Tag: cryptocurrency

Roger Ver’s Pardon Plea: ‘Lawfare’-Victim Or Tax-Evader?

Early Bitcoin adopter Roger Ver has launched a social media campaign pleading with US President Donald Trump to pardon his tax evasion and mail fraud charges, claiming he is the victim of “lawfare” — just like recently pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and Trump himself.

Currently awaiting extradition to the US, Ver says he faces “109 years” behind bars for crimes he did not commit. In his view, US authorities unjustly pursued him.

However, crypto proponents appear divided over whether Ver deserves a pardon.

Some argue he did commit these crimes and that his character is what makes him worthy of the sheer size of the punishment.

“No one deserves to spend life in prison for tax evasion,” one X user wrote. “But Roger has definitely earned it.”

Tesla founder Elon Musk feels that Ver’s denouncement of his US citizenship makes him unworthy of a pardon.

“Roger Ver gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver,” he posted on Jan. 26.

In the moments that followed, the Bitcoin Cash founder’s odds of a pardon plummeted on prediction market Polymarket.

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Donald Trump Signs Executive Order for US Digital Asset Stockpile

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to establish a digital asset stockpile, according to a White House release. Indeed, the “crypto president” is delivering on his promise to Americans and crypto fans to prioritize the industry.

“The digital asset industry plays a crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States, as well as our Nation’s international leadership,” the release quoting Trump states. “It is therefore the policy of my Administration to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy…”

During his campaign, Donald Trump spoke highly of cryptocurrency, even speaking at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference. He has already spoken with multiple crypto industry experts since he was elected last November. Additionally, multiple lawmakers and state officials introduced bills to launch strategic state Bitcoin reserves, in a move preparing for a national reserve. Furthermore, the 47th US President appointed Mark Uyeda as acting US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair.

With anti-crypto head Gary Gensler resigning, Uyeda has already made progress amid Trump’s emerging agenda. In his first days, he also announced the arrival of the agency’s inaugural Crypto Task Force. Now, a digital asset stockpile is being formed.

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Treasure Hunt Fail: Judge Ends Man’s Decade-Long Quest for $750 Million Bitcoin Fortune

A decade-long legal battle over a lost Bitcoin fortune has ended in disappointment for James Howells, an IT engineer from Newport, Wales, after a court dismissed his lawsuit against the Newport City Council. The man hoped to search a landfill for a hard drive he accidentally threw away more than a decade ago holding Bitcoin now worth $750 million.

Crypto News reports that James Howells, an early Bitcoin adopter from Newport, Wales, in the UK has faced a major setback in his quest to retrieve a discarded hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins, now valued at about $750 million. The IT engineer accidentally threw away the hard drive in 2013 when Bitcoin had negligible value. However, as the cryptocurrency rapidly increased in value, Howells sought the right to excavate the landfill to recover the hard drive, offering to share the treasure with the local community. Now that Bitcoin has achieved the astronomical value of $94,000, Howells demanded £495 million in compensation from the Newport City Council if it continued to block his search.

Despite Howells’ offer to share a portion of the recovered Bitcoin with the council and the local community, Judge Keyser KC ruled that there were no “reasonable grounds” for the claim. The decision was based on environmental concerns and the council’s ownership of the landfill contents. The landfill reportedly holds 1.4 million tons of waste, although Howells claims to have pinpointed the hard drive’s location to a 100,000-ton section.

Reacting to the ruling, Howells expressed his frustration, calling it a “kick in the teeth.” He had assembled a team of experts for the recovery effort and engaged in repeated negotiations with the council, but the local authority maintained that excavation was impossible due to environmental regulations.

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What are crypto debit cards: How they work and where to use them

A common complaint about cryptocurrencies has been the difficulty users face in utilizing them for everyday transactions. But crypto debit cards have bridged the gap between crypto and traditional finance (to an extent), allowing you to spend your cryptocurrencies at millions of merchants worldwide. These cards indicate a significant transformation, where the traditional financial system becomes closely integrated with the one based on blockchains.

Crypto debit cards are as legitimate as regular debit cards, making everyday transactions seamless. From shopping online to dining out, crypto debit cards combine convenience and accessibility with rewards and security. These cards are an advancement in the convergence of crypto and traditional finance.

This crypto debit card guide for beginners explores how these cards work, their benefits and how to use them effectively.

What is a crypto debit card?

A crypto debit card is a payment card that lets users spend cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin BTC$97,603 or Ether ETH$3,583.76 directly from their wallets. Similar to traditional debit cards, you can use these cards both online and at merchants that accept regular card payments. 

Issued by crypto platforms in partnership with payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard, these cards simplify spending by eliminating the need to manually convert crypto to fiat before purchases. This feature facilitates enhanced payment flexibility, facilitating online and offline transactions, including at retail establishments that may not support direct cryptocurrency payments.  

Moreover, some crypto cards provide incentives, offering rewards for purchases you make with the card. You can also use these cards to make withdrawals at crypto ATMs.

Cryptocurrency-linked cards are vulnerable to the same security threats as traditional debit and credit cards. Therefore, you need to ensure the safety and privacy of your card and its details.

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IMF Offers a Glimpse at the Perils of Central Bank Digital Currencies

With Bitcoin climbing over $100,000, both investors and government officials are taking a closer look at digital money. The problem is that there’s a huge difference between an independent currency designed to resist surveillance and control, and one crafted by a central bank to enable exactly that. A new handbook from the International Monetary Fund embraces the potential of cryptocurrency while highlighting the dangers inherent in state dominance of the means of storing and exchanging value.

The IMF handbook’s opening chapter discusses how central bank digital currencies (CBDC) could keep government financial institutions relevant. “With digitalization and falling cash usage in parts of the world,” the authors write, “central banks are considering CBDC to ensure a fundamental anchor of trust in the monetary system.” Also discussed is the potential for CBDCs to “potentially help lower barriers to financial inclusion in countries with underdeveloped financial systems,” to “channel government payments directly to households,” and “to help reduce frictions in cross-border payments.”

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Operation Choke Point 2.0: How The Feds Are Seeking To ‘Debank’ Targeted Industries

A federal initiative that began during the Obama administration with the goal of debanking certain industries disfavored by federal officials has apparently been resurrected and is taking aim at cryptocurrencies.

Operation Choke Point was started by the U.S. Dept. of Justice in 2013 as a way to put pressure on banks to sever their ties, without due process, with legal businesses like gun dealers, cannabis dispensaries and payday lenders which the administration found objectionable.

That initiative was ended by President Trump in 2017 but under the Biden administration, it appears that Operation Choke Point 2.0 has begun with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) sending letters to U.S. banks in 2022, urging them to “pause all crypto-related activity.”

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) told Fox Business that the regulatory abuse is real and that President-elect Trump will put an end to this type of regulatory abuse.

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recently described the practice of debanking as “a privatized sanctions regime” on The Joe Rogan Experience, saying, “There’s no rules, there’s no court, there’s no decision process, there’s no appeal. Who do you go to to get your bank account back?”

And if the tune of Operation Choke Point 2.0 sounds familiar, there are also familiar faces as well.

Palmetto State News reports that Michael Eakes is the founder of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and Self-Help Credit Union, which operates five credit unions in South Carolina and was also an inaugural member of the FDIC’s Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion when it was started in 2006.

Another member of the advisory committee is Michael Calhoun who is president of the Center for Responsible Lending and a former employee of Self-Help Credit Union.

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Governments must tax or ban Bitcoin to maintain deficits: Minneapolis Fed

A recent research paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis suggests that assets such as Bitcoin should be taxed or banned to help governments maintain deficits. 

In an economy where the government tries to maintain permanent deficits using nominal debt, the presence of Bitcoin BTC$66,910 creates problems for policy implementation, the Minneapolis Fed said in a working paper released on Oct. 17.

Bitcoin introduces a “balanced budget trap,” an alternative state where the government is forced to balance its budget, the Fed wrote. 

The researchers used Bitcoin as an example of a fixed-supply “private-sector security” without “real resource claims.” They concluded that it should be banned or taxed to solve the conundrum. 

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FBI Will “Neither Confirm Nor Deny” The Existence Of Bitcoin-Creator Satoshi’s Records

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly responded to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from a journalist implying that Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto was a “third party individual” for whom it could neither confirm nor deny it had records.

According to an Aug. 13 X post by investigative journalist Dave Troy, the FBI issued a “Glomar response” to his request for information on Satoshi —- neither confirming nor denying the law enforcement agency had records identifying the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator.

Troy said he intended to appeal the FOIA response but claimed the FBI had made an “interesting assertion” by implying Satoshi was a “third party individual.”

“I submitted as a broad general subject request, with full context, so it is the bureau and not me that is asserting that this is an individual,” said Troy. “[M]y intent is not to establish the identity behind the pseudonym, but rather to get what info the bureau may have on the subject. If that helps establish identity somehow, fine, but that’s not my primary question.”

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‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Roger Ver Charged With $50 Million Tax Evasion

Authorities in Spain have arrested cryptocurrency entrepreneur Roger Ver, once known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” after the U.S. Department of Justice charged him with tax evasion.

Unsealed Monday, the indictment alleges that Ver evaded paying taxes to the tune of nearly $50 million, conducted mail fraud, and filed false tax returns.

The DOJ says in its indictment that Ver allegedly lied to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about how much Bitcoin he and his companies really owned. 

According to the feds, Ver was expected to file tax returns that reported capital gains from the sale of his “worldwide assets.” These assets included Bitcoin.

But the indictment alleges that despite Ver and his companies owning 131,000 Bitcoins, the crypto entrepreneur provided or caused to be provided false or misleading information—including the Bitcoin he personally owned—to a law firm and appraiser  helping him expatriate his American nationality. 

When he sold the Bitcoin in 2017, he allegedly did not inform the IRS about the gains he had made, despite the fact that the Bitcoins were held by U.S. corporations he was in charge of—named MemoryDealers and Agilestar.

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The Sinister Links Between Jeffrey Epstein, CBDCs, & Bitcoin

The purpose of this article is to create awareness of the urgent threat of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), to discuss and describe Jeffrey Epstein’s potential involvement in both funding CBDCs as well as his possible role in changing the underlying purpose of Bitcoin, rendering it unusable as a cash alternative for day-to-day transactions.

The article also provides a snippet from my book, The Final Countdown, which goes into detail and further provides practical advice for avoiding CBDCs. 

The CBDC Threat

Imagine a future where every dollar you spend is tracked – not by a bank, but by the government. This isn’t a distant sci-fi scenario; it’s a real possibility with the advent of Central Bank Digital Currencies, or CBDCs. These are not just new forms of money; they are potentially powerful tools for monitoring and controlling human behavior.

The concept is simple yet profound – a digital currency issued by the government that can be programmed with specific rules. For instance, your savings could be frozen if your online activities don’t align with governmental standards, or mandatory spending could be enforced to stimulate the economy. This level of control could extend to everyday choices, dictating the groceries you buy or the vacations you can access, all based on a digital scoring system.

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