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The delays come on a day when the price of bitcoin surpassed its all-time high.

U.S. prosecutors have extradited one of the five individuals that ran a cryptocurrency mining Ponzi scheme, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday. 

Gutemberg Dos Santos, who has dual citizenship in Brazil and the United States, was extradited from Panama on November 25.

Prosecutors indicted Dos Santos and four other individuals in connection to coordinating a “fraud and money laundering ring,” where they allegedly promised future investors rewards for investing in a membership-based program called AirBit Club. 

According to the announcement, Dos Santos, Pablo Renato Rodriguez, Scott Hughes, Cecilia Millan and Jackie Aguilar traveled throughout the U.S. and globally to host expos and presentations during which they tried to persuade customers to purchase membership packages. The customers were given access to an online portal to view their promised returns, but these “profits” were false representations.

According to the announcement, the money went directly to the five individuals running the operation.

“As alleged, Gutemberg Dos Santos played a key role in an international investment scam that promised extraordinary rates of return on phantom investments in cryptocurrencies, defrauding victims of tens of millions of dollars,” said acting United States attorney Audrey Strauss. 

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

President-elect Joe Biden has confirmed the nomination of former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as the next Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, the Biden transition team announced Monday. 

If confirmed, Yellen will be the first woman ever to lead the department. She will also take the reins of a government department that has slowly moved to take a more proactive position on cryptocurrency, particularly in the areas of anti-money laundering and taxation.

Yellen has expressed skepticism about the crypto space, declaring “I am not a fan,” at a fintech conference in October 2018. However, she has also shown more optimism for blockchain technology, calling it “an important technology” in January 2017 . 

It remains unclear what role the Treasury Department could play in the launch of a future digital dollar. The Trump administration’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, has said he doesn’t see the need for a digital dollar. 

So far, Yellen has not commented heavily on central bank digital currencies. At a 2017 press conference, Yellen discussed the Federal Reserve’s stance on the creation of a digital currency, saying “this is not something the Federal Reserve is seriously considering at this stage.”

“While we’re looking at research on this topic, there are, I think to my mind, limited benefits from introducing it, a limited need for it and some substantial concerns,” she added.

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Bitcoin prices have continued their upward trajectory, and the market’s largest over-the-counter trading shops have gone along for the ride.

During the heady days of 2017, trading firms like Genesis Global Trading and B2C2 saw trade sizes in the tens of millions as bitcoin soared to nearly $20,000. The most recent rally bears some similarities to that period, with trading desks reporting even higher volumes than they saw during the last cycle. 

At Genesis, OTC volumes are more than six times higher than what they were during the 2017 peak. Since 2017, crypto traders have moved from Skype and Telegram to electronic trading interfaces. At the same time, more institutions have entered the OTC market, which Genesis says is driving the current rally. 

According to CEO Michael Moro, the firm is “seeing much more institutional buying than in 2017.”

“Genesis spot desk saw continued institutional BTC spot and call buying as the sell-off on Thanksgiving morning allowed for a good opportunity to average into a long position,” Moro added. 

Last week, Genesis saw spot trading volumes hit $600 million — a record. New institutions, ranging from family offices to passive funds, have helped drive those volumes, according to Genesis. It’s a similar story at Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, which also runs an over-the-counter trading desk. Galaxy, which wasn’t active in the 2017 cycle, is currently clocking in record volumes of its own — a trend also driven by new institutions. 

“Flows through our desk are showing that new, larger institutional players are driving the market at this point, in terms of BTC specifically,” said trading lead Tim Plakas. “More crypto-native participants are still active, but definitely more focused on the ETH/DeFi space with core positions in BTC already put in place.”

“In typical crypto fashion, we’ve made a weekend round trip over the long US holiday stretch. BTC is back above $19k and ETH above $600, a +16% and +25% gain from recent lows, respectively,” a note from the firm’s trading desk to counterparties noted. 

As for what comes next, both Genesis and Galaxy are preparing for what might be a sustained rally.

“As stated in our Nov 26 commentary below, even on the dip we were constructive given the lack of panic selling from our counterparties,” said Plakas. “Pull-backs will happen after massive run-ups, but we think overall risk is to the upside here.”

As for Genesis, the message was a straightforward one — as they put it, there are “A LOT more buyers than sellers.” 

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

A combination of volume, derivatives action and infrastructure improvements led bitcoin’s price to go where it hasn’t gone before. Ether is looking supremely bullish, too.

Mining companies are soaring as bitcoin hits record highs.

After bitcoin’s price hit its previous all-time high in 2017, it fell. Analysts explain why the latest rally will be different.

$96.7 million in bitcoin stolen from crypto exchange Bitfinex in a 2016 hack was moved on Monday.

The 14 separate transactions, tracked by Twitter-based alert service Whale Alert, show that 5045.48 BTC in total was transferred. The movements come more than two months since the most recent such occurrence when more than $26 million in bitcoin at then-current prices was transferred. 

Bitfinex was hacked in August 2016, and nearly 120,000 BTC was stolen during that security breach. That incident led Bitfinex to socialize the losses among its user base and later create a token, dubbed BFX, to reimburse those who experienced funds haircuts.

In August, Bitfinex offered a public reward in an effort to spur its recovery efforts.

© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Growing investor interest, central bank money printing and PayPal’s entree helped push bitcoin prices above their previous December 2017 record.

With bitcoin’s price hitting a new all-time high on Monday, retail investors will inevitably want to get in on the original crypto asset.