A federal court has frozen all funds raised in a $9 million token sale the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused of being fraudulent. In a filing earlier this month, the U.S. District Court sitting in Austin, Texas, froze the assets of the individuals and entities believed to have received funds from the Meta 1 Coin initial coin offering (ICO). The court agreed with the SEC that the “Warner relief defendants” — Wanda Ironheart Traversie-Warner (“Traversie”), Alfred Dewitt Warner Jr. (“Warner”) and Ironheart Trust (“Ironheart”) — would try to “dissipate, conceal or transfer assets,” including by sending them offshore, unless the assets were frozen. The ruling, dated May 14, encompasses all the fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies linked to the Meta 1 Coin sale. The Warner r...

Bitcoin is so speculative and volatile that it doesn’t deserve to be considered an asset class, according to Goldman Sachs. Diving deeper into the realm of the more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies in existence, things get even more speculative – with traders often jumping on fast-moving and thinly traded tokens for a quick profit and then quickly moving on to the next hot trade.  That’s why it’s so notable that holders of one token, Chainlink (LINK), appear to be in it for the long term.  You’re reading First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team, First Mover starts your day with the most up-to-date sentiment around crypto markets, which of course never close, putting in context every wild swing in bitcoin and more. We follow the money so you don’t ...

Gemini has become the first U.S. crypto exchange and custodian to partner with Samsung, the companies announced Thursday.  Samsung Blockchain users in the U.S. and Canada can now connect to Gemini’s mobile app to buy, sell and trade crypto after the companies built an integration between the two applications.  With Gemini Custody, Samsung users can now also transfer their crypto into cold storage.  “Crypto is not just a technology, it is a movement,” Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini, said in a press release. “We are proud to be working with Samsung to bring crypto’s promise of greater choice, independence and opportunity to more individuals around the world. Now, Samsung Blockchain Wallet customers can buy crypto in a simple, elegant and secure way on Gemini.” Disclosure Read More The leade...

Electronics company LG joined Hedera Hashgraph’s Governing Council on Wednesday, becoming its 14th member. The addition edges Hedera toward its council’s long-term goal: tap 39 hands-on node runners to govern its enterprise-grade public ledger, Hashgraph. Hashgraph is an alternative to blockchain platforms with buy-in from Google, IBM, Boeing and University College London among others.  LG, a South Korean home appliance manufacturer, is the first such business and only the second based in Asia, after the Japan-based Nomura, to join. Those attributes add a fresh perspective Hedera’s telecom-heavy and Asia-light council, said Hedera CEO Mance Harmon. He said members “vote on just about every part of the business” of the limited liability corporation. “For that to be done well, we want to ma...

After facing a heavy load of transactions earlier this month, bitcoin’s (BTC) network has returned to a more normal level, recent developments suggest.  The total amount of fees paid to miners was 80 BTC as of Tuesday, down from its 11-month high of 201 BTC on May 21, according to the data provided by the blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode. It was at 57 BTC on May 3.  The percentage of miner revenue from fees has also pulled back to 9.4% from the 28-month high of 21% registered on May 20.  “The fall back in transaction fees are related to a normalized transaction activity and recent mining difficulty adjustment, which occurs around every two weeks,” said Wayne Chen, CEO of Interlapse Technologies and founder of virtual currency platform Coincurve.  Users pay fees to miners for processi...

Digital asset custodian Kingdom Trust is offering investors a single retirement account for traditional and digital assets.  Called Choice, the South Dakota-based custodian is offering a self-service retirement platform where investors can buy, sell or hold stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and digital assets in one tax-advantaged account, said Kingdom Trust CEO Ryan Radloff. Currently, fewer than 1% of the 100,000 retirement accounts for which Kingdom Trust provides custody have any digital assets as part of their portfolios.  “Basically it’s a self-directed IRA with a web interface and mobile app to go back and forth between legacy and digital assets,” Radloff said. Kingdom Trust built connections to crypto exchange Kraken to access digital assets and legacy brokers for traditional as...

In a world where conventional wisdom has never been more up for grabs, one VC explains why there is opportunity in alternative narratives. The battle to control narratives is the battle to shape how people understand the world around them. But the traditional gatekeepers of narratives – the media – have never had more competition to shape what is perceived as truth.  In this episode, NLW speaks with Bedrock Capital founder Geoff Lewis about what it means to seek out opportunities in “narrative violations.” They also discuss:  Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invest...

The equities markets far outpaced cryptocurrencies Tuesday on optimism that economic restrictions put in place to help slow the spread of the coronavirus are easing. Bitcoin (BTC) poked its head above the $9,000 level briefly during morning trading in New York but fell to below $8,700 on selling. As of 20:35 UTC (4:35 p.m. ET), bitcoin was trading at $8,846, a loss of 1% over 24 hours.  The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is currently trading below its 10-day and 50-day technical indicator moving averages, a signal of bearish sentiment.  “Bitcoin failed to break higher and has been bouncing off support in the $8,700 region,” said Max Boonen, CEO of cryptocurrency liquidity provider B2C2. Bitcoin trading on Coinbase since May 24Source: TradingViewWhile bitcoin has been trending lower, ...

A senior figure at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes a digital currency backed by a central bank would open the door to much greater innovation in retail payments. Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, the IMF’s deputy division chief in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, said synthetic CBDCs – digital currencies backed by the liabilities of a central bank, but issued with the aid of a private entity – could provide citizens with a reliable means of payment that simultaneously leverage some of the key competitive advantages of the private sector. A synthetic CBDC as outlined by Mancini-Griffoli is pretty much a public-private partnership. The idea is a licensed eMoney provider stores client funds in a central bank and, in return, receives a central bank liability they can package...