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Tabassum Naiz

US’s DOJ Says Venezuelan President Taps Crypto to Conceal Illicit Drug Ring Operations 

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According to an indictment, the US Department of Justice alleged that the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other country’s leaders used cryptocurrency to cover drug-dealing operations.

The indictment notes that with Nicolas, 14 other Venezuelan officials leveraged their political and financial power to conceal their activity in the criminal operations for over 20 years. DOJ Also added cryptocurrency was also in use to disguise crimes related to narco-terrorism, corruption, and drug trafficking. Moreover, they also claimed that these officials represented themselves as the ‘lead for Cartel of the Suns’ which sought to weaponize cocaine against the United States.

US DOJ named two members of Guerzas Armadas Revolutionaries de Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla group recognized as a terrorist entity. It was alleged that these officials and Nicolas conspired with the terrorist organization FARC to facilitate the importation of cocaine into American countries. US Attorney, Geoffrey S. Berman calls it “weaponization” of drug trafficking against the US.

In a press release related to the indictment, Alysa D.Erichs, Acting Executive Director of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) says the DOJ’s movement represent the country’s commitment towards a stern action against those;

“Who exploit financial systems and hide behind cryptocurrency to further their illicit criminal activity”

Despite president was named as one among those who used crypto to cloak activities, the indictment didn’t specifically name the country’s oil-backed Petro token or other cryptocurrencies.

While Nicolo turned as crypto proponent as soon as Venezuela launches its Petro token, the US’s leaders, on the other hand, focused on suppressing him. However, so far the economic sanctions only acted as a way to stifle him and the latest indictment comes as evidence that the American top regulators can move forward with the actions like this.

It’s worth noting that Nicolo during the time of Petro token launch stated that the asset would be backed by 5 billion barrels worth of oil, however, in November last year, he stated that the amount of barrel has only 30 million barrels worth of oil for petro.

People’s Bank of China (PBoC) Almost Complete Sovereign Digital Currency

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Amidst the COVID-19 adverse effect across China and the world at large, there seem no setbacks in the development of China’s digital yuan.

As per the report shared by a Global Times on Tuesday, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is way closer to issuing digital yuan. The report was cited with the “industry insiders”, adding to that the central bank is also drafting relevant laws to roll out its national digital currency.

The news comes in a wake of China’s anti-crypto, elaborating three types of scams happening across crypto exchanges. In addition to this, the bank had also noted the crowning cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is not a safe haven and it is too volatile.
On the other side, the recent report also noted that the country’s leading payment platform, Alipay’s patent shows several functions required to circulate, issue or proceed payment for digital currency. The industry insider told the Global Times as follows;

“Judging from the patents, the first step of technological development has been basically completed,”

However, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) early this year acknowledged that the top leave design of the sovereign digital currency has been completed. However, he quietly noted that the currency is progressing smoothly.

With the coronavirus epidemic continued, people rarely care about fiat or paper money that may likely act as a reason for more COVID-19 cases. That being said, Bitcoin and other digital currencies have been considered as a feasible solution. On the same stance, Industry Insider suggested that the country should move forward of launching this digital currency in ongoing COVID-19 crises which have also affected the financial system.

Nonetheless, Cao Yan, managing director of Digital Renaissance Foundation, stated that;

“If there is a chance China is considering lowering its interest rate into negative territory as a final option and directing such policy to commercial loans and lending, a circulated digital currency rather than M0 will be able to achieve that,”

Bitcoin Proponents Mock at Fed’s View ‘There is an Infinite Amount of Cash’ Despite COVID outbreak

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The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has created a financial crisis, in fact, it is said that the world economy has never shut down this fast. In this case, the US Fed’s Kashkari in a recent interview said ‘ there is an infinite amount of Cash’.

Neel Kashkari, U.S. senator addressed the economic scenario caused by the Coronavirus and elaborated the “Speed and scale here are just absolutely critical given that thousands of people are being laid off every day”. While he assured that the amount of cash is infinite on why should ‘congress not worry about precisely targeting aid’, bitcoin proponents said, ‘This is quite literally the reason bitcoin was created”.

A Twitter user “Vis” shared a clip of Kashkari which then received several criticizing comments from the crypto community. One such Twitter user commented, saying “infinite amount(…)? So why am I paying taxes and sht’

Moreover, other crypto community members shared their views on the same topic on Reddit. While one concerned ‘why doesn’t the fed use this infinite amount of cash to pay off the $23.5T national debt?’ Other user reiterated by saying ‘Pay debt with debt. The new debt, however, is put on future generations”.

Essentially Neel Kashkari saw the financial crises of 2008 that trigged the Great recession. However, the crypto community is comparing fiat’s infinite amount with the limited supply that Bitcoin has. More so, banks in Italy reportedly launched a full-fledged crypto wallet as they experience significant demand for paper-less money due to the fear of a virus outbreak.

While US stock futures opened the market sharply lower on Monday, Bitcoin as well is declining by 7.67 percent and trading at the value of $5818.40 against USD.

Indian Police Arrest Woman On Stealing Bitcoin from Indian Exchange’s Hardware Wallet

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A report from the country’s local media surfaced on the web on March 20, stating that the owner of Indian exchange BitCipher Labs filed a complaint against the woman who stole 64 bitcoins. As a result, the Indian Cyber Crime Police arrested and recovered all the stolen funds.

According to the Times of India, a 26-year old Ayushi Jain was previously working for a country’s own exchange Bitcipher Labs which is situated in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India. She had stolen 64 bitcoins which is worth about $430,000 from Bitcipher Labs earlier this year.

Co-founder Ashish Singhal recently discovered that between January 11 and March 11, the large number of bitcoins were transferred through the hardware wallet of the exchange. He then filed a complaint with CID’s cybercrime wing.  Ashish Singhal along with two other co-founders, Vimal Sagar Tiwari and Govind Kumar were holding the wallet and private keys on exchange’s behalf.

Police officer, on the other side, stated that the accused had hacked into their systems and carried out unauthorized transactions, and had also added;

“Since a hardware wallet and passphrase was required for bitcoin transactions, it was suspected that the culprit was someone proficient in using this technology, and who was closely associated with the firm. Police prepared a list of former employees of the company and short-listed Ayushi. When questioned, she admitted having carried out the transactions by acquiring the passphrase written on paper,”

As described by police, Ayushi was one of the early members in their team, Ashish trusted her and shared the key to the almirahs wherein the password for the wallet was kept safe.

Taking advantage of this, Ayushi opened the almirahs when no one was around and took a photograph of the passphrase because she required bitcoins to start her own cryptocurrency exchange company. She purchased a hardware wallet and used the passphrase to convert bitcoins with the assistance of Swap-lab exchange to Monero cryptocurrency, and later had them transferred to her Binance account.

Police also said that the woman returned stoled bitcoins to the original owners and they were able to restore it. As for now, a woman is in police custody after confessing to the crime she attempted. Other reports also noted that the police seized Ayushi’s laptop which contained the history’.

In a nutshell, the crypto community believes that India’s apex court decision of removing the banking bank is gradually becoming the wisest decision country has taken. In fact, soon after the supreme court’s move of quashing the RBI’s crypto ban, the crypto industry in India witnessed the largest investment campaigns, initiated by the country’s leading crypto exchanges – CoinDCX and WazirX with Binance crypto exchange.

Amidst Corona Chaos Leading Italian Bank Launches Full Fledged Crypto Wallet

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Despite the fact that the world is fighting the coronavirus outbreak and the nationwide lockdown, Italy’s leading bank, Banca Sella has rolled a full-fledged crypto wallet.

The bank has likely leveraged the potential demand for virtual money as people are transforming their way from fiat to bitcoin as part of safe money following the ongoing crises. As per the report, the bank with its unique platform dubbed as “Hype” is aiming to foster the adoption of virtual money.

Per the reports, this new wallet enables people to purchase, sale and store the Bitcoin. In addition to this, people can start purchasing goods and services using cryptocurrency through this new banking wallet. Interestingly, the wallet serves nearly 1.2 million users of the bank’s HYPE Plus digital platform. However, the bank foresees the accessibility of this service to all Banca Sella Customers.

Noticeably, the platform is designed and integrated by a crypto company, Conio. This integration is said to be as equivalent as jamming Coinbase app into a bank account. Christian Miccoli, the co-founder of Conio said that;

“Banks feel threatened by cryptocurrencies and, like all big organizations, have a natural tendency to resist change. But this time innovation is impossible to stop: it is akin to trying to stop the wind with your hands”

Beside Banca Sella bank, other banks are also following in this stream, for instance, Ziglu which is yet to release and Revolut with almost $5.5 billion valuations is exciting their customers by combining crypto services. However, concerning the Revolut’s crypto banking services, Conio’s co-founder Vincenzo Di Nicola said that;

While Revolut may give the impression to manage Bitcoin,” customers can “neither receive Bitcoin nor can transfer them: it’s a walled-garden approach that actually defeats the purpose of a cryptocurrency.”

Although people have self-quarantined, yet, Hype’s approach is that the people are now more cautious of coins and paper money. The fear that COVID spreading across the world, people are turning to digital currency by dumping the paper version of money as a cleaner solution for the future.

Square Gets Conditional Approval for Banking License by US FDIC

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Square Inc., the financial tech company has reportedly received a green signal to open its own bank in Utah. The report comes in a wake of conditional approval for banking license provided by the US’s Federal and State banking regulator.

The reports spread on Wednesday, March 18, noting that the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has approved the application filed by Square Inc to open its own bank. Accordingly, the giant will likely launch its bank, ‘Square Financial Services, Inc., in 2021. The bank will be supervised by FDIC along with the Utah Department of Financial Institutions.

Led by bitcoin advocate, Jack Dorsey, Square’s new bank ‘Square Financial Services’ will be spearhead by Lewis Goodwin as CEO and Brandon Soto as its CFO. Both Lewis and Brandon carries years of experience in the banking industry.

Noticeably, the license is known as “Industrial Loan Company” License which is generally granted to newly chartered banks that will be operated under the supervision standards.
Following this, the bank is expected to offer small-business loans to merchants that process payment using Square devices. The giant’s capital lead Jacqueline Reses said in an official announcement that they are now moving towards ‘building out Square Financial Services and making their bank accessible to small business customers”, adding that;

“We appreciate the FDIC’s thoughtful approach to our application and their recognition that Square Capital is uniquely positioned to build a bridge between the financial system and the underserved,”

FDIC’s insurance license means that the depositor is rest assured to receive insurance cover of up to the $25000 limit in case if something goes wrong with the bank.

Besides, Square is also cheering on another exciting news as the firm has got a green signal for charter from the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. Accordingly, the new bank is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

India’s Corporate Authority Conducts Inspection on Bitcoin Company, Names Zebpay, and Unocoin 

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Looks like crypto in India are on the next phase as the country’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has conducted an inspection on companies operating within India.

The report comes in a wake of the filing that was submitted in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament. Per the statement, the investigation was conducted to analyze the fraudulent practices by bitcoin companies and eventually named “Zebpay and Unocoin” in the filing.

The statement was filed by the parliamentarian Mohammed Faizal which was then responded by Anurag Thakur, the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs. Mr.Faizal raised three key concerns including,

  • If regulators are aware of the ‘cheating and fraudulent practices by bitcoin companies’,
  • If ’crypto companies are repeatedly violating rules laid out by the corporate Affairs Ministry by not filling annual balance sheets
  • If an action was taken against offending bitcoin companies

As a result, Minster Anurag Thakur noted that Unocoin and Zebpay are the two crypto companies that are registered with the registrar of companies in India – while the former is registered as ‘Unocoin Technologies Private Limited’, latter registered as ‘Zeb IT Services’. In a filing, Minister Thakur responded that;

Based on the findings, prosecutions have been filed for violations under various provisions of the Companies Act and the same also have been concluded on payment of penalty on the compounding application(s) filed by the company.  

However, he also stated that the Zeb IT Services has filed the balance sheet along with annual return as of March 31, 2019, continuing that the company is currently under liquidation. On the other hand, Unocoin Technologies Private Limited is registered with the Registrar of Companies in Karnataka, the state in India. As per Minister Anurag Thakur, this ‘bitcoin company’ is ‘up to date in filing statutory returns and no complaint has been received”.

He added that the company has been registered in India to conduct buy, sell, store and accept bitcoins’. However, following this update, Unocoin co-founder and CEO, Sathvik Vishwanath took to Twitter and said: “a proud moment and glad that we are up to date without any complaints”.

The crux of the matter is that India is the home for several other crypto exchanges but many such companies are registered outside of India. More so, the company which appeared to be ‘in a liquidation’ has recently relaunched in India with new management and nothing has been officially revealed by the Zebpay crypto exchange yet.

Coinbase Becomes First US Crypto Exchange Enabling Google Pay 

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The latest announcement reports that the US’s largest crypto exchange Coinbase is now enabling users to spend Bitcoin using Google Pay via their mobile phones.

Coinbase customers’ s visa debit card, the “Coinbase Card” is now enabled with Google Pay. Coinbase customers can easily link their Coinbase cards to their Google Pay wallet, which will enable them to spend Bitcoins quickly in shops. Following the announcement, Coinbase co-founder and CEO, Brian Armstrong informed his 324.9K followers that they can use “Coinbase card with Google Pay”, adding ‘UK only for now, hopefully coming to other countries soon”.

Accordingly, the exchange highlights that it can expand the Google Pay support to several other countries in late 2020. The report elaborates it as follows;

“To get started with Coinbase Card, download the Android app today and securely sign in using your Coinbase account. Once a Card has been requested, customers can add their card to Google Pay and start spending their crypto, before the physical Coinbase Card arrives. The Card app is also available for iOS users.“

Essentially, the exchange launched the Coinbase Card back in April 2019 which is available across 14 European countries including; the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Norway, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia, Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark, and Sweden.

With the availability of this physical card, Coinbase customers are free to transact in 10 different digital currencies in shops that currently accept Visa payments. Besides physical cards, users can also access the virtual version of the same card on their phone by linking to Google Pay. In an announcement, the exchange states that the exchange has become the first company “to enable users to make mobile payments powered by their crypto balances”.

As soon as the card is linked to the Google Pay wallet, it emulates the card for offline purchases through the device’s NFC chip. This facility prompts the extra time which, users, otherwise have to spend while using the physical card. Noticeably, the physical card is also accompanied by Coinbase’s application – iOS, as well as Android. And now Google Pay, is an added advantage for android users. It’s worth noting that the App Pay still isn’t supported as the company didn’t confirm the integration yet.

Winklevoss Duo Opens Marketplace for Blockchain Digital Art 

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Despite the market turmoil, Bitcoin billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss announced the launch of a marketplace for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

As per the report, Gemini’s Winklevoss twins acquired ‘Nifty Gateway’, a platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) back in November 2019. However, the platform, Nifty Gateway was established by ‘Twin brothers Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster’ and the latest announcement notes that they have launched the Nifty marketplace with Gemini infrastructure to enable the dollar exchange feature when people buy Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

The latest report also notes that the website, ‘niftygateway.com is available from Tuesday, allowing consumers to buy and sell digital collectibles from famous artists. With a website in place, renowned artists including Michael Kagan and Lyle Owerko, Singer Pharrell Williams and others will be able to sell the collection of their digital arts. Concerning this idea, Lyle Owerko who is famous for photography and filmmaking said;

“I haven’t done anything like this before, which is all the more reason to do this now,”

Owerko further added that he knew twin brothers for a few years now, noting;

We met socially in New York, through friends…It’s fun to be an early adopter. … It’s like being a painter in the 1880s and seeing a camera for the first time.”

It was also stated that the deal between him and the twin brothers is mutually beneficial as he would be offering a series of six images via Nifty’s website. The cost mentioned for each image ranges between $200 to $2500. While the idea looks super cool, the platform is yet to ascertain the consumer demand for such digital arts. If you’re active in the crypto market, you might have heard of ‘CryptoKitties’ which was on the hype with its ‘digital breeding cats’ concept.

However, as per Winklevoss duo, the digital collectible market will likely be as big as the ones for art.

What do you think readers, let us know.

Bakkt Integrates Direct Payment Option with Starbucks

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Announced recently, crypto derivative provider and digital assets platform Bakkt has raised $300 million in Series B round. However, the platform also revealed that it has integrated direct payment options with Starbucks.

Although the crypto market is bleeding terribly, yet, Bakkt as an institutional bitcoin derivatives exchange was able to raise a sizeable round of investment. As per the announcement, investors participated in series B round were, Microsoft M12, PayU, Boston Consulting Group, CMT Digital, Goldfinch Partners and Pantera Capital. With new investment in place, Bakkt will be focusing on encouraging more retail-focused clientele.

Interestingly, Bakkt’s CEO Mike Blandina elaborates his concern as follows;

“Despite the size of this market, consumers still find digital assets to be difficult to access, confusing to keep track of, and challenging to use,”

Besides the new funding announcement, Bakkt president Adam White also announced that they have integrated quick and direct payment service on Starbuck’s application. He called out his followers, stating, “open your Starbucks app to see our first direct integration”;

 

Accordingly, Starbucks mobile app users will be able to pay for their drinks via the new option ‘Bakkt Cash’ beside Chase Pay and PayPal. President Adam White further added the customers at present have to sign-up for the Early Access program to leverage the benefit of Bakkt’s new payment integration on the Starbucks mobile app.

Despite the market turmoil, Bakkt ensured that they are expanding their team. Accordingly, it officially noted that Bakkt is a home for 350 employees. Mike Blandina further added;

We have the unique opportunity to leverage the technology, infrastructure, and partners across our businesses to bring innovative new products to the market and in doing so expand access to the global economy.

The platform is also coming up with Bakkt’s new application which will more likely enable users to aggregate their loyalty and reward points. It also notes that the application will be an ultimate spot for managing several features including in-game assets and the conversion of digital assets into cash. As per the announcement, Bakkt will launch the application in the northern summer.