NFT News by Thebittimes.Com

The co-founder of LocalMonero, Alex Daneo, announced on Reddit that he will be ceasing operations after almost 7 years. Like the also-defunct Local Bitcoin s service for Bitcoin (BTC), LocalMonero helped facilitate peer-to-peer trading of monero (XMR), a private-by-default Crypto currency. Daneo cited “internal and external factors” that made it difficult to sustain LocalMonero’s operations. Most people in the Crypto industry interpreted those “factors” to be recent news developments: namely the criminal indictment of Samourai Wallet’s co-founders, and a public service announcement about non-KYC Crypto money transmitters from the FBI. Those events sent a clear message: “Beware of financial services that do not ask for KYC information including name, date of birth, address, and ID before allowing you to send or receive money or Crypto currency.” Similarly to LocalMonero, the FBI-seized Samourai Wallet was a service for privacy-conscious users to swap money with ties to their ident...

Brock Pierce, the co- found er of controversial ‘stablecoin’ Tether , is suing his former business partner Joseph Lipsey III over control of the W resort in Puerto Rico, according to reporting from Bloomberg. Pierce originally acquired a majority stake in the hotel in 2021. He then took a line of credit from Lipsey III, who made his fortune in trucking, to buy out the other owners. The Tether founder’s complaint alleges that Lipsey III seized the hotel after Pierce missed a deadline to complete the transaction, a fact Pierce denies. The New York Post details how the lawsuit claims this default was manufactured to “outright steal” the property in question. Pierce and Lipsey’s son, Joseph Lipsey IV, are both producers on the new movie Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point . Pierce’s former partner Lipsey pled guilty to curious charges Lipsey IV and both his parents were previously charged with allegations that the family would throw partie...

Crypto exchange HTX has skipped a Dutch court hearing after being accused of ignoring a scam victim and has been ordered to reveal the scammer’s identity — or face a hefty fine. According to the Netherlands’ financial crime unit, a scammer stole €1.2 million ($1.3 million) from a local with an HTX wallet that has been connected to several other Crypto investment scams. HTX allegedly ignored the Dutch victim’s reports, leading them to contact authorities and seek legal action. The scammer’s full name, address, zip code, and place of residence must be handed over, an Amsterdam court ruled in a hearing earlier this month. HTX didn’t attend. HTX was fined €500,000 ($550,000) and can be ordered to pay €100,000 ($110,000) more each day it doesn’t comply, up to €2 million ($2.2 million). HTX hacked week after Poloniex — now Justin Sun only posts as AI Read more: Justin Sun in no hurry to tell China about HTX hack HTX is owned by Tron founde...

Tether’s reported new partnership with Britannia Bank makes it the third Bahamas-based bank to join forces with the stablecoin issuer. Tether, the stablecoin issuer behind USDT, has reportedly added Britannia Bank & Trust, a private bank based in The Bahamas to process dollar transfers on its platform. It is understood Tether has instructed clients to send money to Britannia’s bank account over the last few months, according to an Aug. 29 report by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. However, it isn’t clear when Tether’s banking relationship with Britannia Bank started, but its other reported banking partners include Deltec Bank and Capital Union Bank. In recent months, United States- based cryptocurrency firms have had to increasingly look offshore for banking partners amid increased scrutiny by U.S. regulators following the shock collapse of FTX in November. Tether’s unwillingness to publicly disclose the full extent of its balance sheet and banking relationsh...

Trade volume of the Russia n rouble and largest ‘stablecoin’ Tether rose drastically amid the Wagner Group’s failed insurrection, as Russia ns withdrew over $1 billion from local banks in a bid to find alternatives, Financial Times (FT) reports. USDT-RUB jumped 277% on June 24 when Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his troops to move on Moscow, from $3.9 million to $14.7 million, according to CCData. This was the highest volume recorded for the trading pair since it climbed to over $21 million in July 2022. When the military leader ordered his troops to retreat the next day, volume went back down to $3 million. Meanwhile, the rouble has shed a half of its value over the past six months and reached over 90Rbs per US dollar this month — its lowest point since Russia first invaded Ukraine. However, the surge in trade volume has reinforced existing concerns of illicit activity. According to the former chief of staff at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Char...

Three men in Hong Kong have allegedly scammed HK$1 million ($128,000) worth of Crypto currency from a female accountant using a bundle of counterfeit banknotes and a fake “ Crypto currency shop.”  The 29-year-old victim first saw the supposed Crypto currency trading outlet advertising lucrative exchange rates on Instagram. She visited the shop last Sunday with the goal of exchanging 128,040 Tether ($128,067) into fiat currency.   At the shop, an “employee” handed her a bundle of HK$1,000 banknotes and told her to send the crypto to a designated wallet controlled by them. However, she failed to notice that the stack of cash contained just two genuine notes at the top and bottom of the pile while the rest were training aids for banks.  After transferring the crypto, she was told to wait outside by the “employee” as they supposedly needed the toilet. Instead, the man left her with the counterfeit notes and never returned . Suspecting she’d been scammed out of her c...

According to Strike CEO Jack Mallers, the expansion drive aims to counter the “clouded world of crypto exchanges and hidden, unregistered licensing regimes and 1,000 different coins.” Strike, a Chicago-based Bitcoin (BTC) payment provider, expanded its services to 65 countries in parallel to relocating its global headquarters to El Salvador. Before its expansion, the mobile app was operational only in the United States, El Salvador and Argentina. According to Jack Mallers, the CEO and founder of Zap, Strike's parent company, the expansion drive aims to counter the “clouded world of crypto exchanges and hidden, unregistered licensing regimes and 1,000 different coins.” Speaking to Fortune, Mallers revealed that the move to relocate its headquarters to El Salvador was a response to the growing anti-crypto regulatory sentiments in the U.S. On one hand, regulations prevent Strike from offering its service in New York. On the other hand, El Salvador introduced crypto-inclusive regu...

The community is hopeful that the assertion by the CFTC will put to bed claims that staked coins are securities according to the Howey Test. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has again labeled Ether (ETH) as a commodity in a Dec. 13 court filing — in contrast to statements from chief Rostin Behnam on Nov. 30 suggesting that Bitcoin was the sole cryptocurrency that should be viewed as a commodity. According to the CFTC, as per their filing today, ETH is a commodity . This really should put any Security designation to rest. pic.twitter.com/PkHWredNK4 — Hal Press (@NorthRockLP) December 13, 2022 In its lawsuit against Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, and sister company Alameda Research, the regulator on multiple occasions referred to Ether, Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) "among others" as "commodities" under United States law. “Certain digital assets are “commodities,” including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), tether (USDT) and others, as defined under Section 1a...

Tether (USDT), one of the largest stablecoins on the market, has lately made headlines for numerous reasons. However, it was not all for positive reasons. The previous auditor of the company received an objection for “improper professional conduct.”  In the meantime, the stablecoin issuer was requested to submit paperwork to the court in a proceeding. The network disclosed on October 3 that it had reduced its holding of commercial paper to less than $50 million in the midst of all of this. However, in one of the most recent tweets, the official Twitter handle of Tether confirmed that it has eliminated $30 billion in insecure short-term debt without incurring any losses. JUST IN: # Tether says it has eliminated $30 billion of unsecured short-term debt without any losses. — Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) October 13, 2022 Tether says that it has brought commercial paper to zero Commercial papers are, to put it simply, unsecured, short-term financial ins...