Political Cartoonist Accuses NFT Platforms Opensea, Rarible of Being ‘Tools for Political Censorship’

While non-fungibe token (NFT) collectibles have been very popular, NFTs have brought a slew of unique debates to the table and one of them has been censorship. The artist behind Stonetoss Comics, a series of political cartoons, has been censored by…

Up to 12 Million Iranians Own Cryptocurrency, Traders Choose Local Exchanges

Cryptocurrencies are a popular investment among Iranians and estimates suggest that the number of those who already own one coin or another may be as high as 12 million. The majority of Iranian traders prefer the services of local crypto exchanges,…

Ukraine Security Service Busts Criminal Group Selling Bitcoin-Stealing Malware 

Law enforcement authorities in Ukraine have exposed a crime ring specializing in cryptocurrency theft and laundering of illicit funds for hackers. The gang, which provided services to clients on the darknet, has been dismantled as a result of a joint operation…

CFTC Fines Stablecoin Issuer Tether and Crypto Exchange Bitfinex $42.5 Million

On Friday, October 15, 2021, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it had ordered the company Tether Holdings Limited and Ifinex Inc., the parent company of Bitfinex, to pay fines totaling $42.5 million. The CFTC accuses Tether of…

Former Monero Developer Spagni Released From US Prison, Pledges to Address Fraud Allegations

Former Monero developer Riccardo Spagni has been released from a U.S. prison where he reportedly spent “sixty-one days in solitary confinement.” The developer’s release was prompted by the failure of South African authorities “to make a timely submission in support of…

Nigerian Central Bank Threats Force Parallel Exchange Rate Tracker to Suspend Service

Following threats from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the management of Abokifx, a website that tracks the Nigerian currency’s black market exchange rates, has announced the suspension of their daily updates. This suspension will remain in effect until Abokifx gets…

Russian Court Confirms Arrest Warrants for 3 Finiko Founders

Tatarstan’s highest court has rejected appeals against arrest warrants issued for three co-founders of the notorious Finiko crypto pyramid. The top representatives of the Ponzi scheme, accused of large-scale fraud in Russia, are still hiding abroad, media reports reveal. Three…

Ex-Head оf Wex Crypto Exchange Reportedly Arrested in Poland, Faces Extradition to Kazakhstan

Dmitry Vasiliev, former chief executive of Russian cryptocurrency exchange Wex, has been detained in Warsaw, the Polish press reported. Vasiliev is wanted in Kazakhstan where he is accused of fraud related to the now defunct trading platform, successor of the infamous…

Salvadoran Court of Accounts to Investigate Government’s Bitcoin ATM Buys, Chivo Kiosk Construction

According to reports stemming from the Salvadoran Court of Accounts, the regulatory body is planning to investigate the government’s bitcoin automated teller machine (ATM) purchases and Chivo kiosk construction. The investigation follows the recent protest in El Salvador against the adoption…

Opensea NFT Marketplace Claims Employee Profited From Insider Information

On September 15, the top non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, Opensea, revealed that an Opensea executive profited from insider trading. “Yesterday we learned that one of our employees purchased items that they knew were set to display on our front page before…