Blockchain

Bitfinex Files Motion to Dismiss Allegations for Bitcoin Manipulation, Cites Lack of Proof

iFinex – the parent company of crypto exchange Bitfinex – along with Tether has filed a motion dismissing allegations of Bitcoin market manipulation. Crypto exchange Bitfinex faces accusations of Bitcoin manipulation using the USD-backed Tether (USDT) stablecoin. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff Bitfinex pumped billions-of-dollars worth USDT in the crypto market, without actually backing with

Published

6 months ago

September 4, 2020

Republished by Plato

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff Bitfinex pumped billions-of-dollars worth USDT in the crypto market, without actually backing with the U.S. Dollar. Last October 2019, the plaintiff accused Bitfinex of anti-competitive and deceptive behavior in the Class Action Complaint (CAC). This complaint notes that such manipulation by Bitfinex led to crypto market valuations surging over $800 billion in late 2017.

Debunking all these claims, Bitfinex said that there’s no concrete proof of its involvement. It notes that the CAC has spun a whole new story that “elaborates scheme of epic fraud”. However, the plaintiff fails to provide sufficient proof backing those claims, notes Bitfinex.

In the motion filed on Thursday, September 3, Bitfinex said:

“Plaintiffs attempt to patch this gaping hole in the CAC with unsupported conclusions and rank speculation, rather than allegations of fact. Such conclusory allegations cannot save the claims against the Exchange Defendants.”

Bitfinex Asks Plaintiffs to Show Proof of Monetary Losses

While blaming Bifitinex for market manipulation, the plaintiffs claimed of losing money by purchasing cryptocurrencies at inflated prices. In the counterclaim, Bitfinex notes that the plaintiffs have not shown proof of their losses or proof that the crypto prices were artificially inflated at the time in question.

Thus, Bitfinex calls out the plaintiffs for “unfounded allegations” without the real knowledge of any manipulation. The motion added:

There isn’t a “single sustainable allegation that the Exchange Defendants—Bittrex, Inc. and Poloneix, LLC—had any knowledge of or role in the scheme”.

Bitinex adds that since the plaintiffs cannot provide proof of their monetary loss at the hands of the exchange, all the charges of monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior against the exchange should be thrown out.

Stablecoin-operator Tether has also been facing separate lawsuits for its alleged involvement in market manipulation. Tether has also provided the proof-of-funds on several occasions in the past when requested. As per data aggregator CoinMarketCap, Tether has a circulating supply of 13,751,463,500 USDT, each valued at $1.

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Bitfinex Files Motion to Dismiss Allegations for Bitcoin Manipulation, Cites Lack of Proof

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Bhushan Akolkar

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Author: Bhushan Akolkar

Source: https://coingape.com/bitfinex-files-motion-to-dismiss-allegations-for-bitcoin-manipulation/

Blockchain

Ethereum EIP-1559 Targeting Gas Fee Challenges to be Implemented in July

Published

2 hours ago

March 7, 2021

Republished by Plato

The contentious Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559, will be included in its codebase in July this year. This became clear during the All Core Developers call today.

EIP 1559: What Does it Mean for Fees?

Ethereum’s Improvement Proposal 1559 is aimed at improving the overall Ethereum’s user experience when it comes to transaction fees.

Typically, a user would have to send a gas fee to a miner for their transaction to be included in a block. What EIP-1559 proposes, however, is to send that gas fee to the network itself. Called basefee, this is a sort of a “burn” and there would only be an optional tip that’s paid to the miners. The burnt fee would be set algorithmically, supposedly improving the UX.

The proposal was originally submitted by Eric Conner and its summary provides an overall outlook at what it attempts to achieve:

A transaction pricing mechanism that includes fixed-per-block network fee that is burned and dynamically expands/contracts block sizes to deal with transient congestion.

During today’s All Core Developers call, it was decided that it will be included in the so-called London hard fork coming this July.

Some Miners Disagree

Despite the potential improvements on the entire network that could come with EIP-1559, some of the largest Ethereum mining pools have openly displayed division on where they stand.

F2Pool, the third-largest ETH mining pool with over 10% hashrate share, shared a post, in which it supported the initiative, claiming that it would ultimately have a positive impact.

The publication says that “the general community along with core developers are siding with evolving Ethereum to include EIP-1559. It is important to side with the users and core contributors.”

F2Pool’s statement also argued that the potential EIP-1559 implementation could be factored in ETH’s price, which is more than 100% from the start of the year.

In contrast, though, the largest mining pool with nearly 25% share of the hashrate, Sparkpool, didn’t feel the same way about the integration as it could reduce the profits. They took it to Twitter to emphatically assert that the mining pool “opposes EIP-1559.”

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Source: https://cryptopotato.com/ethereum-eip-1559-targeting-gas-fee-challenges-to-be-implemented-in-july/

Blockchain

Uniswap, Crypto.com Coin, Compound Price Analysis: 07 March

Published

2 hours ago

March 7, 2021

Republished by Plato

Uniswap broke out past the $29.3 level of resistance, while Crypto.com Coin was in a phase of consolidation. Compound bounced off the $450 level of support to touch $500 but could see a pullback to $470.

Uniswap [UNI]

Uniswap, Crypto.com Coin, Compound Price Analysis: 07 March

Source: UNI/USDT on TradingView

UNI broke out and went past the $29 area of resistance, where the 23.6% retracement level and the $27.3 level of resistance lay. The upward move had extraordinary volume as UNI touched $31.54 but some selling pressure was seen in the subsequent trading session.

The Doji candle represented short-term exhaustion from the bulls, and the breakout could see UNI pullback to test the $29.3 level to confirm its flip from resistance to support.

The MACD showed strong bullish momentum behind UNI. Bearish divergence on the hourly chart between momentum (MACD) and the price could be seen in the coming hours, which would likely see UNI pullback to $29.4. This can be used to enter long positions, with a stop-loss just at $28.7.

Crypto.com Coin [CRO]

Source: CRO/USDT on TradingView

The Bollinger bands showed that CRO was in a phase of consolidation at and around its 38.2% retracement level at $0.152. The RSI moved back above neutral 50 to indicate that momentum was swaying towards the bulls’ side.

The defense of the 50% retracement level at $0.127 and the immediate bounce-off was a show of strength from bulls – the $0.146-$0.152 region can be used to accumulate CRO in expectation of another move upwards. The $0.173 and $0.189 levels are levels of resistance to watch.

Compound [COMP]

Source: COMP/USDT on TradingView

Compound saw a strong bounce-off at the $450 mark which represents a 23.6% retracement for COMP’s move from $205 to $573. At the time of writing, COMP faced some resistance at the $500 area.

Moreover, the Awesome Oscillator on the hourly chart displayed a bearish twin peak set up and gave a sell signal. This development, followed by the AO registering bearish bars on its histogram, is likely to see the price dip to $470. Bulls would need to show some strength at $470, or bears can drive the prices lower to $450 once more.

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Source: https://ambcrypto.com/uniswap-crypto-com-coin-compound-price-analysis-07-march

Blockchain

Pakistan: Arrests made in Bitcoin extortion case

Published

3 hours ago

March 7, 2021

Republished by Plato

The world of finance has never been able to protect itself from the fraudulent activities going around in the world. The cryptocurrency market, which itself is a growing space has also had its fair share of such fraudulent activity being associated with it. However, unlike traditional finance, regulators have been enforced stringent measures when it comes to tackling such offenses.

A recent case has been reported in Pakistan, where the police have arrested several people part of the country’s first extortion case via crypto. According to reports, the police arrested the owner of an outhouse where the complainants, two foreign nationals, were held hostage along with two other suspects.

One of the suspects was identified as Rana Irfan Mahmood and a case has been registered against him and an unidentified accomplice. The hostages were Swiss national Maria Spari and German citizen Stephen [last name remains unknown] who were kidnapped by three men in police uniform along with another person.

After threatening the hostages with a fake drug smuggling case, the victims paid 6,300 euros in cash and made an online transfer of 1.8 Bitcoin which was close to $9k. The suspects made a fake video demanding an additional Rs 300 million [$1.91 million].

According to SSP Investigation Abdul Ghaffar Qaisrani, the police have managed to recover the amount paid to the facilitator apart from the Bitcoin. The crypto has already been transferred to another account and the team was taking assistance from the intelligence agencies to recover it.

Although the regulators in Pakistan have been taking note of Bitcoin and crypto, illicit activities have been a growing concern in the region. In November 2020, the Central bank clarified that it was not banning crypto, contrary to the prevailing fear within many in the crypto-community.

In fact, Pakistan’s Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] published a paper on the regulation of cryptocurrency trading platforms. This paper outlined the regulatory approach to crypto and included recommendations given by the Financial Action Task Force [FATF], as well as regulations presented by Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the U.S.

However, the police in the country have warned users and the government about the rising cases of ransom and extortion related to crypto. Bitcoin has been at the center of these cases and such fraud activities will only instill fear with the lack of regulation among crypto users in the region.

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