Iran Returns Seized Crypto Mining Equipment to Miners

A government body responsible for state property in Iran has released some of the hardware seized from illegal crypto mining farms. Its top executive explained the agency was obliged to do that by courts in the Islamic Republic, where unlicensed miners…

Bahamian Government Officials Allegedly Asked SBF to Mint Millions of Dollars in New Tokens Amid the FTX Collapse

On Monday, court documents from lawyers involved with the FTX Trading LTD Chapter 11 bankruptcy case allege that the government of The Bahamas asked the disgraced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) to mint new crypto tokens. The lawyers detailed that it…

Research Shows Centralized Exchanges Saw the Most Visits This Year From Americans, Koreans, Russians

Residents of the United States, South Korea and the Russian Federation have been the most frequent users of centralized exchanges this year, according to a new study. The finding comes after the spectacular crash of FTX, one of the largest such…

Binance and Crypto.com Publish Proof-of-Reserve Audits Conducted by Global Auditor Mazars Group

This week two cryptocurrency exchanges provided proof-of-reserves in order to highlight that the trading platforms are backing customer assets 1:1. Binance published its report on Dec. 7, 2022, and detailed the global auditor Mazars Group conducted the audit. On Dec. 9,…

Russian Billionaire and Crypto Businessman Dies in Helicopter Crash in France

Russian financier and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Vyacheslav Taran has been killed in a helicopter crash on French territory. The accident marks the latest in a series of deaths of crypto executives and adds another name to a list of Russian billionaires who…

FTX Execs Gave $70 Million to Both Democrats and Republicans Heading Into the 2022 US Midterms

After the collapse of FTX, a number of journalists reported on the fact that FTX executives deployed significant donations to political leaders in the United States. During the most recent election cycle leading up to the U.S. midterms in 2022, reports…

Russian IT Firms Lobby for Crypto Payments in Software Exports

Companies developing software solutions for foreign customers are urging Russian authorities to allow them to accept crypto payments. The proposal is part of a package of measures aimed at supporting IT exports suggested by an industry organization to the executive power…

Crypto Exchange Coinbase Files Amicus Brief to Support Ripple in SEC Lawsuit Over XRP

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has filed an amicus brief in support of Ripple Labs in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit over xrp. Coinbase’s support is seen as a significant step in the case given that the crypto exchange was…

Mastercard Focusing on 5 Key Areas to Turn Crypto Into ‘an Everyday Way to Pay’

Mastercard has outlined five key crypto areas it is working on in order to “turn cryptocurrencies into an everyday way to pay.” A Mastercard executive opined: “Someday soon, the ability to own and spend a digital currency could be as seamless…

Bitcoin Miner Cleanspark Completes Sandersville Facility Acquisition, Firm’s Hashrate Now 4.7 Exahash

On October 11, the publicly-listed bitcoin miner Cleanspark announced that it has completed the acquisition of Mawson Infrastructure Group’s Georgia-based bitcoin mining facility. Following the acquisition, Cleanspark says it now manages 220 megawatts (MW) of bitcoin miners with a hashrate of…