The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed fraud charges against cryptocurrency trading platform Mosaic Exchange and its founder. CFTC is alleging they misled customers about profitable algorithms, assets under management, and exchange partnerships. The regulator says the scheme resulted in at least 17 victims losing hundreds of thousands in bitcoin deposits.

In a complaint Thursday, the CFTC accused Mosaic Exchange Limited and founder Sean Michael of falsely advertising the platform’s capabilities and track record between 2019 and 2021. The agency says Mosaic falsely claimed tens of millions in assets under management and monthly returns of up to 60% using proprietary algorithms.

Additionally, the CFTC alleges Mosaic promoted nonexistent partnerships with leading exchanges Binance and BitMEX to appear credible to prospective clients. In reality, no formal agreements existed with either trading platform.

Regulators say Michael misappropriated some customer deposits for personal expenses instead of trading as promised. The complaint says he used the funds for restaurant meals, travel, and other unauthorized purposes.

In total, the platform and inflated credentials duped at least 17 victims into handing over Bitcoin, now valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to authorities. The CFTC says the defendants violated commodities trading laws through their widespread fraudulent misrepresentations.

The enforcement action demonstrates regulators’ increasing scrutiny of crypto trading platforms for misleading marketing, mishandling of customer funds, and overstating capabilities. As digital asset adoption expands, officials warn that unscrupulous actors undermine consumer trust and protections.

This news is concerning as the CFTC is alleging that Mosaic Exchange and its founder misled customers about the platform’s capabilities and track record. The defendants are accused of misappropriating customer deposits for personal expenses and falsely claiming partnerships with major exchanges. This is bad news as it damages consumer trust and undermines the protections for digital asset investors.

#cryptocurrency #fraud #CFTC #MosaicExchange #DigitalAssets

You can read more about this topic here: Watcher Guru: Mosaic Face CFTC Charges in Connection with ‘Digital Asset Commodity Scheme’

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Roughly $3 billion in Bitcoin Options Contracts Set to Expire Today

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading hands for $26,921, according to CoinGecko. The asset has brought the rest of the market with it, with most digital coins and tokens in the green. But with Bitcoin options contracts set to expire, the price of cryptocurrency could dip or swing up even higher, right?

Data from CME Group shows that $9 billion worth of open interest—or unexpired options contracts. And of those, $3 billion will expire today. A Bitcoin options contract is a deal that lets buyers snap up Bitcoin at an agreed-upon price.

Experts believe that it’s unlikely the price of Bitcoin will budge that much. Anders Helseth, head of research at K33, said that “in general, options expiries in crypto don’t affect prices much.” BaroVirtual added that the current data “indicates no clear bullish or bearish sentiment.” He added that it “was likely” Bitcoin would continue to trade between $26,500 and $27,250 in October.

Although the price of Bitcoin has historically been volatile, that looks like it is changing. And it doesn’t look like $3 billion in options contracts will make much of a difference, either.

#Bitcoin #OptionsContracts #CMEGroup #Cryptocurrency #PriceVolatility

You can read more about this topic here: Decrypt: $3 Billion in Bitcoin Options Expire Today—What Will That Do to BTC’s Price?

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Verifying Trustworthiness on the Blockchain: Introducing On-Chain Attestations

Graeme Moore, the Head of Tokenization at the Polymesh Association, is looking to prove identity and reputation on the Web3 blockchain. Known in the financial industry as KYC (Know Your Customer), this trust in a real-life human offers important protection, but is not enough. Decentralized finance (DeFi) needs more than just proof of being human. Steve Dakh, an Ethereum founding member, is building the Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) which is a primitive for any entity to make attestations on the ledger about anything at all. Attestations are claims about one identity, usually made by another identity, that can be independently verified. Attestations work by making reference to identifiers, such as a legal name, address, or social security number. Combined with zero-knowledge proofs, attestations enable entities to prove facets of identity information without revealing the entire contents. This flexibility enables participants to not only choose which entities they trust, but also how quantitative or qualitative they want this trust to be. On-chain attestations are an important step in Verifying Trustworthiness on the Blockchain and will enable decentralized finance to take off. #OnChainAttestations #DecentralizedFinance #KYC #TrustVerification

You can read more about this topic here: Decrypt: How On-Chain Attestations Unlock Blockchain’s Most Valuable Use Cases

The post Unlock Blockchain’s Most Valuable Use Cases with On-Chain Attestations – Decrypt first appeared on Byte Syze Crypto.