Alexander Vinnik, co-founder of the crypto exchange BTC-e, has admitted guilt to a money laundering conspiracy.
This acknowledgment comes in the wake of a comprehensive investigation uncovering a multitude of illegal activities carried out on the exchange between 2011 and 2017.
According to a press release from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on May 3, BTC-e, under Vinnik’s leadership, facilitated over $9 billion in transactions and amassed a user base exceeding one million globally, including many users from the United States.
The DOJ emphasized that BTC-e served as a channel to launder proceeds from various criminal endeavors, such as computer hacking, ransomware attacks, and drug trafficking.
Investigations revealed that BTC-e operated without crucial legal compliance measures, such as registration with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) or Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols.
These deficiencies made BTC-e attractive to individuals seeking to obscure money transactions from law enforcement.
Additionally, Vinnik was found to have established multiple shell companies and financial accounts worldwide, facilitating the illicit transfer of funds through BTC-e, resulting in criminal losses amounting to at least $121 million.
Vinnik has been entangled in legal proceedings for the past five years due to his purported role as the mastermind behind BTC-e.
The cryptocurrency exchange allegedly profited from various illicit activities amounting to approximately $4 billion in laundered Bitcoin transactions.
Arrested on money laundering charges in Greece in 2017, Vinnik was later extradited to France in 2020.
In France, he was absolved of ransomware accusations but was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to five years in prison.
Despite an unsuccessful appeal by Vinnik’s legal team asserting his mere role as an exchange employee without involvement in illicit activities at BTC-e, he was extradited to the U.S. on August 5, 2022, after serving two years in a French prison.
A Russian citizen, Vinnik had previously attempted to negotiate a prisoner swap deal as part of a diplomatic arrangement between Russia and the United States.
Similar criminal charges have been levied against crypto exchanges and executives by U.S. authorities, evidenced by the recent sentencing of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years for seven felony charges on March 28.
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Tracking the activities of highly capitalized crypto addresses, often referred to as “smart whales,” can offer critical insights for traders and investors in the volatile cryptocurrency market.
A notable example occurred on May 1, when an anonymous wallet completed a significant transaction on the Robinhood exchange by purchasing 1.75 trillion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens for about $40 million.
According to Whale Alert, this large buy involved two quick transfers, each moving 875 billion SHIB within a minute.
The funds moved from Robinhood to the wallet address ‘0x73AF3bcf944a6559933396c1577B257e2054D935,’ which has frequently interacted with SHIB on Robinhood, indicating sustained involvement in its market dynamics.
Earlier, on April 24, this wallet transferred 3 trillion SHIB into Robinhood, exhibiting a consistent pattern of significant transactions with the exchange.
This strategic trading behavior underscores the wallet’s substantial market impact, as it currently holds over 5.88 trillion SHIB, now worth around $128 million.
The trading activities of such addresses are crucial in shaping market trends.
READ MORE: Australian Stock Exchange Set to Approve Spot Bitcoin ETFs by End of 2024
Professional crypto trader Ali Martinez highlighted this in a recent X post, noting, “Shiba Inu appears to be forming a bull flag on its daily chart.”
This pattern suggests a potential price increase. Martinez plans to capitalize on this by placing buy orders at $0.000018343, anticipating a bullish breakout to $0.000072323.
Despite recent market downturns, the ongoing trading fervor around SHIB, especially on platforms like Binance’s Japanese arm—which has introduced new SHIB trading pairs—illustrates a sustained interest. Currently, SHIB’s daily trading volume has surged by 40%, signaling robust trading activity.
At the moment, SHIB is trading at $0.00002363, marking a 3.18% rise in the last 24 hours.
This price movement and high volume of trades reflect a dynamic market environment.
Market experts continue to project a bullish future for SHIB, positioning it as an attractive asset for those seeking to diversify into cryptocurrencies.
As the digital asset landscape evolves, it remains essential for investors and analysts to monitor such trends and movements closely to refine their investment strategies in this ever-changing market.
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Solana Doggy (SOLDOGGY) could become a viral memecoin, like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Solana Doggy (SOLDOGGY), a Solana memecoin that was launched today, is aiming to challenge other memecoin giants, such as Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Early investors in SHIB and DOGE made astronomical returns, and Solana Doggy presents a similar opportunity.
Solana Doggy has a market cap around $13,000 at the moment, meaning that when it just reaches a modest market cap of $200,000-$500,000, early investors would generate returns of 2,000%-5,000% in a matter of days or hours.
The exciting memecoin is poised to rally 6,000% in the coming two days, and Solana Doggy could potentially reach a multi-million dollar market cap within a few weeks.
Currently, Solana Doggy can only be purchased via Solana decentralized exchanges, like Jupiter and Raydium, and early investors stand to make huge returns in the coming days.
To buy Solana Doggy on these platforms, users need to connect their Solflare, MetaMask, or Phantom wallet, and swap Solana for Solana Doggy by entering its contract address – 3f3XRScU3PnaXvsZ4ZGjxDa15SmbhWeMLxHmSyNngaAE – in the receiving field.
In fact, early investors could make returns similar to those who invested in Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) before these memecoins went viral and exploded in price.
If this happens, a new wave of memecoin millionaires could be created in a matter of weeks – or potentially even sooner.
The Solana memecoin craze continues amid larger memecoins, like Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE), and DogWifHat (WIF) trading sideways in recent weeks and losing momentum.
This is why many SHIB, DOGE, and WIF investors are instead investing in new Solana memecoins, like SOLDOGGY.
Dutch authorities have apprehended a 26-year-old man in connection with fraudulent activities related to the ZKasino online gambling platform.
The arrest, carried out by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) on April 29, marks the first significant legal action in this case.
The suspect is currently being investigated for fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering.
FIOD’s investigation led to the seizure of assets worth over 11.4 million euros, including cryptocurrencies, real estate, and luxury vehicles.
These confiscations stem from allegations that ZKasino, which initially appeared as a promising blockchain-based gambling venture, was designed to defraud investors.
Launched on April 20, the platform quickly attracted significant attention, amassing more than 10,515 Ether from over 10,000 contributors.
It promised that these investments would be returned within 30 days.
However, the situation escalated when ZKasino transferred all collected Ether to the Lido staking protocol on the same day of its launch.
READ MORE: Bitcoin Price Plunges Following Lackluster Debut of Hong Kong ETF
Further doubts were raised when the platform altered its website, removing previous assurances that the invested Ether would be returned to the investors.
The case grew more intriguing following a March post on social media platform X, where ZKasino boasted about securing a Series A funding round valued at $350 million.
The purported round included investments from notable entities like crypto exchange MEXC and venture capital firm Big Brain Holdings.
However, Big Brain Holdings later refuted these claims, stating, “which appears to be fraudulent,” indicating that it had never actually invested in ZKasino, although it had been offered tokens on a pro-rata basis.
The controversy surrounding ZKasino underscores the risks associated with cryptocurrency investments, particularly in platforms promising high returns with minimal transparency.
As the investigation continues, with the suspect’s detention extended by 14 days for further inquiry, the crypto community remains vigilant, with many on X speculating about the suspect’s true identity.
This case serves as a critical reminder of the importance of due diligence in the volatile realm of crypto investments.
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Flying Pepe (FLYPEPE) could turn early investors into multi-millionaires if it becomes a mainstream coin, like Bonk (BONK) and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Flying Pepe (FLYPEPE), a new Solana memecoin that was launched this week, is poised to explode over 7,000% in price in the coming days.
This is because FLYPEPE has announced its first centralized exchange listing, which will be on MEXC.
This will give the Solana memecoin exposure to millions of additional investors, who will pour funds into the coin and drive its price up.
Currently, Flying Pepe can only be purchased via Solana decentralized exchanges, like Jupiter and Raydium, and early investors stand to make huge returns in the coming days.
Early investors in BONK and DOGE made astronomical returns, and Flying Pepe could become the next viral memecoin.
To buy Flying Pepe on Raydium or Jupiter ahead of the MEXC listing, users need to connect their Solflare, MetaMask or Phantom wallet, and swap Solana for Flying Pepe by entering its contract address – 65orYrJbQxa5BZUWyeCsDtJC7JZg8zQYcvRZpvnnd5eq – in the receiving field.
In fact, early investors could make returns similar to those who invested in Bonk (BONK) and Dogecoin (DOGE) before these memecoins went viral and exploded in price.
If this happens, a new wave of memecoin millionaires could be created in a matter of weeks – or potentially even sooner.
The Solana memecoin craze continues amid larger memecoins, like Bonk (BONK), Dogecoin (DOGE) and DogWifHat (WIF) trading sideways in recent weeks and losing momentum.
This is why many BONK, DOGE, and WIF investors are instead investing in new Solana memecoins, like FLYPEPE.
On May 3, options contracts for Bitcoin and Ether worth a combined total of $2.4 billion are set to expire, potentially escalating market volatility.
Bitcoin options are derivatives that let investors bet on Bitcoin’s price fluctuations without holding the actual cryptocurrency.
These contracts are available in two forms: call and put options.
Call options grant the right to buy Bitcoin at a predetermined price before a specific date, whereas put options provide the right to sell it at an agreed-upon price before the contract expires.
The put/call ratio is a common metric used by investors to gauge market mood.
A dominance of put purchases suggests bearish sentiment, whereas more call buys imply a bullish outlook.
A put-to-call ratio below 0.7 signals bullish conditions, but a ratio above 1 indicates bearish sentiment.
READ MORE: Australian Stock Exchange Set to Approve Spot Bitcoin ETFs by End of 2024
According to data from the Deribit exchange, 23,367 Bitcoin contracts valued at $1.39 billion will expire on May 3.
The put-to-call ratio for these Bitcoin options is currently 0.5, with a maximum pain point—a price level causing the most significant potential loss for the most holders—pegged at $61,000.
Additionally, 334,248 Ether contracts, representing a notional value of $1 billion, are due to expire shortly.
These contracts have a put-to-call ratio of 0.37 and a maximum pain point set at $3,000.
Historically, the expiration of such contracts leads to transient fluctuations in the cryptocurrency spot market.
In recent weeks, both Bitcoin and Ether have been under bearish pressure.
Bitcoin’s value recently dropped below $60,000, a nearly 20% decline in a week following its halving event, while Ether dipped below $2,900.
Typically, the market recovers from this expiry-induced volatility within a few days.
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Doctor Pepe (DOCPEPE), a newly launched Solana memecoin, has been attracting significant investment from early Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) buyers.
Doctor Pepe (DOCPEPE) has surged around 225% in the first few hours since its launch, delivering huge returns for early investors and attracting investment from early Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) buyers.
However, DOCPEPE still has plenty of potential to rise more, and it’s poised to rally another 3,000% in the coming 48 hours.
Furthermore, it has already been announced that the token will soon be listed on MEXC – as its first listing on a centralized exchange – and this will be another massively bullish event for its price.
Despite the rally so far, DOCPEPE still just has a market cap of around $34,000, meaning it has immense potential for more gains in the coming days and weeks.
Currently, Doctor Pepe can only be purchased via Solana decentralized exchanges, like Jupiter and Raydium, and early investors stand to make huge returns in the coming days.
To buy DOCPEPE on these platforms, users need to connect their Solflare, MetaMask or Phantom wallet, and swap Solana for DOCPEPE by entering its contract address – 3n8HMVVfMF2uqdpts5TUETAHUrvD1AFg8V1XLahpeTT8 – in the receiving field.
Early investors could make returns similar to those who invested in Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Bonk (BONK) before these memecoins went viral and exploded in price.
If this happens, a new wave of memecoin millionaires could be created in a matter of weeks – or potentially even sooner.
Over $3.1 billion in vested crypto assets are scheduled for release in May, highlighting significant events for projects like Sui and Pyth Network, each set to unlock over $1 billion in tokens.
Crypto vesting practices help ensure ongoing commitment to projects by restricting the immediate sale of tokens by early investors or team members.
Sui, a layer-1 blockchain platform, is poised to release the highest volume of tokens.
It plans to unlock nearly one billion tokens valued at approximately $1.15 billion for its Series A and Series B investors, early contributors, the Mysten Labs treasury, and its community reserve on May 31.
Pyth Network, a market data platform, will unlock over two billion tokens valued around $1.1 billion on May 20.
These tokens are allocated for protocol development, ecosystem growth, publisher rewards, and private sale investors, with the price per PYTH token currently about $0.51.
Additionally, other crypto projects like Avalanche, Aptos, Arbitrum, Starknet, Optimism, and Immutable are set to release over $700 million in combined tokens.
Specifically, on May 12, Aptos will release 11.3 million APT tokens worth $101 million to various stakeholders including its foundation and core contributors.
READ MORE: Bitcoin Price Plunges Following Lackluster Debut of Hong Kong ETF
Avalanche plans to unlock 9.5 million AVAX tokens valued at $321 million on May 22 for its strategic partners and team, among others.
Arbitrum, another layer-2 blockchain network, will release $95 million worth of ARB tokens on May 16, designated for its team and investors.
This follows a substantial $2.3 billion token release by Arbitrum to the same groups earlier in March.
Moreover, Starknet is scheduled to unlock $84 million in tokens for its investors and early contributors on May 15.
Immutable will follow with a $56 million release on May 17 aimed at supporting ecosystem and project development.
Lastly, the layer-2 scaling solution Optimism will release 24.1 million OP tokens on May 29, valued at approximately $70 million.
In May 2023, Optimism had also unlocked $587 million in OP tokens for its early contributors and investors, underscoring a recurring theme of substantial token releases in the crypto industry.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
BetFury is the 1st iGaming platform that launched competitive Crypto Loans, expanding its crypto ecosystem. Every BetFury user can now create positions with a minimum permissible 50% LTV and the lowest interest rate among the leading CEXs. Uncover how to seamlessly leverage your holdings for instant liquidity without selling!
What are Crypto Loans on BetFury?
BetFury Crypto Loans – a financial service that provides users with access to liquidity in exchange for collateral. You can create fixed-term loan positions with fixed interest rates throughout the loan terms. BetFury offers isolated loan positions meaning each collateral-loan pair position holds its distinct Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratios as well as margin call and liquidation LTV levels.
Crypto Loans are helpful for those who want to use one currency instead of another without trading. If you’re confident in the growth of Bitcoin but want to keep holding it, you can borrow the most suitable currency and receive profit from this maneuver.
Leading crypto for borrowing and collateral usage
BetFury provides a diverse range of assets for loan and collateral, including USDT, BTC, and ETH. Still, the platform does not support the use of the same cryptocurrency for both collateral and loan within a single loan position. That’s why you cannot use BTC as collateral and borrow BTC in the same loan position.
Benefits of Using BetFury Crypto Loans
BetFury became a pioneer by introducing Crypto Loans into the iGaming area. Moreover, it has provided intense competition to well-known platforms. What are the main reasons for BetFury’s uniqueness in a crypto borrowing world?
- The Lowest Interest Rate
BetFury offers the lowest interest rate among CEXs. Let’s say you borrow USDT for 30 days, your annual interest rate will be only 6.6%. It’s 5-6 times less than on some well-known exchanges.
- Creating Positions With LTV < Initial LTV
You can create a position with a 50% minimum possible LTV. Simply put, when you place a higher collateral amount, you will be much further away from Liquidation. - The Gap Between Margin Call LTV & Liquidation LTV
BetFury has increased the gap between Margin Call LTV and Liquidation LTV to ensure more time for users to react and stabilize the borrowing position. - Uniqueness Among Competitors
The above aspects distinguish BetFury from its direct competitors, such as other online casinos and top centralized exchanges.
How to Earn via BetFury Crypto Loans?
You can utilize the loan for various purposes, such as placing bets, engaging in crypto swaps, depositing into BetFury Earn products, or withdrawing funds from the platform. However, the collateral will remain with BetFury Crypto Loans as security for the return of the digital assets you’ve borrowed.
Here are several key aspects to keep in mind while profitably earning from Crypto Loans:
- Keep track of LTV levels
The BetFury Crypto Loans system is simple and centered around the LTV, which is the ratio (%) of the loan to the collateral amount. As one of the other perks, BetFury has a high initial LTV from 75% to 80%. The main thing when borrowing is the ability to control the LTV. This value has three levels: Initial LTV, Margin Call LTV, and Liquidation LTV.
- Earn with borrowed crypto assets on BetFury
The platform has many gainful crypto products and exclusive offers for BFG holders. If you convert BFG to unique stBFG tokens and join BFG Staking, you will double your passive income and get up to 70% APY. There’s also an earning option via crypto Futures allowing for simple earning in a new entertaining format. Explore these and more options on BetFury! - Avoid Liquidation
Once you reach a Liquidation LTV, the platform automatically liquidates your collateral assets to repay the loan. As mentioned above, BetFury has a significant gap between Margin Call LTV and Liquidation LTV, so controlling risks will be much easier. If you follow all the rules and create effective strategies, it’ll be easier to get income using Crypto Loans.
Conclusion
BetFury Crypto Loans is a tool that provides easy access to liquidity and opens a door to the crypto world for any user. Implementation of this feature takes a solid step toward further BetFury’s growth. Who thought the iGaming platform would add competitive crypto borrowing on par with top CEXs? BetFury has once again demonstrated that it could unite crypto enthusiasts and players in one place. Therefore, borrow top currencies and fill your digital balance.
About BetFury
BetFury is an established ecosystem with crypto-earning features, iGaming, and Sports betting. The platform has a global community of 2M+ users for over four years of progress.
Multiple crypto-staking options are available on BetFury for users who prioritize competitive rewards and leading tokens for earning. When you sign up on BetFury, you receive a Welcome Pack with up to $10 500 Deposit Bonuses and 225 Free Spins.
If you prefer a team approach to gaining rewards, you can join a Referral Program. The referrer gets a $1,500 bonus and a 30% commission for the referral’s activity with an opportunity for reward. You can access all these crypto features directly on the BetFury website or use its Telegram Bot for faster platform access and boosted rewards.
A substantial loss struck the cryptocurrency community when an unknown trader mistakenly sent $68 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) to a scammer’s address in an address-poisoning scam. The loss was disclosed by the on-chain security firm Cyvers, which detailed the incident in a post dated May 3:
“Are we mistaken, or has someone truly lost $68 million worth of $WBTC? Our system has detected another address falling victim to address poisoning, losing 1,155 $WBTC.”
The affected wallet, known as “0x1E,” reportedly lost over 97% of its assets, which were valued at more than $67.8 million, according to analytics provided by CoinStats.
Address poisoning, also referred to as address spoofing, is a type of scam targeting the oversight and rush common among traders during transactions. Scammers deceive traders into sending cryptocurrency to similar-looking but fraudulent addresses.
The crypto industry continues to grapple with trust issues due to frequent scams.
For instance, in a separate incident related to the ZKasino gambling platform, investors were defrauded out of at least $33 million.
Dutch authorities managed to apprehend a suspect associated with this scam on April 29.
Despite the distressing news from ZKasino, April reported a relatively low total of $25.7 million lost to cryptocurrency scams and hacks—the lowest since 2021.
This figure comes from CertiK, an on-chain intelligence firm that began monitoring these incidents that year.
According to their analysis, losses were down by 141% from the previous month, primarily due to a decrease in private key compromises.
Notably, April saw only three such incidents, while March recorded more than 11.
However, CertiK’s recent report does not account for the $33 million lost in the ZKasino scam.
Although the report acknowledges ongoing controversy surrounding ZKasino, it stops short of labeling it a scam.
This stance may change, as indicated by a shift on April 22 when ZKasino moved all 10,515 Ether collected from investors to the Lido staking protocol, raising alarm among stakeholders.
CertiK has indicated that it will revise its findings should ZKasino be officially classified as a fraudulent enterprise.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.