US Offers $5 Million Reward for Information Leading to Onecoin Founder Ruja Ignatova

June 26, 2024 Bitcoin.com

Bitcoin to hit $100K in 2024? Canaan VP weighs up 2024 halving opportunities

September 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Canaan vice president Davis Hui believes a supply deficit following the next Bitcoin halving will drive its price past $100,000.

Executives from prominent mining and manufacturing firms believe market forces resulting from the fourth Bitcoin halving scheduled in 2024 could force the price of Bitcoin (BTC) past $100,000.

Magazine editor Andrew Fenton spoke to Canaan vice president Davis Hui following a panel discussion at Canaan’s Avalon Bitcoin and Crypto Day (ABCD) in Singapore.

Hui and a panel that included Bitcoin mining ecosystem executives from Singapore, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates all offered BTC price predictions around $100,000 in 2024 resulting from the effects of the latest Bitcoin mining reward halving.

Hui told Cointelegraph that the supply of Bitcoin would be drastically reduced with the reward halving down to 6.25 BTC per block, while traditional finance institutions are showing increased interest in investing in the sector:

“What about BlackRock? They’re holding onto $10 trillion of assets under management. The overall cryptocurrency market cap is $2 trillion — they have five times more than that.”

The Canaan VP said his prediction was heavily influenced by the outcome of a number of Bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications lodged with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission by some of the world’s largest asset managers.

“This money will come in, the BTC demand will increase, while the supply has decreased, and the price will increase.”

Hui also noted that it had become difficult for most miners to continue operating in highly competitive market conditions, with all-time hash rates and network difficulties directly eating into miner profitability.

Those who could not cover electricity costs with the Bitcoin mining rewards earned will simply shut off those machines, while those who continue operating will do so with a view of the potential upside ahead of the 2024 halving, he said.

Miners who can upgrade to more efficient and powerful machines are able to maintain better profitability, he said. Hui predicts that mining companies in the U.S. might be particularly hard pressed, given high electricity and administrative costs.

Hui also conceded that Canaan was among the industry companies to have reported a financial loss in the first quarter of 2023, highlighting the impact of a prolonged cryptocurrency bear market.

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Bitcoin Network Hits 75% Progress Towards Next Reward Halving

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OneCoin head of compliance facing 40 year sentence after US extradition

March 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The alleged fraudster was accused of doing the “exact opposite” of her job title, which was to ensure OneCoin was complying with laws.

United States federal prosecutors have charged a former executive of the fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin for her role in the operation, who now faces up to 40 years in prison after being extradited from Bulgaria.

On March 21 the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged OneCoin’s former head of legal and compliance Irina Dilkinska with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each carrying a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.

Dilkinska allegedly aided in laundering over $400 million of OneCoin’s proceeds, and upon hearing of a co-conspirator’s arrest destroyed incriminating evidence and sent incriminating messages.

Bulgarian woman charged for role in multi-billion-dollar cryptocurrency pyramid scheme “OneCoin” and extradited from Bulgaria to the United Stateshttps://t.co/XsY0rYJWeF
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) March 21, 2023

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams pointed out the irony in Dilikinska’s job title given the nature of OneCoin, saying:

“Irina Dilkinska, the supposed Head of Legal and Compliance for the OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid scheme, accomplished the exact opposite of her job title and allegedly enabled OneCoin to launder millions of dollars of illegal proceeds through shell companies."

The announcement said Dilkinska was extradited from Bulgaria on March 20 and was set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn the following day.

OneCoin was founded in 2014 by “cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, the latter of which pleaded guilty to multiple charges brought against him in December 2022 and faces up to 60 years in prison.

Ignatova, however, has managed to evade law enforcement agencies, going missing in October 2017 after a flight to Greece just 15 days after a federal warrant was issued for her arrest.

In 2014, a woman named Ruja Ignatova launched a fake cryptocurrency named "OneCoin". Despite the currency never existing, Ruja convinced people all over the world to invest. In 2017, after raking in $4 billion profit, she boarded a plane to Greece and hasn't been seen since. pic.twitter.com/DoJCfmy0Uj
— Facts - Weird & Interesting (@info_tale) March 15, 2023

In June 2022, Ignatova was added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Top Ten Most Wanted List, and a $100,000 reward is offered for information leading to her arrest.

OneCoin was exposed as a scam back in 2015 but managed to generate over $4.3 billion in revenue, with profits of nearly $3 billion, between Q4 2014 and Q4 2016 alone.

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