Cryptocurrency fund Ikigai Strategic Partners has agreed to pay a $150,000 fine to the National Futures Association (NFA) following allegations of an illicit bitcoin loan, according to an Aug. 20 decision by an NFA hearing panel. The fine addresses the fallout from the industry-wide liquidity crisis triggered by the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in…
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The Supreme People’s Court of China, the highest court of law in the country, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate have issued a joint document that interprets the current money laundering law and defines several issues related to its application. In this interpretation, the two organizations list virtual asset transactions as one of the tools available…
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On Wednesday, Bitfarms Ltd. announced plans to acquire Stronghold Digital Mining Inc. in a stock-for-stock merger valued at approximately $125 million, along with the assumption of $50 million in debt. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, aims to expand Bitfarms’ energy portfolio in the U.S. and integrate power generation capabilities…
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Five days ago, Arkham Intelligence revealed that Blackrock, the world’s largest fund manager, was on the brink of overtaking Grayscale in onchain asset value. As of Aug. 21, Blackrock has officially surpassed Grayscale, securing its position as the top digital asset manager in terms of onchain reserves. World’s Largest Fund Manager Just Surpassed Grayscale in…
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A Utah woman, Krista Renae Stone, 23, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for attempting to orchestrate a murder-for-hire using the dark web, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday. Stone targeted her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend, arranging to pay $5,000 in bitcoin to a website offering hitman services between March and…
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Seven individuals were arrested in Malaysia during a special operation targeting illegal bitcoin mining in Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi and Taman Putra Perdana. The operation, which involved coordinated efforts by law enforcement, focused on detecting and stopping bitcoin mining activities linked to electricity theft. The suspects, aged between 30 and 74, included three local men…
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The former CEO of failed Heartland Tri-State Bank was sentenced to over 24 years in prison for embezzling more than $47 million in a fraudulent crypto scheme that caused the bank’s collapse. He funneled the stolen funds into cryptocurrency wallets linked to a “pig butchering” scam, leading to a $9 million loss for investors and…
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Anton Siluanov, the Russian Finance Minister, pointed out that a majority of the bilateral trade with China is being conducted outside the U.S. dollar system. He stressed that over 90% of these transactions have been completed using national currencies (rubles and yuan) due to the risks associated with executing these using “unfriendly” currencies. Russian Finance…
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Tether, the issuer of USDT, the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin in the crypto market, has announced the launch of its star product on Aptos, a scalable and rapid blockchain. Tether seeks to offer rails with “extremely low gas fees” for USDT users, opening opportunities for the development of new use cases such as microtransactions and large-scale…
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Grass, a depin AI web crawling project, has announced the end of its closed beta phase and outlined the requirements that users must fulfill to be eligible for an upcoming airdrop. The project announced that it will provide more details about the distribution of its token rewards, but that weighted epoch network participation would be…
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