Cryptocurrency - Page 9

April 26 (UPI) — If he earns a spot on the Kansas City Chiefs’ roster to start the 2021 season, tight end Sean Culkin will become the first NFL player to convert his entire salary to Bitcoin.

The digital artist known only as Pak has reportedly sold a single pixel as a part of a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT) for a total of $1.4 million; the entire collection sold for $17 million.

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, the market price of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which rose to popularity in recent months, is now crashing. The market for NFTs is reportedly down almost 70 percent from its February peak.

Vice News reports that many people who spent large amounts of money on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are now finding that the token they purchased has disappeared and are left with little to no recourse.

As the hype around Non-Fungible Token (NFT) art continues to grow, many are ridiculing the craze including British actor and comedian John Cleese who is now selling his own drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge as an NFT. Cleese commented on the blockchain-based NFT craze, saying “The world has gone terminally insane.”

A Brooklyn-based film director is mocking and profiting off the recent cryptocurrency craze for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) by selling a year’s worth of fart audio clips.

In an SEC filing on Monday, Elon Musk’s Tesla revealed that it has bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and will soon accept Bitcoin as a payment method for products in the future.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called out the Big Tech Masters of the Universe and their “attempts at bringing down Parler,” sharing his concerns about “tech CEOs” having the ability to “run roughshod over democratically elected officials.”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently laid out his opposition to proposed cryptocurrency regulation, stating that it would create “perverse incentives for cryptocurrency customers to avoid regulated entities for cryptocurrency transactions.”

Professional athletes love to get paid, but one particular professional athlete is getting paid like none other.

Bitcoin (BTC) broke the price threshold of $20,000 in Wednesday morning trading, another record high set in a nascent bull run fueled by adoption from institutional investors.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is sounding the alarm over a proposed regulation from the Department of the Treasury that would clamp down on the use of independent cryptocurrency wallets and potentially strengthen financial censorship.

BERLIN (AP) — A 33-year-old Italian citizen was going on trial Friday in Berlin on allegations that he threatened to blow up a British National Health Service hospital unless he was paid off with 10 million pounds ($13.2 million) in crypto currency.

The Facebook-backed Libra Association has announced a rebranding of its “Libra” digital currency which will now be called “Diem.”

The U.S. government revealed this week that it seized $1 billion in Bitcoin from the Silk Road, a dark web drug marketplace that was shut down by the FBI in 2013. The funds were uncovered through an agreement between the government and an unnamed hacker that acquired the bitcoin when the marketplace was still active.

“Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack,” Trump 2020 communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement to reporters.

There is growing concern that SEC chairman Jay Clayton is not doing enough to counter growing Chinese dominance in digital currency.

Following Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s recent rejection of woke capitalism in which he declared that his employees must keep their personal politics out of the workplace or leave, about five percent of the company’s workers have actually left the cryptocurrency firm.

John McAfee, the tech pioneer behind one of the world’s first consumer anti-virus programs, was indicted for tax evasion by the DOJ and was arrested in Spain, where he now faces extradition back to America.

Wired magazine recently outlined the internal turmoil at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase following CEO Brian Armstrong’s declaration that political discussions were to be kept outside of the office, giving employees a week to agree or leave. His direct refutation of the tech industry’s woke capitalism left his employees in an uproar.

The  New York Times reports that federal authorities have brought criminal charges against the owners of one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency trading exchanges, BitMEX, alleging that the Hong Kong-based company was used to launder money and engage in illegal transactions. BitMEX handles a volume of $1.5 billion in crypto trades each day, making it one of the top five cryptocurrency exchanges.

Twitter has confirmed that the account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website was hacked this week, a verified account with 2.5 million followers that posts primarily in Hindi. The hack was used to post cryptocurrency scams similar to the massive hack of verified accounts that occurred earlier this year.

GENEVA (AP) – A Swiss region that has billed itself as a hub for high-tech finance said Thursday that it plans to accept cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ether for tax payments starting next year.

Assistant Attorney General John Demers told CBS News on Thursday that the Islamic State has a “sophisticated online operation” for selling fake personal protective equipment, primarily phony N-95 masks, and using the money for terrorist endeavors.

The Justice Department announced it has seized millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency intended to finance the activities of al-Qaeda, the al-Qassam Brigades and the Islamic State.

The third Bitcoin “halving” took place Monday afternoon, putting the inflation rate of this populist Internet money below the targeted annual inflation of the U.S. dollar.

Two Chinese nationals were charged by the Treasury Department on Monday with laundering over $100 million worth cryptocurrency that had been stolen by North Korean hackers, US prosecutors said.

An Ohio man has been arrested by federal authorities for running a “Bitcoin mixer” service on the dark web that helped to launder as much as $300 million in Bitcoin. The bitcoin allegedly laundered by the service are now worth $3.5 billion at the current valuation.

Burger King outlets in the crisis-struck nation of Venezuela will begin accepting various cryptocurrencies through a partnership with Cryptobuyer, the company announced on Thursday.

Google-owned video giant YouTube recently removed hundreds of cryptocurrency-related videos, apologizing shortly afterward and promised to reinstate banned videos and channels. So far, many are still offline.

U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard strongly criticized Facebook’s digital currency, Libra, on Wednesday. Brainard argued that Facebook’s digital currency project will face numerous regulatory challenges before it could be considered viable for public use.

Investors are calling for the body of cryptocurrency trader Gerald Cotten to be exhumed after they learned that at the time of his death, he had sole access to $137 million in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies held by investors on the Quadriga CX trading platform.

E.U. officials have established tough hurdles for Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency Libra as well as other private digital currencies, saying they shouldn’t receive regulatory approval until the risks they pose are better understood.

Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has called for his country to become a leading “crypto-nation” with the use of his scam “Petro” cryptocurrency, declaring that it will help promote “growth and prosperity” in the crisis-stricken socialist state. 

Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency has been dealt a major blow as partners eBay, Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe announced in quick succession Friday that they are withdrawing from the project.

Two Senate Democrats have reportedly urged payment processors Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe to drop out of their partnership with Facebook’s new Libra cryptocurrency.