Bitcoin has surged past the $70,000 mark, SBF has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, CommEX has begun suspending operations, the US has accused the KuCoin exchange of laundering $9 billion, among other events of the past week.
Bitcoin Price Surges Above $70,000
Starting the week at $65,000, the leading cryptocurrency’s price climbed. On Tuesday, March 26, digital gold reached $71,000. The following day, the asset’s price dipped below $69,000 but then recovered.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $70,500.
Most digital assets in the top 10 by market capitalization ended the week in the “green zone.” Solana (+11.9%) and Dogecoin (+21.7%) saw the largest gains.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $2.8 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance index is 53.6%.
Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
Former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by the Southern District of New York court. He has also been ordered to pay a fine of $11 billion.
Previously, prosecutor Damian Williams advocated for a sentence of 40 to 50 years for SBF, noting that Bankman-Fried refuses to acknowledge his role in organizing “possibly the largest fraud of the last decade.”
Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer at Variant Fund, highlighted that SBF’s sentence is much lighter than that of Ross Ulbricht, who received two life sentences for running the Silk Road darknet marketplace.
CommEX Announces Gradual Suspension of Operations from March 25
The cryptocurrency exchange CommEX has announced a gradual suspension of operations. From March 25, the exchange closed new user registrations, halted asset transfers from Binance, and stopped accepting fiat and cryptocurrency deposits.
On March 28, the opening of positions for Simple Futures and Futures Trading concluded. From April 2, new listings on the P2P marketplace will cease. On April 5, all P2P orders and listings will be automatically closed.
On April 18, the exchange will automatically close all trading pairs on Simple and Classic futures. From April 23, the spot market will close. On May 10, the exchange’s official website will cease operations.
A Binance representative stated that CommEX did not fulfill its obligations under the concluded deal.
“This decision in no way affects our commitments to our existing Russian users, whose digital assets remain secure, but users can no longer transition to CommEX,” he stated.
The representative also emphasized that Binance’s decision to exit the Russian market remains unchanged. The platform is currently in talks with several other service providers regarding the sale of its business in Russia.
Topics to Discuss with Friends
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US Accuses KuCoin Exchange of Laundering $9 Billion
The US federal prosecutor has accused the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin of laundering $9 billion.
According to authorities, platform founders Chun (Michael) Gan and Ke (Eric) Tang did not implement KYC/AML procedures from 2017 to 2023, despite serving over 30 million clients. Subsequently, identification and verification did not apply to existing users.
Thus, the exchange was effectively “used to launder proceeds from suspicious and criminal activities, including sanctions violations, darknet markets, and ransomware schemes.”
The CFTC filed a separate lawsuit against KuCoin. It also accused the platform of failing to comply with KYC and not registering as a futures commission merchant, swap execution facility, or designated contract market.
Notcoin Announces End Date for Coin “Mining”
From April 1, the team behind the Notcoin Web3 gaming project will halt the ability to mine the coin.
In their Telegram channel, they stated that a large community has formed around the clicker since its launch.
The team also mentioned user complaints about game freezes and various glitches. They jokingly promised to address these “within a week.”
On March 25, the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit opened a pre-market for the NOT token.
Also on ForkLog:
- The fifth-largest Bitcoin wallet moved 94,500 BTC.
- Bitcoin mining difficulty decreased by 0.97%.
- MicroStrategy shares hit a 24-year high.
- Nilam Resources announced plans to purchase 24,800 BTC.
Robert Kiyosaki Suggests Bitcoin Could Crash to Zero
Author of the bestseller “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki stated that the first cryptocurrency could be a scam and crash to zero.
According to him, Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme no more than the US dollar, euro, yen, or any other “fake” or fiat currency.
“The entire US dollar is American debt. [I am concerned about] our political, banking, and financial leaders. They are either incompetent, corrupt, or both. Our leaders have no idea how to control the growing national debt and the US bond market, as well as the overly inflated stock market,” Kiyosaki explained.
Kiyosaki acknowledged that Bitcoin’s price could drop to zero, but the same threat looms over the US dollar, Australian dollar, British pound sterling, Japanese yen, and any country’s fiat currency. History proves that thousands of “fake” currencies have already ended up in the fiat money graveyard, he added.
What Else to Read?
This week, ForkLog explained what interoperability is.
In the traditional digest, we compiled the main events of the week in cybersecurity.
The most important news from the crypto industry participants was gathered in a separate digest.