Arab News

Ex-CEO of AriseBank sentenced to prison for crypto scam; bitcoin continues to fall

- Rayana Alqubali Riyadh

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurr­ency in trading internatio­nally, traded lower on Thursday, falling by 1.19 percent to $46,965.32 at 5:33 p.m. Riyadh time.

Ether, the second most traded cryptocurr­ency, traded at $3,098.12, down by 1 percent, according to data from CoinDesk. Other major crypto news:

Jared Rice, inventor of AriseCoin and former CEO of AriseBank, touted as the world’s first decentrali­zed banking platform, was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday for his role in a scam that deprived investors of $4.25 million.

Hundreds of investors spent a total of $4.25 million in fiat currencies and cryptocurr­encies such as bitcoin (1.93 percent) and ether (1.74 percent) to purchase AriseCoin.

Under the decision, Rice must pay this amount as compensati­on.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Wednesday announced its intention to roll out the Securities Control and Covenant System for Non-Convertibl­e Bonds (NCDs) by April 1, 2022.

It appears to be an important step for the blockchain use case within India’s financial ecosystem and follows other major institutio­ns in leveraging the technology to increase the efficiency of systems.

Blockchain

Microsoft on Thursday received a US patent for software that could help users develop blockchain applicatio­ns by making it easier and more efficient to create crypto tokens.

Microsoft’s patent describes a ledger-independen­t system to help users create and

manage tokens across different networks.

The system also provides a common interface for managing tokens, so developers don’t have to worry about a token specific to interact with them.

While Citigroup is awaiting regulatory approval to begin offering Bitcoin futures trading to its clients. As Citigroup said, “We are currently looking at products such as futures contracts for some of our institutio­nal clients, as these products operate under strong regulatory frameworks.”

“Our customers are increasing­ly interested in this area, and we are monitoring these developmen­ts,” Citigroup was quoted as saying by the news agency.

“Given the many questions about regulatory frameworks, supervisor­y expectatio­ns, and other factors, we are carefully considerin­g our approach.”

 ??  ?? Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurr­ency in trading internatio­nally, was trading lower, falling by 1.19% to $46,965.32 at 5:33 p.m. Riyadh time.
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurr­ency in trading internatio­nally, was trading lower, falling by 1.19% to $46,965.32 at 5:33 p.m. Riyadh time.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Saudi Arabia