KuCoin, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, recently released a report titled Into The Cryptoverse where they discussed the penetration of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies into populations of varying countries. Most notable among them is Nigeria; 35%, or 33.4 million, of its adults aged 18-60 owned or traded bitcoin or some form of cryptocurrency in the last 6 months.

This staggering amount of 35% of adults becomes even more bewildering when one recognizes that as of January 2022, only 51% of the entire population of Nigeria has access to the internet, according to the report. Of that 51% of the population, 86% of Nigerian internet users are familiar with cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle. The report also states that according to Google Trends, Nigeria hosted the highest number of searches for Bitcoin in early 2021.

A survey conducted of the penetrated 35% shows that 70% of those users intend to increase their holdings within a short period of time. Another 6% of the population not currently invested were surveyed and said they are interested in investing within the next six months.

Over a course of six years, Nigerias currency, Naira, has depreciated 209%, according to the report. The adoption rate of Bitcoin is far more substantial in populations that have a need for Bitcoin, rather than just a want for it. The failing Naira led to earlier adoption that most, as 37% of those currently involved in bitcoin have been invested or trading in the asset for more than 3 years, with another 27% having just started within the past 6 months.

A need to opt out of the existing structure is being driven by the youthful population of Nigeria as its median age sits at 18.4 years old, according to Statista cited in the report. This drives the statistic in which 52% of Nigerians invested in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies under the age of 30.

One interesting statistic KuCoin uncovered in a survey of those currently vested in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies showed 50% gender parity. Nigeria seems to be proving that when economic need, youth of a population, and innovation collide, gender plays no role in the adoption of an emergent monetary system.

Low-time preference seems molded with entrepreneurial spirit in Nigeria with 62% of investors believing this emerging system is the future of finance and 50% of investors saying they are in it for the long run. 40% of investors look to use their gains to start a business, 36% are looking for another revenue stream, and 26% seek to rely on their investment as primary income.

The portfolio diversification, or the lack of diversification in some cases, is a fascinating statistic among Nigerian investors. On average, these investors allocate 60% to cryptocurrency, 20% to cash or bank deposits, and 7% to foreign currencies with additional financial instruments closing the gap, which means over 52% of investors are allocating over half of their portfolio to cryptocurrencies, according to the report.

A little over one-fifth of these investors (22%) store over 90% of their assets in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. This minority group tends to be slightly older and less familiar with other financial products with a focus on money transfers and transactions, rather than trading.

As of February 2022, 65% of these investors utilize peer-to-peer trading to deposit fiat for cryptocurrencies after the Central Bank of Nigeria barred banks from enabling crypto transactions in February 2021, according to another survey conducted by KuCoin cited in the report.

Further KuCoin data shows a 1,386.7% increase in monthly transactions across African countries from January 2021 - January 2022. During the same period, active users also increased by 2,467.2%.

Countries like Nigeria showcase the need of a new monetary system that allows cross-border payments with minimal fees and global access in its most reliable form. The central authorities of Nigeria have failed to properly care for its citizenry and its youthful population has taken it upon themselves to enforce needed change. While bitcoin certainly serves as a store-of-value for many in more developed places of the world, the humanitarian and altruistic use cases of Bitcoin are what truly make it inevitable.

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Report: Over A Third of Nigerians Are Invested in Bitcoin, Crypto - Bitcoin Magazine

Ubersmith, a leading service provider in subscription management for cloud-based platforms, announced an integration with BitPay, one of the world's leading providers of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency payment processing.

With the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, we want to provide our users with this option in addition to other currencies we support, said Kurt Daniel, CEO of Ubersmith, in the announcement. As leaders in delivering a recurring and usage-based billing system, we are pleased to support cryptocurrency for our current and future customers.

Ubersmith brings a hosted or self-hosted software suite to its customers and Bitpay now functions as an add-on to the software that processes customizable billing, taxes, account credits and discounts. More than 100 companies across six continents currently utilize Ubersmith for business transactions, infrastructure, and operations. This partnership with BitPay displays a deviation from its parent company's stance towards the Bitcoin sector in previous years.

On July 1, 2021, Ubersmith was acquired by Lumine Group, which is a division of Volaris Group, a subsidiary of Constellation Software Incorporated. On October 21, 2021, Constellation Network, Inc. acquired Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider Dor to scale blockchain-based products.

In the Dor acquisition announcement, Constellation Network said Bitcoin has scalability issues, which is why they were working with Dor to develop their own blockchain database that they believe is more scalable, which eventually led to them creating their own token.

Ubersmith seems to recognize that Bitcoin is scalable with its most recent innovation in partnering with BitPay, even though its parent company seems to feel differently.

New York-based Ubersmith allows their customers access to over 100 built-in software, hardware and service integrations while also providing an application programming interface (API) enabling a high level of customization for its clients.

Services included with the software contain billing, customer management, quoting, order management, device monitoring, help desk ticketing, and a customer portal. Specific to cloud-based infrastructure, Ubersmith also manages turnkey billing, bandwidth, virtualization, backup, power, support, and other services.

Ubersmith customers include Digital Realty, Namecheap, and Sitey.

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Ubersmith Partners With BitPay To Accept Bitcoin Payments - Bitcoin Magazine

One spring day in a village just west of London, residents saw a man being muscled into a car in front of a nearby house. He reappeared with cuts and bruises 13 hours later, but the cops had already discovered the house was a cannabis-growing operation. A separate search of the mans home in a nearby town turned up something more intriguingsome of the first cryptocurrency that would ever be seized by U.K. police.

That era-defining 2017 case yielded a safety-deposit box containing jewelry, gold bars, 263,000 ($345,000) in cash, and an item that flummoxed the lead investigator, Matthew Durkin, a 19-year veteran of the Surrey police. It was a USB device found in the suspects study. The gadget was wrapped in a small notebook, which contained two strings of 12 random words. A young probationary officer recognized the device, a KeepKey, as a virtual currency holder and the words as seed phrases to access crypto wallets. Eventually, police discovered it held 295 Bitcoin.

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What Happens When Cops Seize Crypto and Bitcoin? - Bloomberg

The rise of Bitcoin( BTC 0.22% ) over the last decade has led high profile financial luminaries to expose their stance on the burgeoning asset. Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, is one of the most vocal supporters. Her investment firm catapulted into the spotlight in 2020 as a result of the success of the Ark Innovation ETF ( ARKK 0.00% ).

In one of the most bullish estimates around, the firm called for Bitcoin to reach $500,000 by 2026 just last September. Even better, she recently doubled down in January when she predicted that one Bitcoin would be worth $1,000,000 or more by 2030.

Image source: Getty Images.

For Bitcoin to reach a $1,000,000 price tag it would need to go up nearly 2,000% in a little under eight years. This doesn't look too crazy when considering it is up about 3,500% since 2017. If Bitcoin is to reach these levels, much has to change and current trends must amplify.

Cathie Wood and her firm arrived at these estimates after composing multiple research papers that took one of the most comprehensive, in depth evaluations on the current and future state of Bitcoin. This research highlights a multitude of macro and microeconomic factors that led Cathie and her team to the million dollar hypothesis.

At a recent interview in Miami at the Bitcoin Conference, Wood was questioned for the first time about her reasoning. A few of her key points stood out.

Of most importance was Bitcoin's new-found political support. She referenced Janet Yellen (Secretary of the Treasury) and Gary Gensler (Chairman of the SEC) in particular. Wood credited Gensler as the driving force behind the 180 degree turn of Yellen's previous anti-crypto sentiment. She thinks Gensler will have more success persuading other politicians due to his background as an MIT cryptocurrency professor.

She surmised that Bitcoin will become a hot topic for voters in upcoming elections. Wood claimed that it wouldn't surprise her if political candidates ran entire campaigns on supporting Bitcoin and crypto in general. In her typical candid fashion, Wood laughed that when considering how wide the political divide has become recently, of all things, Bitcoin now has bipartisan support.

Another topic was the increased accessibility of Bitcoin in the United States. Wood directly referenced the innovation and integral role of Bitcoin's Layer 2 scaling solution, the Lightning Network, for bringing more users to Bitcoin domestically. Payment apps like CashApp have utilized the Lightning Network to onboard millions of users to the Bitcoin network.

In general, Wood believes there is "an incredible number of use cases and Bitcoin is leading the charge." Opportunities abound for Bitcoin to be used as a hedge against government manipulation of currencies in developing markets. She thinks that more high net worth individuals will use Bitcoin as an insurance policy against their wealth being confiscated by governments. And lastly, just like her firm, she said that institutional investors will continue purchasing Bitcoin slowly but surely.

Ark Invest has done its due diligence, and just like Babe Ruth, Cathie Wood has called her shot. Their business model depends on them being right about these kinds of things.

Let's say Cathie Wood is only half right, or a quarter right. If Bitcoin were to rise to those prices it would still be one of the greatest appreciating assets of our generation. Short term price fluctuations for Bitcoin do not matter in the grand scheme of things. The year 2030 will be here before we know it and that fits perfectly into the age-old investment strategy of buy and hold.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis even one of our own helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

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Bitcoin Could be Worth $1,000,000 in 2030 - The Motley Fool

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes posted another prediction for Bitcoin and Ethereum. At the same time, the top cryptocurrencies by market cap continue moving in a tight range with todays U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) increasing volatility across the board.

Related Reading |TA: Bitcoin Resumes Decline, Why BTC Could Revisit $40K

At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $40,500 with a 1% loss in the last 24-hours and a 13% loss in the last week. Ethereum trades at $3,000 with similar performance over this period.

As NewsBTC has been reporting, Hayes believes the current financial system supported by the Petrodollar has ended. This opened the door for a new system where independent currencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, will see more demand.

Ethereum stands to benefit the most in the short term as it will transition to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Thus, itll see a 99% decline in its energy consumption with a staking system that will yield rewards to network validators.

Institutions will take shelter from inflation using this system, Hayes argued. However, the top cryptocurrencies will undergo an increase in selling pressure in the short to medium term as the U.S. Federal Reserve attempts to tame inflation.

This will lead to a bloody financial market coming May when the FED will begin its tightening program. At the time, the former BitMEX executive claims Bitcoin and Ethereum show high levels of correlation with traditional markets, specifically the Nasdaq 100 Index (NDX).

In other words, crypto is trading as a big tech company. Hayes believes this correlation needs to trend to the downside before Bitcoin and Ethereum can begin their ascend to new all-time highs.

Before that happens, the NDX and the traditional market will be pushed into the red with potential drawdowns of 30% to 50%. This could take BTC and ETH to re-test their critical support zones at around $30,000 and $2,000, respectively.

As evidence of this upcoming bloodbath, Hayes claims the NDX on its one-year chart demonstrates potential weakness. The Index failed to break above the 61.8% Fibonacci Retracement with a prolongation of the downtrend, this suggests further losses. Hayes said:

The chart tells me the NDX will continue lower, test its local low, and break decidedly below it. I believe the next stop after that is to test 10,000 (). the crypto capital markets are the only free markets left globally. As such, they will lead equities lower as we head into the downturn, and lead equities higher as we work our way out of it. Bitcoin and Ether will bottom well before the Fed acts and U-turns its policy from tight to loose.

Related Reading |Bitcoin Price Plummets Below $40,000 As Crypto Market Tallies $440 Million In Liquidations

In the long run, Bitcoin will hit $1 million per coin and Ethereum over $10,000, Hayes previously stated. A lot depends on the FED which seems trapped in its current situation, and in the Ukraine-Russia conflict and its resolution.

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Arthur Hayes' Crystal Ball Predicts: Bitcoin And Ethereum To See Carnage In June - NewsBTC

Bitcoin is becoming one of the biggest buzzwords in the world. Data from a July 2021 survey conducted by analysis firm Exploding Topics found that roughly 1,700 American adults, or 89% of participants, had heard of Bitcoin. A recent survey from the cryptocurrency platform Paxful also found that 95% of women out of 1,555 females polled in the United States were familiar with Bitcoin.

While Bitcoins(BTC) presence is notable, there still seems to be a lack of understanding regarding BTC and cryptocurrency. For instance, Paxfuls survey discovered that 43% of women polled in the United States want to learn more about Bitcoin, even though 95% of these individuals know that BTC exists. In addition, underprivileged communities and minorities have expressed interest in learning about Bitcoinand cryptoas digital assets gain popularity.

In order to bring crypto education to those who need it the most, grassroots initiatives are launching throughout the U.S. that target disenfranchised communities.

For example, Najah Roberts, CEO of Crypto Blockchain Plug a Black-owned crypto education center based in Inglewood, California told Cointelegraph that she will soon be traveling to 41 cities across the U.S. to help disenfranchised communities understand Bitcoins importance:

Known as The Digital Financial Revolution Tour, Roberts explained that this will be the second year she will travel across the country with a team of crypto experts to promote Bitcoin education. We previously reached about 2,000 people last year, which was incredible given that the world was still coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Roberts said. Given the projects previous success, Roberts believes this years tour will produce phenomenal results.

Roberts elaborated that the second Digital Financial Revolution Tour will begin in California in cities including Los Angeles and Oakland, and will then head to Las Vegas, Arizona and New Mexico. We plan to go to the poorest places first, like Lake Charles in Baltimore. We picked the most disenfranchised, unbanked and underbanked areas to get folks educated. Rather than hosting corner classes outside neutral locations like a local church, for instance, Roberts explained that groups will congregate in front of beauty shops and neighborhood storefronts. I try to be objective about locations so everyone feels comfortable to come out and learn.

While the idea of traveling across 41 different cities in the U.S. within a 45-day timespan may sound difficult, Roberts shared that the biggest challenge this year is to help people in low-income communities understand why they actually need Bitcoin:

Roberts isnt the only one aiming to bring financial literacy to the masses. Bitcoin analyst Tony Tate told Cointelegraph that no one ever talked about money when he was growing up due to community values. No one ever talked about politics, religion or money where I came from, he said. Yet, Tate stated that education has always been a priority for him, which is why he believes educating disenfranchised communities will make it easier for individuals to understand the potential of cryptocurrency:

In order to accomplish this, Tate recently launched Litchain, a Bitcoin educational initiative expected to spur economic growth in the rural town of Gaffney, South Carolina. We opened the doors of the first Black-owned Bitcoin data center in Gaffney. The 20 modular data centers will house Bitcoin mining computers and create jobs that pay $60,000 or more, he explained. The Litchain Corporations new data center is one of Tates first three mining centers in the U.S. He said that the company aims to open 144 more across the country:

In addition to the Litchain data center, Tate said that he is launching a five-year crypto education initiative on crypto literacy:

According to Tate, this initiative will include a grassroots campaign, digital advertising and online courses provided by LitU, which is Tates online university that will also feature pop-up community classes in Philadelphia, New York, Washington D.C., Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, Charlotte and Charleston. Tate hopes these initiatives will inspire others to look at Bitcoin as an improved financial inclusion system and a major step in closing the racial wealth gap in the United States. Everyone has to wrap their minds around crypto before the world wraps their arms around it, he remarked.

While both Roberts and Tate are launching large scale initiatives, crypto influencer and YouTuberWendy Otold Cointelegraph during NFT LA that she will soon be launching a local grassroots initiative in Los Angeles to teach youth between the ages of seven and seventeen about Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Wendy O explained that she will partner with the Los Angeles based Self-Care Lab Boxing and Fitness Club to host monthly meetups to teach children about the blockchain and crypto ecosystem:

Related: NFT LA: Attract the mainstream, focus on Web3 and use cases

Like Roberts and Tate, Wendy O wants to use cryptocurrency education as a way to promote personal finance. Financial literacy isnt taught in schools, unfortunately. But, when individuals learn how money works, they are able to change their spending habits and even break away from generational curses, she said. Wendy O explained that when she initially learned about Bitcoin in 2011 and was able to better understand fiat money and inflation. I think these kids will be able to take this information and retrain their minds to do things differently than previous generations.

While its extremely notable that grassroots initiatives are being launched by members of the crypto community, its also important to recognize the challenges that may arise along the way.

For instance, Roberts pointed out that last years Digital Financial Revolution Tour was entirely self-funded, noting that she hopes to secure sponsors this year. We are in the process of speaking with the hardware wallet provider Ledger, as we aim to give everyone physical wallets and show them how to store their seed phrases. Wendy O also hopes to partner with a cryptocurrency wallet provider or an exchange to ensure that food and drinks for her monthly meetups can be covered. I would like to give $25 worth of BTC to everyone who attends, she said. Regardless of sponsorships, both Roberts and Wendy O are optimistic that their projects will teach those in need about financial literacy simply byexplaining how Bitcoin and cryptocurrency work.

Grassroots initiatives sponsored by crypto companies have proven to be very successful given the added help. For example, GoodDollar a nonprofit protocol for financial education and inclusion in Web3 launched an ambassador program early last year to allow its 350,000 community members to distribute free crypto universal basic income to anybody with access to a cell phone and an internet connection.

Jessica Salama, community lead at GoodDollar, told Cointelegraph that individual GoodDollar ambassadors are making headway in spreading the word about crypto by showing others how to use and access digital currency.

She said that GoodDollar ambassador Etugbo Obokparo Stephen in Nigeria has hosted local meetups at his university to help fellow students open their first digital wallets and begin learning Web3, crypto and blockchain fundamentals. His initial gathering was the first blockchain conference ever held in his locality, Salama said.

Stephen further told Cointelegraph, Ive always communicated with people on social media, but when I joined GoodDollars ambassador program, I was able to bring more people into crypto because they supported my initiative financially and with words of encouragement.

Read the original here:
Grassroots initiatives are bringing Bitcoin education to communities across America - Cointelegraph

Image source: Getty Images

Buffett says cryptos are just going to sit there and won't multiply.

Billionaire business magnate Warren Buffett is not a big fan of Bitcoin (BTC). In fact, he famously told reporters years ago that it's "probably rat poison squared." He's been more circumspect in recent years, and refused to be drawn on his views at his company Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting last year. That didn't stop his second in command Charlie Munger telling attendees cryptocurrency was "disgusting and contrary to the interests of civilization.

Buffett's main concerns about Bitcoin are that it has no intrinsic value and it doesn't produce anything. He's not a fan of gold for similar reasons. Buffett likes assets like farms, businesses, or real estate that generate income in and of themselves. He calls them "commercial cows" that aren't valued as a medium of exchange, but by their ability to produce milk.

He told CNBC in 2018, "If you and I buy various cryptocurrencies, they're not going to multiply. There are not going to be a bunch of rabbits sitting there in front of us. They're just gonna sit there. And I gotta hope next time you get more excited after I've bought it from you and then I'll get more excited and buy it from you."

Several of Bitcoin's biggest critics agree with Buffett. The argument is that the only reason Bitcoin increases in value is that people are speculating on being able to sell it to someone else for a profit. This is why many warn that the cryptocurrency industry is a bubble that's doomed to burst.

Bitcoin enthusiasts disagree, pointing to the leading crypto's utility as a form of payment or store of value. They also argue that its scarcity -- only 21 million will ever be mined -- makes it valuable. Scarcity is one of the characteristics of a useful currency.

They did. But those stories were a bit exaggerated. Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, invested in a Brazilian fintec company called Nubank. But Bitcoin only makes up a very small part of Nubank's business. And Nubank only makes up a very small percentage of Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio.

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Sign up today for Stock Advisor and get access to our exclusive report where you can get the full scoop on this company and its upside as a long-term investment. Learn more and get started today with a special new member discount.

In fact, there are a couple of businesses in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio with slight crypto connections. But this doesn't reflect any big U-turn on Buffett's part. It's just that Berkshire Hathaway invests in several major financial institutions. And the rise of cryptocurrency means some of those institutions have now opened the door -- albeit very slightly -- to crypto.

Buffett is a highly successful investor and it's wise to take note of his concerns. Cryptocurrency is a relatively new and unregulated industry and we don't know what will happen. Bitcoin could become the digital currency of the future, but it may not. It certainly has a lot of hurdles to clear before this happens. This uncertainty makes it a risky investment.

This is why the golden rule of crypto investing is to only spend money you can afford to lose. That way if Buffett is right and the whole market collapses completely, it will be disappointing but not disastrous for your finances. As we've seen in recent years, Bitcoin's price is extremely volatile and can lose 50% in a matter of months. As a new crypto investor, you need to be prepared for what can be a rollercoaster ride.

READ MORE: Top Cryptocurrency Apps and Exchanges

Another reason Buffett won't buy Bitcoin is that he only invests in things he understands. This is sound logic for any investor. If you decide to invest in Bitcoin, make sure you understand the basics of blockchain, the main risks involved in crypto investing, and the factors that might impact Bitcoin's performance long term. Don't buy Bitcoin because other people are doing it -- take time to research the industry for yourself and make your own decisions.

In addition to understanding Bitcoin, the decision to buy has a lot to do with your own personal financial situation. If you're not on top of other financial goals such as building up your emergency fund or paying down debt, focus on these things first. High-risk investments shouldn't come at the expense of the foundations that will give you financial security in the future.

There are hundreds of platforms around the world that are waiting to give you access to thousands of cryptocurrencies. And to find the one that's right for you, you'll need to decide what features that matter most to you.

To help you get started, our independent experts have sifted through the options to bring you some ofour best cryptocurrency exchanges for 2022. Check out the list here and get started on your crypto journey, today.

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Should You Invest in Bitcoin? Here's What Warren Buffett Thinks - The Motley Fool

An Ethereum developer, Virgil Griffith, has been sentenced to five years and three months in U.S. prison after he pleaded guilty to a charge brought on by speaking at a crypto conference in North Korea. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), his presentation provided the Kim Jong Un regime with technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions.

Virgil Griffith, an Ethereum developer, was sentenced to 63 months in prison Tuesday by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan.

Griffith pleaded guilty in September last year to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The charge carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison. However, in a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to seek no more than six and a half years.

The Ethereum developer was arrested in November 2019 in Los Angeles. He is charged with violating the IEEPA by traveling to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) in order to deliver a presentation and technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions, the DOJ said.

The crypto enthusiast has been in federal custody since July last year following his second arrest when Judge Castel revoked his bail. According to the federal judge, a surge in the value of his cryptocurrency holdings gave him the means and incentive to flee. He was reportedly arrested when logging into his Coinbase account.

Inner City Press quoted Judge Castel as saying Tuesday: Some says Mr. Griffith is being persecuted for promoting crypto. But thats not what this case is about. He pled guilty the day before trial. It was an intentional violation of sanctions, which are intended to avoid military conflict. The judge concluded:

Virgil Griffith has no ideology. Hell play off both sides, as long as he is at the center. I sentence him to 63 months in prison and a fine of $100,000.

The case followed Griffiths visit to North Korea in order to attend the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference or the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference in April 2019, the DOJ explained. The court document details:

Despite that the U.S. Department of State had denied Griffith permission to travel to the DPRK, Griffith presented at the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference, knowing that doing so violated sanctions against the DPRK.

The DOJ noted that at no time did Griffith, a U.S. citizen living in Singapore, obtain permission from the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to provide goods, services, or technology to the DPRK.

The Department of Justice further added that Griffith and other attendees discussed how the DPRK could use blockchain and cryptocurrency technology to launder money and evade sanctions at the conference. There were approximately 100 other attendees.

What do you think about Virgil Griffiths sentencing? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Ethereum Developer Virgil Griffith Sentenced to 5+ Years in US Prison for Violating North Korean Sanctions Regulation Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

The April 7 Regulation And Compliance panel at Bitcoin 2022 in Miami featured insiders from cryptocurrency investing platforms as well as the advisors who help them navigate the minefield of government compliance.

Moderator Preston Byrne welcomed law partner Hailey Lennon from the Anderson Kill firm, which specializes in clients involved in the crypto industry. Also on hand was John Melican, a former head of compliance at American Express who is now the chief of external affairs for blockchain analytics company Elliptic; Jeff Howard, the head of North American business development at digital asset trading platform OSL; and Simon Douyer, the COO at cryptocurrency trading firm SheeldMarket.

Lennon, Howard and Douyer at the Bitcoin 2022 conference.

The discussion focused on three main topics:

Melican spoke most about the first topic, given his background and work in helping clients detect and prevent fraudulent transactions on their platforms. One challenge Melican sees is that clients want to know, Can you scale? Can you add new asset classes?

The space is developing so rapidly that it is tough for these firms to keep up with evolution in the industry and at the same time monitor changing government regulations.

Another emerging challenge in the cryptocurrency space is the way that Bitcoiners have reacted to emergencies on the world stage. Russias war on Ukraine has brought about massive support from around the world in the form of bitcoin donations being sent to Ukranians. It has also prompted the suspected use of cryptocurrency by Russia in order to avoid economic sanctions imposed by many nations around the world. This presents a unique challenge for firms to determine if funds leaving their platforms are being used for illicit activity.

Regarding the Federal Reserves focus on illicit Bitcoin transactions, Melican provided this thought, aimed at regulators: Crypto is the worst way in the world to launder money.

Douyer, Melican and Byrne at the Bitcoin 2022 conference.

Howards overriding thoughts on the issue of consumer protection had to do with current U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler. He feels that Gensler, though he has taught blockchain technology at MIT, has a very expansive view on regulation. Howard stated more than once that Gensler is a very aggressive regulator. He pointed to the SEC chairs desire to regulate stablecoins in much the same way as money market accounts as an example.

Lennon pointed out that state regulations can be even more onerous than some federal regulations, citing the New York State BitLicense as an impediment to innovation there. Lennon, the former associate general counsel at Coinbase, sees Washington currently focusing more on altcoins, given the amount of fraud that has already taken place in that area, with less attention being paid to Bitcoin.

Douyer echoed a thought that each of the panelists seemed to agree on: The United States currently has major gaps in Bitcoin regulations, in two main ways. First, the major regulatory agencies are not united as to which has authority to regulate various areas of the cryptocurrency space. This includes the SEC, U.S. Department Of The Treasury, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and others.

The other area promoting confusion among tech innovators is the disjointed relationship between federal and state regulators. This picked up on a theme that Lennon discussed as well.

Howard weighed in extensively on this area. Howard cited perhaps the main takeaway from this panel: Regulatory uncertainties in Washington are keeping the big institutions somewhat on the sidelines at this point. As cryptocurrency matures, it is becoming more institutional, as Howard put it, yet it cant really scale without guidance from Washington.

Citing a frustration that many money managers have already faced, Howard pointed to the SECs failure so far to approve a bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). Similar innovations are happening elsewhere in the world, particularly in Germany. Lennon even cited that clients sometimes ask how they can stay out of the U.S., which certainly doesnt sound promising.

So, is there any reason to be hopeful about the regulatory environment in the U.S.? Well, Melican feels that President Bidens recent executive order is a good start toward common sense regulation in the cryptocurrency space. The order directs federal agencies to coordinate their efforts and work toward creating a regulatory framework for digital asset markets. Other panelists seemed to agree, though all felt that the efforts will take time.

In summary, Byrne said, As far as advising clients on Bitcoin and crypto regulations, Im very comfortable with my future job security.

This is a guest post by Rick Mulvey. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

Read more here:
At Bitcoin 2022, Panelists Identify The Gaps, Uncertainties In Bitcoin Regulations - Bitcoin Magazine

As responses from exchanges with those users identity information began to pour in, the team started the process of assembling more complete profiles of their targets. They began to collect the names, faces, and photos of hundreds of menthey were almost all menfrom all walks of life, everywhere in the world. Their descriptions crossed boundaries of race, age, class, and nationality. All these individuals seemed to have in common was their gender and their financial connection to a worldwide, hidden haven of child abuse.

By this time, the team felt theyd pinned down the sites Korean administrator with confidence. Theyd gotten a search warrant for Son Jong-woos Gmail accounts and many of his exchange records, and they could see that he alone seemed to be receiving the cashed-out proceeds from the sitenot his father, who increasingly seemed to the investigators like an unwitting participant, a man whose son had hijacked his identity to create crypto-currency accounts. In Son Jong-woos emails, they found photos of the younger man for the first timeselfies hed taken to show friends where hed chipped a tooth in a car accident, for instance. He was a thin, unremarkable-looking young Korean man with wide-set eyes and a Beatles-esque mop-top of black hair.

But as their portrait of this administrator took shape, so too did the profiles of the hundreds of other men who had used the site.* A few immediately stuck out to the investigative team: One suspect, to the dismay of Thomas Tamsi and his Homeland Security colleagues, was an HSI agent in Texas. Another, they saw with a different sort of dread, was the assistant principal of a high school in Georgia. The school administrator had posted videos of himself on social media singing duets, karaoke-style, with teenage girls from his school. The videos might otherwise have been seen as innocent. But given what they knew about the mans Bitcoin payments, agents who had more experience with child exploitation warned Janczewski that they might reflect a form of grooming.

These were men in privileged positions of power, with potential access to victims. The investigators could immediately see that, as they suspected, they would need to arrest some of Welcome to Videos users as quickly as possible, even before they could arrange the takedown of the site. Child exploitation experts had cautioned them that some offenders had systems in place to warn others if law enforcement had arrested or compromised themcode words or dead mans switches that sent out alerts if they were absent from their computer for a certain period of time. Still, the Welcome to Video investigation team felt they had little choice but to move quickly and take that risk.

Another suspect, around the same time, came onto their radar for a different reason: He lived in Washington, DC. The mans home, in fact, was just down the street from the US attorneys office, near the capitals Gallery Place neighborhood. He happened to live in the very same apartment building that one of the prosecutors had only recently moved out of.

That location, they realized, might be useful to them. Janczewski and Gambaryan could easily search the mans home and his computers as a test case. If that proved the man was a Welcome to Video customer, they would be able to charge the entire case in DCs judicial district, overcoming a key legal hurdle.

As they dug deeper, though, they found that the man was a former congressional staffer and held a high-level job at a prestigious environmental organization. Would arresting or searching the home of a target with that sort of profile cause him to make a public outcry, sinking their case?

Just as they trained their sights on this suspect in their midst, however, they found that he had gone strangely quiet on social media. Someone on the team had the idea to pull his travel records. They found that he had flown to the Philippines and was about to fly back to DC via Detroit.

There were suitcases still not fully unpacked from the trip. The man had ordered a pizza the night before, and part of it remained uneaten on the table.

This discovery led the agents and prosecutors to two thoughts: First, the Philippines was a notorious destination for sex tourism, often of the kind that preyed on childrenthe HSI office in Manila constantly had its hands full with child exploitation cases. Second, when the man flew back to the US, Customs and Border Protection could legally detain him and demand access to his devices to search for evidencea bizarre and controversial carve-out in Americans constitutional protections that, in this case, might come in handy.

Would their DC-based suspect sound the alarm and tear the lid off their investigation, just as it was getting started?

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Inside the Bitcoin Bust That Took Down the Webs Biggest Child Abuse Site - WIRED