Biz Builder Mike

You can't sail Today's boat on Yesterdays wind - Michael Noel

2017

US CFTC Orders Ponzi Scheme Operator To Pay $32 Million Fine

A US District Court for the District of Nevada has fined Circle Society and owner David Gilbert Saffron for operating a cryptocurrency ponzi scheme. This is according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Circle Society Ponzi Scheme

The regulator stated that both the Nevada-based corporation and its operator have to pay $32 million as ordered by the court.

Saffron, an Australian citizen, residing in the US, started the firm Circle society to offer binary options on forex and cryptocurrency pairs. Both he and the company allegedly deceived investors to send funds in order to participate in a commodity pool, with promises of high returns.

Since 2017 when Circle society was created, Saffron has reportedly duped investors of at least $15.8 million from about 179 people. According to the CFTC, he diverted investor funds to his crypto wallet to pay other participants “in the manner of a Ponzi scheme.”

The court’s final judgment requires defendants Saffron and Circle Society, jointly and severally, to pay restitution claims of more than $14.8 million to defrauded pool participants and disgorgement fine of $15.8 million, and a civil monetary fine of over $1.48 million.

The judgment also enjoined the defendants from registering with the CFTC or trading on any other CFTC-regulated entities.

However, the CFTC has told victims not to expect much as they might not be able to get their full funds back.

“The CFTC cautions victims that restitution orders may not result in the recovery of any money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets,” the statement read.

The regulator filed the civil enforcement action against Saffron and Circle Society in 2019, alleging that Saffron solicited and accepted a minimum of $11 million in Bitcoin and US dollars with other defendants’ help in the company.

The CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert had then said that fraudulent schemes like Saffron and his company do not only cheat innocent people out of their hard-earned money, but they also threaten to undermine the development of new and innovative markets.

Spike In Crypto-Related Scams

Cybercrime seems to have increased since the advent of cryptocurrency as it is constantly being used to scam people. Even though regulators continue to warn users against crypto scams and, in fact, scams in general, people are still falling victims.

Even though fraudulent activities had existed before crypto came along a decade ago, many crypto owners are falling victims because many retail investors have knowledge gaps. With the fear of missing out (FOMO) surrounding digital tokens, crypto investors are readily suckered into deals with these fraudsters promising huge returns.

Last month, the CFTC ordered fraudulent Bitcoin trader Benjamin Reynolds to pay $572 million in penalty and restitution for a crime he committed in 2017. He was ordered to pay a $429 Million fine penalty and an additional $142 million as restitution to victims.

US CFTC Orders Ponzi Scheme Operator To Pay $32 Million Fine

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3X as many crypto figures make it onto Forbes 2021 billionaires list as last year

Forbes released their annual billionaires list on April 6, with Amazon overlord Jeff Bezos and his $177 billion topping the list for a fourth consecutive year.

The “digital gold rush” has seen nine new crypto billionaires join the Forbes list, pushing the total up to 12 (depending on whether you count the Winklevoss twins as one or two entries.) That’s up from just four in last year’s Forbes World’s Billionaires list

Sam Bankman-Fried – Newcomer

Sam Bankman-Fried is the wealthiest crypto-billionaire, with a net worth of $8.7 billion. Bankman-Fried founded trading firm Alameda Research and popular derivatives exchange FTX. The 29-year old has made waves in the crypto space, with FTX recently winning the naming rights to Miami Heat’s home stadium for 19 years. Cointelegraph recently ranked Bankman-Fried as the third most influential figure in crypto for 2020.

The Winklevoss Twins – Newcomers

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have a net worth of $3 billion each and started investing in Bitcoin in 2012. The brothers famously sued Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg for IP theft in 2004 and won a $65 million settlement which they used to invest in Bitcoin. They started the crypto exchange Gemini in 2014, and they purchased Nifty Gateway in November 2019.

Chris Larsen – Returnee

Larsen, the co-founder of Ripple Labs saw his net worth grow from $2.6 billion to $3.4 billion over the past year.

Larson and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse have been fighting an ongoing dispute with the SEC in relation to XRP and unregistered securities offerings. However, the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple hasn’t appeared to affect its token too badly, with XRP increasing by 387% in the last 12 months.

Jed McCaleb – Newcomer

McCaleb is another co-founder of Ripple, and reportedly holds 3.4 billion XRP and 1 billion Stellar Lumens — the cryptocurrency he founded after leaving Ripple — with his holdings adding up to a net worth of $2 billion. Cointelegraph reported that McCaleb sold off $400 million worth of his XRP holdings in 2020 alone.

Michael Saylor – Newcomer

Saylor is the CEO of listed company MicroStrategy and co-founded the software giant in 1989, and now has a net worth of $2.3 billion. Saylor has become the leading advocate for corporations holding Bitcoin on balance sheets. Since its first purchase of Bitcoin in August 2020, Microstrategy has invested $2.226 billion, taking its tally up to 91,579 Bitcoins at an average cost of $24,311 per Bitcoin.

Brain Armstrong – Returnee

Armstrong is the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase and his net worth has gone from $1 billion to $6.5 billion within 12 months. Coinbase also had a successful year, generating $1 billion in revenue, and it’s set for a direct listing in a week. That will value Armstrong’s shares somewhere north of $14B, meaning he may well top the crypto billionaires’ list next year.

Fred Ersham – Newcomer

Ersham co-founded Coinbase with Brian Armstrong in 2012 and left the firm in 2017. He is now a board member of the company, and his 6% stake has an estimated worth of $1.9 billion.

Changpeng Zhao

Zhao is the founder of the largest crypto exchange Binance and owns an estimated 30% stake in the company. Zhao’s net worth is $1.9 billion, and the digital gold rush has been good to the Binance founder, with Binance Coin becoming the second-largest altcoin by market cap. Zhao revealed earlier this week that he holds close to 100% of his portfolio in crypto.

Matthew Roszak – Newcomer

Roszak is the Chairman and co-founder of blockchain technology firm Bloq and is a leading crypto and blockchain investor. Roszak is also a founding member of Tally Capital a crypto-focused private investment firm and has a net worth of $1.5 billion.

Tim Draper – Newcomer

Draper is a crypto evangelist with a net worth of $1.5 billion. He bought $18.7 million worth of Bitcoin in 2014 after it was confiscated from the Silk Road black market. Draper was also one of the primary investors in the Tezos project and co-founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a leading investment firm in early-stage tech startups.

Barry Silbert – Newcomer

Silbert founded the crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group in 2015 and has a net worth of $1.6 billion. The DCG owns asset management firm Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which currently has $46 billion worth of assets under management.

3X as many crypto figures make it onto Forbes 2021 billionaires list as last year

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Bitcoin closes six monthly green candles for the first time since 2013

Bitcoin has just closed six consecutive monthly green candles for the first time since April 2013. Should history repeat, Bitcoin may enjoy further parabolic gains this year.

In April 2013, Bitcoin closed at roughly $140 after posting six green monthly candles. While the markets would retrace to less than $100 over the next two months, Bitcoin would then surge 700% over the following six months and tag prices above $1,000 for the first time.

BTC/USD since 2012, 1m candles: Trading View

Bitcoin posted a similar pattern in the lead up to its parabolic bull run in 2017, with the markets posting five consecutive green monthly candles heading into September. While September saw BTC post range-bound consolidation, Bitcoin surged into new all-time highs in October to rallied from $5,000 to almost $20,000 by the end of the year.

According to Bloomberg strategist, Mike McGlone, Bitcoin could be trading for more than $400,000 by 2022, should the markets follow the trends previously witnessed during 2013 and 2017. McGlone recently claimed that Bitcoin is “well on its way to becoming a global digital reserve asset.”

Veteran trader and market analyst, Peter Brandt, is also bullish on Bitcoin, predicting BTC could gain a further 250% to break above $200,000. “I think we’re in that midpoint pause where in 2017 Bitcoin swirled around for a month or two before we saw the final move up,” he said.

However, past trends do not guarantee future performance and the history of green candles is a little murky. Despite Bitcoin posting five green monthly candles in a row during late 2015, the early weeks of 2016 saw BTC crash by 20% before producing several months of tightening consolidation.  

Similarly, the five consecutive months of bullish momentum that kicked of 2019 was followed by a protracted downtrend, with BTC having fallen more than 60% from its 2019 highs amid the “Black Thursday” crash of March 2020. Bitcoin did not reclaim its 2019 price-highs until December 2020.

Bitcoin closes six monthly green candles for the first time since 2013

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Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui launches the country’s first ‘a-1’ rated security token

Japan-based bank Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, or SMTB, has launched its first asset-backed securities token in partnership with Securitize on March 29.

The instrument is the first security token compliant with the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) to launch in the Japanese Market. The token has received an “a-1 rating” from Japanese rating agency, Rating and Investment Information, Inc, suggesting the product is very likely to fulfill its short-term obligations.

The token was created by tokenizing paper-based beneficiary certificates representing investor ownership to an underlying asset. SMTB has also created a trust company to manage its underlying securitized investments.

SMTB issued the product using Securitize’ security tokenization platform. Securitize was founded in the United States in 2017, before launching a Japanese division that secured investment backed from some of the country’s leading companies including Sony, SBI, and Softank.

In March 2020, Securitize partnered with Tokyo-based LIFULL to create a tokenized real estate investment platform.

In an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, SMBT’s Hirohito Niji expressed pride in the bank embracing digital securities, stating:

“We are committed to proactively develop and deliver innovative solutions to our customers with their changing needs by combining cutting-edge digital technologies and our conventional trust bank expertise.”

SMBT is a member of the Japan Security Token Association alongside local telecom giants NTT and Softbank. The firm first began exploring blockchain in October 2016, when they teamed up with IBM to explore using DLT to improve the efficiency of its asset management, real estate, and banking businesses.

Security token offerings, or STOs, have recently been gaining mainstream acceptance in Japan, with the country’s Financial Services Agency recognizing the Japan STO association in May last year.

Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui launches the country\’s first \’a-1\’ rated security token

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Malaysian Digital Wallet Provider Boost Joins PayNet Real-Time Retail Payment Platform

Digital wallet provider Boost recently revealed that it’s now a part of the PayNet Real Time Retail Payment Platform (RPP). Boost confirmed that it will be adopting DuitNow QR (beginning on March 26, 2021).

DuitNow QR is the national QR code standard used in Malaysia. It was introduced by the Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet) under Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework (ICTF).

The DuitNow QR serves as a standardized and unified QR code that provides a cashless, contactless and seamless way of shopping for digital wallet users including consumers who don’t use the Boost platform.

This new benefit or feature is offered to Boost merchants as well, where just a single QR code is required to take cashless/contactless payments from customers of any participating digital wallets in the PayNet ecosystem. This new benefit should also help merchants access a larger mobile-first user base.

Boost users may also take advantage of a larger merchant reach using DuitNow QR to make payments while being able to claim Boost’s loyalty rewards.

This latest participation by Boost should help the company expand its offline digital payment offerings. It should also help users transact safely in a post-COVID environment.

Boost was established in October 2017 and has managed to expand its operations to almost 9 million users. With the DuitNow QR code, it should be able to target a wider merchant base (of around 230,000 service providers).

Mohd Khairil Abdullah, CEO at Boost, stated:

“We believe that a standardized and unified QR code as a shared payment infrastructure is a defining piece in building a robust ‘One Nation, One QR’ cashless ecosystem. This will greatly facilitate interoperability between digital payment providers and increase accessibility for Malaysians to embrace a now normal lifestyle where going cashless will dominate. We are thrilled to be part of the DuitNow QR network and work hand-in-hand with PayNet to contribute towards charting the next chapter of the country’s digital and cashless transformation.”

Peter Schiesser, Group CEO at PayNet, remarked:

“E-wallets including Boost played a big role in helping Malaysians embrace a cashless and contactless lifestyle last year. Having Boost onboard the DuitNow ecosystem will further strengthen their contribution in enabling businesses, especially micro-enterprises and SMEs to accept digital payments and to weather the impact of COVID-19.”

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