Business | Crypto

A federal jury convicted Brent Kovar of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering after he took $24 million from at least 400 investors. A business owner in Las Vegas faces a statutory maximum sentence of 280 years in prison after a federal jury convicted him of running a $24 million crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 400 investors. The US Justice Department said Monday that Brent Kovar was found guilty of 11 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of money laundering following a nine-day trial. Kovar owned Profit Connect from late 2017 to July 2021. The company purportedly used artificial intelligence software on a supercomputer to mine crypto and verify other crypto transactions. Read more

The majority of businesses surveyed are likely to use stablecoins within the next 12 months, while regulatory clarity remained the biggest barrier to wider adoption. Business use of stablecoins is poised to surge in the next 12 months as adoption of the digital currency goes mainstream, according to a new report from payments infrastructure firm Cybrid. The report found 42% of businesses surveyed are already using stablecoins for cross-border payments and 88% of respondents said they are likely or very likely to use stablecoins within the next 12 months. Still, only 2% identified as committed users of traditional payment rails. Businesses using stablecoins reported average cross-border payment cost savings of 35%, with companies processing more than $100 million in monthly payment volume reporting average savings of up to 47%, according to the survey. Read more