🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (13/01/24)

1️⃣ SEC Statement on the Hack of Its X Account and the Resulting Fake Bitcoin ETF Approval Announcement ❓

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released a statement in response to the hack of its X account that led to a fake announcement being issued in the SEC's name saying the regulator had approved a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

A snippet of the statement reads as follows,

Based on information currently available, staff believe that the unauthorized access to the account was terminated between 4:40 pm ET and 5:30 pm ET. The SEC takes its cybersecurity obligations seriously. Commission staff are still assessing the impacts of this incident on the agency, investors, and the marketplace but recognize that those impacts include concerns about the security of the SEC’s social media accounts. The staff also will continue to assess whether additional remedial measures are warranted. Staff are coordinating with appropriate law enforcement and federal oversight entities, including the SEC’s Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, amongst others, in their investigations.

Source

2️⃣ Genesis Pays $8 Million and Forfeits BitLicense to Settle New York Charges 🤝

According to a Fortune report, Genesis Global Trading has reached a settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) that includes forfeiting its BitLicense, ceasing operations, and paying an $8 million fine.

Superintendent Adrienne Harris of the DFS highlighted the firm's failure to uphold a robust compliance framework stating,

Genesis Global Trading’s failure to maintain a functional compliance program demonstrated a disregard for the Department’s regulatory requirements and exposed the company and its customers to potential threats.

Source

3️⃣ Franklin Templeton's Bitcoin ETF Now the Cheapest After 10 Basis Point Reduction 💸

According to a recent SEC filing, asset manager Franklin Templeton has reduced the fee of its spot Bitcoin ETF (EZBC) from 0.29% to 0.19%. Franklin Templeton's 10 basis-point reduction makes its fund's fee the lowest, replacing that of Bitwise, which charges 0.2%. Additionally, the fund manager will waive off fees for its ETF till the fund reaches assets under management (AUM) of $10 billion or until Aug. 2, 2024,

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4️⃣ Taproot Wizards Launch Quantum Cats Collection As Bitcoin Inscriptions ⚡️

Ordinals developer Taproot Wizards is launching a new collection of NFTs called ‘Quantum Cats’ on the Bitcoin blockchain. Notably, the new project is a tribute to a code developed in the early days of the Bitcoin network by creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Taproots Wizards co-founder Udi Wertheimer explained that the OP_CAT Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) enables what’s called “covenants,” allowing smart contracts and bridges to be built on Bitcoin. The potential of making Bitcoin quantum-resistant, thanks to OP_CAT, led to the idea of naming the collection Quantum Cats.

Wertheimer stated,

‘OP_CAT’ is an ancient ‘op code’ in Bitcoin that was introduced by Satoshi in the first release but later disabled. OP_CAT is shorthand for ‘concatenate’ in nerd-speak; it’s just a way to put two strings of text together.

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5️⃣ Venezuela Kills Off Petro Cryptocurrency 🗑

According to local media reports, the Petro (the Venezuelan national cryptocurrency) will cease to operate on Jan. 15. Any remaining Petros are being converted to bolivars, the ailing local currency. Notably, the coin was created in 2018 to help the country evade United States sanctions but was never widely used. The state-run, oil-backed crypto was launched after the country’s fiat currency, the bolivar, declined sharply under pressure from United States sanctions and after Bitcoin had already gained a firm foothold in the country.

Source

🔥 Rally Report 🔥

CELESTIA

The price of TIA has rallied by 16% in the past 24 hours.

WHY?!

📈 The rally seems to come from the hype surrounding potential airdrops for TIA stakers.

📊 Notably, many analysts and CT influencers have been posting about the incoming airdrop season for TIA stakers this past week. This seems to have had an effect on the interest towards TIA.

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🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (14/01/24)

1️⃣ GameStop To Shut Down NFT Marketplace Due To Regulatory Limbo 🔽

In a statement posted to the GameStop website, the gaming retailer announced that it will be phasing out its NFT marketplace next month due to regulatory uncertainty. Specifically, it announced that users have just over two weeks remaining to access its NFT platform.

The announcement reads,

Effective as of February 2, 2024, customers will no longer be able to buy, sell or create NFTs. Your NFTs are on the blockchain and will remain accessible and saleable through other platforms. GameStop has decided to wind down our NFT marketplace due to the continuing regulatory uncertainty of the crypto space.

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2️⃣ Google Play Store In India Blocks Binance, OKX In Response To FIU Notice ❌

Google’s Play Store in India has reportedly delisted the apps of crypto exchanges Binance and OKX after the government issued a noncompliance notice against them. Notably, a similar decision was taken by Apple’s App Store in India just a few weeks ago.

The delistings follow a notice sent by the Indian Ministry of Finance’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to offshore crypto exchanges offering services to citizens of the country. The FIU notice stated that any exchange providing services to Indian users must register as a “reporting entity” and submit statements to the income tax department. The FIU has also proposed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology block the websites of the mentioned exchanges due to non-compliance.

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3️⃣ Google Will Allow More Real-Money Games On The Play Store ⭐️

Google’s Play Store will reportedly support more real-money games (RMG) this year on the platform. The program with extended support for real-money gaming will start in India, Brazil and Mexico in June, with a rollout in more countries planned in the future.

Karan Gambhir, Director of Global Trust & Safety Partnerships at Google stated,

With this policy update, we will also be evolving our service fee model for RMG to reflect the value Google Play provides and to help sustain the Android and Play ecosystems. We are working closely with developers to ensure our new approach reflects the unique economics and various developer earning models of this industry.

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4️⃣ SEC Unlikely to Approve Spot Ethereum ETFs 'Any Time Soon,' Says TD Cowen 💬

Investment bank TD Cowen reportedly expects the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to not approve spot Ethereum ETFs for the near future. Notably, the initial deadline for approving such funds is in May.

The TD Cowen Washington Research Group stated,

Our expectation is that the agency will not be approving ETPs for other crypto tokens any time soon as we believe the SEC will want to gain experience from Bitcoin ETPs before it approves an Ethereum or other crypto token ETP. The wait might not be as long as 26 months, but it likely would be after the election.

Source

🔥 Rally Report 🔥

TONCOIN

The price of TON has rallied by 12% in the past 24 hours.

WHY?!

❓ Ton recently announced a round of partnerships and listings, including a listing on the Indonesian crypto exchange Reku.

🕯 Analysts have noticed the formation of a bullish reversal pattern known as the inverted head and shoulders on the daily time frame chart for TON. This pattern indicates increased accumulation from market participants and potential for further growth.

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🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (15/01/24)

1️⃣ Reported ‘Transfer’ Of $15B XRP Was Part Of A Failed Exploit Attempt ⚡️

According to Bitfinex chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino, a recent transaction involving the transfer of $15B worth of XRP from an unknown wallet to Bitfinex on Jan. 14 never went through. It was reportedly part of a failed “partial payments exploit” attempt. Notably, the transaction was first flagged by the on-chain service WhaleAlerts.

The attacker reportedly sought to trick Bitfinex into taking the transfer as real, which could have possibly opened the door to a hack. However, Bitfinex’s systems flagged the transfers as a “partial payment,” an XRP Ledger feature that allows a payment to succeed by reducing the amount received. The actual transfer was just for a few cents worth of XRP.

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2️⃣ United Nations Identifies USDT As Prominent Choice For Fraud In SEA ❓

According to a Financial Times report, the United Nations has published a report warning crypto market participants that the USDT stablecoin has become one of the prominent payment methods for money laundering and scams in Southeast Asia.

The report states,

Online gambling platforms, especially those operating illegally, have emerged as among the most popular vehicles for cryptocurrency-based money launderers, particularly for those using Tether.

Source

3️⃣ Tether's Market Share Grew By 21 Points In 2023, Now Captures Two-Thirds Of Stablecoin Supply 📊

According to data from The Block, stablecoin issuer Tether’s market share grew from 50% to 71% over the course of 2023. Notably, the company recently surpassed 95 billion stablecoins in circulation while its biggest current rival Circle's USDC stablecoin has merely 27 billion tokens in circulation.

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4️⃣ Celsius Transfers $125M Of ETH To Exchanges As FTX And Alameda Dump ‼️

Crypto lender Celsius has reportedly transferred more than $125 million worth of ETH to crypto exchanges over the past week. Specifically, Celsius transferred $95.5 million worth of ETH to Coinbase, while $29.7 million was transferred to FalconX. The failed crypto lender still reportedly holds more than 550,000 ETH ($1.36 billion) on its books. The transfers come after Celsius announced that it would distribute Bitcoin and ETH to creditors in its recovery plan.

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5️⃣ Bitcoin Rent Agreement: Landlord And Tenant Sign BTC Contract 💸

According to local media reports, a landlord and a tenant In Rosario (the third most populated city in Argentina) have sealed a rental agreement where the latter will pay monthly rent in Bitcoin. The contract is reportedly the first of its kind in Argentina, made possible by recent law amendments by the new presidential administration.

Under the sealed contract, the tenant will transfer a monthly payment equal to $100 in Bitcoin through Fiwind, a local crypto platform. Both counterparties to the contract are reportedly experienced crypto users.

Source

🔥 Rally Report 🔥

KLAYTN

The price of KLAY has rallied by 22% in the past 24 hours.

WHY?!

🎙 The Klaytn Foundation and Finschia Foundation published a joint statement announcing their intention to form a new blockchain supporting both EVM and CosmWasm frameworks.

☄️ Specifically, this move will see Kakao-backed layer 1 blockchain network Klaytn and LINE-backed blockchain Finschia merging to potentially create Asia’s largest web3 ecosystem. The joint statement also proposed a new token to replace the existing KLAY and FNSA native coins. Holders of both coins will reportedly be able to swap for the new coin upon issuance.

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🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (16/01/24)

1️⃣ Crypto-Friendly U.S. Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Suspends Campaign 🔍

Pro-crypto Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has suspended his campaign for Republican leadership after a fourth-place finish in Iowa. In his concession speech, Ramaswamy thanked his supporters and endorsed former President Donald Trump.

He stated,

As of this moment, we are going to suspend this presidential campaign. There’s no path for me to be the next president absent things that we don’t want to see happen in this country […] There needs to be an America first candidate in this race. Going forward, [Trump] will have my full endorsement for the presidency. We did not achieve the surprise that we wanted to deliver tonight.

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2️⃣ Fantom Cuts Staking Requirement By 90% In A Bid to Increase Security 🔥

The Fantom Foundation has finally implemented a 90% cut of the validator self-staking requirement on its layer-1 blockchain Fantom, more than six months since passing a governance vote.

The changes will see the staking threshold cut from 500,000 FTM to 50,000 FTM, currently worth $19,500. These changes are expected to strengthen Fantom’s security while making it “more accessible than ever” to run a validator.

Source

3️⃣ TUSD Loses $1 Peg Amid Binance's FDUSD Focus: Analyst 🔽

According to reports, the Justin Sun-linked stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD) has fallen off its $1 peg after holders began cashing out hundreds of millions worth of TUSD in exchange for competitor stablecoin Tether.

Bradley Park, an analyst at CryptoQuant, has stated that this is likely due to its connection with Justin Sun whose crypto exchanges HTX and Poloniex were recently hacked. Park also noted that Binance’s move to remove fees on First Digital's FDUSD trading pairs with ETH, BNB, DOGE and SOL may have also led to TUSD’s decline. Park explained that the spike in FDUSD volume coincides with TUSD's de-pegging, suggesting a transfer to FDUSD for participating in the FDUSD launch pool and joining the Binance Manta launchpad.

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4️⃣ Hong Kong’s HashKey Secures $100 Million In Series A Round At $1.2 Billion Valuation 💰

HashKey Group, which operates the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange, has reportedly raised nearly $100 million in its Series A financing round at a pre-money valuation above $1.2 billion. While HashKey did not disclose the investors participating in the latest round, its new valuation has given it a “unicorn” status.

The firm reportedly plans to use the newly raised capital to develop its Web3 ecosystem, enhance compliance and expand its product offerings for its licensed business in Hong Kong. This includes the launch of services such as asset management, blockchain node validation, tokenization, and a Web3 incubation arm.

Source

5️⃣ Dubai Regulator Grants Conditional Crypto License To OKX ✔️

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has reportedly granted crypto exchange OKX’s Dubai subsidiary a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license for exchange services. However, OKX has declared that it would remain “non-operational” until it could fulfil the regulator’s requirements. This is expected to be achieved within the next few months.

Rifad Mahasneh, OKX’s general manager for the Middle East and North Africa region, stated

This allows us to offer services to UAE residents, which we’re going after, including spot trading and fiat-related services, which means deposits and withdrawals of local currency, United Arab Emirates dirham (AED). In addition to that, we’ll be offering local currency trading pairs, so AED/BTC, AED/ETH, and the others, which is something new that we’re doing.

Source

6️⃣ Binance's Joint Venture with Gulf Energy Begins Exchange Operations in Thailand ☄️

🔥 Rally Report 🔥

CHILIZ

The price of CHZ has rallied by 5% in the past 24 hours.

WHY?!

❓ CHZ’s rally seems to follow the Klaytn Foundation’s recent announcement regarding their merger with the Finschia Foundation.

☄️ Specifically, Chiliz’s CEO, Alexandre Dreyfus posted a tweet stating that he had approached Klaytn with a similar merger proposition last year. He also reaffirmed that Chiliz will pursue an aggressive merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy this year to create enormous ecosystems combining existing tokens and networks.

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🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (17/01/24)

1️⃣ Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade Goes Live But Fails to Finalise on Testnet ⚠️

Earlier today, Ethereum’s much-awaited Dencun upgrade reportedly went live, incorporating proto-danksharding (EIP-4844) on the Goerli test network. However, the upgrade did not reach consensus and was not finalised on the testnet. This is due to various roadblocks, including a potential “chain split” due to issues in clients’ ability to sync with each other. Client teams are expected to investigate the matter and issue a fix. Once this is fixed, the next phase is expected to happen sometime in the next few weeks, with an upgrade to the Sepolia testnet, followed by the Holesky testnet.

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2️⃣ Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Says Tether Has The Billions Of Dollars In Reserves It Claims ➕

Howard Lutnick, the chairman and CEO of financial services giant Cantor Fitzgerald, vouched for stablecoin issuer Tether's legitimacy on Tuesday. He stated that Tether has the funds it claims to have, after examining portions of the stablecoin issuer's balance sheet as a custodian.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lutnick stated,

I manage many, many of their assets. From what we've seen, and we did a lot of work, they have the money. I've seen a whole lot, and the firm has seen whole a lot, and they have the money. And so there has always been a lot of talk, 'Do they have it or not?' So I'm here with you guys saying we've seen it, and they have it.

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3️⃣ Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific to Exit Bankruptcy, Relist Shares In ‘Coming Days’ 📈

Crypto mining firm Core Scientific has reportedly received approval from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas to emerge from bankruptcy and relist its “CORZ” shares on the Nasdaq. Notably, this brings the firm’s 13-month restructuring process to an end. The firm is targeting an emergence date of Jan. 23 and anticipates being relisted on the Nasdaq the following day. Moreover, the approved reorganization plan will also see the company pay its existing debt in full with existing shareholders receiving about 60% of the new company's equity.

Source

4️⃣ Socket, Bungee Restart Operations After Apparent $3.3M Exploit ▶️

Interoperability service Socket and bridging platform Bungee have reportedly restarted operations after an apparent $3.3 million exploit led to a temporary pause in trading activity. Notably, the exploit had drained funds from wallets with infinite approvals to Socket contracts.

Addressing the exploit, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov stated,

Cross-chain security has multiple levels, which consumers should be aware of when choosing a bridge. Like data oracles, there are many bridge variants that don’t provide real security and don’t describe how they work beyond saying the words ‘decentralized’ and ‘secure’. It would be wise for bridge users to ask themselves what they really know about the security of their chosen bridge and where it ranks on the 5 levels of the cross-chain security spectrum.

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5️⃣ IRS Says It Won't Enforce $10K Crypto Tax Rule—For Now 💵

According to a Jan. 16 announcement from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), United States businesses do not need to report crypto transactions above $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) until the tax agency releases a regulatory framework. Notably, the clarification comes after the community was angered over a revision of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJ Act) which empowered authorities to jail Americans for failing to immediately report crypto transactions over $10,000.

The clarification stated,

Businesses… do not have to report the receipt of digital assets the same way as they must report the receipt of cash until Treasury and IRS issue regulations. This particular provision requires Treasury and the IRS to issue regulations before it goes into effect.

Source

6️⃣ Sam Bankman-Fried's Parents Seek To Dismiss FTX Lawsuit Against Them ‼️

🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (18/01/24)

1️⃣ Donald Trump Promises to "Never Allow" Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) If Elected 💥

During a Wednesday campaign speech in New Hampshire, Former President and front-runner in the Republican leadership race Donald Trump promised to ban the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if elected.

Trump stated,

Tonight, I am also making another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny. As your president, I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency. Such a currency would give the federal government, our federal government, absolute control over your money… They could take your money and you wouldn’t even know it was gone.

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2️⃣ Coinbase Takes Its Turn In Court, Arguing The Tokens It Listed Are Not Securities 💬

In a five-hour long hearing yesterday, United States District Judge Katherine Polk Failla heard arguments from both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Coinbase on the crypto exchange’s motion for dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the regulator in June 2022. Key points discussed during the hearing include definitions of staking and secondary market transactions, as well as recent court rulings involving crypto firms, such as the Ripple and Terraform Labs case. Notably, while Judge Failla decided against making an immediate decision from the bench, she commended an amicus brief in the case filed by the DeFi Education Fund and also warned an SEC attorney that the regulator’s argument might be “sweeping too broadly.”

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3️⃣ Gemini Approved To Operate In France, Will Debut Within Weeks 🔜

Crypto exchange Gemini has reportedly obtained approval to operate in France as a digital asset services provider (DASP) from the French markets regulator Autorite des Marches Financiers.

Notably, Gemini stated that the new registration brings the total number of European jurisdictions where the company operates to “over a dozen.” Gemini also stated that it expects to launch services for retail and institutional customers in France in the coming weeks. This will give users access to 70 cryptocurrencies and Gemini's website, mobile app, Gemini eOTC and the ActiveTrader platform.

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4️⃣ Bitcoin Hash Rate Drops By 34% Amid Freezing Temperatures in Texas 🥶

Bitcoin's network hashrate declined by approximately 34% over the past few days after the Texas grid regulator forced miners to curtail operations following a recent cold snap. Specifically, data from YCharts reveals that the total Bitcoin network hash rate fell from more than 629 exahashes per second (EH/s) on Jan. 11 to roughly 415 EH/s on Jan. 15. While the hash rate reportedly increased to more than 454 EH/s on Jan. 16 due to a rise in temperatures in Austin, the temperature in many parts of Texas dropped below freezing for one of the first times since a massive ice storm in February 2023.

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5️⃣ TrueUSD Wobbles Towards $1 Peg Amid Reported Redemption Issues 📉

According to a CoinDesk report, the redemption requests submitted by some firms to the issuer of stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD) were denied. The price peg of TUSD traded as low as 96 cents on early Thursday, before recovering to 99 cents. Notably, TUSD has been closely linked to Tron founder Justin Sun. Coincidentally, data from the on-chain analysis tool Arkham Intelligence showed that one wallet address related to Sun transferred over $60 million in the past five hours to crypto exchange Binance.

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📣📣 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (19/01/24)

1️⃣ TrueUSD Deploys New Reserve Audit System In Attempt To Recover Dollar Peg 🕯

Justin Sun-associated stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD) has reportedly deployed daily attestation services from an accounting firm as it struggles to recover its dollar peg. Notably, the attestation service comes after CoinDesk reported that some users were facing problems with their redemption requests. TrueUSD blamed the de-pegging event on "community mining activities associated with Binance Launchpool," which it said led to short-term arbitrage opportunities for traders.

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2️⃣ Manta Network Hit by DDoS Attack Amid Token Issuance 🔴

Manta Network, a zk-proof powered layer-2 blockchain, reportedly experienced a widespread distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack yesterday. Notably, the attack occurred close to Manta’s initial token issuance event. While the incident has since been resolved, the attack led to longer-than-expected withdrawal times and a slow network.

Source

3️⃣ Tether Buys More Bitcoin, Brings Holdings to $2.8 Billion 💸

Stablecoin issuer Tether reportedly purchased another 8888 BTC (worth $380 million) at the end of last quarter, bringing its total holdings to 66,465 BTC (worth $2.8 billion). Notably, the most recent purchase stands as Tether's third largest to date. Tether is also currently the 11th-largest holder of Bitcoin.

Source

4️⃣ Former OpenSea Exec Argues NFT Insider Trading Conviction Violated Law 🔍

Nathaniel Chastain, the ex-OpenSea executive who was convicted on fraud and money laundering charges last May, has reportedly asked a federal appeals court to overturn his conviction on the grounds that it improperly designated information about NFTs as “property.” Notably, the argument relies on a 2023 Supreme Court decision which clarified that federal wire fraud laws only prohibit schemes designed to obtain things “long… recognized as property.”

Chastain’s attorneys argued in the brief stating,

The sole prosecution theory was that Chastain defrauded OpenSea by using its information for personal benefit. Thus, to sustain a wire fraud conviction, the government had to prove that the purported ‘object’ of his scheme—the information at issue—was OpenSea's ‘property.’

Source

5️⃣ China's Illegal Crypto Activities Are Taking Place in Laundromats and Cafes ❗️

According to a Wall Street Journal report, crypto investors in China are conducting trades using an underground network of brokers and go-betweens to get around the country's cryptocurrency ban. Specifically, Chinese crypto traders meet in public places such as cafes, snack kiosks, and even laundromats to swap wallet addresses, arrange bank transfers, or pay for crypto using cash. They also reportedly use social media apps like WeChat and Telegram to conduct trades with counterparties referred by their friends.

Ben Charoenwong, an assistant professor in finance at the National University of Singapore stated,

It used to be that you meet someone in the back alley and hand the dealer bags of cash in exchange for what you want. Now, with crypto, you can just go to a cafe and hand them a thumb drive or exchange wallet details. It’s a lot less friction than trying to hand bags of cash.

Source