DeFI News by Thebittimes.Com

John Bigatton has pleaded guilty in Australia to a criminal charge of providing financial advice without the appropriate license for his role in promoting the failed Ponzi scheme BitConnect.  BitConnect was a Ponzi scheme masquerading as a lending platform that offered people unsustainable yields on its token, BCC. Users were able to lend the token to the platform with the promise the funds were being deployed profitably. However, the rewards were inauthentic and the scheme eventually collapsed leaving investors without access to their funds . Bigatton actively promoted this scheme from his social media as well as hosting ‘seminars’ around Australia , serving as national promoter for Australia for BitConnect . The Australia n Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) was aided in its investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  The FBI was also involved in the investigation into BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani, who was indicted in ...

The CEO of an apparently-Chuck-Norris-backed crypto project that lost $1.3 billion of investors’ funds seemingly doesn’t exist, according to a Guardian-led investigation. Steven Reece Lewis was introduced in 2021 as the chief executive officer of HyperVerse, a metaverse investment scheme that sold crypto subscriptions and which seemingly went unchecked by Australia n regulators. The project’s promotional material claimed that Reece Lewis sold a web development firm to Adobe and worked for Goldman Sachs. He also supposedly held a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and graduated from the University of Leeds.  HyperVerse’s parent firm HyperTech Group also talked up his “strong performance and drive” and listed his credentials as one of the reasons behind his recruitment . However, despite this, Reece Lewis isn’t listed in the databases of any of the universities at which he claims to have studied, nor does he have any social media presence...

One of the “Big Four” Banks in Australia , ANZ, will stop allowing deposits and withdrawals from a number of its Australia n branches. The move is an attempt to push users towards ATMs and deposit machines. The decision has drawn criticism from people like Patricia Sparrow, CEO of the Council on Aging. According to Sparrow, the shift may have a disproportionately negative impact on older individuals because they are less technologically savvy. Others have asserted that it would increase the vulnerability of fiat users to technical problems. The action has also stoked new concerns about efforts to replace cash with CBDCs (central bank digital currency). Australia is currently running a CBDC pilot program, with an update due in the middle of 2023. One of the effects noted by the RBA was that a CBDC might replace the Australia n dollar. The potential impact on personal freedom and privacy of CBDCs replacing currency is a significant additional concern. According to an ANZ spokeswoman,...