Today in Crypto: FTX Eyes Reportedly Eyes Capital Raise
A man was arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of laundering stolen money using malicious software allegedly linked to Electrum, a crypto wallet service, Coindesk wrote on Wednesday (September 14).
The man’s identity was not revealed, although the report says he is 39 years old. He is a suspect and his cryptograph has been seized.
“Cryptocurrency, like regular money, is vulnerable to all kinds of crime,” the police said. “The anonymous and cross-border nature of cryptocurrency provides opportunities for criminals.”
In other news, FTX is raising capital and there is talk of a possible acquisition, a report from Coindesk said on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the matter.
There are several possible takeover candidates – some of them companies that operate retail platforms, although negotiations are still in the early stages.
Meanwhile, a foundation for William Paley, the founder of CBS, will auction off a number of masterpieces from the New York Museum of Modern Art as it seeks to expand the museum’s digital footprint, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The paintings and sculptures for sale include works by Picasso, Renoir, Rodin and more. They have been in MoMA’s care since Paley’s death in 1990.
Most of the proceeds will go toward MoMA’s goals, including potentially launching a streaming channel and buying more art, possibly digital content and art tied to non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Elsewhere, Bybit, a Singaporean crypto exchange, will not offer crypto futures and options in Brazil due to a ban by Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), Coindesk wrote on Wednesday.
Bybit said it was talking to CVM to resolve the issue. The controversy, according to CVM, was that Bybit allegedly “sought to raise funds from investors resident in Brazil for investments in securities”, but had not been authorized to be a securities intermediary.
Finally, the largest provider of Ethereum mining services, Ethermine in Austria, is closing its servers to miners due to the “merger”, Bloomberg wrote on Wednesday.
The merger will shift the most widely used blockchain from a proof-of-work mechanism to proof-of-stake, so it will no longer be possible to mine Ether on the Ethereum network. This will hopefully help to cut down on energy use.
“As a consequence of this transition, the Ethermine Ethereum mining pool will switch to withdrawal-only mode once the Proof-of-Work mining phase has ended,” Ethermine tweeted on Wednesday.
New PYMNTS study: How consumers use digital banks
A PYMNTS survey of 2,124 US consumers shows that while two-thirds of consumers have used FinTechs for some aspect of banking, only 9.3% call them their primary bank.
