Cointelegraph.com
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Cointelegraph.com - 11:49 May 19, 2025
A judge’s ruling in a criminal case may pave the way for $640 million in tax refunds, challenging the Australian Tax Office’s long-held stance on crypto taxation. A court decision in Australia could open the door to as much as $640 million in capital gains tax (CGT) refunds on Bitcoin transactions after a judge ruled that crypto should be treated as money rather than a taxable asset. On May 19, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that the decision arose within a criminal case involving federal police officer William Wheatley, who allegedly stole 81.6 Bitcoin (BTC) in 2019. At the time, the assets were worth roughly $492,000. At current market prices, the tokens are valued at more than $13 million. In the case, Judge Michael O’Connell of Victoria ruled that Bitcoin qualifies as a form of money rather than property, likening the digital asset to Australian dollars rather than to shares, gold or foreign currency. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 11:15 May 19, 2025
US crypto funds marked their fifth consecutive week of positive inflows, fully recovering from a $7 billion sell-off in February and March. Crypto investment products in the United States have attracted over $7.5 billion worth of investment in 2025, with a fifth week of net positive inflows last week signaling growing investor demand for digital assets. US-based crypto investment products attracted $785 million worth of investment last week, pushing the year-to-date (YTD) total to over $7.5 billion, according to a May 19 report by digital asset manager CoinShares. The latest figure marks the fifth consecutive week of net positive flows, following nearly $7 billion in outflows during February and March. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 10:54 May 19, 2025
Revolut plans to invest over $1 billion in France, establish an EU headquarters in Paris and apply for a local banking license as it targets rapid expansion in its largest market. Revolut, a European neobank with crypto support, plans to invest more than 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion) in France and apply for a local banking license. According to a May 19 Fortune report, Revolut representatives announced the initiative during the Choose France business summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The London-based neobank also plans to set up its new European Union-serving headquarters in Paris, promising to invest 1 billion euro and hire at least 200 people within three years. Revolut spokespeople also said that the firm is in the process of submitting an application to the French banking regulator Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority. According to an anonymous source cited by Fortune, the regulator has been pushing the neobank to get a license to improve supervision due to its popularity in ... -
Cointelegraph.com - 00:29 May 19, 2025
The co-founder of Telegram-based crypto project Blum, Vladimir Smerkis, is in custody in Moscow over accusations that he committed large-scale fraud, TASS reports. Vladimir Smerkis, a co-founder of the Telegram-based crypto project Blum, has reportedly been arrested in Moscow, Russia, on fraud allegations, amid Blum confirming he is no longer affiliated with the project. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow approved a request from investigators to keep Smerkis in custody while he is being investigated, Russian state-owned news outlet TASS reported on May 18. Smerkis — who previously ran operations for Binance in Russia — is suspected of committing fraud on a “large scale,” pursuant to Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, violations of which can result in imprisonment ranging from two to 12 years. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 23:40 May 18, 2025
Bitcoin’s weekend breakout above $105,000 has bulls hopeful for new all-time highs at some point this week. Which altcoins will follow? Key points: Bitcoin’s rally to $105,980 has traders predicting new all-time highs this week. Traders lift their end-of-year Bitcoin price targets to $200,000 based on technical factors and institutional investor adoption. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 21:46 May 18, 2025
Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm's defense cited the same set of FinCEN documents used by the Samourai Wallet developers' legal team. Attorneys for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm filed a motion asking the court to reconsider the motion to dismiss the case due to the prosecution withholding exculpatory evidence in the form of communications with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) dating back to 2023. According to a May 16 letter from Storm's attorneys to Judge Katherine Polk Failla, the FinCEN documents show that non-custodial crypto mixers do not fall under the legal definition of a "money transmitting business" and that prosecutors have known this since at least 2023. Despite having knowledge of the FinCEN guidance on crypto mixers, state prosecutors still proceeded with cases against the Samourai Wallet developers and Tornado Cash, the attorneys alleged. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 19:22 May 18, 2025
Durov did not name the EU country that asked him to censor "conservative voices" on the platform but hinted at it with a baguette emoji. Telegram founder Pavel Durov said he rejected pressure from a European Union (EU) country to censor political content on the social media platform ahead of the May 18 presidential elections in Romania. According to Durov, a Western European government, which he hinted at with a baguette emoji, approached the platform and requested it censor conservative voices, which he flatly denied. Durov wrote in a May 18 Telegram post: The Telegram founder is an ardent defender of free speech, who is highly regarded in the crypto community for his stances on freedom of expression, autonomy, privacy, and individual liberty. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 16:48 May 18, 2025
Bodyguard security firms are experiencing increased demand from cryptocurrency executives in response to a disturbing rise in kidnappings. Crypto industry executives are beefing up personal security and demanding more bodyguard services in response to a recent string of kidnapping and ransom attempts worldwide — particularly in France — targeting investors and professionals in the sector. According to a Bloomberg report, Infinite Risks International, a private security firm based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is seeing more inquiries into bodyguard services and more long-term clients signing up for a private security detail. Additionally, French law enforcement officials recently announced enhanced security measures for crypto entrepreneurs and investors, following at least three separate kidnapping incidents so far in 2025. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 15:05 May 18, 2025
Ethereum's price dropped to $2,400 on May 17 before resuming its rally, which can take ETH toward $3,000 or more. Key points: Ether price rose 3% to $2,550 on May 18, triggering $22 million in short ETH liquidations. A bull flag on the chart suggests a $3,700 target, with analysts predicting Bitcoin’s price to go as high as $5,000 in May. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 15:00 May 18, 2025
The rapid rise of Ethereum layer 2s isn’t a problem. It’s a sign of healthy growth and innovation. The future isn’t chain consolidation but a thriving ecosystem of thousands of specialized L2s. Opinion by: Igor Mandrigin, co-founder and CTPO of Gateway.fm Every couple of weeks, it seems another layer 2 rolls out, much to the chagrin of some Web3 industry commentators who are concerned about fragmentation. A recent Gemini Institutional Insights report actually noted how a new Ethereum L2 solution is launched approximately every 19 days. In response to the seemingly endless conveyor belt of new zkEVMs and optimistic rollups coming to market, the chorus of criticism continues to grow louder: “This is definitely the saturation point, no more chains are needed.” Some of the most outspoken critics of L2s argue that L2s are redundant, but this is narrow thinking. In many ways, the idea that creating new L2s should be slowed down is like arguing that there were too many websites in 1998. The proliferation of L2s is n... -
Cointelegraph.com - 11:30 May 18, 2025
Bitcoin is in line to leave its tight range behind in the coming days — even retaking all-time highs and pushing into price discovery after several months. Key points: Bitcoin is convincing traders that an upside breakout is around the corner, with all-time highs in sight. One target demands $116,000 next week, moving BTC/USD firmly out of its narrow range. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 09:40 May 18, 2025
Saifedean Ammous says he would “throw in a few sats” to fund a developer dedicated to making Bitcoin spam more costly. Economist and author of The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous, has weighed in on the ongoing debate over spam inscriptions on the Bitcoin network, suggesting he would “throw in a few sats” to fund a full-time developer focused on making Bitcoin spamming more difficult and expensive. Ammous made the remarks in response to a thread initiated by the pseudonymous developer GrassFedBitcoin, who called for Bitcoin Core to merge pull request #28408, which would enable node operators to filter inscriptions more easily. According to GrassFedBitcoin, the lack of inscription filtering tools contributes to unnecessary blockchain bloat and undermines Bitcoin (BTC)’s role as a monetary protocol. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 08:13 May 18, 2025
A retired fabricator was tricked into entering his seed phrase on a fake Coinbase site, losing a crypto portfolio worth $2 million. Retired artist Ed Suman lost over $2 million in cryptocurrency earlier this year after falling victim to a scam involving someone posing as a Coinbase support representative. Suman, 67, spent nearly two decades as a fabricator in the art world, helping build high-profile works such as Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog sculptures, according to a May 17 report by Bloomberg. After retiring, he turned to cryptocurrency investing, eventually accumulating 17.5 Bitcoin (BTC) and 225 Ether (ETH) — a portfolio that comprised most of his retirement savings. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 04:57 May 18, 2025
UK crypto firms will need to report customer transactions on their platforms from 2026 onward as part of an initiative to strengthen crypto tax reporting practices. United Kingdom crypto companies will need to collect and report data from every customer trade and transfer beginning Jan. 1, 2026 as part of a broader effort to improve crypto tax reporting, the UK government said. Everything from the user’s full name, home address and tax identification number will need to be collected and reported for every transaction, including the cryptocurrency used and the amount moved, the UK Revenue and Customs department said in a May 14 statement. Details of companies, trusts and charities transacting on crypto platforms will also need to be reported. Failure to comply or inaccurate reporting may incur penalties of up to 300 British pounds ($398.4) per user. The UK Revenue and Customs department said it would inform companies on how to comply with the incoming measures in due course. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 00:49 May 18, 2025
Hong Kong police have arrested 12 people tied to a $15 million crypto laundering operation, which was dismantled on the same day. Hong Kong police arrested 12 people involved in a cross-border money laundering scheme that relied on crypto and over 500 stooge bank accounts to launder HK$118 million ($15 million), local news outlets reported. The syndicate was dismantled on May 15, resulting in the arrest of nine men and three women in mainland China and Hong Kong. The suspects allegedly recruited others to open bank accounts to receive proceeds from fraud cases, which were then converted into crypto at crypto exchange shops to launder the illicit funds, Hong Kong Commercial Daily reported on May 17. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 22:14 May 17, 2025
The blockchain sector has matured and now requires physical communication infrastructure, according to DoubleZero co-founder Austin Federa. Public internet infrastructure is the critical speed and performance constraint on high-throughput blockchain networks, according to Austin Federa, co-founder and CEO of DoubleZero, a project developing high-speed fiber optic communication rails for blockchains. "The downside of the public internet is it was never built for high-performance systems. It was always built for this sort of relationship of one big server talking to one little server," Federa told Cointelegraph in an interview at Consensus 2025. The executive explained: The executive added that the constraint posed by public internet infrastructure is now the limiting factor in blockchain performance and not compute power or software development. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 20:55 May 17, 2025
Arthur Hayes predicts Bitcoin could reach $1 million by 2028, an analyst says altcoins “powerful rally” looms: Hodler’s Digest Bitcoin has two strong tailwinds that will help propel it to seven digits in a few years, according to former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes. For Hayes, shifting capital controls worldwide and US Treasury devaluation means that Bitcoin will become the go-to safety net for investors everywhere. He summarized: Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 20:40 May 17, 2025
Rising debt and no concrete plans to reduce government spending are the primary drivers behind the reduced credit assessment for the US. Moody's credit rating agency downgraded the credit rating of the United States government from Aaa to Aa1, citing the rising national debt as the primary driver behind the reduction in creditworthiness. According to the May 16 announcement from the rating agency, US lawmakers have failed to stem annual deficits or reduce spending over the years, leading to a growing national debt. The rating agency wrote: The credit downgrade is only one degree out of the 21-notch rating scale used by the company to assess the credit health of an entity. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 18:05 May 17, 2025
Unsustainable costs and opaque pricing have created a major pain point for large financial institutions, Michael James told Cointelegraph. Michael James, the head of institutional business development at Douro Labs — the company that developed the Pyth high-speed blockchain oracle network — told Cointelegraph that oracle networks like Pyth are disrupting the $50 billion financial data industry that provides critical price information to exchanges, brokerages, trading firms, and other institutional entities. In an interview at Consensus 2025, the executive said that Pyth Network's data pull model sets it apart from traditional pricing oracles, allowing customers to pay for data on demand, reducing costs for institutions reliant on real-time market data. According to the executive, the financial data industry is currently monopolized by around eight major providers that continually raise prices on clients arbitrarily. James added: Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 15:21 May 17, 2025
There are few places on Earth as Bitcoin-friendly as the scenic Garden Route in South Africa, where Bitcoin circular economies have blossomed. South Africa’s Garden Route, famed for its lush forests, expansive beaches and charming towns, has become a testbed for Bitcoin adoption. From Mossel Bay to Witsand and Plettenberg Bay to Knysna, Bitcoin has become popular among shop owners and travelers alike for a multitude of reasons. “We’re seeing the early signs of a parallel, permissionless economy emerging across an entire region,” James Caw, founder of SimplB — a local crypto asset provider — told Cointelegraph, “where small businesses benefit from faster, lower-cost digital payments and where people have more options to earn, send and receive sound money securely.” Read more
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