1-New crypto billionaires: US regulators got $32b from crypto businesses
In 2024, $19.45 billion was donated, a record. This followed the $12.7 billion payout to FTX and Alameda Research. According to Judge Peter Castel’s August ruling, corporations must pay $8.7 billion in damages jointly and severally. The accord also requires a $4 billion fee for unlawful gains.
The Terraform Labs settlement netted regulators $4.5 billion in 2024. The corporation will pay $3.59 billion in interest and $420 million in fines. The company’s creator, Do Kwon, will get $204.3 million in interest, fines, and compensation. He must also pay to the “bankruptcy estate,” which investors divide.
Binance and Celsius were fined $4.3 billion and $4.7 billion in 2023. These were among the most costly fines. The largest cryptocurrency exchange was fined $1.81 billion and ordered to surrender $2.51 billion.
In 2023, the FTC settled the Celsius fine with the Celsius Network. The agreement prohibited Celsius and its subsidiaries from selling or promoting products or services “used to deposit, exchange, invest, or withdraw any asset.”
Terra started the bear market, Celsius failed, and FTX failed in November 2022. Binance is the sole operational cryptocurrency platform and the largest centralized exchange by trading volume.
However, in 2023, US government agencies settled $10.87 billion in eight cases, a jump in recovery amounts. This was up significantly from last year.
The US has seen several crypto enforcement actions in the recent two years. This time period saw sixteen of the twenty-five critical metrics completed, indicating increased regulatory scrutiny after FTX’s collapse in the second half of 2022. In 2023, law enforcement agencies concluded eight cases for $10.87 billion, a record and an 8,327.1% increase from the previous year.
Eight more $19.45 billion settlements were reached in 2024. With just a few months left, the settlement value in 2024 has increased by 78.9% over the previous year.
American authorities also advanced in key bitcoin disputes between 2019 and 2022. In late 2019, the SEC settled with Block.one for $24 million. This was the first significant unregistered securities settlement. The SEC settled two major claims in 2020: BitClave for $29.34 million in May and Telegram for $1.24 billion.
As cryptocurrency prices rose in 2021, three important events occurred. Tether settled with the CFTC for $18.5 million and subsequently $41 million. Poloniex paid $10.39 million and BitMEX $100 million to resolve their issues. BlockFi and the SEC settled for $100 million in 2022, while Bittrex and the Treasury Department settled for $29 million.
The CoinGecko experts ignored the CFTC’s sanctions and other payments to senior managers.
Recently, Binance’s founder promised to pay a $50 million fine and went from the UAE to the US to stand before a court.
Another example is the 2020 BitMEX claims. After that, the US government charged BitMEX and its three founders, including exchange chief Arthur Hayes. Hayes resigned from the company, pleaded guilty, paid a $10 million fine, and was sentenced to two years of probation.
Only two persons were accountable for the astonishing $60 million in fines. However, due to various personal fines, the regulators’ real revenue may be several billion dollars more than predicted.
2-Reserves of bitcoin held on exchanges have reached an all-time low, although fundamentals continue to be robust
Current trends suggest investors are holding their Bitcoin rather than selling it on exchanges. Exchange reserve declines may indicate market optimism. Another possibility is that there is less immediate pressure to sell.
The researcher saw that Bitcoin transactions and active addresses remain high. Despite the price increase, on-chain activity has continued.
Additionally, The Lord of Entry revealed substantial derivatives market movements. The analyst said that derivative market traders’ holdings had dropped, indicating reduced leverage.
Long-term holders are adding Bitcoin, according to investor behavior. However, short-term investors are already selling.
The analyst expects long-term trends to be positive due to experienced investors’ accumulation tendencies and declining currency reserves.
Bitcoin is struggling to maintain its upward trend after reaching a fresh all-time high of $73,700 in March. Bitcoin returned above $65,000, but market forces drove it below $60,000.
Bitcoin (BTC) is selling around $62,600, despite the cryptocurrency market falling more than 1.6% in the previous 24 hours.
3-Houdini pulls off a crypto fraudster escape from house imprisonment in New York City on a bail of $5 million.
According to sources, German resident Horst Jicha, who is accused of a $150 million bitcoin scam, fled from his New York City home while on $5 million bond.
Jicha, who claimed USI Tech provided beneficial cryptocurrency investments, was charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. These charges target Jicha.
On October 3, his ankle monitor stopped functioning for no reason, so he skipped a court hearing, sending officials on a frenzied hunt for him.
The alleged scam by Jicha takes advantage of the 140% return on bitcoin investments to lure unwitting investors into a Ponzi scheme via USI Tech.
According to FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith, “the platform was just a facade,” allowing Jicha to “steal millions of his investors’ money and retreat from the country.”
The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) found that bitcoin complaints skyrocketed in 2023.
This revealed over 69,000 bitcoin fraud cases with losses over $5.6 billion.
Crypto complaints make almost 10% of financial fraud reports, yet they cause over half of financial fraud losses.
The study also notes that “fear of missing out” on bitcoin profits has made it easier for crooks to target consumers and retail investors.
References
https://crypto.news/btc-reserves-plunge-all-time-low-fundamentals-strong
https://crypto.news/us-regulators-received-over-32b-from-crypto-companies