Wen Lambo? Lamborghini answers with new Animoca Web3 partnership

August 8, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Ben Armstrong spends night in jail with prowling, simple assault charges

September 27, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Arrest

Crypto influencer Ben “BitBoy” Armstrong was released on bail around 8 hours after being booked by Gwinnett County police for loitering and simple assault.

Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, formerly known as ‘BitBoy,’ reportedly spent the night in the slammer and has been hit with two charges following his conspicuous arrest.

Armstrong, who was taken into custody on Sept. 25 while livestreaming outside a former associate’s house, spent a little over 8 hours in a cell according to the Gwinnett County, Georgia, Sheriff's Office.

The crypto influencer has been released on bail but has been hit with charges of “loitering/prowling” and “simple assault by placing another in fear,” with a bond amount of $2,600 along with $40 of fees.

*Screenshot from* *Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office*

In Georgia, loitering or prowling generally refers to when a person is “in a place at a time or in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals under circumstances that warrant a justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity,” according to Georgia-based law firm Lawson & Berry.

The consequences for a prowling and loitering misdemeanor include a fine of up to $1,000, or jail time of up to one year, or both, it added.

Meanwhile, simple assault can involve: “(1) attempt to commit a violent injury to the person of another, or (2) commit an act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury.”

Similar to loitering, a conviction for simple assault in Georgia is treated as a misdemeanor, though there can be certain situations where this is escalated, said the law firm.

Following his release, Armstrong appeared to mock his punishment stating, “My name is Ben and I’m a loiterer. I did 8 whole hours in the slammer,”

This is the hardest tweet I ever have had to make. I need to make a confession I never imagined I would admit

I’m not even really sure if I have the courage to say it but I’m going to do my best

Here it goes: My name is Ben and I’m a loiterer. I did 8 whole hours in the slammer
— Ben Armstrong (@BenArmstrongsX) September 26, 2023

A few hours later he posted: “I’m taking a week's break from social media,” before adding “No, not because of the memes,” on Sept. 27. Armstrong’s mug shot has been doing the rounds on crypto social media.

pic.twitter.com/v9yL1OgFHk
— db (@tier10k) September 26, 2023

On the evening of Sept. 25, Armstrong went to the house of his former associate Carlos Diaz who he alleged had possession of his Lamborghini.

The livestream and general ranting went on for around 19 minutes before the local police turned up and arrested Armstrong.

Crypto trader “EmperorBTC” told his 360,000 X followers that the arrest “should be a lesson for everyone.”

Bitboy being arrested should be a lesson for everyone.

1. If you scam, karma will get you. If not now, then someday, but for sure.

2. Money gives you Power but Uncontrolled Power turns you insane.

3. Take care of your mental health, the world is waiting for you to breakdown.
— Emperor (@EmperorBTC) September 26, 2023

The latest debacle is related to the ongoing dispute between Ben Armstrong and Hit Network which controls the “BitBoy Crypto" brand. The firm and its executives cut ties with Armstrong in August citing issues surrounding substance abuse and financial damage to employees.

Magazine: Get your money back: The weird world of crypto litigation

Ben ‘BitBoy’ Armstrong arrested on livestream over Lambo dispute

September 26, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Ben Armstrong

Crypto influencer Ben “BitBoy” Armstrong has reportedly been arrested following a livestream outside the house of Carlos Diaz, a former business partner.

Crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, previously known as “BitBoy,” has reportedly been arrested while livestreaming outside the house of a former business associate, who he alleges is in possession of his Lamborghini.

Before the YouTube stream, he posted that he was “going live soon from a very special location.”

I’ll be going live soon from a very special location on YouTube so get ready this is going to be good
— Ben Armstrong (@BenArmstrongsX) September 25, 2023

Less than an hour later, Armstrong was livestreaming himself at the residence of consultant and nonfungible token investor Carlos Diaz, who is understood to have links to the Hit Network.

Armstrong went on a tirade, claiming that Diaz “wanted to kill him” and alleging he has links with the Houston mafia.

“I’m not scared of you, Carlos,” he hollered.

The entire insane 37-minute #bitboy stream starting from Carlo's driveway (him on his property) to him ending the stream. @HitNetwork_ @NickDimondi Insane! #crypto @AltcoinDailyio @cryptoblood_ @CryptoSavy1 @atozy pic.twitter.com/3YSd3pRLIm
— Ramekin (@iamramekin) September 26, 2023

At almost 19 minutes into the stream, Armstrong was met with local police, who turned up and asked if Armstrong had a weapon on him, which he denied.

He was then ordered to put down the phone, and the stream goes blank for the remaining 17 minutes, though audio can still be heard of a conversation between Armstrong and the police officers.

According to a listing on the Gwinnett County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office, a Benjamin Charles Armstrong was booked on Sept. 25 at 9:11 pm local time and remains incarcerated.

On Sept. 26, Diaz posted a confirmation that Armstrong had turned up at his house.

Blockchain sleuth "ZachXBT", who is not a fan, said "Will always celebrate one of the most notorious bad actors in crypto finally getting karma."

In late August, Hit Network, which controls the “BitBoy Crypto” brand, cut ties with its public face, Ben Armstrong, citing issues surrounding substance abuse and financial damage to employees.

Since then, a couple of lawsuits have been filed and retracted by various parties involved. Armstrong even appealed for donations on Sept. 20 to cover his legal battles, which riled the crypto community.

Magazine: Get your money back: The weird world of crypto litigation

One BTC will be worth a Lambo by 2022, and a Bugatti by 2023: Kraken CEO

March 31, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Amid the threat of dollar debasement, Kraken’s Jesse Powell believes Lamborghinis and Bugattis may be a better measure of Bitcoin’s value in the future.

Appearing on Bloomberg, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell explained why he believes dollar-based long-term price predictions for Bitcoin are flawed, emphasizing the inflationary nature of fiat currencies.

Responding to a question asking Powell for end of year price predictions, Kraken’s CEO said: “I think I said Bitcoin is going to infinity and that’s kind of hard to comprehend because I’m measuring it in terms of dollars.”

Offering alternative measures for valuing Bitcoin, Powell speculated the value of Bitcoin may increase from its current 'price' or one BTC per Tesla Model 3 to “one Bitcoin per Lambo” by the end of the year, and to “one Bitcoin per Bugatti” by 2023. Powell added:

"To the crypto community, I think those kinds of assets are easier to measure Bitcoin against because you never know where the dollar is going to be. There could be 10 times as many U.S. dollars out there a year from now, so it’s really hard to measure Bitcoin against the dollar.”

While Bitcoin spent much of 2019 and the first half of 2020 trading for the price of a secondhand 2010 Honda Civic, one Bitcoin could have purchased a brand new Civic when the price broke into new all-time highs at the end of year.

When asked about Ethereum, Powell emphasized the importance of the booming non-fungible token sector, stating: “All of the NFT activity is really driving up the use of Ethereum.”

Powell also highlighted uncertainty surrounding when the Eth2 overhaul will be completed and noted that deposits to Ethereum’s staking contract are currently removing Ether from supply.

On the topic of altcoins, Powell pointed to the buzz surrounding Polkadot, alluding to perceptions the network may comprise “the next Ethereum” due to scaling and fee issues.

“There are a lot of other coins that are being launched on top of this network, and I think you’ll see a lot of things that were on Ethereum be ported over to Polkadot,” he said, noting the “lower transaction fees” associated with Polkadot.

Polkadot seeks to offer greater speed and efficiency than other crypto networks by processing transactions using a “parachain” architecture where multiple sharded chains operate in parallel. While parachains are yet to launch on Polkadot’s mainnet, the ecosystem's Acala Network, became the first project to secure a parachain slot on Polkadot’s Rococo testnet last week.

Although sharding is on the Eth2 roadmap, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revealed earlier this month its developers are currently prioritizing the chain merge between Ethereum and Eth2. Buterin also expressed confidence that layer-two rollups will scale the network sufficiently over the short term while sharding is not a developmental priority. Optimism's rollups mainnet has since been delayed until July.

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