Two Israeli brothers have been arrested in connection with the hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and other crypto-related phishing attacks, finance news outlet Finance Magnates reports on June 23. An Israeli police spokesperson reportedly told Finance Magnates that Eli Gigi and his younger brother Assaf Gigi netted tens of millions of dollars. The two are suspected of being responsible for long-term systematic theft of cryptocurrencies by maliciously obtaining access to other users’ accounts. The two allegedly created credential-stealing clones of major online cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets and sent links to those phishing sites on Telegram groups and other cryptocurrency-related communities. …

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex announced a LEO burn initiative in a Medium post published on June 14. Per the announcement, the initiative will see the exchange’s parent company iFinex funnel its gross revenue into purchasing LEO tokens at market prices in what the post refers to as the UNUS SED LEO burn mechanism. This new system will launch alongside the LEO Transparency Dashboard, which will reportedly provide real-time insights into all collected platform fees and LEO token burns. The company explains its reasoning: “We are doing this to remove the possibility of uncertainty from LEO holders, subsequently allowing our community to …

Ampleforth has raised $4.9 million in 11 seconds in its AMPL token sale, according to an announcement on June 13. The initial exchange offering (IEO) was the first to take place on Ethfinex and Hong Kong-based crypto exchange Bitfinex’s Tokinex platform . An IEO is an alternative to an initial coin offering (ICO) in which a centralized exchange is responsible for vetting the token projects and investors, and then subsequently conducting the initial sale of the token. This IEO, ran by Tokinex, reportedly sold off 10% of Ampleforth’s total token supply, which will be available to its initial investors some …

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is now listing two tokens from the exchange OKEx: its native utility token OKB and the stablecoin USDK, according to a press release on June 12. Bitfinex will offer trading pairs with the new tokens and other significant fiat and digital currencies like U.S. dollars, bitcoin (BTC), EOS, tether (USDT) and ether (ETH). The native utility token OKB is designed to let OKEx users carry out a variety of functions on the exchange, including settlement of trading fees, the ability to construct a partner exchange, and subscription for tokens on OK Jumpstart — one of OKEx’s token …

A portion of bitcoin (BTC) stolen from Bitfinex crypto exchange back in 2016 has been moved from hackers’ wallets to an unknown address on June 7, based on several tweets by crypto transaction tracker Whale-alert.io. The movement of stolen bitcoins has allegedly started earlier today at 06:08 AM UTC and involved of six transactions to date, totally worth about 185 bitcoin, or $1.5 million at press time. Five out of six transactions of stolen funds from Bitfinex hack 2016 on June 7. Source: Whale Alert Twitter The amount of recently moved stolen bitcoins accounts for about 0.15% of the 120,000 …

Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges facilitate 60% of all stablecoin tether (USDT) trading globally, according to an analysis by Diar on June 3. According to the report, Chinese exchanges in 2019 thus far account for over $10 billion in USDT trading. The United States, in contrast, is said to account for only $450 million of USDT traded. Global exchange giants Binance and Bitfinex reportedly account for close to the remaining amount of Tether traded, accounting for 31% of USDT activity. Additionally, the analysis concludes that the trading numbers are not misleading. According to their findings, a similar amount of sending and receiving …

Bitfinex-owned hybrid cryptocurrency exchange Ethfinex Trustless announced the launch of its on-chain decentralized over-the-counter (OTC) service in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on June 3. The system allegedly has no centralized order book or matching engine, and only financial instruments are restricted from the platform. Furthermore, the press release claims: “Customers can trade any ERC20 token, and even specify custom Ethereum addresses for tokens which are not currently listed on any exchanges.” Per the release, the new system uses blockchain to enforce an OTC transaction as an atomic swap. This removes the need for an escrow, according to the …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is looking to launch the USDT stablecoin operated by sister firm Tether on the Lightning Network (LN), crypto news outlet The Block reported on May 31. Per the report, Bitfinex’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino told the outlet that the company plans to launch USDT on LN later this year. To pursue this objective, the firm reportedly joined the RGB open source development project. According to its GitHub repository, the RGB project is “a completely free, open-source, non-profit and community-oriented effort, promoted by the BHB Network and aimed at the development of standards and best practices …

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has temporarily shut down its services, according to a tweet published on May 31. The tweet specifically says that the change has temporarily paused deposits and withdrawals “due to the outrage of one of [their] network providers.” “Funds are safe in cold storage. Situation should be restored ASAP (ETA 3/4h). Apologies for the inconvenience,” the company further states. Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino has posted links to the exchange’s hot wallets, so as to insure the community that there are no outgoing tokens and that user funds were secure. As previously reported, Bitfinex and its affiliated stablecoin issuer …

The initial coin offerings (ICO) sector is showing signs of an uptick due to positive investor sentiment, apparently spurred by the recent crypto market rally. The data was revealed in a new report from token rating platform ICObench, shared with Cointelegraph on May 25. Providing data as of May 21, the report notes that the success rate of ICOs has increased, ostensibly reflecting a rise in projects’ quality. 85% of total funds raised so far in May reportedly belong to projects with a high (3-3.5) rating — as compared with 68% in April. According to ICObench’s data, the number of …

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and its affiliated stablecoin issuer Tether have been granted its stay of demands for which they applied yesterday May 21, according to a blog post published on May 22. Per the post, Justice Joel M. Cohen of the New York Supreme Court (NYSC) ruled to grant the companies their motion for an immediate stay of the document demands. The court thus only requires the parties to produce documents and information related to whether there is personal jurisdiction over the companies in New York, while staying the document order in all other regards. In yesterday’s motion, law firms …

Bitfinex and Tether lawyers are moving to dismiss their ongoing case versus the New York Attorney General (NYAG), according to court filings on May 21. Law firms representing the two companies argue that the New York Supreme Court (NYSC) does not have jurisdiction over the alleged misconduct being considered. The lawyers argue that the NYSC has neither personal nor subject matter jurisdiction and that the NYSC cannot be appealed to, because Bitfinex and Tether are neither operated out of New York nor harmed investors in that state. As per the motion: “The Office of the New York Attorney General (“OAG”) …