Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A judge in the U.S. has rejected a request by a lawyer who laundered $400 million from the Onecoin crypto pyramid to have a new trial. The ruling clears the path for sentencing 54-year-old Mark Scott despite a key prosecution witness admittedly lying in court. Judge Not Convinced in Onecoin Lawyer’s Innocence Despite Lies Told by Witness One of the lawyers who helped the organizers of the notorious crypto Ponzi scheme Onecoin launder money will not get a new trial despite the lies of a witness against him, the brother of Onecoin’s mastermind, “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova, Konstantin. Prosecutors claimed that Mark Scott made $50 million for setting up a phony investment fund that was used to process funds that Ignatova, still wanted by the FBI, Interpol, and Europol, took from the scam which collected $4 billion from defrauded investors around the world. Scott, a former Locke Lord partner, was found guilty in November 2019, Bloomberg reminded in a report. He used the money he rece...

Citigroup has announced the creation and piloting of Citi Token Services for cash management and trade finance. “Citi Token Services will integrate tokenized deposits and smart contracts into Citi’s global network, upgrading core cash management and trade finance capabilities,” the financial giant explained. Citi Launching New Token Services Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) announced on Monday the “creation and piloting of Citi Token Services for cash management and trade finance.” The financial giant’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) explained: The service uses blockchain and smart contract technologies to deliver digital asset solutions for institutional clients. Citi Token Services will integrate tokenized deposits and smart contracts into Citi’s global network, upgrading core cash management and trade finance capabilities. “Digital asset technologies have the potential to upgrade the regulated financial system by applying new technologies to existing legal instruments and well-es...

A fraud investigation of cryptocurrency exchange JPEX in Hong Kong has led to the shutdown of some trading activities on the platform, the arrest of multiple people, and increased regulatory scrutiny of the entire crypto sector. “This incident highlights the importance that when investors want to invest in virtual assets, then they must invest on platforms that are licensed,” Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee stressed. Crypto Exchange JPEX’s Troubles Continue Cryptocurrency exchange JPEX announced Monday that it has suspended some trading activities on its platform. This decision comes as the Hong Kong police persist in their investigation of the exchange. The announcement explains that users will be unable to create new orders through the platform’s Earn Trading interface. The exchange claimed that it was “negotiating with … third-party market makers to resolve the liquidity shortage.” On Tuesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said at a news conference: This incident highl...

Economist Peter Schiff has warned that the U.S. economy is headed for a tragic ending. “We’re going to have a dollar crisis and a sovereign debt crisis,” he stressed, cautioning that the Federal Reserve is “going to print money until the dollar collapses.” He added: “I think that day of reckoning is at hand.” Peter Schiff Foresees ‘Tragic Ending’ Economist and gold bug Peter Schiff issued more dire warnings about the U.S. economy and the U.S. dollar in an interview on First TV last week. Schiff explained that the current inflation we are experiencing has its origin in the 2008 financial crisis. “What the government did in response to that crisis — QE1, QE2, QE3 — all of that, plus what we did during Covid, that is the source of all this inflation. And it’s going to continue to get worse as long as we continue to run these massive deficits,” the economist explained. Noting that the U.S. is running annual budget deficits of around $2 trillion and its national debt continues to incre...

New York’s financial regulator has significantly reduced the number of pre-approved cryptocurrencies that licensed crypto trading platforms can list. XRP , dogecoin, litecoin, and ethereum classic are among the coins removed from the Greenlist. The regulator also proposed new crypto guidance that “heightens risk assessment standards for coin-listing policies and tailors enhanced requirements for retail consumer-facing businesses.” New York Updates Crypto Greenlist On Monday, New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris issued an update on the department’s “ongoing initiative to strengthen DFS oversight of virtual currencies.” The DFS also published an updated list of cryptocurrencies approved for all licensees to list or custody. Any entity licensed or chartered by the DFS to conduct virtual currency (VC) business activity in New York “may list coins on the Greenlist without having a separate DFS-approved coin-listing policy,” the regulat...

Bitcoin continued to trade above the $27,000 level on Tuesday, after a crossover of moving averages triggered a return of bullish sentiment. The move pushed price to a multi-week high, with the global market cap trending over 1% higher. Ethereum also extended recent gains. Bitcoin Bitcoin was once again trading above the $27,000 level on Tuesday, after moving averages crossed over in today’s session. Following a low of $26,660.56 to start the week, BTC /USD surged to a peak of $27,414.73 earlier in the day. This move has resulted in bitcoin remaining close to its strongest point since August 31, 2023, and marginally closer to a target of $28,000. One of the catalysts was that the 10-day (red) moving average moved above its 25-day (blue) counterpart. In addition to this, the relative strength index (RSI), moved past another point of resistance at the 55.00 mark. Currently, price strength is at a reading of 60.23, with a ceiling at 66.00 the next visible target for traders. Ethe...

Paris-based Bubblemaps, a firm specializing in blockchain data visualization, announced on Monday that it had secured $3.2 million in seed funding from a group of investors. Bubblemaps stated that the newly acquired funds would be directed toward a mission to increase access to blockchain data, serving both individuals and institutions. Bubblemaps Raises $3.2M to Boost Blockchain Data Access Bubblemaps secured $3.2 million in a seed funding round, with INCE Capital leading the investment effort. Other contributors to the fundraising initiative included Cronos Chain, Avalanche, V3ntures, Momentum 6, Lbank, Stake Capital, and others. “We’ve successfully raised €3M to accelerate blockchain data innovation,” announced Bubblemaps on the social media platform X. The platform offers users vibrant bubble visualizations linked to onchain data for blockchains, decentralized finance (defi), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Bubblemaps dubs the platform the “first supply auditing tool for defi...