Australian residents have been identified as one the primary targets of a sophisticated network of cryptocurrency call-center scammers — which are suspected to be run by Israel-based crime bosses. Evidence uncovered after a full-scale raid of four Serbian call centers and 11 residences by Serbian, German, Bulgarian and Cypriot authorities found that Australians were among the
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The Ethereum community appears to have taken a bullish view of Coinbase’s newly announced layer-2 network, Base, which has been described as a “massive confidence vote” and a “watershed moment” for the blockchain network. Secured on Ethereum and powered by layer-2 network Optimism, Base aims to eventually become a network for building decentralized applications (DApps)
An anonymous Ethereum investor has lost more than $2 million trading Ether (ETH) since Sept. 9, 2022, on-chain data shows. Buying Ether high, selling low Spotted by on-chain monitoring resource Lookonchain, the “stupid money” trader spent $12.5 million in stablecoins to buy 7,135 ETH after it rallied 10% to $1,790 in September 2022. But a
U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer has introduced the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Anti-Surveillance State Act “to halt efforts of unelected bureaucrats” from “stripping Americans of their right to financial privacy.” The bill also prohibits the Federal Reserve “from issuing a CBDC directly to anyone.” CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act Introduced U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) announced
Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Hong Kong moves bullish On Feb. 20, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong launched a consultation on its proposed regulatory requirements for digital asset trading platforms. The SFC requires the licensing by June of all cryptocurrency exchanges operating
Bitcoin’s (BTC) 16% price gain between Feb. 13 and Feb. 16 practically extinguished the bears’ expectation for a monthly options expiry below $21,500. As a result of the abrupt rally, these bearish bets are unlikely to pay off, especially since the expiry occurs on Feb. 24. However, bulls were not counting on the strong price
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has assessed a paper on crypto asset policy published by the fund and expressed its agreement with its proposed policy framework. The paper, titled “Elements of Effective Policies for Crypto Assets,” developed a framework of nine policy principles that addressed macrofinancial, legal and regulatory, and international coordination
The price action of Optimism (OP) and Fantom (FTM) tokens have been quite identical since the last quarter of 2022. The difference is, volatility is slightly higher for OP, which surged 240% year-to-date, compared to the 180% gains seen in FTM. The Fantom Foundation has made several improvements since Q4 2022, which have catalyzed an
The original manuscript of Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash, the book that coined the term “metaverse,” will be auctioned by Sotheby’s, according to a page on its official website. The auction is part of a Feb. 23 series called “Infocalypse” that includes six physical and six digital items related to the famous book. The original manuscript is
According to statistics recorded this week on Tuesday and Wednesday, the layer two scaling project Arbitrum’s transaction count has surpassed Ethereum’s. On Wednesday, Arbitrum processed 1,090,510 transactions, compared to Ethereum’s 1,080,839 transfer count. L2 Scaling Solution Arbitrum’s Daily Transfers Skyrocket Layer two (L2) scaling networks have become popular over the last two years as secondary
Yesterday’s ruling by a U.S. District Judge on Dapper Labs’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that NBA Top Shot NFTs are an unregistered security may have a “net positive” impact on Ripple’s case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At least that’s what James “MetaLawMan” Murphy, an attorney and strategic advisor, claims. District
Bitcoin (BTC) can hit $10 million per coin or more as it eats 25% of the global wealth, new analysis has concluded. In a blog post released on Feb. 16, fund manager and Bitcoin expert advisor Jesse Myers revealed his own “outrageous” BTC price target. Myers: “Bitcoin could 500x over the coming decades” Bitcoin may
Cointelegraph Markets Pro is an all-in-one institutional-grade crypto market intelligence platform offering traders of all backgrounds real-time alerts for potential price movements before they occur. The Cointelegraph Markets Pro platform was created with the aim to narrow the divide between institutional and retail investors. Its proprietary tools, like the Newsquakes™ indicator, the VORTECS™ Score and
USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle plans to increase its workforce by 15–25% in 2023 amid a sea of layoffs across the industry, reported The Wall Street Journal. When a significant chunk of industry-wide firms is laying off staff to mitigate their financial woes, Circle has gone against the tide to hire more people. 41% of all layoffs
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) belonging to the bankrupt hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) will be sold by its liquidators Teneo, according to a recent announcement. In a notice dated Feb. 22, joint liquidator Christopher Farmer announced that the liquidators intend to begin the sales of NFTs that belong to 3AC. The announcement highlighted that the
In this episode of Hashing It Out, Pacman, the founder and core contributor of the nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Blur, joins Elisha Owusu Akyaw to discuss how Blur has captured the attention of the NFT market. The tides in the NFT ecosystem changed in December 2022 when the newly launched NFT marketplace overtook OpenSea as
A British national wanted with a red notice from Interpol for consulting North Korea on cryptocurrencies has been detained in Moscow. U.S. authorities allege that the man helped the regime in Pyongyang to bypass sanctions using digital assets. U.K. Citizen Sought by U.S. for Violating North Korea Sanctions Apprehended in a Moscow Hostel The Russian
Blockchain Association’s chief legal officer says “it would be absurd” for a United States court to rule that digital assets on private blockchains are securities, following a federal judge’s decision to allow a lawsuit against Dapper Labs’s NBA Top Shots NFTs to play out. U.S. attorney Jake Chervinsky made the comment after federal judge Victor
In technical analysis, a flag pattern indicates short-term price movements inside a parallelogram coounter to the previous long-term trend. Traditional analysts view flags as potential trend continuation indicators. There are two types of flag patterns: bull flag and bear flag. While their outcomes are different, each flag exhibits five key characteristics, as listed below: The
The founders behind the alleged $340 million “global Ponzi” scheme Forsage have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Oregon. The four Russian founders — Vladimir Okhotnikov, Olena Oblamska, Mikhail Sergeev and Sergey Maslakov — have been formally accused of having key roles in the scheme that raised approximately $340 million from