Connect with us
  • tg

Cryptocurrency

FTX exchange head spends $40 million on crypto-loyal candidates

letizo News

Published

on

FTX exchange

FTX exchange head Sam Bankman-Fried donated $40 million, much of it to the Super PAC (Political Action Committee). The head of the crypto exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried spent $40 million to support candidates in the U.S. Senate election. This was reported by CNBC.

Super PAC supported Democratic congressional primary candidates who were loyal to cryptocurrencies or favored lenient regulation. According to the report, 16 of the 18 primary candidates supported by Protect Our Future won in previous elections.

In October of this year, the head of FTX company, Bankman-Fried, said he was willing to spend more than $1 billion on the U.S. presidential election, which will be held in 2024. But then, in an interview with Morning Money, the FTX founder called it a “silly quote.”

“I think in some cases my reporting was sloppy and inconsistent,” Bankman-Fried said.

In the same interview, the FTX company founder said he was pausing on political campaign spending. According to him, “At some point, once you get your message out to the voters, there’s nothing you can do anymore.”

All told, CNBC estimates that U.S. billionaires spent a record $880 million on the U.S. midterm elections, with most of their spending going to Republicans. By far the biggest investor was George Soros, who gave more than $128 million to the campaign. Most of his funding went to Super PAC Democracy II, which supports liberal ideas and Democratic candidates.

2022 demonstrates that there are no safe assets on the market in which you can safely invest your money. It’s not just FTX users who are having problems. Investors in the traditional stock market are also suffering. Meta has been a powerful company for years, growing quickly as Facebook gained more users and bought companies like Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta financial stocks continue to fall. Last year, Meta was valued at a trillion dollars. But this year, the company is having financial difficulties as it tries to transition to a new business, the so-called Metaverse, and struggles with the global economic downturn and declining digital advertising, which is its main source of revenue. Last month, Meta reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profits and a second straight sales decline. Its stock is down more than 72 percent this year.

We previously reported that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York sees the benefits of blockchain digital dollars.

Cryptocurrency

Unsuspecting Elderly Widow Loses $281K in a Romance Scam: The Dark Side of Crypto

letizo News

Published

on

In an effort to curb the misuse of cryptocurrency ATMs, Australian authorities have identified 90 individuals, many of them scam victims or unwitting money mules, following a months-long investigation led by AUSTRAC’s cryptocurrency taskforce.

The operation was conducted in collaboration with federal and state law enforcement agencies and marks a significant step in understanding how crypto ATMs are being co-opted to facilitate fraud and the laundering of illicit funds.

Widow Scammed Out of $281K in Crypto ATM Scam

According to the official press release, the investigation targeted users with unusually high volumes of transactions, drawing from ATM data across all Australian states. Analysts found that many of the top users were not orchestrating criminal schemes, but rather had been manipulated into them.

In a particularly distressing case, a woman in her 70s lost over $281,000 after falling prey to romance and investment scams, and repeatedly deposited cash into crypto ATMs under false promises. Another victim, also a woman in her 70s, was conned out of more than $130,000 after engaging with what she believed was a legitimate investment platform.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said the findings were more alarming than expected. He added:

“It’s hard to hear these stories, but now we have a better picture of the harms being perpetrated through crypto ATMs, we are better placed to take action, including working with the industry to harden the sector against criminal misuse.”

In response, AUSTRAC recently introduced minimum operational standards for crypto ATM providers. This includes a $5,000 limit on cash transactions, mandatory scam alerts, and improved customer verification and transaction monitoring protocols. These regulatory changes aim to tackle the exploitation of the machines by fraudsters and reduce opportunities for laundering proceeds from criminal activity.

The operation was coordinated by NSW Police and supported by the Australia-New Zealand Crypto Practitioners Working Group (ANZCPWG). Meanwhile, the Australian Federal Police’s cybercrime coordination unit (JPC3) is also launching a national awareness campaign to educate the public about the risks of using crypto ATMs under coercion or misleading advice.

Older Australians Most Affected by Crypto Scams

Crypto scams in Australia have been increasing at a disturbing rate. More precisely, crypto ATMs, which are now more than 1,600 nationwide, are increasingly being misused by fraudsters who target vulnerable citizens.

Over $3 million was lost to cryptocurrency ATM scams in the country between January 2024 and January 2025. Experts are warning that the real figure could be far higher. According to a report cited by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), 150 scam cases were reported, mostly involving investment fraud, extortion, and romance scams, with victims losing over $20,000 on average. Nearly half of those affected were aged over 51.

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored)
Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): Use this link to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance (full details).

LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!

Continue Reading

Cryptocurrency

30% Surge for Dogecoin? Here’s What Needs to Happen (Analyst)

letizo News

Published

on

TL;DR

  • The meme coin mania seems to have faded despite a few brief moments of hope, and the niche’s leader has failed to recapture its momentum and investors’ attention.
  • However, there’s a chance for a massive double-digit surge, but only under certain conditions, according to popular crypto analyst Ali Martinez.

To embark on its 30% journey north, the largest meme coin by market cap first needs to reclaim the $0.17 resistance. This doesn’t sound like such a major hurdle, given its current price tag of $0.164.

The second part of the equation involves the TD Sequential, which is a metric often used to determine the underlying asset’s market exhaustion in either direction.

The indicator has presented a buy signal on DOGE’s 3-Day chart. Consequently, Martinez concluded that both of these factors could result in a price pump to $0.21.

This would be a breath of fresh air for Dogecoin, which has struggled quite a lot since early 2025. In the past month alone, its price has tumbled by over 21%.

Despite this rather unfavorable market movement lately, some industry participants have remained highly bullish on DOGE’s future price trajectory. JAVON MARKS, known for his bullish statements on several crypto assets, believes the OG meme coin still has a chance to post a mind-blowing surge that can take it to the stratosphere, based on historic performance.

Such a price tag sounds just a bit far-fetched at the moment. History is no indication for future price movements, and $20 per DOGE would mean a whopping market cap of roughly $3 trillion, which would make it a lot bigger than BTC.

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored)
Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): Use this link to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance (full details).

LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!

Continue Reading

Cryptocurrency

Ripple’s Legal Fight Nears End: Is the $10K XRP Dream Possible?

letizo News

Published

on

Ripple has just announced that it will drop its cross-appeal against the SEC, signaling the end of a years-long legal siege.

CEO Brad Garlinghouse declared: “We’re closing this chapter once and for all.” With the SEC expected to reciprocate, XRP surged by 5% at one point to $2.2.

But beneath the modest green candle lies a tidal wave of speculation. The question everyone’s whispering, tweeting, and meme-posting about: Could XRP really hit $10,000?

The $10K Obsession

There have been more modest predictions, such as those of social media personality Jake Gagain, who recently calculated that a 50x surge, as touted by Carl Moon, would catapult XRP to $106.50.

Influencers like Lucy Bear have called such projections “conservative,” with Casi Trades boldly stating:

“If you think XRP can’t reach double digits, you don’t understand crypto!”

What about the $10,000 promised land? If the XRP Army is to be believed, this number isn’t plucked from some random crypto casino. Apparently, it traces back to elusive Ripple co-founder and XRPL architect Arthur Britto, who is said to have envisioned a future where XRP would serve as the global liquidity backbone for all payments.

According to enthusiasts, Britto believed that for XRP to fulfil its destiny, it would need to hit a staggering $10,000 per token. And while many have scoffed at such moonshot valuations, diehards seem to be doubling down.

In a recent episode of The Rollup podcast, former NEAR engineer Altan Tutar described the XRP fraternity’s $10,000 conviction as almost religious, saying, “I’ve never seen anything like this in any other community.”

While not directly adding his name to the believers’ list, Tutar acknowledged the rationale behind the conviction, comparing XRP’s potential rise to Bitcoin’s own journey to an all-time high price of $111,814.

“If Bitcoin went to $100K, then why not XRP to $10,000?” he asked.

But Here’s the Reality Check

A $10,000 XRP price implies a market cap of $590 trillion, dwarfing the entire global economy. Even Gagain’s $106 price means a $6.28 trillion valuation, more than double Bitcoin’s peak market cap.

It’s probably why Rollup host Andy bluntly dismissed $10,000 as pure fantasy, stating, “XRP is not going to $10,000… $10 is already a stretch.”

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored)
Binance Free $600 (CryptoPotato Exclusive): Use this link to register a new account and receive $600 exclusive welcome offer on Binance (full details).

LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!

Continue Reading

Trending

©2021-2024 Letizo All Rights Reserved