Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The team behind Turtledex protocol, a Binance Smart Chain (BSC) project has reportedly rug pulled its investors shortly after raising 9,000 Binance tokens worth $2.5 million. Immediately following the confirmation of the theft, the value of the protocol’s native token TTDX, reportedly plunged to near zero. At the time of writing, the social media accounts associated with the protocol appear to have been deleted. The Rug Pull As one report explains, Turtledex, which touted itself as a decentralized storage platform for users, successfully duped users by claiming it could help them “keep data and preserve files without needing to keep them on their computer.” These claims initially helped the Turtledex team to raise funds via the pre-sale round “in just two hours on Monday 15th.” Next, the team would follow up this successful fundraising round by “opening their liquidity pools on two major BSC Decentralized exchanges (DEXs): Pancakeswap and Apeswap.” The native tokens, TTDX, “were u...

Anthony Scaramucci’s Skybridge Capital has filed an S-1 registration form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The prospectus for the “First Trust Skybridge Bitcoin ETF Trust” notes that the ETF aims to list common shares on NYSE Arca. Skybridge Capital Files to List a Bitcoin ETF Skybridge Capital and its founder Anthony Scaramucci have been all about bitcoin (BTC) these days and even more so after the company’s successful launch of the Skybridge Capital Bitcoin Fund. At the end of February, Scaramucci said in an interview that he expects $100k BTC prices this year. On March 19, 2021, Skybridge Capital filed an S-1 registration prospectus for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Skybridge Capital will be among a number of firms such as Vaneck and Valkyrie Digital Assets looking to get their ETFs approved. The S-1 registration filed on Friday notes that the ETF will be dubbed the “First Trust Skybridge Bitcoin ETF Trust” b...

Deutsche Bank has published a report stating that bitcoin is too important to ignore, noting that it is now the third-largest currency in terms of the total value in circulation. In addition, the bank says that governments and central banks know that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and are expected to start regulating the industry this year. Bitcoin Is Too Important to Ignore Deutsche Bank Research published a report last week entitled: “Bitcoins: Can the Tinkerbell Effect Become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?” It is part three of “The Future of Payments: Series 2.” The report author, research analyst Marion Laboure, Ph.D., wrote: Bitcoin’s market cap of $1 trillion makes it too important to ignore. As long as asset managers and companies continue to enter the market, bitcoin prices could continue to rise. At the time of writing, the price of bitcoin stands at $57,455 and the cryptocurrency’s market cap is approximately $1.07 trillion based on data from markets.Bitcoin.com. The ...

The founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund firm, has warned that the government could “impose prohibitions against capital movements” into assets such as bitcoin. He added that regulators may also impose changes in taxes that “could be more shocking than expected.” Ray Dalio Warns About Government Prohibitions and Taxes Ray Dalio, founder and chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, wrote a post on Linkedin last week entitled: “Why in the World Would You Own Bonds When…” He pointed out that the bond markets currently offer “ridiculously low yields,” which “do not meet these asset holders’ funding needs.” The executive wrote, “There is now over $75 trillion of US debt assets of varying maturities,” adding that their holders will at some point want to sell them to get cash to buy goods and services with. However, Bridgewater’s chief investment officer estimates that “at current valuations, there is way too much money...

Six people involved with the Free Keene movement have been arrested and charged for allegedly operating an illegal cryptocurrency exchange business. “They operated their virtual currency exchange business using websites, as well as operating virtual currency ATM machines in New Hampshire,” the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said. FBI Raids Properties and Charges 6 People The DOJ announced this week that it has charged six New Hampshire residents with crimes related to a cryptocurrency exchange business. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided several Keene properties associated with members of the liberty-minded Free Keene movement on Tuesday and arrested the six defendants. The individuals charged are Ian Freeman (formerly Ian Bernard), 40, of Keene; Colleen Fordham, 60, of Alstead; Renee Spinella, 23, of Derry; Andrew Spinella, 35, of Derry; Nobody (formerly Richard Paul), 52, of Keene; and Aria DiMezzo (formerly James Baker), 34, of Keene. DiMezzo is the self-describe...

PRESS RELEASE. BitMax.io (BTMX.com), an industry-leading digital asset trading platform built by Wall Street quant trading veterans, has announced the listing of Fire Tokens (FIRE) under the trading pair of FIRE/USDT on March 19th at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Fire Protocol is the first infrastructure project built based on the Huobi Eco Chain (HECO). Fire Protocol seeks to build more comprehensive functionality and use cases than other DeFi projects in the marketplace by combining various components on one platform. In the future, Fire Protocol will also be supporting Cross-chain functionalities to bridge assets between various blockchains such as Polkadot and BSC. The native token of Fire Protocol, FIRE, is a governance token, used to power the economic incentive mechanisms, support community proposals, and voting. Fire Protocol’s key products include Fireswap, a fast and secure trading service and Liquidity Mining feature, Cross Chain Wrapping solutions to bring non-Huobi Chain assets in...

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has found its way onto the deep web and during the last few months, researchers have found a great number of individuals turning to darknet markets (DNMs) for employment. The organization Check Point Research has recorded a rising trend of people looking for jobs on hacking forums and DNMs. Additionally, alleged versions of the coronavirus vaccines from the top manufacturers are being sold on DNMs alongside vaccination records. Mass Darknet Market Closures in 2020 Invoked Opioid Product Premiums In 2020, a great number of darknet markets (DNMs) went dark by either voluntarily closing, exit scamming, or getting busted by global law enforcement. Despite the loss of many DNMs, the vast amount of spontaneous underground markets saw record revenues in 2020. However, the numerous amounts of DNMs disappearing have led to an increased demand for opioids. A new report from the Australian National University (ANU) shows that the effects of global law enfo...

A senior executive with Nigeria’s central bank, Adamu Lamtek, has reportedly denied that his institution had placed restrictions on the use of cryptocurrencies. Instead, Lamtek, who is the deputy governor responsible for corporates services at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says his organisation’s directive only applies to the banking sector. Prohibition Only Applies to Banks The remarks by Lamtek, who spoke on behalf of the CBN governor Godwin Emefiele, follow the central bank’s February 5, 2021, directive which prohibited banks from facilitating crypto-related transactions. Immediately following the announcement, financial institutions began to comply with the directive. Since then volumes on centralized crypto exchanges have plunged while reports suggest that volumes on peer to peer platforms are on the rise . In the meantime, before the latest communication from the CBN, rumours circulated that authorities would soon clampdown on peer to peer trading like Binance’s P2P pl...