Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A London-headquartered law firm is preparing a lawsuit against the fugitive mastermind of the Onecoin crypto pyramid scheme, ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova. Its lawyers intend to file a class action suit in the United Kingdom’s High Court, the British press revealed. Fugitive Cryptoqueen May Face U.K. High Court Lawsuit Over Investor Losses Mishcon de Reya, the elite British law firm that once had Princess Diana among its high-profile clients, is now working on a lawsuit against the founder of the notorious crypto scam Onecoin, the still “missing Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova. The lawyers are planning a class action lawsuit in Britain’s High Court, the Mail on Sunday reported. Mishcon seeks to recover funds lost by investors in the Ponzi scheme. Claimants can sign up on a “no-win, no-fee” basis, the newspaper detailed. Mishcon partner Rhymal Persad elaborated: The claim aims to achieve at least partial redress for investors taken in by the deception and who suffered losses as a result....

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit is suspending services in the U.K. next month in order to comply with the new rules set by Britain’s top financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). “The suspension will allow the company to focus its efforts and resources to best meet the regulations outlined by the U.K. authorities in the future,” Bybit explained. Bybit Halting UK Services Crypto exchange Bybit announced Friday that it is suspending services in the U.K. in order to comply with the new rules on marketing and communications for crypto businesses set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The new rules are outlined in Policy Statement PS23/6 , titled “Financial promotion rules for cryptoassets,” which the FCA published in June. “It has always been Bybit’s primary objective to operate our business in compliance with all relevant rules and regulations in the U.K.,” the announcement details, adding: Bybit has made a choice to embrace the regulation proactively and paus...

Venezuelan authorities found weapons of war, a discotheque, pools, a zoo, and even a makeshift Bitcoin mining farm in a raid completed on a national jail. The raid, executed in the Tocoron National Penitentiary Center, located in the Aragua state, mobilized 11,000 military officers to take control of the center. Bitcoin Miners, Grenades, and Weapons Found in Venezuelan Jail Raid Venezuelan authorities found Bitcoin miners among a series of irregular items during a raid executed on a national jail on September 21. 11,000 military and police officers participated in this action to liberate the Tocoron National Penitentiary in the Aragua state from the control of Aragua’s Train, the gang that managed the complex. In a video detailing the aftermath of the raid, where an officer died in the line of duty, an undisclosed number of Bitcoin miners can be seen in a room that served as a mining farm. During the raid, the authorities found weapons of war, including rocket launchers, grenades,...

Following a decisive vote by the Terra Classic community, an initiative to halt the creation of the previously termed stablecoin, terra usd (commonly referred to as UST or USTC), has been approved. Despite 40.56% opposition, 59.42% of the vote gave the nod for the software update. Minting Freeze for USTC Approved USTC , which sits at the 200th spot among 10,000+ crypto assets in the crypto economy, has seen its value jump by 4% in just the last day. As of 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on September 24, 2023, a single USTC is fetching $0.0127. Flashback to before the Terra ecosystem’s downturn in May 2022: this stablecoin held firm at a solid $1 per unit, maintaining its peg to the USD for a long duration. On May 9, 2022 , USTC drifted away from its peg to the U.S. dollar and the peg never returned. While the Terra blockchain ecosystem shuddered, a community of users and developers continued to persevere. The Terra blockchain is known for facilitating trades between the once-stable coin an...

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, that track the price of bitcoin have become a popular means for mainstream investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency market without directly owning bitcoin. Though the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved a spot bitcoin ETF in the U.S., futures-based and international bitcoin ETFs are offering investors new participation methods. The Basics: Defining a Bitcoin ETF An ETF is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, similar to stocks. A bitcoin ETF doesn’t directly trade bitcoin; rather, it tracks bitcoin futures contracts or holds private keys associated with the cryptocurrency. This setup grants regular investors and institutions access to bitcoin exposure without dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges or wallets. There are two main types of bitcoin ETFs: futures-based and spot bitcoin ETFs. Futures-based bitcoin ETFs, such as the Proshares “Bitcoin Strategy ETF ,” which debuted in 2021, don’t directly invest in bitcoi...

Aleksey Bilyuchenko, co-founder of Wex, the successor of the infamous Russian crypto exchange BTC-e, will spend only a couple of years in prison. The Russian, who is charged in the U.S. with money laundering, has been sentenced in his homeland as the only defendant in a case over the collapse of Wex which brought heavy losses to its customers. Wex Co-founder Admits Guilt for Exchange’s Crash, Asks Putin to Be Sent to Ukraine One of the founders of the crypto exchange Wex, which succeeded once the largest coin trading platform in Russia, BTC-e, received three and a half years of prison time and 500,000-ruble ($5,000) fine for his role in its operation, Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media reported, quoting a Telegram post by journalist and blogger Irek Murtazin. The mild sentence comes after Aleksey Bilyuchenko, who has been accused in Russia of embezzling several billion rubles in customer funds, sought leniency from Russian President Vladimir Putin while the state prosecutor aske...