Skip to main content

MLB Team Washington Nationals Partners With Terra Blockchain Community, Ballpark Plans to Accept UST

On February 9, the American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C., the Washington Nationals, announced the team has partnered with Terra, the open-source blockchain platform and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The Washington Nationals detail that the team is a “leading innovator” and is “consistently introducing new technologies to enhance the fan experience.” Washington Nationals Ink Long-Term Deal With Terra Major League Baseball (MLB) team the Washington Nationals has partnered with the blockchain platform and DAO Terra, according to an announcement published by the team on Wednesday. The deal with Terra follows a slew of sports-related deals with crypto firms, but the MLB team will be the first to partner with an open-source blockchain project. In addition to the partnership, the algorithmic stablecoin UST that’s issued on the Terra blockchain will be “accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park as early as next season.” “The Nationals continue t...
Post a Comment

Alleged $366M Bitcoin mixer busted after analysis of 10 years of blockchain data

A Swedish-Russian citizen has been charged with operating a multi-million Bitcoin laundering service after authorities traced his crypto transactions from 2011.

U.S. authorities have arrested the alleged mastermind behind a multi-million darknet-based BTC mixing service, Bitcoin Fog, after analyzing 10 years of blockchain data.

Authorities have issued a chilling warning to other users of illegal blockchain services: Anything you do today may come back to haunt you as “this activity is on this ledger forever” and ever-more sophisticated analytics technology can track down crimes committed years earlier.

For approximately a decade, Bitcoin Fog has enabled users to conceal the origin and destination of its users’ crypto assets. However, the Internal Revenue Service is charging Russian-Swedish citizen, Roman Sterlingov, with laundering more than 1.2 million Bitcoin worth $336 million while serving as the website’s administrator.

Sterlingov was arrested on April 27 in Los Angeles, with the IRS estimating he received commissions of between 2% and 2.5% for mixing services at the time of each transaction — worth roughly $8 million then but exponentially more today.

Authorities estimate at least 23% of the Bitcoin that flowed through the mixing service was transferred to darknet-based narcotics marketplaces such as Silk Road.

Sterlingov’s arrest was the product of authorities fastidiously unpicking the web of BTC transactions associated with the mixer service dating back to 2011, using the Bitcoin blockchain to identify the site’s operator.

Sterlingov founded the website in late 2011 under a Japanese pseudonym meaning “Happy New Year, '' spruiking Bitcoin Fog as eliminating any chance of authorities “finding your payments and making it impossible to prove any connection between a deposit and a withdraw inside our service."

In 2019, undercover IRS agents engaged Sterlingov through the platform, claiming they wished to launder the profits from ecstasy sales. The transactions were processed without a reply.

Law enforcement was able to identify that Sterlingov had paid for Bitcoin Fog’s server hosting expenses using the now-defunct digital currency Liberty Reserve, allowing them to trace when he bought the Liberty Reserve using Bitcoin transferred from the collapsed pioneer crypto exchange, Mt Gox.

From there, the IRS was able to identify the home address and phone number that Sterlingov had registered to his account, and eventually a Google Drive account containing instructions outlining the steps he took to purchase his Liberty Reserve coins.

“This is yet another example of how investigators with the right tools can leverage the transparency of cryptocurrency to follow the flow of illicit funds,” said Jonathan Levin, co-founder of blockchain forensics firm, Chainalysis.

Computer scientist, Sarah Meiklejohn, stated:

“With blockchain analytics, the thing we say over and over is that all this activity is on this ledger forever, and if you did something bad 10 years ago you can be caught and arrested for it today.”

Despite Sterlingov’s detention Bitcoin Fog remains online, although it is unclear who is operating the site.

https://ift.tt/3e11PKj
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blockchain Software Firm Consensys Acquires Mycrypto Ethereum Wallet

On February 1, the blockchain infrastructure firm Consensys has revealed it has acquired the Ethereum-based wallet Mycrypto and plans to merge the wallet into Metamask. The price Consensys paid for Mycrypto was not disclosed but the announcement notes that the acquisition will “further improve the security of all the products.” Consensys Obtains Mycrypto Ethereum Wallet, Plans to Merge With Metamask in the Future Consensys has acquired the Ethereum-based wallet Mycrypto for an undisclosed sum according to an announcement released on Tuesday. The deal aims to strengthen the company’s Ethereum wallet Metamask and “enhance Web3 experiences.” The eventual merger between the two Ethereum interfaces will “provide users with a heightened experience that is even more extensive and secure,” according to Consensys. Consensys is an Ethereum software company led by one of the Ethereum co-founders Joseph Lubin. The Web3 wallet Metamask, with 21 million monthly active users (MAUs) is owned by C...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Congolese Mountain of Gold: Surprise Discovery in Africa Shows Metal’s Scarcity Is Hard to Prove

A myriad of gold bugs like to compliment the yellow precious metal for its ostensible scarcity, as estimates say only 2,500 to 3,000 tons of new gold is produced annually. While new gold discoveries have seemingly slowed, investigative studies also show that in some areas, gold is being smuggled into the economy by the ton, and often never accounted for as far as per annum issuance estimates. Recently, reports show a whole mountain of gold was discovered in the Congo, as the Democratic Republic of the Congo is well known for being a region that sees tons of smuggled gold filtered into the global financial system unreported. Surprise Gold Deposits Continue to Crack the Precious Metal’s Scarcity Proposition It has always been said that the precious metal gold (Au) is scarce, and some reports even say that gold mining on earth will end by the year 2050 . Additionally, estimates also show that there’s roughly 2,500 to 3,000 tons of new gold that is accounted for and enters into the fin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bitcoin Legal Tender in 3 Days but Survey Shows 7 Out of 10 Salvadorans Want Bitcoin Law Repealed

Bitcoin is becoming legal tender in El Salvador in three days. However, a nationwide survey conducted by the University Institute of Public Opinion (Iudop) shows that seven out of 10 Salvadorans want the government to repeal the Bitcoin Law. El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law Goes Into Effect in 3 Days The University Institute of Public Opinion (Iudop) in El Salvador conducted a study between Aug. 13 and Aug. 20 of how the public views the country’s upcoming Bitcoin Law. The institute is a research center of the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA). El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law is set to go into effect on Sept. 7 , when BTC will be legal tender in the country alongside the U.S. dollar. A total of 1,281 respondents ages 18 and over participated in this national survey that “represents the entire adult population residing in the country,” according to the institute. Out of all the respondents, 62.4% said they were aware of the approval of the Bitcoin Law by the deputies of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more