This post is about Bitcoin, the most famous crypto-currency in the world. Since its creation it is used for all kind of activities, both legal and illegal. Regarding the later, what surprised me in the last couple of years is that authorities from different countries developed special units to deal with the illegal use of crypto-currencies, made by both individuals and entities.
Recently, I read that the Chinese authorities seized a significant amount of Bitcoin. To be exact, according to the police statement, Beijing confiscated approximately 1% of BTC's total supply. Moreover, they also seized Ethereum, Litecoin, EOS, DASH, Doge, BCH, XRP and BCH.
- 194.774 BTC
- 830.000 ETH
- 1.400.000 LTC
- 27.000.000 EOS
- 74.000 DASH
- 487.000.000 XRP (my favorite)
- 6 billion DOGE (too many zeros)
- 79.000 BCH
- 213.000 USDT.
The total amount of the capture is estimated at around $4.2 billion. This huge sum has been part of a major Ponzi scheme. Over 2 million people have been swindled.
What was the PlusToken Ponzi scheme about?
The PlusToken Ponzi scheme, which was first ruled on by a district court in China's Jiangsu province this September, reportedly began in May 2018. The scheme advertised a non-existent crypto trading platform, and promised users attractive payouts in exchange for deposits of at least $500 worth of crypto assets. The scheme raked not only raked in 1% of the total Bitcoin supply, but 0.73% of total ETH, and 5% of all DODGE in circulation, too.
In Romania, a BTC ATM has been installed in one of the biggest shopping centers from Bucharest.
In Nigeria, people who live and work abroad use BTC to circumvent their national currency, when they send money home. This information has been provided by a former Microsoft Engineer who is also the co-founder of Buycoins Africa, Tomiwa Lasebikan. According to him,
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s fixed exchange rate of $1:380 is robbing recipients 20-30% of their remittance value each time they retrieve funds. At the time of writing, the parallel exchange rate of one dollar to the Naira is 1:480, according to Abokifx.
The software engineer explains that
Nigerian authorities had, prior to this year’s events like Endsars protests, "been oblivious to the immense potential of Bitcoin.” During the lockdown period, crypto-currency usage in Nigeria grew and the country is now ranked as one of the top crypto-currency markets. It is events in the crypto world in the past twelve months that may have helped change the Nigerian government’s perception of crypto-currencies.
BTC decreased significantly in the last two days, but this doesn't mean that its end is close. Not even close.
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