Kentucky lawmakers are busy crafting legislation designed to appeal to mining operations. House Bill 230, which the House Budget Committee approved on Tuesday, is designed to encourage miners to move to the state by removing the sales tax from these operations’ electricity. The bill now moves to the state senate, where it will be reviewed alongside Senate Bill 255 , which similarly calls for miner tax breaks. More Costs Than Benefits According to a fiscal note within the bill, this proposed legislation would cost the state’s General Fund at least $1 million in...