Month: May 2023

Pixel Penguins Scam and Ensuing Drama Shows Danger of Trusting CT Influencers

As rumors intensified, pseudonymous crypto sleuth ZachXBT shared ETH addresses linked to the Pixel Penguin NFT collection, showing that the contract had amassed nearly 61.6 ETH, or about $117,000. Two hours later, ZachXBT shared that 63.5 ETH, nearly $119,000, of the funds earned from the project were distributed across two new wallet addresses. While users who had been duped rushed to figure out how to recoup their losses, the scammers apparently deposited funds into a wallet on cryptocurrency exchange OKX, further obfuscating their paper trail. Source

Gate.io denies liquidity problems after Multichain CEO goes missing

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Centralized crypto exchange Gate.io denied rumors of illiquidity on May 31, stating that “there are no issues with our operations or withdrawals as rumored.” The statement comes after numerous Twitter channels had alleged that the exchange was experiencing insolvency due to an alleged connection between it and the cross-chain router protocol Multichain (MULTI). The Gate.io team said the company’s “operations are running healthy” and that it is focused on establishing an affiliated trading platform in Hong Kong called Gate.HK. Rumors about Gate.io’s insolvency erupted after a series of events relating to…

SBF wants to subpoena documents from old FTX/Alameda law firm to use in his defense

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Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is seeking to subpoena documents from Fenwick & West. That’s the law firm that served as the outside counsel to FTX, Alameda Research and SBF personally from “early in their development” until the FTX bankruptcy. Now SBF’s legal team wants to use the documents in his defense in the 13-count criminal case against him. According to a memorandum filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Fenwick has stated that it cannot turn over the documents without the permission of the…

Microsoft’s CSO says AI will help humans flourish, cosigns doomsday letter anyway

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Microsoft’s chief scientific officer, Eric Horvitz, believes artificial intelligence will allow future humans to flourish, but he’s apparently hedging his bets.  Horvitz published a post entitled “Reflections on AI and the future of human flourishing” on the official Microsoft blog on May 30. The article discusses the future of artificial intelligence and announces a series of essays written by AI experts who were given early access to OpenAI’s GPT-4 before its public launch. Per the blog post, Horvitz was surprised by the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT-4 when he was given…

Jimbos Protocol to Work With U.S. Homeland Security to Help Recover $7.5M From Flash Loan Exploit

“We have a good idea who it is,” said blockchain sleuth Ogle, who is part of the recovery process and has helped with the Euler Finance exploit. “I think they end up speaking, keeping their 10%, and returning the rest — it’s a win for everybody and makes the most sense. Only an idiot would try to keep the rest, but risk prison for years and losing all of the money.” Source

PepeCoin (PEPE) price action points to a potential 70% drop

Pepe (PEPE) price has dropped by more than 70% three weeks after establishing its record high of $0.00000449. And the memecoin could fall even more in the coming days, according to a mix of technical and fundamental indicators. PEPE charts flash a classic bearish reversal pattern From a technical standpoint, the price of PEPE could drop sharply from its current levels. At the core of this bearish outlook lies the classic head-and-shoulders (H&S) pattern. Analysts who use technical analysi view the H&S pattern as a bearish reversal indicator for the unversed.…

Covering the 2024 Presidential Election

It gives me no pleasure to report that less than six months into this Congressional term, the 2024 election season has become fully underway. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) officially declared his candidacy last week, though he appears to have been laying the groundwork (campaigning) for quite some time. Crypto hasn’t been an issue in any previous presidential election, and barely popped its head up during the last few midterms. But as CoinDesk prepares to cover the next roughly 18 months, it looks increasingly likely that this industry will pop…

Sen. Elizabeth Warren points to crypto payments as facilitating fentanyl trade in China

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Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has suggested a link between cryptocurrency payments and companies based in China that provided precursors for the opioid fentanyl. In a May 31 hearing of the United States Senate Banking Committee on China, Warren pointed to a report from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic to suggest a connection between cryptocurrency and “illegal drug transactions” at Chinese companies. Elliptic reported on May 23 that 90% of roughly 90 China-based firms supplying fentanyl precursors were willing to accept payment in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC). “Crypto is supposedly banned in…

Crypto Spot Trading For Institutional Investors Coming From TP ICAP

“While the crypto-native landscape still feels a little somber, when we look at our traditional client base and we look at the relationships we’ve been developing, it actually feels reasonably optimistic,” Simon Forster, global co-head of Digital Assets at TP ICAP Group, told CoinDesk. “There’s a lot of people building interesting things. And it feels like 2022 is this watershed moment where the crypto landscape has changed we think probably forever.” Original Source ComingCryptoICAPInstitutionalInvestorsSpotTrading CryptoX Portal