Treasury sanctions crypto mixer Sinbad after money laundering accusations

The US Department of the Treasury has sanctioned a cryptocurrency mixing service the government claims is a key money-laundering tool for the Lazarus Group. 

“Sinbad has processed millions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency from Lazarus Group heists, including the Horizon Bridge and Axie Infinity heists,” the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), the Treasury’s department that oversees sanctions, said in a statement Wednesday. 

Sinbad.io, a cryptocurrency mixing service created by an anonymous founder, became a favorite for North Korean-state sponsored hacking organization Lazarus in 2022, researchers from analytics firm Chainalysis said in its last annual report….

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Top 10 Trending Crypto Coins of The Day

  1. Solcasino Token: Market Cap of $37 Million.
  2. VitaDAO: Market Cap of $69 Million.
  3. BLOCX.: Market Cap of $16 Million.
  4. Open Campus: Market Cap of $137 Million.
  5. Syscoin: Market Cap of $91 Million.
  6. Toncoin: Market Cap of $8.4 Billion.
  7. FORE Protocol: Market Cap of $15 Million.
  8. RabbitX: Market Cap of $28 Million.
  9. PLAYA3ULL GAMES: Market Cap of $51 Million.
  10. Decimated: Market Cap of $29 Million.

Disclaimer: Market capitalizations can vary in real-time. The information provided here is intended purely for educational purposes and should not, under any circumstances, be construed as financial advice.

Wormhole garners whopping $2.5B valuation as new unit emerges

Cross-chain protocol Wormhole has formally launched a product development-focused unit in tandem with a $225 million fundraise.  

The raise gives the interoperability platform a $2.5 billion valuation, the company said in a Wednesday announcement.   

Wormhole is backed by investors including Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital and Arrington Capital. It was not immediately clear which investors participated in the latest round. 

“We’re laser-focused on bringing solutions to market that solve real problems for our customers and end-users, and are on a mission to enable real-world impact from the Web3 space,”…

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Republic lists profit-sharing digital security on Avalanche

Crypto investment platform Republic will list its profit-sharing digital asset, the Republic Note, on the Avalanche Blockchain via the US-regulated trading platform INX.

The Note listing will be available to KYC’ed non-accredited and accredited investors worldwide on Dec. 6.

According to David Shack, the head of marketing at Republic, the Republic Note is backed by over 750 private companies and assets in Republic’s portfolio, including SpaceX, Dapper Labs and Klarna, just to name a few. 

“This means that companies that have raised capital on Republic’s retail investment platform or from Republic Capital (our venture arm) become part of the Note portfolio,” Shack said. 

Any…

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UK Tightens Crypto Policies, Holders Should Beware Of Penalties For Unpaid Taxes

The U.K. Government announced that crypto users must disclose any unpaid capital gains or income taxes to avoid penalties.

What Happened: HM Revenue and Customs disclosed guidance on how to pay taxes on Bitcoin (BTC), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and utility tokens.

Crypto tax disclosures to the U.K. Treasury have a time frame of 30 days from the disclosure date for completing all the necessary payments.

Also Read: New UK Regulations Fall On Deaf Ears As 221 Crypto Firms Are Labeled Non-Compliant

Why It Matters: The official post also states that if the payment deadline is not met, the Treasury will adopt certain steps to recover the money, and users may face penalties. 

The Treasury has been…

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Wormhole raises $225M at $2.5B valuation

Cross-chain protocol Wormhole has secured a $225 million investment at a valuation of $2.5 billion.

According to the Nov. 29 announcement, the investment round was led by Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, and Arrington Capital. 

The Wormhole Foundation also announced the launch of Wormhole Labs, which the company says “is an independent technology company that specializes in building products, tools, and reference implementations that help grow cross-chain activity and development.” Currently, its blockchain-to-blockchain communications technology is used to bridge assets, power oracle data feeds, and transfer…

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Poloniex prepares to resume withdrawals after $100M hack

Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex is preparing to resume withdrawals and deposits after suffering a $100 million hack on Nov. 10.

Poloniex took to X (formerly Twitter) on Nov. 29 to announce that it will be gradually resuming deposit and withdrawal services on Nov. 30 at 02:00 am UTC.

The crypto exchange stressed that it will implement a phased resumption of the services to “prioritize the safety” of user funds. Poloniex will specifically start restoring Tron (TRX) deposits and withdrawals first, followed by Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT) and other cryptocurrencies “within the next two weeks,” the announcement said.

In addition to restoring withdrawals, Poloniex says it is…

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Bitcoin NFT marketplace Bioniq eyes lofty goal of alleviating network congestion

A new Bitcoin nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace aims to reduce network fees associated with the advent of Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions by tapping into the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP).

Developed off the back of the creation of Bitcoin Ordinals in early 2023, Bioniq operates on the ICP and taps into its native Bitcoin integration to power the trade of Bitcoin-based Ordinals inscriptions.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on the eve of the platform’s launch, Bioniq CEO and co-founder Bob Bodily said the project has been in development since February 2023. The team has built a marketplace featuring Ordinals smart contracts auctions on the ICP, a complete cross-chain wallet between Bitcoin…

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Presidential Candidate Bitcoin Scorecards

This article is featured in Bitcoin Magazine’s “The Primary Issue”. Click here to get your Annual Bitcoin Magazine Subscription.

Introduction

Until this election cycle, Bitcoin has flown under the radar when it comes to the national political stage. For the first time in its history, Bitcoin is becoming a prominent issue for presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle. While there’s been some mention of Bitcoin from the previous president as well as Bitcoin-related policies made by the current one, this election is shaping up to be Bitcoin’s time in the spotlight.

At this stage in the race, there are a multitude of presidential candidates, each with their own stance on…

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IOTA launches $100 million Abu Dhabi foundation for Middle East expansion

The open-source blockchain developer IOTA announced on Nov. 29 that it is launching a foundation, the IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation, based in Abu Dhabi to focus on the growth of its distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the Middle East region.

According to the announcement, the new foundation will be supported by $100 million IOTA digital tokens, which will be vested throughout the course of the next four years.

One of the primary goals of the foundation is to push for accelerated growth of its DLT and “convert real-world assets into digital ones” according to the company’s co-founder and chairman Dominik Schiener.

“The market right now is being reshuffled so we have a big… Read more on Cointelegraph