As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week's top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap compiled by The Fly.
TWITTER HACKED IN BITCOIN SCAM: Many prominent accounts on Twitter (TWTR) were hacked to tweet out messages relating to an apparent bitcoin-related scam. The Verge initially reported Wednesday that the accounts of Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates were compromised this afternoon, with Musk tweeting, "I'm feeling generous because of Covid-19. I'll double any BTC payment sent to my BTC address for the next hour. Good luck, and stay safe out there!" while Gates' account said, "I am doubling all payments sent to my BTC address for the next 30 minutes. You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000." Both accounts included an identical bitcoin wallet address. The Verge added that Square's (SQ) Cash App account also appeared to have been hacked. CNBC reported later on Wednesday that hackers appear to have targeted the accounts of Apple (AAPL), Uber (UBER), and Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos, as well as several cryptocurrency related companies in an apparent bitcoin-related scam. CNBC added later that the accounts of Kanye West, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former VP and current Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden all posted messages about the scam. The Twitter account of former President Barack Obama was also compromised in the hack. Following the incident Twitter confirmed internal tools had been accessed for the attack but said there was “no evidence” attackers accessed passwords. The company also said about 130 people were targeted in the attack. Reuters reported Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading a federal probe into the hack.
SEC, CFTC CHARGE CRYPTO APP MAKER ABRA: The Securities and Exchange Commission charged California-based Abra on Monday and a related firm in the Philippines for offering and selling security-based swaps to retail investors without registration and for failing to transact those swaps on a registered national exchange. The SEC’s order finds that Abra and Plutus Technologies violated federal securities law provisions concerning unregistered offers and sales of security-based swaps and requiring that certain swap transactions occur on a registered national exchange. Without admitting or denying the findings in the order, Abra and Plutus Tech agreed to a cease-and-desist order and to pay a combined penalty of $150,000. In addition, The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order Monday filing and settling charges against Plutus and Abra. The order requires the respondents to pay a $150,000 civil monetary penalty and to cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, as charged.
CHINA TO TEST DIGITAL YUAN ON MEITUAN PLATFORMS: The People’s Bank of China is planning to test its digital currency on platforms by Meituan Dianping (MPNGF), a food delivery company backed by Tencent (TCEHY), Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Meituan, which has been in talks with the research unit of the bank on real-world uses for the Digital Currency Electronic Payments, joins ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing in evaluating applications in digital yuan. The central bank is also in discussions with video streaming service and Tencent-backed Bilibili (BILI).
JAPAN PUTS CRYPTO ON POLICY ROADMAP: In its annual policy roadmap, Japan said it will review whether to issue central bank digital currencies and urged the Bank of Japan to work with other countries to evaluate its feasibility, Reuters’ Tetsushi Kajimoto and Daniel Leussink reported Friday. “The BOJ will coordinate with other countries to consider CBDCs by examining and verifying technological tests,” according to the annual plan, which serves as guidance for the government’s long-term economic and fiscal policies. While the BOJ has no current plans to issue a cryptocurrency, it is conducting research with other central banks on the matter.
DPW SETTLEMENT APPROVED: On February 25, DPW Holdings (DPW) announced Friday that it had entered into a definitive settlement agreement between Plaintiffs Ethan Young and Greg Young. On July 16, the Court issued an Order approving a Motion for Final Approval of Settlement in the Derivative Action filed against DPW as a Nominal Defendant and its directors who served on its board of directors on July 31, 2018. Under the terms of the Final Order approving the Agreement, the Company's Board of Directors will implement certain reforms to the company's bylaws, committee charters, corporate governance policies, and the composition of the Board, including the resignation of a current director and the appointment of two new independent directors, one of whom has been appointed to the Board. In addition, the parties have agreed upon a payment of attorneys' fees in the amount of $600,000 payable by the company's Director & Officer liability insurance. The Agreement contains no admission of wrongdoing.
CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS: Cryptocurrency revenues have been pointed to as reasons to be bullish on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA) in select research. Overstock (OSTK), DPW Holdings, Kodak (KODK), Ideanomics (IDEX), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Pareteum (TEUM) and Social Reality (SRAX) are other stocks that have been touted, or promoted themselves, as a way to play the crypto theme.
PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin dropped fractionally this week to $9,157 in U.S. dollars, according to TradeBlock.
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