Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

Bad actors exploited Estonia’s once liberal licensing regime for crypto companies to defraud investors and commit other crimes, an investigative report claims. The authors say they discovered dozens of such cases, including scams and schemes for sanctions evasion and money laundering. Since Tallinn tightened its rules, many of these entities have left Estonia, whose banking sector was accused of similar sins in recent years, and on a larger scale. Crypto Platforms Registered in Estonia Facilitated Fraud, Russian Payments, Report Alleges Estonia’s previously lax requirements for crypto businesses seeking to provide EU-licensed services, turned the small Baltic nation into a “hub of financial crime,” according to research conducted by Vsquare, a network of media outlets focused on cross-border investigations in Central Europe. The journalists said this week they had analyzed nearly 300 of these companies and found dozens of cases of fraud, money laundering, and sanctions evasion as w...

Global financial services firm Jefferies has warned of “the collapse of the U.S.-dollar paper standard to the benefit of both gold bullion owners and also owners of bitcoin.” He explained that the Federal Reserve, and other G7 central banks, “will not be able to exit from unconventional monetary policy in a benign manner and will ultimately remain committed to ongoing central bank balance-sheet expansion in one form or another.” Bitcoin to Benefit From US Dollar Collapse, Analyst Says Global investment bank Jefferies has cautioned about the potential collapse of the U.S. dollar, which could prove advantageous for bitcoin holders. Jefferies is a leading global, full-service investment banking and capital markets firm headquartered in the U.S. The firm operates across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. In a note to investors published Wednesday, Chris Wood, Global Head of Equity Strategy at Jefferies, called bitcoin and gold “critical hedges” against currency de...

British financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has issued 146 crypto promotion alerts in the first 24 hours of its new crypto marketing regime. “We expect businesses including social media platforms, app stores, search engines, domain name registrars, and payments firms to consider the alerts we have issued and play their part in protecting U.K. consumers from illegal promotions,” the regulator detailed. 146 Crypto Alerts Issued in U.K. Within 24 Hours The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the top financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, announced Monday that it issued 146 alerts in the first 24 hours of its new crypto marketing regime . Noting that the changes to legislation that bring crypto asset promotions under its remit are now in force, the FCA wrote: We issued 146 alerts about cryptoasset promotions on the first day of the new regime. “We expect businesses including social media platforms, app stores, search engines, domain name registrars,...

The police in the Australian state of South Australia recently seized cryptocurrency worth $1.5 million from an alleged dark web drug dealer. Police also recovered a “large quantity” of the synthetic opioid nitazene as well as tens of thousands of dollars in cash. ‘Illicit Activity on a Dark Web Marketplace’ Police in South Australia, a state in the southern central part of Australia, recently seized cryptocurrency worth $1.5 million from an alleged dark web drug dealer. According to an ABC News report , law enforcement also confiscated a “large quantity” of drugs and electronic devices from an unnamed 25-year-old man. Explaining how the operation against the alleged drug peddler was carried out, Adam Rice, the South Australian Detective Superintendent, said: “The investigation identified illicit activity on a dark web marketplace, attributed that activity to a real-life person in South Australia, identified and traced cryptocurrency used in the offending and then ultimately led t...

Last month, 19 distinct bitcoin addresses from 2012 awakened, moving coins that had remained untouched for over 11 years. Fast forward to this month, and we’ve already seen four such transfers from 2012. This Sunday, at block heights 811,239 and 811,244, two addresses from that vintage year collectively transacted 227 BTC , a sum equivalent to $6.34 million using current bitcoin exchange rates. Sleeping Giant Awakens With $6 Million Bitcoin Move After 11 Years The trend of transferring old bitcoins persists in October 2023, following an intriguing set of transactions on October 4 and 6. On these dates, 86 addresses from 2014 transferred 860 bitcoins, an address from 2013 shifted 504.99 bitcoins, and two addresses from 2012 moved a combined 426 BTC . On Sunday, October 8, 2023, btcparser.com spotted two more interesting transactions, collectively moving 227 BTC , valued at a cool $6.34 million. The first transaction came from an address transferring 15 BTC at block height 811,239...

According to Pavel Salas, the chief growth officer at Gear Foundation, on-chain smart contract automation makes applications “truly decentralized” because it “removes dependencies on centralized servers or external entities.” Salas also claimed that on-chain smart contract automation means participants can “engage in transactions or exchanges without relying on a central authority.” Webassembly Not a ‘Direct Replacement for EVM’ In his written answers sent to Bitcoin.com News, Salas argued that on-chain smart contract automation also helps decentralized applications (dapps) maintain data integrity without having to rely on external databases. He said since the code of smart contracts deployed on the blockchain is immutable this means it cannot be altered once deployed. Meanwhile, when asked to offer his thoughts on Webassembly (WASM) and the possibility it will overtake the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) at some point, Salas, said he does not see WASM as a direct replacement for EV...

Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: The Argentine government announces a national digital currency project, Volcano Energy launches Lava Pool, the first Salvadoran Bitcoin mining pool, and a resolution that allows investment funds to invest in cryptocurrency comes into effect in Brazil. Argentine Economy Minister Sergio Massa Announces National Digital Currency Sergio Massa, a presidential candidate and current economy minister of Argentina, proposed launching a national digital currency during the first debate before the presidential elections. As part of his campaign, Massa stated that this new digital currency would be issued alongside a tax reduction plan to move the Argentine economy to the formal sector. During the debate, Massa stated: We are going to launch the Argentine digital currency. Just as your children propose in their platform economy the possibility of trading wit...