Bitcoin Price Drops As US Prosecutors File Charges Against BitMEX For Money Laundering And Facilitating Illicit Trading

By Brenda Ngari – October 1, 2020

BitMEX, the most widely utilized bitcoin margin trading platform, failed to enact proper compliance procedures and allowed unregistered trading, among other violations, according to US regulators.

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission has charged BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange, CEO Arthur Hayes, the firm’s owners (Samuel Reed and Ben Delo), and corporate entities (HDR Global Trading Limited, ABS Global Trading Limited, 100x Holding Limited, HDR Global Services (Bermuda), and Shine Effort Inc Limited) with operating improperly in the U.S. 

Although the bitcoin price was trending higher earlier on the day, it has suddenly dropped following the news.

BitMEX Faces Money Laundering And Other Civil Charges

The day of reckoning has come for BitMEX as the US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against the cryptocurrency trading platform.

According to a press release on October 1, the CFTC announced the filing of a civil action in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York charging BitMEX with breaching multiple CFTC regulations, including operating an unregistered trading platform and failing to put into action anti-money laundering policies.

The filing alleges that BitMEX received over $11 billion in bitcoin deposits and amassed more than $1 billion in transaction fees while conducting the majority of its business in the United States and accepting US customers’ funds and orders.

The filing further reads,

“BitMEX touts itself as the world’s largest cryptocurrency derivatives platform, with billions of dollars’ of trading volume each day. Much of this volume, and related transaction fees, derives from the operation of the platform from the U.S. and its extensive solicitation of and access to U.S. customers, the complaint alleges. Nevertheless, BitMEX has failed to register with the CFTC, and has failed to implement key safeguards required by the CEA and CFTC’s regulations designed to protect the U.S. derivatives markets and market participants.”

Notably, this civil case against the Hong Kong-based exchange was introduced by the Division of Enforcement’s Digital Asset and Bank Secrecy Act Task Forces. 

In particular, the CFTC has charged BitMEX with facilitating the trading of swap contracts on an unregistered platform, operating as a futures commission merchant without CFTC approval, failing to impose know-your-customer procedures, and executing leveraged retail commodity transactions.

Commenting on the charges filed against BitMEX, CFTC Chairman Hearth P. Tarbert had this to say:

“Digital assets hold great promise for our derivatives markets and for our economy. For the United States to be a global leader in this space, it is imperative that we root out illegal activity like that alleged in this case. New and innovative financial products can flourish only if there is market integrity. We can’t allow bad actors that break the law to gain an advantage over exchanges that are doing the right thing by complying with our rules.”

The consequences for the alleged violations could be dire for BitMEX, as they include “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, restitution for the benefit of customers, permanent registration and trading bans, and a permanent injunction from future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA)”.

Feds File A Parallel Criminal Case Against BitMEX

Unfortunately for BitMEX, the CFTC is not the only US regulator coming down heavily on the exchange. The US feds have also filed concurrent criminal charges against Hayes, Delo, Reed, and Gregory Dwyer for violating the Bank Secrecy Act and conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy laws.

According to crypto lawyer Preston Byrne, BitMEX “isn't going to be able to settle this with a slap on the wrist and a fine.”

Bitcoin Price Drops

The flagship cryptocurrency kicked off October on a high note as it rallied to $10,896 in the early hours of Thursday. However, the price of bitcoin decreased from $10.8k heights to $10,524 at press time. This represents a drop of circa 2.4 percent within the span of minutes.

The aggregate crypto market followed bitcoin’s suit, with ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) all posting losses ranging between 1.75% and 2.06%. Binance Coin (BNB) is emerging as today’s biggest loser among the top ten cryptocurrencies as it has shed over 7% of its value.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Setting Records: Bitcoin Price Has Stayed Above $10,000 Longer Than Ever In History

By Brenda Ngari – September 29, 2020

The bitcoin price has been holding above $10,000 since July 27. This resilience has excited well-known bull Anthony Pompliano who noted that the flagship cryptocurrency has been able to successfully discredit the BTC bear case.

Bitcoin Sets Record Of 63 Consecutive Daily Closes Above $10K

Morgan Creek Digital co-founder, Anthony Pompliano, took to Twitter on Monday to remind bitcoin haters that the cryptocurrency is setting major landmarks. In his tweet, Pomp observed that bitcoin has registered 63 straight days closing above the eminent five-digit mark.

This marks the longest series of daily closes above the $10K mark than any other time in history. According to Pompliano, it proves the haters' bearishness wrong. “There is always time to capitulate & join the party :),” he advised the bears. He also posited that the prolonged period is an indication that there is more upside to come.

Bitcoin's previous price record above $10,000 lasted for 62 days between December 1, 2017, and January 31, 2018. This was around the time the dominant cryptocurrency tickled the underbelly of $20,000.

Notably, BTCs latest record above $10,000 has been quite uneventful as the cryptocurrency has been stuck in a macro range between $10K and $12.5K. Nonetheless, 63 days is no small feat.

Bullish Fundamental On-Chain Tailwinds To Spur BTC Bulls

A couple of days ago, blockchain data firm CryptoQuant pointed out ten on-chain indicators that are favorable for the bitcoin market bulls. These indicators include the miners' position index(MPI), Puell multiple, Hash Ribbons, All Exchanges Outflow Mean, Stock to Flow, Stablecoin Supply Ratio, among others.

The confluence of these fundamental on-chain indicators suggests the bitcoin network is healthy and raises the probability of more upside. In other words, bitcoin could be primed to move higher based on these ten reasons. 

The OG crypto is trading at $10,753.87 at press time, representing a 2.19% gain on the day.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

This Prominent Financial Author Thinks All National Currencies Will Be Pegged To Bitcoin

By Brenda Ngari – September 28, 2020

Bitcoin has faced so many hitches in the short time it has existed. Countries like China and Russia have imposed draconian laws that prohibit the use of the cryptocurrency. As if that weren’t enough, renowned economists and corporations have come out criticizing bitcoin and its ability to thrive in the future. Moreover, most investors across the world are still wary of investing in a virtual currency, therefore mass adoption is still a dream.

Yet, a successful financial author is still expecting fiat currencies to be pegged to the OG crypto in the future.

National Currencies Will Be Pegged To Bitcoin: Jeff Booth

Speaking during an interview with Cambridge House International, author of The Price of Tomorrow and CEO of e-commerce company BuildDirect Jeff Booth noted that the irresponsible money printing that governments have embarked on is only exacerbating the escalating debt challenge. In contrast, technology is decreasing prices and increasing efficiency. At the moment, it is a competition between the deflationary technology and the inflationary forces stemming from central banks’ monetary policies.

Booth thinks that technology will ultimately win against money printing. As a consequence, the embattled national fiat currencies will then be pegged to bitcoin.

“So the government says, ‘We are going to make your cash worthless.’ Why do you think populations are rising up? They’re after the protection of value from governments’ policies that are destroying their currencies. It could happen in a number of different ways, but I think in the end game, I think that currencies will be pegged to bitcoin.”

“Bitcoin Is A Life Raft”

Wealth preservation has always been deemed as the role of gold for thousands of years. Investors normally flock to the precious metal in times of uncertainty as it is not correlated to the legacy financial system.

Booth, however, believes bitcoin is a much better option. He explained how during World War II people would sew gold onto their garments as they attempted to escape with some wealth, but they would end up drowning because the gold on their clothes was weighing them down.

Compared to gold, bitcoin is a more effective way of storing value as investors only need to remember a few words and they can move anywhere in the world with the cryptocurrency. “So the portability alone of bitcoin for safety reasons becomes paramount. It’s a life raft,” Booth asserted.

Bitcoin Is “Highly Likely” To Become The World’s Reserve Currency

The prominent financial author also spoke about bitcoin rising to become the world’s reserve asset. Right now history favors gold, but the future will be more on bitcoin’s side. By this, Booth means that bitcoin is “highly likely” to attain the status of the reserve currency of the world.

“History is on the gold bugs’ side, but the future is moving so fast along technology if you see how bitcoin is designed and I think it's highly likely that bitcoin becomes the reserve currency”.

While it is still far away from becoming the reserve currency, bitcoin is already serving as the primary reserve asset of billion-dollar publicly-traded companies like MicroStrategy.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin price unfazed after $150M hack of major exchange KuCoin

KuCoin reported a major security breach on Sep. 26, affecting Bitcoin, Ether, and ERC20 hot wallets while BTC and ETH prices remain unfazed.

Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            SEPT 26, 2020

In an official statement, KuCoin Global CEO Johnny Lyu confirmed a major hacking attack on Sep. 26. The breach affected the firm’s Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and ERC20 hot wallets, after private keys were leaked. Reports estimate the breach to have affected $150 million in user funds.

Following the security breach, the price of Bitcoin barely moved, however. Other major cryptocurrencies, including Ether and decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens also remain relatively unfazed by the hack.

A cryptocurrency exchange security breach historically led to market-wide sell-offs due to the fear of hackers potentially selling the proceeds.

But Tether (USDT) has moved quickly to suspend the transfer of assets that are linked to the security breach. Major exchanges, including Bitfinex, also froze USDT associated with the hack.

The swift response from Tether and top exchanges could prevent most of the funds from being moved by the hackers.

Bitcoin outflows on Kucoin after the hack. Source: CryptoQuant (Click on image for larger view)

KuCoin contacts major exchanges, Tether and Bitfinex freeze $33m

According to Paolo Ardoino, the chief technical officer at Bitfinex and Tether, the two entities froze $33 million in total.

If early estimates are accurate and $150 million were hacked, that represents 22% of the lost funds. He said:

“Bitfinex froze 13m Tether USDt on EOS as part of the hack, Tether just froze 20M Tether USDt sitting on this Ethereum address https://etherscan.io/address/0xeb31973e0febf3e3d7058234a5ebbae1ab4b8c23 as precautionary measure. Stay safe everyone!”

In the official statement, Lyu said KuCoin is now in contact with Huobi, Binance, OKEx, BitMax, and ByBit. The company also said it is cooperating with law enforcement and relevant blockchain projects.

At least in the near term, it would make it challenging for hackers to try to move the funds. The CEO said:

“We are in contact with many major crypto exchanges such as Huobi, Binance, OKEx, BitMax and Bybit, as well as blockchain projects, security agencies, and law enforcement to work on this. Some effective measures have been taken, and we will update with more details soon.”

While a small amount of the hacked funds are in Bitcoin, most are reportedly stored in ERC 20 tokens. The risk of the tokens is that hackers could potentially utilize DeFi protocols in an attempt to eliminate “tainted” tokens.

But according to Primitive Crypto founding partner Dovey Wan, hackers struggled to handle the tainted funds. She explained:

“The hacker who hacked Kucoin apparently is a Defi noob, tried to sell on Binance and didn’t swap the tai/Users/macbook/Desktop/bitcoin-price-unfazed-after-150m-hack.txtnted USDT on Curve. All Defi infra are natural mixers with ultra low slippage… Hackers with normal IQ will soon figure out, this is not some alpha leak and Defi infra is designed to serve all purposes … if a hacker can hack a cex, no point he/she has no idea how to successfully liquidate via dex.”

Bitcoin remains stable above $10,700

After reclaiming the $10,407 whale cluster that has turned into a support area, Bitcoin has seen a short-term trend reversal.

The 4-hour chart of Bitcoin. Source: TradingView.com (Click on image for larger view)

On Sep. 26, Cointelegraph reported that whale clusters at $10,407 grew following the recent BTC rally above $10,700. The data indicates that whales have been accumulating above $10,000, depicting an overall strong market sentiment.

The resilience of Bitcoin despite a high-profile security breach demonstrates the strength of the ongoing uptrend.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Joseph Young.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Why This Analyst Is Sure That Bitcoin Is Finally Ready To Test $20,000

By Adrian Klent – September 25, 2020

Decentralized Finance, aka DeFi, has been the talk of the cryptocurrency community for the most part of the month, but amidst the commotion, a bull run might be impending, says popular cryptocurrency analyst who goes by the name MoonCarl. “People are not talking about Bitcoin anymore,” he says, as a pointer to the previous weeks in which DeFi and altcoins became a buzz.

Back in the day, Bitcoin which is unarguably the most popular and talked about cryptocurrency was always making rounds for its impressive price breakouts. With every major adoption, there was a significant buzz and this is no surprise because Bitcoin is the first and most valued top cryptocurrency to date. However, the birth of new altcoins has given way for conversation diversification and with the increase in usage, newcomers like DeFi are constantly gaining popularity.

Even altcoins are taking over the market with more stability in the month of September. Subtle price upswings are springing up and the likes of Ethereum have begun to make a correction in price movement.

Newcomers like Uniswap (UNI), Yearn.Finance (YFI) have predominated the market with gains. At the time of this writing, most altcoins are dealing with mild losses but nothing substantial enough to signal that an altcoin bear trend is brewing. For the most part, DeFi tokens have prolonged altcoin season but this analyst’s take is now implying that a bull run could catch the market by surprise.

BTCUSD Chart By TradingView (Click on image for larger view)

Note that Bitcoin testing $20,000 isn't the same as Bitcoin testing and staying range-bound in the $20k level. Due to the swiftness with which a bull run is ignited, a bear trend might immediately follow.

It is for this same reason that Bitcoin could easily test $20,000 any time soon. A fundamental factor could trigger this long-awaited $20,000 bull run. Bitcoin will have to first have to cross $12,000 and sustain that price level, but more adoption is necessary for this to happen. At press time, Bitcoin is trading at a price of $10,712. The overnight correction in price has positioned Bitcoin for $11,000, but within the next 24hrs Bitcoin will need to hold strong above $10,500.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Adrian Klent and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Phil Anderson Again Accepting Campaign Donations In Cryptocurrencies

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 9/24/2020 10:17 AM ET

Phil Anderson is again challenging the state regulators by accepting election campaign donations in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Anderson is a candidate for Wisconsin State Assembly, District 47. He is a real estate broker, entrepreneur, business owner, and US Army Veteran.

Anderson had accepted cryptocurrency donations during his 2018 campaign for Governor of Wisconsin, which the Wisconsin Ethics Commission (WEC) found to be a serious challenge to compliance with state law.

Anderson is again challenging the WEC by accepting bitcoin donation for his 2020 Assembly campaign as the WEC had failed to arrive at a decision on its legality in 2018. He had challenged the WEC by accepting bitcoin donations in 2018.

"Cryptocurrency is money, and as such, is a legitimate way to make campaign donations. The WEC declined to interpret its own rules competently, and the Wisconsin Assembly refused to take up the issue," says Anderson.

WEC had in 2018 said that they would wait for the Wisconsin Legislature to make a law allowing or disallowing donations in cryptocurrency.

Anderson cited many other campaigns nationally, including Senator Rand Paul, to have accepted donations in cryptocurrency. Federal Elections Commission rules allow cryptocurrency donations, but many states have not caught up, he added.

"I refuse to give in to ignorance and bureaucratic incompetence," continues Anderson. If my opponent or the Ethics Commission are interested in challenging me, I'm ready for a fight."

Anderson is using crypto payment processor BitPay's donation platform, which, like other donation platforms, can require the donor submit the contact information necessary to conform with state regulations.

Cryptocurrency donations are converted to dollars and deposited directly into the bank account registered with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe