Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

A controversy surrounding Alex Welch, an alleged spokeswoman of Tether, the company behind USDT , erupted last week as an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) quoted her as a source for information on the company’s loans. However, Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino denied any involvement of Welch with the stablecoin company, criticizing the publishing practices of the news outlet. Alleged Tether Spokeswoman Alex Welch Causes Controversy Alex Welch, who has been presented in several articles as a spokesperson for Tether, the stablecoin company behind the issuance of USDT , is at the center of a controversy between the company and mainstream news outlets. Welch was mentioned as a source for allegations regarding the rise in Tether’s outstanding loans in a recent article by WSJ journalist Jonathan Weil, which was criticized as “tabloid-style” reporting in a press release issued by the company. In the article, Welch is reported to have given information regarding these loans, stating that ...

Microstrategy has acquired 5,445 more bitcoin, bringing the company’s total holdings to 158,245 BTC . According to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the additional bitcoins were acquired during the period between Aug. 1 and Sept. 24. Microstrategy Adds 5,445 Bitcoin to Its Treasury The Nasdaq-listed software intelligence firm Microstrategy has continued to increase its bitcoin holdings. On Monday, Michael Saylor, founder and chairman of Microstrategy, announced on social media platform X: Microstrategy has acquired an additional 5,445 BTC for ~$147.3 million at an average price of $27,053 per bitcoin. As of 9/24/23 Microstrategy hodls 158,245 BTC acquired for ~$4.68 billion at an average price of $29,582 per bitcoin. $MSTR According to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the additional bitcoins were acquired between Aug. 1 and Sept. 24. Microstrategy also announced on Monday that as of Sept. 2...

U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley has warned that China is preparing for war and Chinese President Xi Jinping intends to win. “China is an existential threat. It has spent half a century plotting to defeat us,” she stressed, cautioning that China is “building a massive cutting edge military, capable of threatening America and dominating Asia and beyond.” Nikki Haley Warns of China’s Preparation for War U.S. presidential hopeful and former governor of the state of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, warned in a speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on her economic policy Friday that China is preparing for war. “Strength and pride are essential to our national survival, especially in the face of Communist China,” she began, elaborating: China is an existential threat. It has spent half a century plotting to defeat us. “It’s taken our manufacturing jobs. It’s taken our trade secrets. Now, it’s taking control of critical industries — from medicines to advanced technology...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s former head of internet enforcement has called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute more crypto firms. “The stark reality is that the SEC is merely a civil enforcement agency. And until crypto-grifters face the threat of DOJ prosecution (i.e. prison time), they will continue to treat SEC enforcement-related risks … as the cost of regulatory arbitrage and just another liability item on their balance sheets,” he stressed. DOJ Should Prosecute Crypto Cases, Says Ex-SEC Official Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official John Reed Stark has called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to take more action against the crypto industry. Commenting on the fraud case of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Stark wrote on social media platform X Saturday: “For the life of me, I cannot comprehend why the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ha...

San Francisco-based law firm Fenwick & West LLP is denying allegations from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried that the firm provided legal advice enabling the alleged fraud that led to the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse. In a recent court filing, Fenwick & West asserts the allegations are “fatally deficient” and should be dismissed with prejudice. Law Firm Challenges FTX Founder’s Claims In a motion to dismiss filed Wednesday in Florida federal court, Fenwick & West argues the complaint fails to state viable claims for conspiracy, aiding and abetting fraud, negligence, or racketeering. The firm asserts the allegations improperly seek to hold it liable based on providing routine legal services to FTX within the scope of representation. Fenwick & West claims the complaint does not show it acted outside its role as legal counsel, an essential element for the asserted causes of action against a law firm. “A lawyer’s representation of a client and knowledge of their emp...

In just five days, liquid staking platforms saw a surge of 370,000 ether in their ethereum holdings, breaching the 12 million ETH mark—rising from 11.94 million to a notable 12.31 million. Interestingly, Binance’s liquid staking token, WBETH, was the powerhouse behind this growth, accounting for over 86% of this week’s increase, swelling by 318,605 ether in the five-day span. Liquid Staking Platforms Leap Over 12 Million Ether As of September 25, 2023, data from defillama.com reveals that Ethereum ( ETH ) holdings in liquid staking derivative protocols have soared past the 12 million mark, reaching an impressive 12.31 million. Rewinding to September 20, historical records indicate that 11.94 million ether was anchored across nearly two dozen of these protocols. Among the 23 contenders, Lido dominates with a staggering 70.90% of the total value locked (TVL). On that same day, September 20, Lido had approximately 8.7 million ether secured in its decentralized finance platform. Fast...

Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: a Bitcoin mining farm is discovered during a raid on a Venezuelan jail, a bill that protects crypto from seizure advances in Brazil, and the Chilean police find a Bitcoin farm during a drug raid. Bitcoin Farm Found in Venezuelan Jail A Bitcoin mining farm was dismantled during a mega raid on the Venezuelan penitentiary center of Tocoron, located in the Aragua state. The raid, which involved the participation of more than 11,000 officers, found an undisclosed number of Bitcoin miners inside a makeshift mining farm, which was allegedly operated by the gang that held control of the national jail, called “Aragua’s Train.” During the raid, the police also found drugs, rifles and ammo, C4 explosives, and more eccentric elements, like a disco where events were held, a swimming pool, a baseball stadium, and even a zoo. Authorities have not issued statemen...

U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase has obtained a registration in Spain that will allow it to offer a range of services for digital assets. The authorization fits into the company’s current strategy for global expansion through acquiring local licenses and tailoring products for specific markets. Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase Registers With the Central Bank of Spain Leading U.S. digital assets trading platform Coinbase has registered as a crypto exchange and custodian wallet provider with the Bank of Spain. The firm said this week the registration will allow it to offer its full suite of products and services to both retail and institutional customers in compliance with in Spain’s laws and regulations. In an announcement on Friday, Coinbase emphasized the development is a milestone in the execution of its “Go Broad, Go Deep” strategy for international expansion. In a recent blog post , the American crypto firm said it’s launching its second phase and shared details about its p...

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...

Leading U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase pursued the acquisition of failed coin trading competitor FTX’s European subsidiary, a media report revealed. The move has been seen as proof of the growing importance of derivatives for the American platform’s plan to expand business globally. Coinbase Held Talks to Acquire FTX Europe After Bankruptcy and in September Coinbase has looked into the potential acquisition of FTX’s entity in Europe, according to documents seen by Fortune. The U.S.-based digital assets exchange explored the option to buy the Cyprus-licensed platform both right after FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States last November and as recently as early September. “Coinbase’s interest in FTX Europe demonstrates the growing importance of derivatives to its global business plan as spot trading volumes have tumbled during the bear market,” the magazine commented while noting the talks never reached a late stage and quoting a person familiar with the matter who s...

Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has advised investors to buy bitcoin today before stock, bond, and real estate markets crash and people rush to buy BTC alongside gold and silver. The famous author has predicted that bitcoin’s price will reach $500,000 by 2025, with gold soaring to $5,000, and silver reaching $500. However, he anticipates BTC reaching $1 million in the event of a global economic collapse. Robert Kiyosaki Recommends Buying Bitcoin Today The famous author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has urged all investors to buy gold, silver, and bitcoin today before the stock, bond, and real estate markets crash and people rush to buy those three assets. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries. Kiyosaki shared on social media platform X on Tuesday th...

Skybridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci has explained why he is still bullish on bitcoin. Emphasizing that every Wall Street firm is going to have a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in their arsenal that they will sell to their clients, he predicted: “The next 10 to 20 years are remarkably bullish.” He added: “If you got your bitcoin, I wouldn’t sell your bitcoin, you made it through winter.” Scaramucci Remains Bullish on Bitcoin Skybridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci explained why he remains optimistic about the future of bitcoin during a fireside chat, titled “Why I’m still bullish,” at the Messari Mainnet conference in New York on Thursday. Nothing that he believes the worst of the bitcoin bear market is over, he advised: If you got your bitcoin, I wouldn’t sell your bitcoin, you made it through winter … The next 10 to 20 years are remarkably bullish. He believes that young people “will be mainstreaming bitcoin” in the same way his generation “mainstreamed the i...

In the lawsuit pitched by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Tron’s brainchild, Justin Sun, and his enterprise Rainberry, a judicial nod has been granted for an extended timeline for the defense. Sun now has until December 8, 2023, giving his attorneys a broader window to “explore possible resolution of the SEC’s claims against defendants before motion practice.” Sun’s Legal Horizon Extended: Judge Gives Breathing Room in SEC’s Tron-Related Suit In March 2023, a legal storm brewed for Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, the Bittorrent Foundation, and the entity known as Rainberry. They found themselves on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the U.S. securities watchdog. The core allegation? The quartet of entities allegedly dangled TRX and BTT before investors as unregistered securities, crossing the line of U.S. securities regulations. Further, the SEC cast Sun in a shadowy light, accusing him of masterminding a vast plot to manipulate TRX ’s market value. As...

Hungarian authorities have seized cryptocurrency worth over $1 million from a criminal organization in a value-added tax (VAT) fraud case. The authorities raided 28 locations, arrested three suspects, and seized various assets tied to the group. The seized cryptocurrencies were transferred to the wallet controlled by the Hungarian tax authority. Crypto Seized in Tax Fraud Case The National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary (NAV) announced Wednesday that it has seized cryptocurrency from a criminal organization that evaded paying three billion Hungarian forints ($8.2 million) in value-added tax (VAT). NAV commandos, the Merkur Deployment Unit, and the investigators of the Western Transdanubian Criminal Directorate simultaneously raided 28 locations, arrested the suspects, and seized their illegally acquired assets and cryptocurrency worth nearly 420 million forints ($1.15 million). Without providing specific details, the NAV stated that the seized cryptocurrencies were trans...

Coinshares, a European digital asset manager, is moving into the U.S. with a new hedge fund division aimed at institutional investors. The firm, based in Saint Helier, Jersey, intends to offer comprehensive services for institutions exploring crypto assets. Coinshares Expands to U.S. With New Hedge Fund Division The company revealed its new branch, Coinshares Hedge Fund Solutions, signifying its foundational emphasis as a crypto-centric hedge fund manager. Lewis Fellas, an asset manager with more than two decades of experience, including seven years in the digital assets sector, will lead this division. The press release highlights the merger of Coinshares ‘ ten years in crypto with the expertise the team has developed from proprietary trading since 2016. The firm holds that this experience equips it to produce competitive products comparable to those of mainstream financial entities. “In a changing macro environment prominently marked by interest rates and inflation, the demand...

Venture capitalist Katie Haun is optimistic about the future of crypto. “It’s a really good time to be investing in this space during this down market,” she said. “I have actually never felt that in prior cycles, crypto was more inevitable than in this cycle, and this is the fourth cycle I’ve been in crypto,” she further shared. Katie Haun on Crypto’s Future and SEC Regulations Venture capitalist Katie Haun, founder and CEO of Haun Ventures, a $1.5 billion Web3-focused venture capital fund, shared her optimism about the future of crypto at Techcrunch Disrupt on Thursday. Haun was previously a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. She also served on the Coinbase board. Before becoming a venture capitalist, she spent a decade as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. Commenting on her venture capital funds’ crypto investment strategy, she described: “I think there’s a perception out there that crypto is crickets chir...

Crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against them by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “It is clear that the SEC’s lawsuit has no foundation in the currently enacted securities laws,” they argued, alleging: “In attempting to claim regulatory power over the crypto industry, the SEC distorts the text of the securities laws.” Binance and CZ Seek to Dismiss SEC Lawsuit Cryptocurrency exchange and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) filed a joint motion on Thursday to dismiss the lawsuit against them by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the court filing , the lawyers for Binance and Zhao wrote: “The SEC’s claims against BHL [Binance Holdings Ltd.] and Mr. Zhao should be dismissed with prejudice.” They added: It is clear that the SEC’s lawsuit has no foundation in the currently enacted securities laws. “In attempting to claim regulatory power over the crypto industry, the SEC distorts...

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, the first anti-central bank digital currency legislative effort introduced in the United States . Congressman Tom Emmer detailed that the bill halts the efforts of the Biden administration “from issuing a financial surveillance tool that will undermine the American way of life.” CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act Advances U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) announced Wednesday that the House Financial Services Committee has passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act , which he and 50 other lawmakers reintroduced in Congress last week. “It’s the first anti-central bank digital currency [CBDC] legislative effort introduced in the United States,” Emmer emphasized, noting that he has been working on the bill for over three years. “Today, this bill has the support of 60 members of Congress and groups ranging from the Independent Community Bankers Association and American Bankers Association to Cl...