Morning Coinheads!

Somebody broke Bitcoin on the weekend – the coin of choice for a large swathe of Cryptoland drifted earthwards to a three-month low.

Early Monday, the largest cryptocurrency slid to US$33,710, an emotional and fiscal low point last struck a few days before Australia Day.

BTC has been pretty much correlated with the Nasdaq, which itself shed bloody 8% on Friday, its own biggest meltdown since January.

It’s Monday in Cryptoland. Let’s begin.

 

Bitcoin slides back to Australia Day – circa $34K

BTC has broken into a three-month low with a few digital-asset analysts flagging late last week that price-chart trends had turned bearish for the largest cryptocurrency.

BTC price has fallen for four straight days, and is down 3.8% over the past 24 hours.

If price falls below $32,951, it would hit its lowest point since July 2021.

 

High-end fashion house Gucci to begin accepting cryptocurrencies as payment

Fans of crypto and a little luxury fashion will soon be able to enjoy both at chez Gucci where the fashion giant will accept in-store payment with the major cryptocurrencies.

News.com.au is reporting by the end of May, the luxury fashion house will accept payment through bitcoin, bitcoin cash, dogecoin, ethereum, five stablecoins attached to the US dollar, litecoin, shiba inu and wrapped bitcoin in five US stores as part of a pilot.

Customers of the big G will receive a QR code by email that will allow them to pay with their digital wallets.

 

Mining Capital Coin founder and CEO Luiz Capuci Jr accused of fraud

The US DoJ is all over this one. In an indictment unsealed yesterday, Capuci Jr has been pegged for allegedly running a US$62 million global investment racket.

The DoJ alleges that through his company, Capuci convinced investors to purchase “Mining Packages,” which were dolled up as a global network of cryptocurrency mines that promising a certain return on investment every week.

Unfortunately, instead of using the funds to mine crypto as promised, the DOJ argues Capuci just siphoned the funds into his own crypto wallets. He did the same with something else dodgy-sounding like “Trading bots.”

“As he did with the Mining Packages, Capuci allegedly operated an investment fraud scheme with the Trading Bots and was not, as he promised, using MCC Trading Bots to generate income for investors, but instead was diverting the funds to himself and co-conspirators,” the DOJ says in its indictment.

MCC seemed to have all the workings of a pyramid scheme. Capuci recruited affiliates and promoters to lure investors. In return, he promised the promoters a number of lavish gifts, including Apple watches, iPads and luxury cars.

 

OFAC Sanctions Coin Mixer: North Korea’s first digital asset mixer nixed by US

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced fresh sanctions on a cryptocurrency mixer called Blender.io, which happens to be used by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

OFAC reports North Korean hackers had used Blender to launder digital assets as well as to carry out state-sponsored cyber attacks.

The website was reportedly engaged in the high-profile security breach on Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge, processing over US $20.5 million of the illicit proceeds out of the total $620 million drained. It has also facilitated the transfer of more than $500 million worth of Bitcoin since its inception five years back, OFAC says.