Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin Fog Operator Declared Guilty of Money Laundering, Faces Up to 50 Years in Prison

Following his arrest nearly three years ago, a Jury in a US federal district court found Roman Sterlingov, operator of the crypto mixer Bitcoin Fog, guilty of a four-count charge regarding money laundering.
The founder of Bitcoin Fog faces up to a maximum of 50 years in prison for all his charges.
Sterlingov Convicted
According to a press release on March 12, the jury declared Roman Sterlingov guilty of money laundering conspiracy and sting money laundering. The 35-year-old Russian-Swedish Bitcoin Fog founder was also found guilty of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting venture and violations of the D.C. Money Transmitters Act.
While Sterlingov’s sentencing has been scheduled for July 15, 2024, the first two charges each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, while the last two charges have a maximum prison sentence of five years each.
Bitcoin Fog, which operated for a decade between 2011 and 2021, served as a money laundering tool for criminals looking to obfuscate their ill-gotten money. The crypto mixer moved over 1.2 million Bitcoin throughout its operation, which was worth close to $400 million at the time and is valued at $88 billion at BTC’s current price.
As stated in the press release, most of the Bitcoin was gotten from darknet marketplaces linked to computer fraud, illegal narcotics, and identity theft. The mixer also serviced people who supplied child sexual abuse material.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin Fog’s biggest clients, according to the government, were dark web markets such as Silk Road, AlphaBay, and Agora.
Commenting on the latest development, US Attorney of the District of Columbia, Matthew Graves, said:
“Darknet criminals should know by now that operations like Bitcoin Fog cannot provide the anonymity for cryptocurrency transactions that they claim they can. This conviction demonstrates that the United States can and will combat the use of technology to carry out crimes in cyberspace.”
Apart from the guilty verdict, the jury granted forfeiture of assets previously seized by law enforcement, which include 1,354 BTC held in a Bitcoin Fog wallet, $349,625, and other crypto assets in seized accounts on the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
Sterlingov’s Lawyer Seeks to Reverse Guilty Verdict
Meanwhile, Tor Ekeland, the lawyer representing Sterlingov, said that they would appeal against the jury’s guilty verdict. During Sterlingov’s trial, Ekeland argued that there was no evidence pointing to the fact that his client operated Bitcoin Fog.
Sterlingov, who was arrested in April 2021, said in his testimony said that he did not remember if he created the domain name for the crypto mixer, and was doubtful that he was behind the creation.
Guilty verdict in U.S v. Sterlingov. Now we appeal.
— Tor Ekeland (@TorEkelandPLLC) March 12, 2024
US prosecutors brought in Ilya Lichtenstein and Larry Harmon to testify in the trial. Lichtenstein previously pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge in 2022 in connection to his hack of Bitfinex in 2016 and theft of funds. Harmon, owner of Bitcoin mixer Helix, also pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2021.
Lichtenstein, testifying in the trial, said that he used mixers such as Bitcoin Fog to obfuscate the stolen funds, but he stated that Sterlingov’s crypto mixing service was not his main tool for money laundering.
Crypto mixing services continue to come under intense scrutiny from US authorities, which believe that such services serve as a useful tool for criminals. One prominent crypto mixer, Tornado Cash, was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury in 2022.
Tornado Cash allegedly helped to launder proceeds of cybercrimes for malicious actors such as Lazarus Group. Developers Roman Semenov and Roman Storm are facing charges ranging from money laundering to violations of sanctions, to which Storm pleaded not guilty. Semenov, however, is currently at large.
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Cryptocurrency
Forget 1%, 3%, or 5%: Financial Advisor Recommends Up to 40% Bitcoin Allocation

Bitcoin’s evolution has been quite spectacular, especially in terms of global adoption. Recall that the asset was mostly ignored by legacy investors for its initial years, then became the laughing stock of many, before it finally started to capture the attention of previous doubters.
As prominent names like Paul Tudor Jones III, Kevin O’Leary, or even former critic Ray Dalio started to enter the ecosystem, their general advice was that people should look to invest no more than 5% in the cryptocurrency. However, the adoption curve has completed a 180-degree turn, and some financial advisors are now recommending bigger percentages. A lot bigger.
40% in BTC?
As reported by CNBC, Ric Edelman, head of Digital Assets Council of Financial Advisors, noted that a lot has changed since his initial take on the matter, which was four years ago. At the time, he advised investors, especially the more conservative ones, to allocate around 1% of their portfolios to BTC.
“Today I am saying 40%, that’s astonishing. No one has ever said such a thing,” he said now.
The reason for this monumental increase in his recommendation is the global status of Bitcoin (and some other cryptocurrencies). Most were ridiculed several years ago when it was unknown whether countries, such as China, or even the US, might move to ban them in some form. Now, the situation is entirely different as the US and a few others have presented plans on how to accumulate BTC as a reserve asset.
Old-School 60/40 Doesn’t Work
One of the most popular theories for investing is allocating 60% of a portfolio into stocks and 40% into bonds. While this classic split may have worked in the past, the landscape is different now, and it requires more risk and a greater exposure to stocks, according to Edelman.
“If you’re a financial advisor and you had a 30-year-old client who was saving for their long-term future, you would tell them to put 100% of their money in stocks, because they have 50 years to go. Today’s 60-year-old is kind of like yesterday’s 30-year-old. You need to get better returns than you can get from bonds, and you need to hold equities longer than ever before.”
Instead of such solid exposure to stocks, though, he said people should diversify with crypto and BTC in particular, which is a “wonderful way to improve modern portfolio theory statistics.”
“The crypto asset class offers the opportunity for higher returns than you’re likely to get in virtually any other asset class,” Edelman concluded.
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Cryptocurrency
Israel Will Buy BTC and ETH and Give it to a Gambling Offender

Israel will buy 19.15 BTC and 83 ETH, collectively worth over $2.2 million. But if you think that this is a step toward adopting crypto or that the country is planning to establish an alternative currency reserve – well, think again.
Shai Siboni – a popular Israeli footballer, who’s also a known gambling offender – had his crypto wallet “lost” while he was detained in police custody over two years ago.
Speaking on the matter was a police official, who said:
This is a serious oversight and it is still unclear how the wallet disappeared.
So, to make up for the “oversight,” the state of Israel will purchase a brand new digital wallet, fund it with 19.15 BTC and 83 ETH, and, well, give it back to Siboni.
Siboni Turned into “an Extremely Wealthy Man”
Commenting on the matter was also a senior official, who said that “this wallet was worth about a million shekels about seven years ago. Since then, currency prices have risen dramatically, and the state will pay dearly for the negligence of an elite police unit.”
This is one of the most serious failures we’ve had, and the saddest thing – no one is taking responsibility.”
Siboni, who is a convicted gambling offender has been turned into an “extremely wealthy man,” concluded the official.
A Gambling Offender
To provide a bit of context on the profile of Siboni – he’s considered a major target when it comes to illegal gambling as part of the Lahav 433 Unit’s investiagtions.
During the two World Cups – the one in 2014 in Brazil and the one in 2018 in Russia – Siboni operated illegal betting lines for thousands of gamblers.
Suspicions place his profits to the tune of more than 100 million shekels. These were used to purchase luxury cars, apartments and other assets. The hard truth, however, is that the state had difficulty proving that the money came from criminal activity, so the majority of his property (including the crypto wallet) was returned to him.
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Cryptocurrency
Calm Before the Storm? Bitcoin Consolidates Around $107,000: Weekend Watch

The broader cryptocurrency market remains relatively calm and for the past 24 hours there haven’t been any major movements.
Bitcoin continues trading in a more or less narrow range between $106,000 and $108,000, begging the question if this is the calm before the storm and if a major move is just around the corner.
Bitcoin Price Consolidates at $107K
Bitcoin’s price didn’t go through any major moves during the past day and continues consolidating at around $107,000.
The absence of volatility is also seen in the level of liquidations, which has declined by 4% on the daily, currently standing at around $200 million, according to Coinglass. The majority of them are short positions, meaning that the bulls are defending this area successfully, at least so far.
As seen in the chart below, the price has managed to recover from the losses endured last weekend following the US strike of strategic Iranian nuclear bases.
That said, as CryptoPotato reported, the number of larger wallets, holding 10 BTC or more, hit 152,280, which is the highest since March. This signals that deep-pocketed investors show a lot of confidence and might be positioning themselves for an incoming rally.
Altcoins Trend Flat but Leaning Bullish
The majority of large-cap altcoins are trading in the green. They are not charting any significant gains, but the heatmap is obviously leaning bullish.
Notably, Ripple’s XRP is charting gains of more than 4% on the day, being the best-performing altcoin from the top 10 by means of total market capitalization.
Bitcoin’s market dominance is down by around 0.5% in the past 24 hours, which shows that the altcoins are attempting to capitalize on its flat trend. It’s interesting to see if this will continue.
The best performer today is Quant (QNT), which is up 6.5%, followed by SPX6900 and Jupiter (JUP), both of which are up by 5.3% and 4.8%, respectively.
On the other hand, Aptos, Pi Network, and SEI are today’s worst performers, down by 7.7%, 3.8%, and 3.6%.
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Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.
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