- UK Crypto Fraud Climbs by a Third to Over $270M: Report
Cryptocurrency fraud in the U.K. rose by 32% to 226 million pound ($273 million) in one year, according to data from the U.K. police unit Action Fraud, reported by the Financial Times on Monday.
The U.K. is currently in a recession and the cost of living has increased, making some people vulnerable to fraudsters.
“Whenever times are tough, fraudsters always seek to prey on less experienced investors by promising huge returns,” Hinesh Shah, a forensic accountant at Pinsent Masons, told the FT.
Crypto crime has been rife in the U.K. already, and police officers in the country have seized hundreds of millions pounds worth of cryptocurrency and there are crypto experts in the police stationed nationwide.
CoinDesk reached out to Action Fraud for comment on the report.
- Billionaire Bill Ackman Discusses Crypto Regulation — Says Industry Must Self-Police or Risks Being Shut Down
Billionaire Bill Ackman shared his thoughts on a variety of crypto-related topics, including crypto regulation, in a series of tweets Saturday.
Ackman is the CEO and portfolio manager of Pershing Square Capital Management, a registered investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). His current net worth is about $3.5 billion.
Regarding cryptocurrency regulation, he said: “I am not sure we need new rules. Much of the fraud that is taking place is old-fashioned pump and dump schemes, and failures of custodians to protect customer assets.”
- ‘Shrimp’ and ‘Crab’ Bitcoin Balances Hit Record Highs Amid FTX Collapse
So-called Bitcoin (BTC) shrimps, a category of addresses holding less than 1 BTC, have added 96,200 BTC to their collective stashes since FTX exchange’s collapse earlier this month.
According to the analysts at Glassnode, this cohort now holds over 1.21 million BTC, which is equivalent to 6.3% of the world’s flagship cryptocurrency’s circulating supply.
Another category of smaller Bitcoin holders that took an opportunity to buy this month’s dip is “crabs,” a demographic holding between 1 BTC and 10 BTC.
This category of investor added a total of 191,600 BTC over the past 30 days, per the on-chain data provider.
- Solana Labs Uses Only A Part Of A $250 Million Gaming And Social Media Fund
According to The Block, Anatoly Yakovenko, CEO of Solana Labs, said in an interview at this year’s Breakpoint in Lisbon that Solana Labs’ $250 million crypto game and social fund over the past year has only been partially used with focus are small seed round investments.
Solana’s flagship gaming and social media funds have been only partially deployedhttps://t.co/XgUblYApt6
— The Block (@TheBlock__) November 26, 2022
The focus is on small seed rounds, where social media funds have deployed “under half” to date. Current social media services include Dispatch, Squad, Dialect, and Wordcell, and 37 games that are live or ready to go.
Anatoly Yakovenko shared that the platform was able to save its investments due to the interest of well-capitalized venture funds..
- Dogecoin jumps after Elon Musk shares glimpse into Twitter 2.0 plans
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has confirmed that he intends to integrate payments into what he describes as Twitter 2.0 — “The Everything App” — fuelling a short-lived 19.4% price surge for meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE).
The new Twitter CEO revealed his plans in a Nov. 27 tweet to his 119.2 million followers, in which he shared several slides from a recent “Twitter company talk.”
While Musk made no mention of DOGE in the tweet or in the attached slides, this didn’t appear to stop some investors from being hopeful that Dogecoin would be involved in some way.
- Major Canadian Crypto Exchange Coinsquare Says Client Data Breached
Coinsquare, one of Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, may have been breached, but the company claims customer assets are “secure in cold storage and are not at risk.”
The exchange, which touts itself as “Canada’s trusted platform to securely buy, sell and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more,” emailed customers yesterday to report a “data incident” in which an unauthorized third party accessed a customer database containing personal information.
According to the email, the breach exposed “customer names, email addresses, residential addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, device IDs, public wallet addresses, transaction history, and account balances.” Although the email was sent yesterday, Coinsquare discovered the breach last week and notified customers via Twitter.
- Attorney General of The Bahamas Defends Its Crypto Savvy in Wake of FTX Crash
Ryan Pinder, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs for The Bahamas, held a late Sunday press conference to defend the “integrity of our jurisdiction,” asserting that—despite his country’s reputation as a “crypto paradise” and haven for cryptocurrency schemes—”The Bahamas is a place of laws.”
The 20 minute address, broadcast live online, mentioned the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX more than 40 times, but named its disgraced founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, only once.
- This Bitcoin Investors’ Cohort Makes Aggressive BTC Purchases
The world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has come under massive selling pressure ever since the FTX collapse triggered. As of now, Bitcoin is trading 2.30% down at a price of $16,198 with a market cap of $311 billion. However, one investor group has been buying aggressively during this price correction. They are basically the Bitcoin Shrimps (holding <1 BTC) and the Bitcoin Crabs (holding <10 BTC). On-chain data provider Glassnode explains that Bitcoin shrimps have witnessed an all-time high balance increase since the FTX collapse. Over the last fifteen days, the Bitcoin shrimps have added 96.2k $BTC to their total holdings. This cohort now holds a staggering 1.21 million Bitcoins which is equivalent to 6.3% of the total circulating supply.
- Line shuts down crypto exchange to focus on blockchain and LN token
The Japanese messaging giant Line has decided to shut down its cryptocurrency exchange business amid the ongoing crypto winter.
Line-owned crypto exchange Bitfront officially announced on Nov. 27 a plan to completely close down the platform by March 2023.
According to the statement, the closure was driven by the continued cryptocurrency bear market and other issues in the crypto industry.
Despite the exchange’s closure, Line will still continue to run its other blockchain ventures, including the Line blockchain ecosystem and Link (LN) token, the announcement notes, stating:
“Despite our efforts to overcome the challenges in this rapidly-evolving industry, we have regretfully determined that we need to shut down Bitfront in order to continue growing the Line blockchain ecosystem and Link token economy.”
https://cointelegraph.com/news/line-shuts-down-crypto-exchange-to-focus-on-blockchain-and-ln-token
- New York Mayor Supportive of Mining Restrictions but Maintains Crypto Hub Objective
Cryptocurrency proponent and New York City Mayor Eric Adams has spoken in a supportive tone about the state’s two-year moratorium on certain crypto mining operations relying on carbon-based energy resources. The partial ban, which will prevent companies involved in proof-of-work (PoW) mining from expanding, renewing, or obtaining new permits, will be enforced with a law signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday.
Quoted by the New York Daily News, Adams insisted he is still focused on establishing New York as a hub for crypto. At the same time, he emphasized that a balance can be found between this goal and the efforts to reduce the costs for the environment in the state that are associated with some forms of cryptocurrency extraction.
