Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revealed that more than 46,000 people have reported losing over $1 billion in cryptocurrency to scams since the beginning of last year. FTC Says Scammers Stole Over $1 Billion in Crypto The U.S. Federal Trade Commission published a “Data Spotlight” report on crypto scams Friday. The FTC is the only federal agency in the country with both consumer protection and competition jurisdiction in broad sectors of the economy, the regulator’s website describes. Emma Fletcher, senior data researcher at the FTC, wrote: Since the start of 2021, more than 46,000 people have reported losing over $1 billion in crypto to scams – that’s about one out of every four dollars reported lost, more than any other payment method. Specifically, $680 million in cryptocurrency fraud losses were reported in 2021. In the first quarter of this year, the losses due to crypto fraud amounted to $329 million. The researcher added that the median individual reported lo...

Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon is unlikely to face criminal charges in the U.S. over the collapse of cryptocurrency terra (LUNA) and stablecoin terrausd (UST), according to legal experts. They explained that civil charges are more likely, including lawsuits by cryptocurrency investors. Do Kwon Unlikely to Face Criminal Charges The recent collapse of cryptocurrency terra (LUNA) and algorithmic stablecoin terrausd (UST) has raised questions about whether their creator, Do Kwon, can be held accountable. Randall Eliason, a professorial lecturer in law at the George Washington University Law School who spent 12 years as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, explained that Kwon is unlikely to be criminally prosecuted, CNBC reported Thursday. Emphasizing that prosecutors have to prove criminal wrongdoing beyond a reasonable doubt, he was quoted as saying, “It’s not like a homicide where you bring in witnesses to testify to who pulled the trigger.” The legal expert describ...

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs’ president and chief operating officer has warned of unprecedented economic shocks and tougher times ahead. His statement echoes JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s warning that a “hurricane” is coming our way. Goldman Sachs President’s Warning About the U.S. Economy Goldman Sachs President and Chief Operating Officer John Waldron shared his outlook for the U.S. economy at a banking conference Thursday. Commenting on current economic conditions, he said: “This is among — if not the most — complex, dynamic environment I’ve ever seen in my career.” The top Goldman Sachs executive elaborated: We’ve obviously been through lots of cycles, but the confluence of the number of shocks to the system, to me, is unprecedented. Waldron’s comments echoed a similar warning by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon , who said Wednesday that there is a “hurricane” coming our way. “You better brace yourself,” he advised. Noting that he will refrain from “using any weather an...

As Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) gets closer and the network’s hashrate taps another all-time high, the Ethereum 2.0 contract is close to nearing 13 million ether worth $22.6 billion using today’s ether exchange rates. Moreover, according to a decentralized finance (defi) educator, the $22.6 billion worth of ethereum that continues to grow won’t be unlocked until another upgrade is enforced following The Merge. Ethereum 2.0 Contract Nears 13 Million Ether Locked — Defi Educator Says The Merge Won’t Be a Negative Price Catalyst On June 4, 2022, etherscan.io’s webpage that hosts the Ethereum 2.0 contract , indicates that there’s 12,785,941 ether locked into the contract. The Ethereum 2.0 contract holds the funds for a great number of ETH validators as it takes 32 ETH to become a validator. Every single day, a decent quantity of validators lock funds in the contract and the current value locked in the contract is worth $22.6 billion using today’s ether exchange rates....

Rostec, the Russian manufacturing and technology conglomerate, has developed a system allowing the processing of international settlements and storage of digital currency. The blockchain-based platform has been announced as an alternative to SWIFT, which is unavailable for some Russian banks. Rostec Employs Distributed Ledger Technology to Substitute SWIFT Russian state-owned corporation Rostec has built a platform using blockchain technologies to facilitate international settlements between Russia and its partners and the storage of digital currency. CELLS is intended as an alternative to the global payment messaging system SWIFT, from which a number of Russian banking institutions have been disconnected as part of western sanctions. Russia has been increasingly cut off from global finances, foreign currency reserves, and traditional payment channels as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. The government in Moscow has been trying to transition to payments in national currencies s...

Pablo Hernandez de Cos, governor of the Bank of Spain, has again warned about cryptocurrencies and the growth that the crypto market is experiencing. Hernandes de Cos stated that, while the market is still relatively small at a worldwide level, the cryptocurrency market is now bigger than subprime mortgages before the financial crisis circa 2008, and its links with traditional finance keep growing. Governor of Bank of Spain Warns About Expansion of Crypto The governor of the Bank of Spain has warned about the risks of letting the growing cryptocurrency markets mix with traditional financial institutions. While closing an event, Pablo Hernandez de Cos explained that the interconnection between these unregulated markets and traditional institutions has increased due to the large number of trading instruments that have been launched during this last bull market phase, which includes ETFs, futures, and investment funds. In this sense, Hernandez De Cos also stated that “some large priv...