Schlagwort: crypto markets

• Tigran Gambaryan and Binance have been accused of laundering more than $35 million
• Nadeem Anjarwalla, a colleague of Gambaryan, was also detained, but managed to escape on a Middle Eastern airline in March

The Nigerian government has dropped all charges against a Binance executive who had been detained in the country since February.

Tigran Gambaryan, head of financial crime compliance at the  crypto exchange, was facing trial on money laundering charges; however, R.U. Adaba, a lawyer representing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced the withdrawal during a hearing at the Federal High Court in Abuja on October 23, according to Premier Times.

He and Binance were charged with laundering over $35 million.

The EFCC lawyer said Gambaryan was an employee of Binance and that he wasn’t involved in the company’s wider financial decisions. The decision was agreed to by Mark Mordi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) representing Mr Gambaryan.

The decision to drop the charges comes two days before a courtroom session was scheduled for October 25. According to Premier Times, the Wednesday hearing appears to have taken place to avoid as much attention as possible.

Nadeem Anjarwalla, a colleague of Gambaryan, had also been detained while the two were visiting the country. In March, it was reported that Anjarwalla escaped after boarding a Middle Eastern airline with the aid of a fake passport.

Charges dropped, but not acquitted

According to Adaba “diplomatic interventions” and the “extent of the defendant’s involvement in the alleged crimes” were the main factors for the decision.

However, another EFCC lawyer said that the charges against Gambaryan were dropped to enable him to get medical attention abroad.

“We have withdrawn the money laundering charges against Tigran Gambaryan to allow him to get medical treatment outside the country,” said EFCC lawyer Ekele Ihenacho.

Notably, while Gambaryan has been discharged, he hasn’t been acquitted. Adaba said the reason they dropped the charges was due to ill health, “it’s not on the ground of insufficient evidence,” adding:

“The matter has not been heard on its merit, and we are still calling witnesses.”

The trial against Binance continues and is scheduled to take place on November 22 and 25.

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• Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones is bullis on gold and Bitcoin.
• The hedge fund manager told CNBC in an interview that commodities are under-owned.

Paul Tudor Jones says he is long the precious metal gold and digital asset Bitcoin (BTC) ahead of the US election and as inflationary pressures look to persist beyond the November vote.

The billionaire hedge fund manager shared his investment strategy during an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Oct. 22. Jones, the founder and chief investment officer of Tudor Investment, told Sorkin that his trading strategy is long gold and long bitcoin.

„I’m long gold, I’m long bitcoin, I think commodities are so ridiculously under-owned so I’m long commodities,“ says @ptj_official. „I probably have some basket of gold, bitcoin, commodities and Nasdaq, something like that. And I own zero fixed income.“ pic.twitter.com/i152rZFlbs

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) October 22, 2024

Bitcoin, gold

According to the Tudor Investment CIO, the market has commodities “ridiculously under-owned” and that’s why he’s bullish on the commodities as well. Jones also has Nasdaq as a long term bet – despite who wins the US presidential election. Data on Polymarket shows most crypto traders on the platform lean Donald Trump.

While he takes a bullish outlook on BTC gold and commodities in general, Jones is bearish on bonds amid worrying government spending. He believes if the government does not get serious about this, it’s a scenario that could see the bond market hit a major sell-off.

Amid this outlook, the hedge fund manager does not also plan to own any fixed income.

“The question is after this election will we have a Minsky moment here in the United States and U.S. debt markets?” he commented.

Bitcoin price hovered around $67,500 at the time of writing on Tuesday, Oct. 22, up 52% year-to-date and 125% over the past year. The cryptocurrency rallied to an all-time high of $73k in March.

Meanwhile, gold has been on a tear in recent weeks. As of Tuesday, the precious metal’s price ticked $2,747.68 for an all-time high. Gold price has increased over 33% year-to-date.

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• Buenos Aires has launched a digital identity service called QuarkID that uses zero-knowledge proofs.
• The service enables privacy by verifying documents without revealing personal data.
• QuarkID will expand nationally, with pilots in other Argentinian regions underway.

The city of Buenos Aires has unveiled a groundbreaking digital identity service called QuarkID, aimed at enhancing residents’ privacy through advanced cryptographic technology known as zero-knowledge proofs.

Integrated into the miBA app, a platform that has facilitated access to municipal services for the past seven years, QuarkID seeks to give approximately 3.6 million porteños greater control over their personal information.

Zero-knowledge proofs allow users to verify the authenticity of documents without revealing unnecessary personal data. For instance, residents can confirm their age when purchasing alcohol without disclosing their full birthdate or address.

This approach is designed to empower citizens by providing a self-sovereign identity system that prioritizes privacy and security. “The decision from the beginning was to create a self-sovereign identity system so that citizens can have privacy and security over the documents they acquire ownership of,” stated Diego Fernandez, Buenos Aires’ secretary of innovation and digital transformation.

While zero-knowledge proofs can function independently of blockchain technology, QuarkID utilizes the Ethereum layer-2 network ZKsync Era, which serves as a “security anchor.” This ensures that data can be proven to exist in a specific form at a specific time, thereby reducing the risk of identity theft and fraud.

Users can upload more than 60 types of documents, including birth certificates and vaccination records, with additional documents expected to be added in the coming months. Importantly, no third party, including the municipality, has control over these documents, significantly mitigating the risk of data breaches.

The initiative promises to reduce costs for the government compared to traditional methods of document management, and the pilot program is set to expand beyond Buenos Aires to regions like Jujuy and Tucumán, as well as small towns such as Luján de Cuyo.

Fernandez emphasized the potential for national scaling, stating that technology developed in Buenos Aires could be implemented throughout Argentina and even in other Latin American countries, such as Uruguay.

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