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Bankrupt Crypto Lending Platform Cred Had UK Fugitive in Charge of Funds

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James Alexander was employed as the CCO of Cred, a crypto lender that filed for bankruptcy in November. Cred, a cryptocurrency platform being investigated by the bankruptcy court in Delaware, had a U.K. fugitive as its chief capital officer (CCO). James Alexander was employed as the CCO of Cred, the crypto lender that  filed  for bankruptcy in November with liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million. Alexander had been convicted of crimes relating to illegal money transfers in the U.K. in December 2007 and sentenced to over three years in prison. Subscribe to  First Mover , our daily newsletter about markets. SUBSCRIBE By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products  and you agree to our  terms & conditions  and  privacy policy . According to the court examiner’s report filed Monday (see below), there was a prison break at the facility where Alexander was incarcerated and he was identified by the U.K. government as a fugitive. The examination describes Alex

5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting Into Crypto World.

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Bitcoin (BTC) and the cryptocurrency industry have gained  popularity  in recent months, in tandem with Bitcoin’s  price journey  up to $50,000 and beyond. Given the likely influx of new market participants, here are five things I would have liked to know when I became interested in the industry years ago.  Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment. Bitcoin Can Be A Currency Or A Store of Value Essentially, Bitcoin is a way to send value from one person to another, without needing to provide sensitive details, such as banking information and credit card numbers. Although it began as a transactional currency, as  detailed  in its original description published in 2008, Bitcoin has become  known  more as of a store of value asset similar to gold in recent years. Bitcoin is easy to move, borderless and is not tied to any specific entity or region. Its value is  si

Optimism Announces Mainnet Launch, Scaling Coming to Ethereum in March

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Ethereum (ETH)   fans are celebrating the news that Ethereum scaling solution,   Optimism , is now set to launch on the network's mainnet next month, ahead of schedule. But what does this mean both for Ethereum and its users? "Mainnet in March. Scaling is coming to Ethereum,"  commented   SetProtocol  product marketing manager Anthony Sassano on the latest  announcement  by Optimism: the team has said that they'll be launching arbitrary contract deployment on mainnet in March instead of public testnet, with details to follow.  So what's the big deal? Layer 1 (L1) is the base protocol (the Ethereum blockchain), while Layer 2 (L2) is any protocol built on top of Ethereum. Optimism is an L2 scaling solution, which allows for the Ethereum mainnet to be 'unburdened' from the great number of transactions it has to process. It uses optimistic rollups to achieve lower fees and latency, as well as greater throughput compared to Ethereum L1 alone. The team behind Op

UK’s NHS Taps Blockchain Tech to Monitor Coronavirus Vaccine Cold Chain

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UK’s NHS Taps Blockchain Tech to Monitor Coronavirus Vaccine Cold Chain Hedera Hashgraph's blockchain platform will provide the health service with a tamperproof record of vaccine temperatures, the firm said. COVID-19 vaccine  -   Tanzeel Akhtar The U.K. National Health Service (NHS) is working with blockchain platform Hedera Hashgraph to monitor COVID-19 vaccines’ temperature while in cold storage. Asset-monitoring company Everyware will provide software to track the vaccines' temperature around the clock, while Hedera’s distributed ledger technology will provide the NHS with a tamperproof and efficient record of the data, according to a press release Tuesday. NHS facilities in the U.K.’s South Warwickshire, Stratford Upon Avon and Warwick hospitals region will be using the technology initially, with a wider rollout planned as vaccine distribution progresses. The vaccines need to be kept well below freezing in order to prevent spoiling, so accurate monitorin

Crypto Robbers Strike Again in Hong Kong: Gang Makes off with 450k Tether Haul

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Hong Kong Crypto Robbers Strike Again: Gang Makes off with 450k Tether Haul Trading crypto in person is becoming increasingly risky in Hong Kong – with a second trader this month robbed by violent thugs after agreeing to swap cash for tokens offline. Per the South China Morning Post and Apple Daily’s Hong Kong site, the latest victim was attempting to make an offline tether (USDT) transaction worth some USD 0.45m in the busy Chong Yip Street. The media outlets stated that a female trader had sold a man USDT in two previous transactions worth around USD 77,000 and USD 90,000 each in previous transactions and had arranged for her uncle to wait outside an office building on the street while she conducted the third – much bigger – deal. But instead, when she met the man for the third time, she received the nastiest of surprises, when she reportedly came face-to-face with a gang of three “20- to 30-year-old” thugs armed “with knives and sticks” who robbed her of the cash the man had give

UK’s FCA Warns Investors of High-Risk Crypto Investments and Scams

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned investors on Monday they should be prepared to lose “all their money” if they choose to invest in cryptocurrency products offering high return scams The U.K. financial regulator  said  consumers should make sure they understand what they are investing in and the associated risks, as they would with all high-risk and speculative investments. “Consumers should be wary if they’re contacted out of the blue, pressured to invest quickly or promised returns that sound too good to be true,” said the FCA. The FCA also warned there is significant price volatility in crypto assets and it can be hard to value crypto assets reliably, which places consumers at a high risk of losses. Consumers for crypto asset-related investments are unlikely to have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if something goes wrong, the FCA added.  The FCA's ban on the sale of cryptocurrency derivatives

Hashed Blockchain & Crypto Market Predictions for 2021

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__________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Bitcoin A solid and continuous  Bitcoin (BTC)  bull run is expected in 2021. Since the inception of Bitcoin, the amount of BTC owned by the exchanges has steadily increased. However, starting from February 2020, institutional investors have started to withdraw large volumes of BTC from these exchanges for strategic long term holding. Such withdrawals have created pressure on BTC liquidity, and the sell-side crunch has driven up the BTC price since mid-2020 according to the chart below. We expect this trend to continue in 2021, and due to the decrease in BTC supply, the price of BTC is reasonably expected to align with the trend. Amount of Bitcoin owned by crypto exchanges decreased since institutions started buying Bitcoin in 2020 (ref: CryptoQuant) Grayscale  in the US provides further evidence of the increasing institutional interest as it is a vehicle through which institutional investors h