Crypto news

The U.S. Department of Justice released a statement on September 12 reporting that Nikhil Wahi, brother of ex-Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi, pleaded guilty to committing cryptocurrency wire fraud using insider information sourced from his brother. Per the release, Nikhil Wahi faces up to 20 years of possible jail time. In addition, he will have to forfeit all unlawfully obtained monetary gains. Ishan Wahi, on the other hand, pleaded not guilty in early August to the...

The main opposition party in Canada – the Conservative Party – elected Pierre Poilievre as its new leader. Interestingly, the 43-year-old politician has displayed he is a keen supporter of bitcoin and a critic of the central bank, which allegedly worsened the inflationary environment in the country. Earlier this year, thousands of Canadians protested against the government’s pandemic restrictions. To fight the unrest, Justin Trudeau’s administration requested financial...

The asset management firm Fidelity is reportedly weighing plans to bring Bitcoin trading to individual investors on its brokerage platform.  If true, this would give 34.4 million retail customers at Fidelity access to the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.  Fidelity’s Next Bitcoin Foray The claim is according to people familiar with the matter who were contacted by the Wall Street Journal.  It was also predicted by Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, who said that...

The non-profit organization behind the development of the Algorand blockchain infrastructure – Algorand Foundation – has confirmed a $35 million USDC exposure to Hodlnaut. Additionally, it said it is pursuing all legal remedies to maximize asset recovery from the embattled crypto lender. Despite the hole in the balance sheet, the organization does not expect to trigger any operational or liquidity concerns. The Algorand Foundation, in an official announcement, said these...

Ethereum’s pending transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) can trigger new risks for the troubled crypto lender – Hodlnaut. The Singapore-based company was one of several firms in the crypto industry that succumbed to the pressures of the downturn after the collapse of Terra ecosystem tokens. According to a new report, Hodlnaut has warned of risks to its assets if the Merge fuels a “bout of volatility in virtual coins.” As such, sudden price movements in...

Bitcoin’s hash rate continues to move in contrast with the asset’s price as it charted yet another new all-time high recently. This comes even after the latest substantial mining difficulty increase, which was the largest in over six months. Bitcoin Hash Rate New ATH The hash rate is an essential metric in the BTC network as it shows its robustness based on the number of active miners and the computational devices they have plugged into it. Generally, it declines during the...

Rick Synrod – a former executive with 401k and retirement giant Fidelity – will take over as the new chief operations officer for Bitcoin IRA, a digital currency platform that allows people to place their retirement funds in crypto. Rick Synrod Will Join Hands with Bitcoin IRA Synrod will be responsible for overseeing digital asset operations in his new role. He will also monitor processes, policies, and strategies designed to make Bitcoin IRA reach its financial goals....

Sam Padilla – a Web3 Customer Engineer at Google – said the world’s largest search engine launched a countdown clock that shows when exactly Ethereum’s Merge will be complete. The second-biggest cryptocurrency protocol is on its way to shifting from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), something unseen in the industry so far. The move is expected to be finalized on September 15. Ethereum’s shift to PoS, known as “the Merge,” has gathered significant attention as many...

Starbucks – the world-renowned coffee house chain – is taking its first steps into the world of web 3. In partnership with Polygon, the company is building a blockchain-based loyalty program called Starbucks Odyssey, allowing members to purchase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) representing digital collectible stamps. Starbucks to Integrate NFTs As announced by Starbucks on Monday, the new program will be available to members of the existing Starbucks Rewards loyalty program, and...

Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis has put out a recent report claiming that from the beginning of the year up through July, just under $2 billion in crypto funds have been stolen by hackers and cyberthieves around the world. Chainalysis Discusses Ongoing Crypto Theft Losses from crypto hacks surged by more than 60 percent in just the first seven months of 2022 alone. Many of these funds were stolen from decentralized exchanges given that they are far less regulated...