Mornin’ Coinheads…

If you’re peeking through your fingers because you’re kinda scared to look at how crypto’s doing this morning, we’re afraid there have been some unpleasantries.

BTC has flubbed again overnight, the Total Crypto market cap is back below the US$1 trillion mark and overall market sentiment is softening like a gummy bear trapped in the back pocket of your favourite jeans.

There are a couple of assets that were breaking the 24-hour performance mould early this morning  – QTUM was up around 10.0%, OKB up 6.75% and Ethereum Classic was around 8.0% better off than yesterday.

But the big names are all saggy and gross earlier this morning – BTC was down 2.4% (-10.0%/7 days), ETH was down 5.2% (-9.8%/7 days) and XRP was down 2.8% (-10.1%/7 days).

However, as Australia rubbed the sleep from its eyes, things were on the improve. Mostly. Sort of. Anyway – grab a cuppa, settle in and let’s see where the morning takes us.

 

Titanium Blockchain rug-pull architect fesses up to fraud

One of the architects of a skeezy ICO in 2018 has pleaded guilty to his part in the Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services (TBIS) scam that fraudulently raised $21 million.

58-year-old Californian man, Michael Stullery, has admitted to a stack of super-illegal activities as part of his guilty plea to one count of securities fraud, including – but not limited to – basically just making a whole lot of stuff up in the TBIS white paper and adding false testimonials to the ICO’s marketing website.

Stullery also admitted to not putting the whole $21 million into the Titanium roll-out, instead using at least part of the cash to pay his credit card bill, and fund a holiday apartment in Hawaii that he might never see again, as he’s facing up to 20 years in the slammer for being such a naughty boy.

 

Biggie Smalls NFT is… actually, we’re not sure how to feel about it

The estate of long-dead rapper Notorious BIG, aka Biggie Smalls, has rolled out a new 3,000 piece generative NFT featuring the music star, which will give holders voting rights (alongside those of Biggie’s estate) controlling the usage of a previously-unlicensed freestyle.

Technically more useful than, for instance, a cartoon ninja, the entire collection was reportedly snapped up in under 10 minutes, including this example, which is our favourite …

Biggie Smalls NFT
Mr Cosby did what now?

… if only because this is precisely how Biggie would have looked while on the way to a taping of the Cosby Show, after being told precisely what kind of monster Bill Cosby was.

 

So… what happens to Celsius victims if crypto goes up again?

That is, quite literally, a million dollar question for some investors, as the US bankruptcy court wades into territory that is entirely brand new. Celsius famously went ka-boom a while back, leaving a lot of people holding partially-burnt lottery tickets.

However, Ian Allison over at Coindesk has put together a really interesting dig into the hypothetical of using the ongoing court proceedings to essentially hibernate through the Crypto Winter and see what happens at the other end.

It’s an enjoyable and informative read – well worth your time over a cup of coffee this morning.

 

US moves towards freeing up crypto retail spending

And, a shot in the arm for digital currencies is headed for debate among US lawmakers, following a bi-partisan push designed to make it easier for US consumers and small businesses to spend crypto in small amounts.

Decrypt is reporting that the Cryptocurrency Tax Fairness Act is being sponsored by senators Patrick Toomey (R-PA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and aims to exempt reporting crypto transactions of less than $50, or trades in which a person earns less than $50.

It will no doubt come as good news for small businesses that are able to operate within the volatile crypto environment – and we look forward to reporting on the inevitable idiot who doesn’t read the fine print of the bill and tries to hide his new Bugatti from the tax man by paying $49 for it 62,000 times.