Analysis Crypto by Thebittimes.Com

A defendant named in a bombshell illegal gambling case involving NBA coach and hall of famer Chauncey Billups has seen at least $400,000 in ether (ETH) removed from his wallet, likely seized by the FBI. Alleged money launderer, Anthony Shnayderman, had 100 ETH moved out of his wallet six days ago following a test transaction — a sign that suggests the FBI or another government entity has taken control of the wallet. Shnayderman, who uses a Bored Ape as the avatar for his numerous social media accounts, has been anything but discreet about his involvement with illegal sports gambling and repeatedly reached out to individuals on X to assure them he could pick winners. It’s unclear if anyone took him up on his offers . Another crypto bro and X user “FreeMoose_NBA,” aka Mustafa Omar, was interviewed on the Pablo Torre Show months ago, describing what seems to be a crew of NBA-adjacent gamblers, launderers, and fixers. Read more: Coinbase hacker panic-sold ET...

Legal notices apparently from self-proclaimed investment firm “Salomon Brothers” were sent to over 39,000 bitcoin (BTC) addresses earlier this year in an attempt to repossess 2.3 million in dormant coins worth over $279 billion.  That’s according to a report from Galaxy Research, which analyzed the campaign that involved an unknown Salomon client “dusting” notices en masse between July and August.  The tactic involves sending tiny amounts of BTC to thousands of addresses with the notice in an “OP_RETURN output.” It threatened the address owners with “constructive possession” of its BTC via legal remedies if they didn’t respond to its notice or prove the address wasn’t abandoned. Oddly, one of the OP_RETURN messages linked to a test transaction read, “ Thank you for giving birth to me. Now you get real money back .” Salomon claims it’s protecting BTC Salomon is reportedly representing its client “altruistically,” and doesn’t want to “adversely i...

The co-creator of Meta’s ill-fated crypto payment project Libra says a political hit job stymied their efforts. David Marcus says Libra, later renamed Diem, would have “solved global payments at scale.” The tech executive notes his team spent months briefing “key regulators” in the US and abroad prior to announcing the project in June 2019 alongside 28 other companies. “Two weeks later, I was called to testify in front of both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, which was the starting point of two years of nonstop work and changes to appease lawmakers and regulators. By spring of 2021 (yes they slow-played us at every step), we had addressed every last possible regulatory concern across financial crime, money laundering, consumer protection, reserve management, buffers, and so much more, and we were ready to launch. We had worked on a slow rollout of a limited pilot that some members of the...