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Article: South Korean Government Announces Crackdown on Illicit Crypto-Related Transactions in an ‘Overheated Market’

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South Korean Government Announces Crackdown on Illicit Crypto-Related Transactions in an ‘Overheated Market’

Felipe Erazo, 10 April 2021

According to Chosun, the South Korean Government met with politicians, law enforcement, and financial watchdog authorities to take down illicit transactions from what they named an “overheated market.”

The meeting was led by the Second Deputy Secretary of State Moon Seung-wook, who called authorities from the Financial Services Commission, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Police Agency. Continue reading “Article: South Korean Government Announces Crackdown on Illicit Crypto-Related Transactions in an ‘Overheated Market’”

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Article: U.S. Spy Agencies Warn of Threats From Digital Currency to AI

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U.S. Spy Agencies Warn of Threats From Digital Currency to AI

Joen Coronel, 10 April 2021

The U.S. intelligence community predicts an increasingly leaderless and unstable world in the coming decades as trends such as artificial intelligence, digital currencies and climate change reshape the global arena, according to the National Intelligence Council.

The coming decades will be characterized by a mismatch between global challenges and “the ability of institutions and system to respond,” according to “Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World.” The result will be “greater contestation at every level” — especially between the U.S. and China. Continue reading “Article: U.S. Spy Agencies Warn of Threats From Digital Currency to AI”

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Article: Can the US compete?

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Can the US compete?

Rod Kapunan, 10 April 2021

Many are speculating whether the US has the budget to sustain the cost for the long-delayed rehabilitation of America’s infrastructure. It was announced it will cost the Biden administration a whopping $2 trillion to undertake the repairs of the country’s mostly aging infrastructure.

As observed, the US economy is saddled with great contradictions. It is deeply mired in debt that it cannot just do all things at the same time. Some say the problem is for the US economy to undergo some kind of economic metamorphoses, similar to what China did to overcome the obstacle inherent in the US system.

One must remember that the greatest enemy of the US is the contradiction from within its own system. The US is hampered in what Marx says “internal contradictions” – that the interest of the various pressure groups could stymie most of its objectives. Continue reading “Article: Can the US compete?”

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Article: Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them

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Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them

ARAB NEWS, 10 April 2021

RIYADH: A money laundering gang in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to a total of 106 years in prison and issued a fine of SR1.08 million ($288,000).

Around SR5 million was seized from the gang and nearly SR2 million was confiscated from their bank accounts, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Five citizens obtained seven commercial registers to import foodstuffs, opened bank accounts, and handed them over to 16 residents of Arab nationality with the aim of depositing illegal sums of money and transferring them abroad, the Public Prosecution said. Continue reading “Article: Money laundering gang sentenced to over 100 years, have SR465 million confiscated from them”

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Article: Boat-Buying Ponzi Schemer Admits Luring Investors

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Boat-Buying Ponzi Schemer Admits Luring Investors

Brian Dowling, 09 April 2021

A self-professed venture capitalist from Boston admitted Thursday to duping investors with promises of easy, no-risk profits as part of a Ponzi-like fraud scheme that prosecutors say netted him a powerboat.

Tanmaya Kabra pled guilty to four counts of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper under a deal with prosecutors, who have agreed to recommend a sentence at the low end of the federal guidelines. Judge Casper scheduled Kabra’s sentencing for Aug. 30. Continue reading “Article: Boat-Buying Ponzi Schemer Admits Luring Investors”

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Article: Robinhood Faces 458% Spike in Crypto Customers–Massive Increase from 1.7 Million to 9.5 Million in Q1 of 2021

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Robinhood Faces 458% Spike in Crypto Customers–Massive Increase from 1.7 Million to 9.5 Million in Q1 of 2021

Joen Coronel, 09 April 2021

On Thursday, Apr. 8, Robinhood announced a staggering surge in the number of its customers who engage in cryptocurrency trading. The financial services company which was founded on Apr. 18, 2013, has recorded that 9.5 million people have used the platform during the first quarter of this year.

The said number shoots up to a stupendous 458% increase in users, which only accounts for 1.7 million in 2020’s Q4.

How Robinhood Sudden Became Popular in Crypto Trading Continue reading “Article: Robinhood Faces 458% Spike in Crypto Customers–Massive Increase from 1.7 Million to 9.5 Million in Q1 of 2021”

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Article: Robinhood Says 9.5 Million People Traded Crypto on Its App in Q1

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Robinhood Says 9.5 Million People Traded Crypto on Its App in Q1

Will Gottsegen, 09 April 2021

The online brokerage service Robinhood said on Thursday that 9.5 million of its customers traded cryptocurrency on its platform in Q1 of 2021.

That’s up from just 1.7 million in Q4 of last year, a 458% spike.

In a blog post, the company chalked up the numbers to crypto’s growing “popularity”: the global market cap of all cryptocurrencies has doubled in the past three months to over $2 trillion. Continue reading “Article: Robinhood Says 9.5 Million People Traded Crypto on Its App in Q1”

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Article: Financial Tyranny: Footing The Tax Bill For The Government’s Fiscal Insanity

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Financial Tyranny: Footing The Tax Bill For The Government’s Fiscal Insanity

TYLER DURDEN, 09 April 2021

“We are now speeding down the road of wasteful spending and debt, and unless we can escape we will be smashed in inflation.”- Herbert Hoover

We’re not living the American dream. We’re living a financial nightmare.. Continue reading “Article: Financial Tyranny: Footing The Tax Bill For The Government’s Fiscal Insanity”

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Article: Rich Coleman’s dismissal of money laundering warning was baseless: Mountie

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Rich Coleman’s dismissal of money laundering warning was baseless: Mountie

Graeme Wood, 09 April 2021

RCMP’s failure to earmark adequate resources against financial crime was compounded by government officials downplaying problem, inquiry hears.

The senior Mountie in charge of a B.C. money laundering unit in January 2011 says he was “taken aback” by then minister of public safety and solicitor general Rich Coleman’s dismissal of his assessment of money laundering activity in government-regulated casinos. Continue reading “Article: Rich Coleman’s dismissal of money laundering warning was baseless: Mountie”

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Article: Portugal ex-PM to stand trial for money laundering, forgery

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Portugal ex-PM to stand trial for money laundering, forgery

BARRY HATTON, 09 April 2021

A Lisbon judge ruled Friday to put former Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates on trial for alleged money-laundering and forgery but said the statute of limitations had expired on more than a dozen corruption allegations.

Judge Ivo Rosa said that 1.7 million euros ($2 million), much of it in cash, given to Sócrates by a childhood friend who was working for a Portuguese construction company amounted to an attempt to gain influence over the prime minister and win contracts. Continue reading “Article: Portugal ex-PM to stand trial for money laundering, forgery”

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Article: BlackRock, State Street Exploring Takeover Of Credit Suisse Asset Management Arm

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BlackRock, State Street Exploring Takeover Of Credit Suisse Asset Management Arm

TYLER DURDEN, 09 April 2021

Earlier, several financial media outlets reported that Credit Suisse was considering dramatically shrinking or selling off its prime brokerage unit, the hedge-fund-focused business that just lost $4.7 billion for the bank, obliterating 18 months of the bank’s average net profits.

But in the last few hours, the focus has shifted to the bank’s asset management unit, amid reports that several American firms might be interested in making a bid, even as the bank has yet to release the final tally of expected losses from the Greensill debacle. Continue reading “Article: BlackRock, State Street Exploring Takeover Of Credit Suisse Asset Management Arm”

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Article: Top Carbon-Credit-Seller Launches Internal Probe After Selling “Worthless” Offsets To JPMorgan, Disney

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Top Carbon-Credit-Seller Launches Internal Probe After Selling “Worthless” Offsets To JPMorgan, Disney

Joen Coronel, 09 April 2021

Back in December, Bloomberg published a sweeping expose that raised serious questions about the ESG investing craze sweeping the world. In the piece, Bloomberg detailed how the Nature Conservancy, the world’s biggest environmental group and a prominent seller of carbon offsets, had sold “worthless” credits to JPMorgan, Disney and BlackRock as the corporations sought to finance the protection of carbon-absorbing forest land to absolve them of their sins tied to fossil fuel usage. Continue reading “Article: Top Carbon-Credit-Seller Launches Internal Probe After Selling “Worthless” Offsets To JPMorgan, Disney”

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Article: Japan ensures G20 pledge vs ‘disorderly’ moves as FX language tweaked, sources say

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Japan ensures G20 pledge vs ‘disorderly’ moves as FX language tweaked, sources say

Tetsushi Kajimoto, 09 April 2021

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan made sure that language warning against excess currency market volatility remained in place when G20 finance leaders made a rare tweak to their message on exchange-rate moves, said officials with knowledge of the deliberations.

In the first communique compiled since U.S. President Joe Biden took office, finance leaders of the Group of 20 major economies called for the need for currency moves to reflect “underlying” economic fundamentals. Continue reading “Article: Japan ensures G20 pledge vs ‘disorderly’ moves as FX language tweaked, sources say”

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Article: HSBC reportedly blacklists MicroStrategy’s stock for investing in Bitcoin

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HSBC reportedly blacklists MicroStrategy’s stock for investing in Bitcoin

OSATO AVAN-NOMAYO, 09 April 2021

Buying MicroStrategy stock is reportedly no longer possible for HSBC customers on the bank’s online trading platform — HSBC InvestDirect, or HIDC.

According to a supposed message from the bank to its customers, HSBC has directed users that already own MicroStrategy stock not to buy additional shares.

Twitter user Camiam claimed to have received such a message from the banking giant on March 29: Continue reading “Article: HSBC reportedly blacklists MicroStrategy’s stock for investing in Bitcoin”

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Article: Half of S&P 500 report more money for foreign taxes than U.S. taxes

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Half of S&P 500 report more money for foreign taxes than U.S. taxes

STEPHEN GANDEL, 09 April 2021

Nearly half of the large U.S. companies that make up the S&P 500-stock index set aside more money to pay foreign taxes in 2020 than they did for payments to the U.S. government — a lot more money.

In all, 241 S&P 500 companies last year earmarked a combined $73 billion for taxes to foreign governments and just $6.7 billion to cover U.S. taxes, according to a CBS MoneyWatch analysis of the companies’ regulatory filings and data from financial information firm FactSet. That’s a foreign-to-domestic tax ratio of more than 10-to-1.

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