On October 10th, the Wall Street Journal ran a story with the headline, “Hamas Militants Behind Israel Attack Raised Millions in Crypto. Digital currency transactions highlight how U.S. and Israel have struggled to sever the access of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah to foreign funding.” The story stated: “Digital-currency wallets that Israeli authorities linked to the PIJ received as much as $93 million in crypto between August 2021 and June this year, analysis by leading crypto researcher Elliptic showed.” It also cited research by crypto analytics firm BitOK suggesting that Hamas received $41 million. Ten days later the paper followed up with “Why Hamas Uses Crypto to Raise Money”,…
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‘Crypto is a threat’: Central Bank of Nigeria closes exchanges’ bank accounts
An official of the Central Bank suggested that cryptocurrencies are best suited for illegal uses, and said he was alarmed by their use as a speculative asset
“The question that one may need to ask therefore is, why any entity would disguise its transactions if they were legal," asked Central Bank of Nigeria acting director of corporate communications Osita Nwanisobi. "It is on the basis of this opacity that cryptocurrencies have become well-suited for conducting many illegal activities including money laundering, terrorism financing, purchase of small arms and light weapons, and tax evasion.”
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Must-reads for August 31, 2018 (Labor Day Weekend): Ethereum futures, missing petros, useless bitcoins, Walmart robots, and more
Here are the crypto stories you should be watching today
Cboe, the exchange group behind the first market for bitcoin futures, is telling market makers that ether futures will soon be live (Business Insider) A source has told Business Insider that the CBOE, which launched the first U.S. regulated futures on bitcoin, is looking to launch an ether-based futures contract as soon as December. As of last week, the total open interest in the CBOE’s bitcoin contract equaled only 4,069 BTC, or a little more than $28 million. Special Report: In Venezuela, new cryptocurrency is nowhere to be found (Reuters) The Venezuelan government’s much-hyped oil-backed cryptocurrency known as the petro is tough to find. It’s not in exchanges and…
