Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, has pleaded guilty in the United States to two counts of fraud.Mashinsky, 59, was indicted on July 13, 2023, on seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and market manipulation charges. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said he misled Celsius customers to persuade them to invest, and artificially inflated the value of his company’s proprietary crypto token. He pleaded not guilty later that day. On Tuesday, during a hearing before US District Judge John Koeltl, Mashinsky said he pleaded guilty to two out of the seven counts he was initially charged with: commodities fraud and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of CEL, Celsius’s in-house token.In court, Mashinsky admitted to giving Celsius customers “false comfort” by giving an interview in 2021 in which he said Celsius had received approval from regulators for its “Earn” programme, which it had not. The Earn programme allowed users to deposit cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether and receive weekly interest payments, offering as much as 18 percent annually. Advertisement He said he also failed to disclose that he had been selling his holdings of CEL.“I know what I did was wrong, and I want to try to do whatever I can to make it right,” Mashinsky said.As part of his plea deal with prosecutors, Mashinsky agreed not to appeal any sentence of 30 years or less – the maximum he faces for the two counts.Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky pleaded guilty to two of […]

United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler will step down on January 20 when US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration takes over, the agency has said, ending an ambitious tenure that saw Gensler clash with Wall Street and the crypto industry.“I thank President Biden for entrusting me with this incredible responsibility. The SEC has met our mission and enforced the law without fear or favor,” Gensler, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2021, said in a statement on Thursday. Known for his hard-charging style, Gensler led an ambitious agenda to boost transparency, reduce systemic risks, and stamp out conflicts of interest on Wall Street, implementing dozens of new rules, some of which have been challenged in court.Among his major accomplishments were changes to boost the resilience and efficiency of US markets, including speeding up trade settlements and overhauling the $28 trillion US Treasuries market, as well as a number of rules boosting investor disclosures and corporate governance.The Baltimore native also successfully implemented rules mandated by Congress imposing SEC oversight on auditors of US-listed Chinese companies, ending a decade-long tussle with Beijing that lawmakers said had put US investors at risk.On the enforcement front, Gensler’s SEC broke new ground with a multi-year effort focused on Wall Street’s use of text, WhatsApp and other unauthorised channels to discuss business, levying more than $2bn in fines against dozens of firms, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.He also took on the cryptocurrency industry, suing Coinbase, Kraken, Binance and others, alleging that […]

Bitcoin is nearing the $100,000 mark as crypto enthusiasts bet that United States President-elect Donald Trump will usher in a more welcoming regulatory environment for digital assets.The world’s most popular digital currency rose as high as $99,073 on Thursday, extending its surge since Trump’s re-election on November 5. The commodity has risen more than 60 percent since election day as investors anticipate Trump’s incoming administration to ease regulatory and legal hurdles to its use.Trump, who called the asset a “scam” during his first term, accepted campaign donations in cryptocurrency, and has pledged to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet” and accumulate a national bitcoin reserve.Trump and his three sons in September also announced the launch of their own crypto business, World Liberty Financial, which investors have taken as a promising sign of the president-elect’s belief in the sector.In another bullish signal for the sector on Thursday, United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair, Gary Gensler, who was widely disliked among crypto investors for his aggressive enforcement actions targeting the sector, confirmed that he would step down in January.Trump had pledged to fire Gensler on “day one” of his administration, though the president does not have the authority to remove the SEC chair before the end of his or her term.While viewed by supporters as a ticket to big returns and financial freedom, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are known for their volatility and have faced government crackdowns in several parts of the world.After climbing to a record […]

Bitcoin is closing in on $90,000 as crypto enthusiasts bet on United States President-elect Donald Trump taking a hands-off approach to digital currencies.The world’s most popular cryptocurrency hit a record high of $89,637 on Tuesday, continuing its explosive rally since the US presidential election on November 5. The commodity has gained more than 30 percent since election day, with investors anticipating Washington to take a turn towards more crypto-friendly policies under Trump.During his first term as president, Trump called Bitcoin a “scam” and complained that the currency was “competing against the dollar”.The Republican, however, radically changed course during his re-election campaign to cast himself as a crypto champion.Among other promises, Trump has pledged to turn the US into “the crypto capital of the planet” and to replace the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, who led efforts by President Joe Biden’s administration to increase oversight of the sector.In September, Trump announced the launch of his own crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, along with his family members.“Obviously [it’s] a clear Trump trade as he is so supportive of the industry, and this can only mean more demand both for crypto stocks as well as the currencies themselves,” said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at ATFX Global in Sydney.“The fact that Bitcoin was trading near all-time highs when the election result came through meant that it had clean sky above.”Despite their enthusiastic following, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are widely viewed as speculative assets and are known for experiencing wild […]

Bitcoin surged to a record high of $89,000 on Tuesday as investors pumped money into cryptocurrencies following the election of Donald Trump as United States president, who has turned from a cypto-sceptic to an investor himself.Bitcoin, the oldest and the largest crypto currency, has seen its value go up by 30 percent in the past week. It is not the only cryptocurrency on the move. Since Trump’s victory, Dogecoin — a currency backed by Trump ally Elon Musk — has surged 152 percent. Cryptocurrency is a “digital alternative” to traditional money and works online without a central authority. But it has long also been very volatile and has faced government curbs in several parts of the world.So how is the crypto spike linked to Trump’s election and will the new US administration ease regulatory frameworks around crypto?What explains the crypto surge since Trump’s win?Analysts believe Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrencies during the presidential campaign and his venture into crypto trade is luring investors on the expectation that the new administration would be crypto-friendly.The Trump campaign accepted donations in cryptocurrency and he also appeared at industry events, promising to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet”.In late September, Trump and his three sons – Donald Jr, Eric, and Barron – unveiled his latest entrepreneurial endeavour, World Liberty Financial. Billed as a decentralised finance (DeFi) money market platform, this new venture introduced a proprietary cryptocurrency dubbed $WLFI.Although details of the new venture are unclear, many pro-crypto enthusiasts see this as a […]

Former cryptocurrency executive Nishad Singh, who once shared a $35m Bahamas penthouse with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has been spared prison time by a judge for his role in the theft by his imprisoned former boss of about $8bn in customer funds from the now-bankrupt exchange.During a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan imposed no prison time, but ordered three years of supervised release. Kaplan credited Singh for cooperating with prosecutors and coming clean about his actions in what they have called one of the biggest financial frauds in US history. Singh, who had pleaded guilty to six felony counts of fraud and conspiracy, testified last year as a prosecution witness in the trial that led to Bankman-Fried’s conviction on fraud and other charges. Singh, in a plea deal with prosecutors, admitted to his role in the fraud and for serving as a “straw donor” in some of Bankman-Fried’s millions of dollars in political donations.“I am overwhelmed with remorse for the harm that I participated in and that I caused to so many innocent people,” Singh told the judge at the hearing. “I strayed so far from my values.”Prosecutors had urged leniency for the 29-year-old Singh, FTX’s former chief engineer, in light of his cooperation. His defence lawyers recommended he serve no prison time.Bankman-Fried, 32, is serving a 25-year prison sentence imposed by Kaplan stemming from FTX’s November 2022 collapse.Last month, Kaplan sentenced Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and an executive at FTX’s sister […]