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

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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.

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

Ethereum Price Analysis: Is ETH Staging a Push Toward $2.8K or Facing a Crash to $2K?

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After breaking below the ascending flag pattern, Ethereum has retraced to retest the broken trendline. Should the selling at this level pressure intensify, a deeper decline toward the $2K support zone may follow.

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

ETH recently broke down from its ascending flag pattern, triggering a corrective phase. After finding strong support around the $2.1K level, the cryptocurrency bounced and retraced toward the broken trendline at $2.4K, where it now appears to be encountering resistance.

Despite the rebound, the lack of significant volatility and waning momentum around this key level suggests that buyers are exhausted. If the selling pressure intensifies here, ETH is likely to complete its pullback and extend its correction.

In this case, the $2K mark is emerging as the next key defensive zone where the bulls may attempt to regain control.

eth_price_chart_2706251
Source: TradingView

The 4-Hour Chart

Zooming into the 4-hour timeframe, ETH initially found strong support within the 0.5–0.618 Fibonacci retracement zone, a historically reliable level during corrections.

The sharp reaction from this range led to a quick move upward. However, the rally has now stalled precisely at the previous flag’s lower boundary, which currently acts as resistance near $2.4K.

This rejection increases the probability of another downward leg, unless the buyers are able to swiftly reclaim control. The $2.1K zone, which overlaps with the Fib support, remains a key battleground.

As long as this area holds, the market structure retains a bullish bias. If breached, however, it may pave the way for a deeper decline toward $2,000.

eth_price_chart_2706252
Source: TradingView

By Shayan

The funding rate metric serves as a crucial gauge of trader sentiment within the futures market. Typically, in a healthy and sustainable uptrend, funding rates increase steadily, reflecting growing interest from long position traders across both the perpetual futures and spot markets.

However, recent trends reveal a decline in Ethereum’s funding rates, signalling waning bullish momentum and potential buyer fatigue. This shift raises the probability of a short-term rejection and deeper corrective movement.

That said, as funding rates approach the neutral zone near zero, it may suggest a reset in leveraged positions, indicating that the market is cooling off. This environment often precedes renewed demand and could pave the way for a strong bullish continuation once the current consolidation phase concludes.

eth_funding_rates_chart_2706251
Source: CryptoQuant
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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.

Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.

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Cryptocurrency

XRP Surpasses BTC, ETH in This Surprising Metric Despite SEC Lawsuit Roadblock

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TL:DR

  • Ripple’s lawsuit resolution against the US SEC will have to wait even longer as Judge Torres denied the two parties’ joint motion for an indicative ruling.
  • However, this seemingly negative development has turned the community bullish on XRP, according to data from Santiment.

As the analytics company informed, the bullish vs. bearish posts on social media in regards to the fourth-largest cryptocurrency have skyrocketed to a 17-day high.

Consequently, XRP has surpassed the two biggest digital assets by market cap, bitcoin and ether, both of which are performing a lot better in terms of price actions in the past week or so.

BTC managed to reclaim the $100,000 line after its brief hiatus below it and now sits at around $107,000 as the geopolitical environment in the Middle East improved. ETH also recovered from its substantial slump and is back to $2,400.

In contrast, XRP’s price has been trading downward for weeks and is currently below $2.1 after another 3-4% daily drop. The latest setback took place yesterday following Judge Torres’s decision to deny the joint motion filed by Ripple and the SEC for a quicker resolution in their lawsuit.

Nevertheless, it’s not all doom and gloom as the XRP token saw a major adoption announcement earlier this week, as you can check here.

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Is Ethereum (ETH) Seriously Undervalued Right Now? Many Whales Bet On It

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Ethereum (ETH) began climbing again this week, along with the rest of the market. However, it remains trapped under the $2,879 level for now.

Even as it struggles to spearhead the much-anticipated “altseason,” its network activity is telling a louder story.

Historic Activity on Ethereum

On June 25, Ethereum recorded 1,750,940 confirmed transactions. This was the third-highest daily count in its history and breaking a months-long downward trend in on-chain activity.

The “Ethereum: Transaction Count (Total)” metric captures all confirmed network transactions, including ETH transfers, DeFi operations, smart contract executions, and DApp interactions, and gives a clear insight into real usage. Such high activity levels have not been seen since January 14, 2024, when the cryptocurrency set its all-time high record with 1,961,144 transactions before usage gradually declined.

The latest spike comes even as ETH’s price has shown volatility, ranging between and $2,111-$2,879 over the past month, as traders, DeFi protocols, and arbitrage bots actively adjust positions in real time. This divergence between price weakness and strong on-chain activity suggests a potential early signal of accumulation and renewed DeFi interest, even if it is not yet reflected in ETH’s market valuation.

Meanwhile, institutional and retail interest seems to be steady, with stable ETH holdings on exchanges and rising transaction volumes on Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism, which continue to handle a significant share of Ethereum’s daily settlement activity.

CryptoQuant said that these developments point to deeper structural resilience in the network’s usage patterns.

“These developments reinforce Ethereum’s pivotal role in the broader crypto ecosystem and suggest that the network’s recent on-chain spike is not an isolated event, but part of a deeper structural recovery.”

Amid these signals of underlying strength, whale activity has emerged as another key indicator reflecting deep-pocketed confidence in Ethereum.

Whale Purchases Accelerate

Whales continue aggressive ETH accumulation, rapidly draining exchange supplies. Investor Ted Pillows highlighted one whale’s $8.91 million ETH purchase via Galaxy Digital yesterday, adding to $422 million in Ethereum amassed within a month.

These large-scale buys suggest mounting confidence among whales, even as overall market sentiment remains cautious.

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