South Korean authorities have charged executives of what was once the country’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbit, over market manipulation allegations. According to news outlet News1, prosecutors are preparing a case against Coinbit chairman Choi Mo and two unnamed executives on charges of fraud and forgery connected to market manipulation following a recommendation from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. The police said that the three allegedly used ghost accounts from August 2019 to May 2020 to inflate transaction volumes and manipulate token prices on the exchange. The police searched and confiscated a number of properties associated with Coinbit in a series …

Although a number of big players have picked up bags of Bitcoin (BTC) in 2020, multiple aspects still avert institutions from investing on a wide scale, according to Robert Li, an analyst for Draper Dragon, a Draper Venture Network fund. “I think there are a few issues that are still holding back the majority of institutional investors from allocating capital freely toward Bitcoin,” Li said during a segment of the Latin America Bitcoin Conference on Tuesday. “Number one would be reputational issues stemming from Bitcoin’s previous association with organized crime and terrorists and online drug dealers. I think in years …

With just 44 days before Joe Biden’s inauguration as President of the United States, players in the crypto space are imploring Donald Trump to use his pardoning power for Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. In a recent tweet from Jason Williams, the Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder pleaded for Trump to “do the right thing” by pardoning Ulbricht as well as whistleblower Edward Snowden. Peter McCormack of the What Bitcoin Did podcast followed suit a few days later, adding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the list of potential pardons. .@realDonaldTrump's legacy as president may be remembered very differently if he …

Cryptocurrency-related fraud and theft are likely to grow in the post-COVID-19 world, according to a new report by cybersecurity and antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab. Securelist, Kaspersky’s cyberthreat research arm, published a report on cyberthreats to financial organizations, forecasting some specific types of financial attacks that are likely to surge in 2021. Securelist has predicted that a wave of poverty fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic will inevitably lead to “more people resorting to crime including cybercrime.” That could also mean a rise in crimes related to Bitcoin (BTC). According to Kaspersky’s research arm, Bitcoin is likely to be the most attractive …

The PlusToken controversy, which has led to the arrest of 109 individuals so far, has also reportedly resulted in a titanic seizure of crypto assets by Chinese authorities worth $4.2 billion at today’s prices. According to court filings released publicly on Nov. 19 and posted by The Block, authorities seized a staggering 194,775 Bitcoin (BTC), 833,083 Ether (ETH), 1.4 million Litecoin (LTC), 27.6 million EOS, 74,167 Dash, 487 million XRP, 6 billion Dogecoin (DOGE), 79,581 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and 213,724 Tether (USDT) from seven individuals convicted in the case. According to the ruling from the Yancheng Intermediate People’s Court, gains …

Earlier this week, Lithuania's tax service, the Lithuanian State Tax Inspectorate, added $7.6 million dollars to the state budget through the sale of cryptocurrencies seized in criminal investigations. The occasion marked the first time that the Lithuanian government liquidated confiscated cryptocurrencies. In doing so, the country joined the growing number of jurisdictions worldwide that have auctioned off or sold cryptos obtained by the long arm of the law. However, unlike the United States Federal Marshals, which netted $37 million at auction from confiscated crypto last February, the STI opted to sell the crypto through an exchange. According to Linas Rajackas, …

The Lithuanian government has reportedly sold a batch of cryptocurrency seized by local enforcement agencies. The State Tax Inspectorate, or STI, the country’s tax authority, sold confiscated crypto assets worth 6.4 million euro ($7.6 million) and subsequently added the funds to the state budget. According to an official announcement on Nov. 24, the seized crypto assets included major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as well as privacy-focused altcoin Monero (XMR). The STI said this is the first time that the agency has sold seized crypto for fiat. “The conversion of cryptocurrencies into euros took almost a day,” the authority …

Lawyers representing the United States government have filed a legal memo opposing the dismissal of charges for Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum Foundation researcher accused of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK. According to court records filed Nov. 19 in the Southern District of New York, prosecutors’ referred to Griffith’s Oct. 22 argument to dismiss the charges against him as “unavailing.” The legal team is alleging the former Ethereum Foundation researcher provided a service to the DPRK by using an analogy of a U.S. citizen providing nuclear secrets to scientists in the …

In early October, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed its Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework, a report laying bare the government’s vision for emerging threats and enforcement strategies in the cryptocurrency space. The document is an important source of insight into how the laws governing digital finance will be soon implemented on the ground. One of the fundamental principles that the government asserts in the document is its broad extraterritorial jurisdiction over foreign-based actors who use virtual assets in ways that harm U.S. residents or businesses. The guidance sets an extremely low bar for perpetrators of cross-border crime to clear before they …

Fraudulent actors currently float around the internet claiming association with crypto trading and wallet company Blockchain.com, as confirmed by the Financial Conduct Authority, or FCA, a United Kingdom-based regulatory entity. The copycats assert association with Blockchain.com under Blockchain Ltd, a clone version of the real company. The genuine Blockchain.com, under the agent Blockchain Access UK Ltd and principal entity Modulr FS Limited, holds legitimate FCA authorization, according to a warning posted by the FCA on Friday. “Fraudsters are using the details of firms we authorise to try to convince people that they work for a genuine, authorised firm,” the FCA …

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has charged the former Australian national representative of BitConnect for his involvement in the multi-billion-dollar crypto Ponzi scheme following an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC. According to a Nov. 17 statement from the ASIC, the commission — with assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation — recommended charges against John Louis Anthony Bigatton for his role working for BitConnect from August 2017 through January 2018. He faces four courts of making misleading or false statements that had an influence on market participation, one count of operating an unregistered …

In the 11 years since the inception of the crypto industry, malicious parties have used digital assets for a spate of illegal activities, from drug payments to money laundering. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis is launching a new service to help authorities track, custody and sell cryptocurrencies associated with crime after their capture. The firm calls the initiative its Asset Realization Program. "Chainalysis created an end-to-end solution for track and trace, pre-seizure planning, handling, storing, realising, and monitoring assets seized by law enforcement," Chainalysis' general manager of the European, Middle Eastern and African region, Duncan Hoffman, told Cointelegraph. With its new …