Cryptocurrency

Islamic State targets major NFT markets — media

Published

4 weeks ago

September 5, 2022

The U.S. intelligence revealed cases of terrorism financing through the largest NFT markets, praising the militants of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, banned in the Russian Federation) for attacking the Taliban positions in Afghanistan. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing high-ranking former U.S. security officials.

With the help of the cryptocurrency market, the attackers are trying to circumvent Western efforts to impose sanctions on their activities, the Journal wrote. Such NFTs have already been identified on the Rarible marketplace.

Even though the NFT marketplace at the moment blocked tokens, intelligence representatives fear that it is impossible to remove such an asset, as it is protected from censorship through the blockchain, writes WSJ. Opensea also removed the token and closed the author’s account, citing a “zero-tolerance policy for ads inciting hatred and violence. However, as the experts point out, NFTs are still available on IPFS hosting, which extracts data from an array of Internet nodes.

In late August, Elliptic analysts found that fraudsters have stolen about $100 million in schemes around NFTs since July 2021.

The researchers concluded that each successful NFT scheme, on average, generated $300,000 in revenue. The most NFT thefts were recorded in July 2022 (4,600), contrary to the bearish trend, Elliptic noted. In May, a record $24 million in dollar equivalent thefts were recorded. However, the experts point out that the figure is higher, because only public reports of fraud were used for the calculations.

Elliptic also found that since 2017, NFT marketplaces have helped launder more than $8 million from sources associated with illegal activity. Exactly which marketplaces are in question is not specified.

Earlier, we reported that digital avatar startup Genies decided to create an NFT marketplace.

Cryptocurrency

Korea begins blocking bitcoin holdings of Terra founder

Published

2 days ago

September 28, 2022

letizo News

The South Korean prosecutor’s office appealed to local cryptocurrency exchanges to block the assets belonging to Terra founder Do Kwon. Bloomberg writes about it citing law enforcement officials.

The prosecutor’s office sent demands to cryptocurrency exchanges KuCoin and OKX to freeze a total of 3,313 BTC worth about $67 million, which are owned by Kwon through Luna Foundation Guard. Representatives of KuCoinand OKX at the time of writing had not officially commented on the reports about the blocking of Kwon’s assets.

According to Bloomberg, citing research firm CryptoQuant, the LFG wallet address was created on September 15. After its creation, a total of 3,310 BTC were moved to KuCoin and OKX. Meanwhile, back on September 14, the South Korean prosecutor’s office announced an arrest warrant for Terra coin.

Meanwhile, Do Kwon continues to assure the cryptocurrency community via Twitter that he is not hiding from law enforcement. Moreover, the founder of Terra even questioned whether he was wanted by Interpol. He noted that he still can’t find himself on the Interpol wanted list.

Earlier we reported that the head of Celsius Network, Alex Mashinsky, had resigned.

Cryptocurrency

Revolut and cryptocurrency news: Revolut received a license from the UK regulator for cryptocurrency services

Published

2 days ago

September 28, 2022

letizo News

Fintech broker Revolut can now provide cryptocurrency services in the UK thanks to a license from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This is reported on the website of the regulator. Revolut and cryptocurrency were not previously linked.

In fact, the broker received approval from the regulator back on Monday, September 26, but it has become known only now. Before the license, Revolut provided cryptocurrency services through a temporary permit from the FCA. In addition to Revolut, CEX.IO, Copper Technologies, GlobalBlock and Moneybrain also provided crypto services on a temporary basis.

Revolut has long been exploring the expansion of cryptocurrency-related services. According to Revolut CEO Nikolai Storonsky, the company has been exploring options to introduce new services like Revolut cryptocurrency wallet. Revolut was also looking at integrating cryptocurrency stacking. However, it remains unclear whether the broker still plans to provide such services.

Earlier we reported that the head of FTX wants to buy the assets of the bankrupt Celsius Network.

Cryptocurrency

U.S. exchange regulator fines Tether auditor company $1.5 million

Published

2 days ago

September 28, 2022

letizo News

Tether auditor company, Friedman LLP, was fined $1.5 million for improper services from 2017 to 2020. This was reported in a press release from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to the exchange regulator, the Tether auditing company didn’t properly develop audit procedures in its work for the iFresh product network. The company also didn’t exercise the necessary due diligence in auditing another unnamed company. Although the press release does not explicitly identify Tether, the issuer of the USDTstablecoin, as Tether, Friedman’s firm was Tether’s auditor from just 2017 to 2018.

Tether full audit

Earlier, a New York County court required Tether to disclose the USDT Stablecoin’s collateral and prove the assets linkage to the U.S. dollar. According to the court order, Tether is required to provide the company’s financials, income statements, cash flow statements, and so on. However, the time frame in which Tether must provide the statements is not specified.

The lawsuit is part of a legal battle between investors and Tether’s parent company, iFinex. The plaintiffs believe that Tether manipulated the cryptocurrency market by issuing unsecured USDT with the intention of artificially inflating cryptocurrency prices.

Earlier we reported that Vitalik Buterin announced the release of his book.