BTC Hits 9-Month High | Cleaning Tainted Bitcoin

SILVERGATE AND SIGNATURE DEMISE MAY TORPEDO A KEY CRYPTO GROWTH DRIVER

The closing of the top two cryptocurrency banks within a matter of days could prove to be a giant setback in the growth of digital assets. Silvergate and Signature ran pioneering blockchain systems that allowed instant commercial transfers in and out of crypto around the clock. With that infrastructure essentially gone, who will fill the void? Read more

Source: Forbes Digital Assets, powered by Nomics.  Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on March 17, 2023.

FIDELITY EXPANDS CRYPTO TRADING TO MOST RETAIL INVESTORS

Meanwhile the $10 trillion asset manager has quietly opened access to bitcoin and ether trading to its retail brokerage clients in 36 states. Individual investors can now buy and sell those tokens and use custodial and trading services provided by Fidelity Digital Assets. However, cryptocurrency transfers into or out of Fidelity accounts have not yet been enabled, customers can only buy and sell through the brokerage. The company said in November that it would be exploring the option, shortly after announcing the waitlist for the service, but hasn’t provided a clear timeline.

CRYPTO MIXER LAUNDERED $700 MILLION FOR CUSTOMERS, INCLUDING RUSSIAN AND NORTH KOREAN SPIES, DOJ SAYS

An international law enforcement operation has taken down ChipMixer, a dark web service that helped criminals launder more than $700 million, Europol and other policing agencies announced on Wednesday. Amongst its users were North Korean hackers and Russian spies, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

ChipMixer charged a small fee to take in clients’ cryptocurrency and spread it among different accounts, in order to complicate law-enforcement tracking of criminal proceeds, police said. In total, it processed $3 billion, nearly $1 billion of which has been traced to crimes, including ransomware incidents and dark web market drug sales, the DOJ said. The domains have been taken down, nearly $50 million seized, and the agency has charged Minh Quốc Nguyễn, 49, of Hanoi, Vietnam, who has allegedly been operating the service since 2017.

ELSEWHERE

Crypto Companies Are Asking Jamie Dimon To Hold Their Money [New York Magazine]

Crypto Is Finally Getting Its First Supreme Court Appearance [Bloomberg]

Crypto Faces A Banking Crisis. For Some, It’s A Conspiracy [Wired]

Nina Bambysheva
Reporter
Forbes Money & Markets

Steven Ehrlich
Editor 
Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor

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