Analysis Crypto by Thebittimes.Com

Amid the concerns of a brewing trade war between the United States and the BRICS nations, the US and China have agreed to a tariff pause, with all eyes on who could be next. In early April, the Western country implemented a sweeping global 10% tariff on all nations. After Beijing reached an agreement for a 90-day pause, there was hope that a full trade deal could follow. China’s stand was one of the most influential in the entire BRICS alliance. Last month, the economic bloc agreed to remain aligned on its dealings with the United States regarding its import duty increases. Subsequently, there could be a string of signed agreements with various nations in the collective. Source: iStock Also Read: BRICS or the US? Saudi Arabia May Have Chosen a Side Amid the Faceoff US and China Reach Tariff Pause Agreement: Will Another BRICS Nation Be Next? The global economy received great news to start the week as the United States and China made notable headway on trade negotiations. US Presid...

A former top official at China’s Finance Ministry said crypto is a “crucial aspect” of the digital economy and urged the nation to study it carefully amid a shifting political landscape in the US. Former Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told a forum at Tsinghua University in Beijing that while crypto poses certain risks, China must study its growing role in international financial markets because it is ”crucial” to the development of the digital economy, a ccording to a report by Sina Finance . China Banned Crypto In 2019 China banned cryptocurrencies in 2019 and its policy towards digital assets remains hostile, even though its Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong is rolling out the red carpet for the crypto industry as it strives to bolster its role as a financial center. Still, it’s unusual for a former official to speak out against existing policy. NEW: 🇨🇳China's former finance minister, Zhu Guangyao, says crypto is a...

Activist short-seller Andrew Left of Citron Research, who regularly accused firms of securities fraud, has been charged with engaging in securities fraud. This indictment comes a little over two years after Left stated, “crypto is just complete fraud.” Alongside this indictment, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also filed a complaint that echoes similar allegations and charges him with violating federal securities laws.  The US J US tice Department (DoJ) alleges he made at least $16 million and the SEC alleges he made approximately $20 million in ‘illegal trading profits.’ The alleged scheme involved Left issuing reports or tweets that encouraged his followers to either purchase or sell certain securities. He would also include a ‘price target’ that he expected the security to reach. When the prices started moving in response to the communications from Left, he would allegedly start unwinding his positions. This type of schem...

The seafood company that drove restaurant chain Red Lobster to bankruptcy with a misguided ‘Endless Shrimp’ promotion was previously praised for using blockchain technology to promote sustainable seafood production. Bangkok-based Thai Union became Red Lobster’s biggest investor in 2020 and subsequently took the decision to make the company’s popular ‘$20 Ultimate Endless Shrimp’ offer a permanent part of its menu. The promotion, which had been running on a limited-time basis for 20 years, was seen as the ideal way to shift the huge amounts of shrimp that Thai Union was catching. However, a 40% increase in c US tomer traffic saw the chain , which was already struggling due to increased labor costs, falling sales, and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, giving away mountains of free shrimp it could ill afford . As reported by CNN, under the stewardship of a CEO appointed by Thai Union, Red Lobster cut ties with two of its breaded shrimp suppliers, leaving the Bangkok-based seafoo...

Netflix has debuted a new crypto documentary, Bitconned . The movie begins in Miami’s decadent 2017 ICO era and ends, years later, in guilty pleas to criminal fraud. One quote from Centra founder Raymond Trapani encapsulates the storyline: “We lied, we cheated, we made millions of dollars. And now I’m facing over 100 years.” According to friends and family members, Trapani had aspired to be a millionaire since childhood. He even had a juvenile scheme in which he acquired pharmaceuticals using a stolen pad of prescription paper. After reselling drugs on the street and earning thousands of dollars in illegal profits, police apprehended Trapani and his friends. “It’s disappointing that he turned out to be the way he is,” said one of his former drug dealing partners. Miami Exotics The gaudy excesses of Miami quickly became the backdrop for Trapani’s criminal masterminding. He co-founded Miami Exotics, a doomed luxury car rental business, where he met Sam ‘Sorbee’ Sharma. T...

Judge Lewis Kaplan has revoked Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) bail and sent him to jail at Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City. That’s the same jail as Martin Shkreli, the ‘pharma bro’ who illegally raised the price of the life-saving medication Deraprim by 5,000% to price-gouge AIDS patients. Like Shkreli, criminal prosecutors charged SBF with defrauding investors. Shkreli served more than three years inside the Brooklyn-based federal jail. Prior to this past weekend, SBF was sitting out his house arrest at his parents’ multi-million dollar house in Palo Alto, California. The court granted him limited liberties like watching Netflix and making phone calls. He availed himself of those liberties extensively, making over 1,000 phone calls and sending 100 emails , not to mention using VPNs to pseudonymously access the Internet. Judge Kaplan reasoned that SBF’s various misdeeds — especially using his communication privileges to attempt to influence potential witnesses...