U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who recently lost his primary to represent western North Carolina again, is now under investigation for crypto-related matter, a press release from the U.S. House Committee on Ethics said Monday (May 23).

This comes after he might have improperly promoted a cryptocurrency in which he may have had an undisclosed financial interest, the release said.

Meanwhile, CNBC writes that investors have pulled over $10 billion out of tether in the last two weeks as regulatory scrutiny increases.

Tether, the world’s biggest stablecoin and meant to be pegged to the U.S. dollar, dipped as low as 95 cents on May 12 in the wake of the collapse of the UST stablecoin, which completely collapsed around that time and sent crypto as a whole spiraling down.

In other news, Crypto Valley Venture Capital is debuting an Africa-focused fund to support blockchain startups on the continent, Coindesk wrote.

The fund will invest in 100 startups on the continent in the next four years.

It has already invested in 12 startups in which blockchain use cases “go far beyond cryptocurrencies to drive Africa’s future to date.”

Elsewhere, Binance promoted TerraUSD as “safe” weeks before the collapse, Financial Times (FT) reported.

It advertised on April 6 a new investment scheme where clients lend out terra to earn a yield of around 20% as a “safe and happy” way to earn.

Binance is one of the most influential crypto players and its promotion, according to FT, “highlights the central role crypto exchanges play in choosing which digital tokens are made easily accessible to mainstream traders.”

Meanwhile, Bithumb and Upbit, two of the big Korean crypto exchanges, are warning about Litecoin due to an update allowing transactions to be sent confidentially.

Litecoin’s activation of privacy-focused tech Mimblewimble adds confidential transactions, letting users send tokens while hiding transaction information. The two exchanges cited anti-money laundering and…

After Do Kwon indicated he would inject $300mn into the reserves that underpinned the 20 per cent yield on his luna cryptocurrency, a Twitter user asked him where the money would come from.

Kwon’s response was succinct: “Your mom, obviously.”

Now the brash 30-year-old Korean, who routinely derides his critics as “poor”, is being asked to account for this month’s $40bn collapse of a creation he once described as “the oldest and most widely used algo[rithmic] stablecoin in existence”, before adding: “Bow before the king.”

As the losses mounted, South Korean press reports linked the crash with a local spike in online searches for Seoul’s Mapo Bridge, a reputed suicide spot. Local police announced increased patrols around the bridge in response.

On Friday, South Korean prosecutors launched an investigation into Kwon’s Terraform Labs after five Korean crypto investors with combined damages of Won1.4bn ($1.1mn) filed a criminal complaint alleging fraud and breach of financial regulations.

“Do Kwon was like a successful cult leader,” said Donghwan Kim of Blitz Labs, a Seoul-based crypto advisory firm. “But now he’s the most hated man in Korea.”

Kwon went to an elite foreign language high school in Seoul and studied computer science at Stanford University. In 2018, he co-founded Terraform Labs in Singapore with Daniel Shin, the prominent founder of Korean ecommerce unicorn Ticket Monster.

The pair launched the terraUSD stablecoin in 2020. Terra should hold a steady value of $1. Its dollar peg was maintained by an algorithmic relationship with the luna cryptocurrency. To buy terra, users need luna, and vice versa.

This see-saw dynamic is meant to keep the price of terra stable, but in early May, a run took place. As the luna supply was sold off, the value of the cryptocurrency plummeted towards zero, undermining the ecosystem’s delicate algorithmic…

Dukascopy Bank SA, a Switzerland-based financial services provider, issued on Monday a warning about a fraudulent website that is cloning the original one. According to the press release, the domainwww.dukascoin.holds-coins.com does not belong to the firm and is fraudulent.

Furthermore, Dukascopy stated that the site information is purportedly to be a scam. That said, the financial services provider warned: “Please be aware that this website is not controlled and does not belong to Dukascopy Bank, Dukascopy Japan or any other entity of Dukascopy Group.”

Also, the Swiss firm cautions people not to provide their information whatsoever on the  clone 
Clone

A clone refers to a fraudulent attempt by an entity or individual to use the details of an authorized firm in a bid to convince people that they work that firm.This refers to a relatively new tactic that has seen fraudsters using the name, ‘firm registration number’, and address of firms and individuals authorized by regulators to suggest they are genuine. Clones are seemingly primitive techniques, though newly adopted by scammers that have evolved in the information era. As regulators push for greater transparency, registers, and authorization, fraudsters have resorted to clone attempts to try to dupe investors.Fraudsters are constantly looking for new ways to scam consumers, but one technique that has been increasingly reported to regulators has been clones.This is a particular issue in the United Kingdom, with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) taking measures to crack down on clone firms.These scammers typically cold-call investors to promote shares, property or other investment opportunities that are non-tradable, worthless, overpriced, or even non-existent.How Do Clone Scams Work?In most jurisdictions, firms need to be authorized to sell, promote, or advise on the sale of shares and other investments.Some fraudsters simply claim to represent these authorized firms,…

The House Ethics Committee has launched a probe into embattled Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) to determine whether he improperly promoted a cryptocurrency without disclosing he had a financial interest in it and whether he had an improper relationship with a staff member employed in his congressional office.

The announcement of the probe came on Monday, after the committee voted to establish an investigative subcommittee on May 11. The committee noted that establishment of an investigative subcommittee does not mean that a violation has occurred.

Cawthorn, a 26-year-old first-term congressman, lost his May 17 primary election to Republican state Sen. Chuck Edwards after a long string of scandals that included the two matters being investigated by the committee.

The outgoing congressman’s office is maintaining that he has done nothing wrong.

“We welcome the opportunity to prove that Congressman Cawthorn committed no wrongdoing and that he was falsely accused by partisan adversaries for political gain,” Blake Harp, Cawthorn’s chief of staff, told The Hill in a statement. “This inquiry is a formality. Our office isn’t deterred in the slightest from completing the job the patriots of Western North Carolina sent us to Washington to accomplish.”

An anti-Cawthorn PAC filed an ethics complaint against Cawthorn on April 29, listing the cryptocurrency matter and his relationship with and alleged gifts to his scheduler, who is also his distant cousin. A video included in the ethics complaint, first reported by the Daily Mail, showed Cawthorn with his scheduler in a car speaking about suggestive topics in an exaggerated accent and his scheduler reaching into Cawthorn’s crotch.

Another video was released by the anti-Cawthorn PAC the following week that showed Cawthorn nude engaging in more suggestive behavior in a bed with another individual. Cawthorn at the time said that he was “being crass with a friend, trying to be funny,” and…

Beloslav, May 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Piggy Protocol is a newly launched crypto platform that provides financial freedom and makes life decisions easier without being overly stressed about the economic impact. It is keen to offer a decentralized financial asset that rewards users with a sustainable fixed compound interest model through its unique PAP protocol. The Piggy Auto-Staking Protocol (PAP for short) is a new financial protocol that makes staking easier and more efficient and awards $PIGGY coin holders the highest stable returns in crypto.

Piggy Protocol is a company focused on De-Fi innovation that creates benefits and value for piggy Protocol holders. Their PAP protocol that is used within exceptional benefits for holders of $PIGGY is as follows:

• Low Risk with the Piggy Protocol Insurance Fund (PPIF) – 3% of all trading fees are stored in the Piggy Protocol Insurance Fund, which helps sustain and back the staking rewards by maintaining price stability and significantly reducing downside risk.
• Easy and Safe Staking – The Piggy Protocol always stays in the user’s wallet, so it doesn’t need to be put into the hands of a 3rd party or centralized authority. All users need to do is buy & hold as they automatically receive rewards in their wallets, so there are no more complicated staking processes.
• Interest Yield with Automatic Payments –Interest yield is paid automatically and compounded in the user’s wallet, guaranteeing they will never miss a payment.
• Highest Fixed APY – Piggy Protocol pays out at 555.405% in the first 12 months, which rivals anything in the Defi arena. 
• Rapid Interest Payments – The Piggy Protocol pays every Piggy Protocol holder every 15 minutes or 96 times each day, making it the fastest auto-compounding protocol in crypto.
• Auto Deflationary Burns prevent circulating supply from getting out of hand and becoming unmanageable. The Bonfire burns 3% out of all Piggy Protocol market sales and is burned in the same…

DOVER, Del., May 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — With cryptocurrency and bitcoin on the rise, it’s shocking that a project like Crypto Blocks is only now coming together. Crypto Blocks is a unique cryptocurrency initiative and is set to hit the market in mid-2022. The project consists of 10,000 NFTs and the $BLOCKS Token. Crypto Blocks DAO aims to provide a platform that will offer an opportunity for its holders to contribute and participate in the project discussions through voting and adding real utilities to its ecosystem. Crypto Blocks DAO will launch 10,000 NFTS with seven tiers based on rarity. Higher tiers have higher benefits, and those interested will be able to obtain these high-level NFTS for access to these greater benefits.

The Crypto Blocks DAO is controlled by the $BLOCKS holders. These holders also control the financial risks of the DAO using a scientific governance structure that includes executive voting and governance polling. This creates an ecosystem with stability, transparency, and efficiency. Voting among investors is distinguished by the weight each voter holds. The voting weight of a voter in Crypto Blocks DAO is proportionate to their share of $BLOCKS. All major or minor decisions are made by proposals suggested by the community and then voted on during a specified period. To create a safe environment within the trading ecosystem, the DAO will start with several million dollars in ETH so the available tokens and NFTs will have underlying intrinsic value and the DAO can choose how it is spent. This way, Crypto Blocks can ensure their investors a safe and bright future with Crypto Blocks.

Crypto Blocks has a total supply of 238 million tokens. For transparency purposes and to ensure trust among the community, 40% of tokens have been locked, including tokens that will be controlled by the DAO. Through smart contract, Crypto Blocks will be distributing limited quantities per person to increase fair distribution for tokens and NFTs. 

…

The main advantages of GameStop Wallet are the possibility of secure storage of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, the ability to use Ethereum dApps and transactions being carried out through Loopring Layer 2. It is also worth noting the browser extension for PCs and the fact that the wallet is self-custodial.

Moreover, in its press release, GameStop also announced the long-awaited final release of its NFT Marketplace. According to the company’s statement, we should expect the release of the platform in the second quarter of this year.

The company’s stock price has already grown by 2.7% on this news, trading at the $98.2 level. Nevertheless, it should be noted that since the end of March, GameStop ($GME) shares have lost almost 50% of their value and 80% from their peak in January 2021. Back then, the stock drew the attention of the entire financial world, when Reddit users launched a massive pump and dump attack on hedge funds, causing huge short squeezes and multibillion-dollar losses of these funds.

People’s company

GameStop has earned its place in the tumultuous world of crypto and continues to integrate more and more into it.  From board member Larry Cheng’s November 2021 statement about the intention to integrate the company’s business and crypto, to the introduction of DOGE and SHIB payments just a month later, and finally to the launch of a full NFT marketplace and self-custodial wallet, GameStop was firmly and steadily moving with its target audience. That ultimately helped the retailer finally break free from the quagmire of poor financial reports and have a chance at life again.

The price of BNB, the cryptocurrency coin powering Binance Chain ecosystem, has jumped over 12 per cent in the last 7 days, slowly moving out of the slump it landed itself in the recent crypto market crash that wiped off billions of dollars worth of investors’ money.

In the last 24 hour hours alone, BNB price increased nearly 5 per cent to $329. At the time of writing this, BNB was trading at over Rs 26,670 on Indian crypto exchanges.

Data on CoinMarketCap shows BNB was trading at $314.92 at 8.59 pm on Sunday (May 22nd). The price jumped to $329.56 by 1.04 pm today. In the process, BNB has also regained its position as the fourth largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, moving over USDC, the data on CoinMarketCap shows.

BNB had dropped to the fifth position during the recent crypto market crash that witnessed Terra (Luna) falling to almost zero within a few days. The value of Terra’s stablecoin (UST) also became less than a cent in the crash.

ALSO READ | Will crypto rise again in 2022 after crash?

Meanwhile, BinanceUSD, the stablecoin offering from Binance ecosystem, has also increased its market cap after the crash. It is also now in the list of top 10 cryptos, ranked 7th.

BUSD dominates 1.35 per cent of the global crypto markets while BNB has captured 4.04 percent of the global crypto market cap.

Other top 10 cryptos in the list are Bitcoin (1st) Ethereum (2nd), Tether (3rd), USDC (5th), XRP (6th), Binance USD (7th), Cardano (8th), Solana (9th) and Dogecoin (10th).

Binance Chain has reportedly said it will welcome migration and offer support to projects from terra ecosystem. Cointelegraph reported BNB Chain’s investment director Gwendolyn Regina as saying that they are interested in supporting developers and projects from the terra ecosystem so that “they do not miss out on future potential”.

(Cryptos and other virtual digital assets are unregulated in India. They are considered extremely risky for investment. Please consult…

A mysterious Redditor has made a data-driven prediction that the next major phase of development in the blockchain space will be in layer-2 solutions, primarily on .

The May 22 post explains that “We’re at a turning point” where the industry is moving away from bridging between L1 blockchains towards L2’s which are “right out of the gate, more secure and decentralized than alt-L1s and are built to use sound money on a credibly neutral platform.”