The New Jersey Bureau of Securities has ordered three website operators to stop luring romance-seeking victims into their fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. The three firms hit with the cease and desist orders were Meta Capitals Limited, Cresttrademining Limited and Forex Market Trade, according to a Feb. 3 press release from New Jersey’s Attorney General Matthew Platkin.
Billionaire Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, says it’s “amazing” what bitcoin has accomplished but believes the cryptocurrency is not going to be an effective money, a store of value, or a medium of exchange. Nonetheless, he stressed that “we are in a world in which money as we
The total capacity of crypto mining facilities in Russia has been increasing in the past year, despite the market downturn and sanctions, according to a survey of leading operators. Depressed prices of mining equipment and stronger interest from domestic customers have been identified as major factors for the trend. Miners Prepare for Growth as Total
Top Stories This Week SBF’s $250M bail guarantors should be made public, rules judge The identities of two individuals who helped former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with his $250 million bail bond could be revealed next month following a recent ruling by United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan. Bankman-Fried’s legal counsel has until Feb. 7
The Bank of England (BoE) and Treasury believes the United Kingdom is likely to need to create a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by 2030, according to a Telegraph report on Feb. 4. The “digital pound” roadmap is set to be introduced next week, a government source told the newspaper. Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe is
The last two mining difficulty changes on the Bitcoin network have driven difficulty to an all-time high, causing a decrease in hashrate and block interval speed. Before the latest difficulty retarget increase of 4.68%, block intervals were faster than the 10-minute average, at approximately 8 minutes 54 seconds to 9 minutes 31 seconds. However, since
During the past two weeks, members of the cryptocurrency community have discussed the non-fungible token (NFT) concept known as Ordinals. Since the 3.96 MB block (#774,628) was mined, there has been a significant increase in Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain. Ordinal Inscriptions on Bitcoin Blockchain Spark Debate Among Crypto Community The controversial NFT concept
As the artificial intelligence (AI) wars intensify, the AI firm Anthropic has raised $300 million from Google and sources say that the tech giant will get roughly a 10% stake in the AI company. Interestingly, in April 2022, Anthropic raised approximately $500 million from sources including Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), co-founder of FTX; Caroline Ellison, former
Shiba inu extended recent gains into the weekend, as the meme coin rose to its highest point in four months. Today’s surge saw prices climb by as much as 13%, and comes despite cryptocurrency markets mostly consolidating. Dogecoin also moved higher, breaking out of a recent ceiling in the process. Shiba inu (SHIB) Shiba inu
2022 was tough for the crypto market. A recent report published by security services platform Immunefi found that the crypto industry lost a total of $3.9 billion in 2022. Detrimental losses such as these are often concerning for crypto investors, yet there may be a silver lining behind decreasing assets for investors reporting crypto on
Bitcoin (BTC) circled $23,500 on Feb. 4 as bulls refused to give up support in out-of-hours trading. Bitcoin price conjures 2020 memories Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD holding a narrow range in place since the Feb. 3 Wall Street open. Macroeconomic data releases from the United States provided modest volatility but
Ethereum continued to trade close to a key resistance level of $1,700 on Saturday, following Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls (NFP) report. Yesterday’s report showed that 517,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in January, better than the 185,000 many were expecting. Bitcoin mostly consolidated however, as traders moved to take recent profits. Bitcoin Bitcoin
Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan announced on Feb. 1 that it had raised over $340 million via debt and equity and it expects to raise an additional $60 million from leading international investors. The latest funding round sees MNT-Halan’s valuation rise to over $1 billion which reportedly makes it the country’s “only private billion-dollar company.” ‘Egypt’s Greatest
On a recent visit to Sri Lanka, American billionaire Tim Draper pitched the idea of adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender to fight against the corruption that contributed to hyperinflation in the island country. However, a key Sri Lankan authority — central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe — believed doing so would worsen the country’s
Financial authorities in Kazakhstan are starting a public consultation on draft changes to the country’s framework for digital-asset trading. The proposals include measures to reduce risks in the crypto market and improvements to the structure of exchange platforms. Kazakhstan’s Financial Hub Seeks to Amend Its Concept for Trading Digital Assets The Astana Financial Services Authority,
Samsung, the Korean electronics company, has revealed it is working to build its own metaverse and extended reality devices, hinting at the possibility of the launch of a VR headset in the near future. TM Roh, head of Samsung mobile experiences business, stated that the device will be built in partnership with Google and Qualcomm.
India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, suggested that regulation “cannot be done” by a single country, it requires an international effort, in a recent television interview. Speaking to Rahul Joshi on CNBC-TV18 in India on Feb. 3, Sitharaman noted that while the central bank is the “authority for issuing cryptocurrency,” the rest of the digital assets
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, has shared its fourth quarter results, reporting better numbers than expected. While the company beat revenue estimates, CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared 2023 a “Year of Efficiency,” hinting at a further restructuration of the company to focus on its AI (artificial intelligence) and metaverse projects in the
Binance has announced that Indian crypto exchange Wazirx can no longer use Binance wallet services. Zanmai, the operator of Wazirx, has until Feb. 3 “to remove the funds from the accounts that they used for Wazirx’s operations.” The move followed a public dispute regarding the relationship between Binance and Wazirx. Binance Ends Wallet Services to
Several crypto firms have made job cuts this week amid the ongoing crypto winter, retaining “impactful” employees as they prepare for a “longer downturn.” At least 216 jobs were slashed between three crypto firms – open-source software laboratory Protocol Labs, blockchain data firm Chainalysis and U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, with reductions of 89, 83 and