Cryptocurrency

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison is set to be sentenced on Tuesday for her role in her imprisoned former boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried’s theft of about $8 billion in customer funds from the now-bankrupt FTX exchange he founded.Ellison has pleaded guilty to seven felony counts of fraud and conspiracy, and testified as a prosecution witness in the trial of Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of fraud and other charges last year and is serving a 25-year prison sentence stemming from FTX’s November 2022 collapse. At her sentencing hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, Ellison will learn how much leniency she will earn from her cooperation with prosecutors.Ellison, 29, will almost certainly get far less prison time than Bankman-Fried did. The crimes to which she pleaded guilty carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison.Her lawyers have argued that she should get no prison time due to her cooperation. Without recommending a specific prison term, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, which brought the charges, also urged Kaplan to go easy on Ellison, citing her “extraordinary” cooperation and expression of remorse.”As FTX collapsed, Bankman-Fried persisted in publicly denying knowledge and fault,” prosecutors wrote in a Sept. 17 court filing. “Ellison, on the other hand, expressed relief that the fraud was exposed, and responsibility for her wrongdoing.”Prosecutors said Ellison met with them about 20 times to help them piece together FTX’s unraveling and make their case against Bankman-Fried.Prosecutors have called Bankman-Fried’s actions one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history. Bankman-Fried, 32, rode a boom in cryptocurrency prices during the COVID pandemic to a net worth by October 2021 of, according to Forbes magazine, $26 billion. He gained prominence as a generous donor to philanthropic causes and Democratic politicians. His wealth evaporated when FTX collapsed in November 2022 amid a flurry of customer withdrawals. The company had been widely viewed as a relative safe-haven in a cryptocurrency industry beset by volatility and scams. Bankman-Fried was charged a month later with stealing FTX customer funds to plug losses at Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund he founded and that Ellison ran from 2021-2022. Ellison pleaded guilty in December 2022.Bankman-Fried is appealing his conviction and sentence, arguing that Kaplan wrongly excluded evidence showing he thought FTX had enough funds to cover customer withdrawals. In testifying in his own defense at trial, Bankman-Fried admitted to making mistakes while running FTX, but denied stealing money. In his closing argument at Bankman-Fried’s trial, defense lawyer Mark Cohen accused Ellison of “pointing at Sam” to escape the pressure she faced after FTX’s collapse. Ellison testified over three days at Bankman-Fried’s trial, telling the jury he directed her and others to take money from FTX’s customers without their knowledge. In tearful testimony, Ellison said she felt “indescribably bad” about the fraud, and that FTX’s collapse lifted the “dread” hanging over her. “I felt a sense of relief that I didn’t have to lie anymore,” Ellison testified. Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, two other former FTX executives who cooperated with prosecutors, are scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 30 and Nov. 20, respectively. More

Miners of digital coins have come under scrutiny across the world in recent years because the computing power needed to solve the complex puzzles involves specialised hardware which operates around the clock and guzzles electricity. Dagestan’s local prime minister, Abdulmuslim Abdulmuslimov, said that the authorities needed to pay more attention to illegal crypto mining after a substation fire in the capital was caused by a spike in consumption due to crypto miners.”The owners of illegal cryptocurrency mining installations are coming up with new methods of ‘circumventing’ the law – they install mining farms underground,” Abdulmuslimov said.Dagestan’s government released footage showing investigators inspecting a crypto mining installation in a makeshift underground cavern with dozens of fans to cool the computers.Cryptocurrency mining legislation, signed by President Vladimir Putin, will come into effect under certain conditions from Nov. 1, 2024.A special register will be maintained by the finance ministry for companies engaging in cryptocurrency mining. Individuals mining digital currencies will have to provide certain information to Russia’s financial monitoring regulator. More

RENEC Lend, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform backed by the RENEC Foundation, is excited to announce a limited-time airdrop event for its native token, Relend Token (REL). As the anticipated REL listing on Solana and RENEC decentralized exchanges (DEXs) approaches by the end of September, this airdrop offers an opportunity for users to accumulate REL tokens before they become available to the public.Relend Token (REL) is the native token of the platform, designed to empower holders with a variety of benefits, including governance, staking, and liquidity provision. REL is gaining attention within the DeFi community as it prepares for its DEX listing.Readers can learn more about REL’s tokenomics here.Reward Details:Post-Supply Benefits:After supplying tokens, participants also have the opportunity to borrow additional tokens such as USDT or BNB with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of up to 75%. With loan interest rates as low as 5% per year and no financial verification required, the platform offers flexible borrowing options perfect for long-term needs.About RENEC LendRENEC Lend is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform offering token and fiat Supply/Borrow services. Backed by the RENEC Foundation and operating on both the RENEC and Solana blockchains, the platform allows users to take advantage of low-interest rates, under 5% annually, while aiming to maximize earnings through reward airdrop events.For more information, readers can visit:This article was originally published on Chainwire More

HashKey Global, a licensed virtual asset exchange, has announced the launch of a zero-fee campaign for futures trading, set to go live on September 27, 2024. Aiming to become the world’s largest licensed futures trading platform, HashKey Global is the first in the industry to introduce zero trading fees for futures trading, eliminating all trading costs for users and offering a more competitive trading environment for traders worldwide.As a licensed exchange, HashKey Global achieved profitability within three months and has risen to the ranks of top global exchanges within just six months (*According to Coingecko, as of September 23, 2024, HashKey Global ranks No.11), surpassing 600,000 registered users. Its futures trading has shown strong growth in ranking, open interest, and trading volume.HashKey Global remains committed to providing a seamless and mature trading interface, a secure and regulated asset environment, and a safe yet user-friendly futures trading experience as it works towards becoming the world’s largest licensed futures exchange.About HashKey GlobalHashKey Global is the flagship digital asset exchange under HashKey Group, offering licensed digital asset trading services to users worldwide, and becomes one of the fastest-growing crypto exchanges in 2024. HashKey Global has obtained a license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority providing mainstream trading and service products such as LaunchPad, contracts, leverage, etc. HashKey Global does not service users from Hong Kong, United States, Mainland China and certain other jurisdictions in compliance with laws and regulations. Certain services, features, and campaigns may not be available in your jurisdiction.users can read HashKey’s latest Disclaimer.For more details, users can visit global.hashkey.com. Follow us on X, Telegram, and DiscordFor media inquiries, users can contact luna.wang@hashkey.comContactSenior PR ManagerLuna WangHashKey Globalluna.wang@hashkey.comThis article was originally published on Chainwire More

This article was originally published on U.Today More

Besides, Bitcoin and the stock market already began accelerating last week when, on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced an increase in the interest rate by 50 basis points.As reported by U.Today earlier, CZ started doing his prison time in early June. After he was charged with violating U.S. securities law, Changpeng Zhao stepped down as Binance chief executive, and the exchange agreed to pay the immense fine of several billion dollars at the demand of the U.S. Department of Justice.Recently, the new CEO of Binance, Richard Teng, assured the crypto community in an X post that CZ is banned from running Binance until the end of his life; that was also a condition set by the Department of Justice.However, he ended up launching online educational project Giggle Academy in order to teach underprivileged children finance, blockchain, English and math free of charge. This project started off not long before CZ started doing his prison term.What CZ also did was to announce vague plans to write a book in prison, because he said he would have plenty of free time to do that.This article was originally published on U.Today More

It is worth remarking that Saylor often erupts the public space with posts focused on Bitcoin. Sometimes they seem delusional, sometimes funny, but overall they reflect the vision Saylor has for cryptocurrency. This time was no different, as the MicroStrategy CEO delivered a “Going Higher” comment, accompanied by an AI-generated image of him surrounded by mountains. It was very Michael Saylor-like, to say the least.Meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin started the new week with a reddening of its quotes. After the last two weeks in which BTC gained 16%, Monday opened with the cryptocurrency down 0.41%. If the 200 SMA is successfully breached, we could see a quick rise to $65,000 per BTC, where another strong resistance level is located. If Bitcoin fails here, it could fall to the $60,000 area, where its fate will continue to be decided by buyers and sellers.Saylor’s enthusiasm is understandable given that MicroStrategy holds 252,220 BTC. However, it is not clear if it is really “going higher” right now.This article was originally published on U.Today More

In particular, the trader did not rule out the possibility that Bitcoin could see almost 520% growth in its price against gold in the coming months. However, when further asked what he thought about the fact that the cryptocurrency has already lost its uptrend line against gold futures, Brandt said he does not trust or use trend lines, but he is concerned that BTC remains below its 2021 high in inflation-adjusted terms.”Could it roll over for a complete new reset?” the trader asks, saying he does not rule out such an outcome.According to various estimates, Bitcoin would have to reach around $78,000 to break the November 2021 levels. The “who to blame” here is of course not the cryptocurrency itself, which has seen growth of almost 290% since the beginning of 2023, but the U.S. dollar, in which the price of BTC is often denominated.This article was originally published on U.Today More