- Bitcoin Mining Host Compute North Paid Executives $3M on the Day It Declared Bankruptcy
Executives at Compute North, an owner data centers where bitcoin (BTC) miners host their machines, received about $3 million in payroll and bonuses on the same day that the company filed for bankruptcy, a court filing shows.
Compute North filed for Chapter 11 on Sept. 22, succumbing to the rout in cryptocurrency prices and rising electricity costs. But even as that bankruptcy filing put a freeze on payments to creditors, executives received large payouts.
The company paid co-founder and former CEO Dave Perrill $613,000 for payroll and benefits, according to the filing. Former CFO Tad Piper got $541,000 three months after he left the company, President Edward Drake Harvey III and Chief Commercial Officer Kyle Wenzel got about $500,000 each, former Chief Technology Officer Nelu Mihai received $340,000, Chief Legal Officer Jason Stokes was paid $325,000 and newly appointed Chief Financial Officer Harold Coulby received about $250,000, the filing shows.
- Moneygram Enables Customers to Buy and Sell Cryptocurrency via Its Money Transfer App
Moneygram International Inc. (Nasdaq: MGI) announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency service Tuesday. The official Twitter account for Moneygram tweeted:
Moneygram announces the launch of a new service enabling consumers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency via the Moneygram app. This feature gives customers in nearly all U.S. states the ability to trade and store BTC, ETH and LTC.
The company is expected to expand its selection of supported cryptocurrencies in 2023, the announcement adds. According to the Moneygram website, the new service is available in all U.S. states (except Hawaii, Idaho, and New York) and the District of Columbia.
- Australian Asset Manager Delists Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs After Just 6 Months
The asset manager behind two of Australia’s first crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has applied to delist the much-hyped investment vehicles just a few months after launch.
The fund responsible for Cosmos Asset Management’s ETFs said in a letter to local securities and derivatives exchange Cboe that it would be applying to revoke its Bitcoin and Ethereum funds from the market.
The Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF (CBTC) and the Cosmos Purpose Ethereum Access ETF (CPET) were both launched in May of this year, alongside two rival funds which listed the same day, marking the first funds to be listed on the Australian stock market.
https://decrypt.co/113454/australian-asset-manager-delists-bitcoin-ethereum-etfs-after-6-months
- Switzerland’s Financial Regulator Extends Reporting Requirements for Crypto Transactions
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, has announced it will be extending an anti-money laundering ordinance which requires identity checks for reporting certain crypto transactions.
In a Nov. 2 notice, the Switzerland financial regulator said it would enforce a threshold of 1,000 Swiss francs — roughly $997 at the time of publication — for transactions of virtual currencies to cash or “other anonymous means of payment.” According to FINMA, the regulator made the adjustment in accordance with the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Act and its government’s Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance.
“FINMA received numerous responses concerning the specification of the threshold for transactions with virtual currencies,” said the regulator.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7260084
- Robinhood not giving up on crypto despite Q3 crypto revenue slashing 12%
Crypto and stock trading platform Robinhood highlighted lagging cryptocurrency revenue in the third quarter of 2022, though the results will do little to dampen its ambition to serve the market, its CEO says.
The trading platform announced its third-quarter results on Nov. 2, with the Robinhood executives pointing to a 12% quarter-on-quarter decrease in monthly active users (MAU) and a 24% quarter-on-quarter drop in notional volume as two of the main drivers behind a 12% fall in crypto revenue, reaching $51 million.
In a results filing, the company attributed the fall in active users and trading volume as “customers continued to navigate the volatile market environment.”
- India’s Crypto, Web3 Industry Said to Form New Advocacy Body
India’s crypto industry has formed a new advocacy body almost four months after the previous one was disbanded under cloudy circumstances, according to three people familiar with the matter who didn’t want to be named since the decision has not been made public.
The body will be called Bharat Web 3 Association (BWA), a shift in branding toward Web3 from the earlier Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC). The word Bharat represents the nation of India.
The BACC was disbanded in July by its parent organization, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). That dampened the mood of the crypto ecosystem during a crypto market downturn, stiff new taxes and macroeconomic factors had severely hurt the industry and its consumers.
- South Africa Retailer Pick n Pay Now Accepts Payment in Bitcoin at 39 Outlets
The South African grocery retail giant, Pick n Pay, announced on Nov.1, 2022, that some of its stores — about 39 — are now accepting bitcoin (BTC) payments. The retailer also said it plans to enable crypto payments in all its stores “in the coming months.”
According to a Business Insider report, Pick n Pay’s decision to expand bitcoin payments to 39 outlets followed the success of a pilot phase that commenced more than four months earlier. Before that, Pick n Pay tested bitcoin payments at a staff canteen and even though the technology seemed expensive at the time (2017), it nonetheless served as a proof of concept, the report added.
- Instagram Influencer Pleads Guilty for Stealing $2.5M in Bitcoin
New York-based Instagram influencer Jebara Igbara—who went by the online pseudonym Jay Mazini—has pled guilty to an assortment of crimes including stealing $2.5 million worth of Bitcoin from his followers.
Igbara reportedly posted on his Instagram and other social media accounts that he was willing to pay above-market prices for various cryptocurrencies, usually around 3.5% to 5% over their market value.
The influencer reportedly justified the premium by claiming that traditional crypto exchanges were limiting how much Bitcoin he could purchase.
https://decrypt.co/113451/instagram-influencer-pleads-guilty-stealing-2-5m-bitcoin
- Three Australian Crypto ETFs Intend To Delist Their Offerings
According to Bloomberg, the move to revoke the quotations reflects the impact of the crypto winter on demand for crypto assets rather than the management teams’ conviction in the space’s future. The net asset worth of each of the three funds is less than $1 million.
According to a November 2 letter sent to the securities and derivatives market Cboe Australia, Cosmos Asset Management intends to delist the Cosmos Purpose Bitcoin Access ETF (CBTC) and Cosmos Purpose Ethereum Access ETF (CPET) funds.
One Managed Investment Funds Limited also told the Cboe in a separate letter that it will seek that the quote for the Cosmos Global Digital Miners Access ETF is revoked.
The net asset values of the three Cosmos funds that will be delisted are all less than A$1 million.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7260613
- Programmer spends 69 nights in Bitcoin Cash City using only BCH: Here’s how it went
When programmer Jonathan Silverblood flew to Townsville, Australia from his Finland home for a two-and-a-half-month holiday in August, he had one main task — pay for everything he could using Bitcoin Cash BCH tickers down $115.
The coastal city of Townsville is known as the Bitcoin Cash City, a name derived from a conference of the same name that first launched in 2019. It is understood to have a strong number of merchants that accept the Bitcoin-forked token.
Silverblood said while attending the conference in 2019, he was intrigued by the number of merchants and vendors offering BCH as a payment option in Townsville and had planned a return to the city once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
