Exec Embezzles $22M From ‘Influencer’ Marketing Firm, Spends Nearly Half on Crypto Gambling

It started quietly. Andrei Grachev, whose firm DWF Labs emerged as a newsworthy – albeit controversial – presence in crypto market-making this year, posted on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) a photo of himself sitting beside some competitors.“Thanks boys for the panel discussion,” he wrote alongside an image of five people on stage.Then came the

news A British man has been handed 20 months in jail and ordered to forfeit over £400,000 ($487,000) for offering hacking services and stolen private data in return for cryptocurrency. Nineteen-year-old Elliot Gunton was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on Friday, having pleaded guilty at a previous hearing, according to a local police news report.…

Jan 23, 2020 at 20:00 UTCUpdated Jan 23, 2020 at 20:31 UTCThere is an ongoing debate in the crypto community about where mainstream adoption will come from. One point of view is it will be the slow, steady acceptance of digital assets. On that front, Bakkt President Adam White said in Davos yesterday the company…

Dec 1, 2020 at 7:33 p.m. UTC(puhimec/iStock/Getty Images Plus)Yearn Finance Set to Gobble Up SushiSwap for Its Fifth DeFi MergerYearn Finance is eyeing yet another merger with yet another food-themed DeFi project – only this time, the candidate has a larger market size than Yearn itself.Per a blog post authored by Yearn Finance creator Andre…

BowTiedBullPresidentBowTied JungleThe pseudonymous investor BowtiedBull explores the BowtiedJungle, where citizens swap advice on investing, job-seeking, ...BowTiedBullPresidentBowTied JungleThe pseudonymous investor BowtiedBull explores the BowtiedJungle, where citizens swap advice on investing, job-seeking, ...Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor…

Bitcoin miner Bitfarms (BITF) said it agreed to buy rival Stronghold Digital (SDIG) for $175 million in stock and assumed debt. The offer comprises 2.52 Bitfarms shares for each one of Stronghold, a premium of 71% to Stronghold's 90-day volume-weighted average price on Nasdaq as of Aug. 16, Bitfarms said in a statement. 18:48 Navigating

Margaux Nijkerk reports on blockchain protocols with a focus on the Ethereum ecosystem. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds a very small amount of ETH and other altcoins.As part of CoinDesk’s former Valid Points Newsletter, CoinDesk set up its own Ethereum validator,…

news New comments from the chief executive of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) may have dampened the hopes of several cryptocurrency mining giants that have filed for initial public offerings (IPOs). According to a report from Tencent’s news portal Finance.QQ on Thursday, HKEX CEO Charles Li Xiaojia said that companies seeking to list on…

Dec 14, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. UTCUpdated Dec 14, 2020 at 2:25 p.m. UTCFirst Mover: Horrible 2020 Economy Proved Best Thing for BitcoinBitcoin was lower on Monday, holding just above $19,000 after rallying about $1,000 over the weekend.“There is an element of fatigue, with the market unable to drum up the momentum needed to spur…