Here is today’s newsletter outline🔥

• Mt Gox hackers are 2 Russians

• Robinhood ends support for SOL, ADA and MATIC

• Crypto.com suspends US institutional exchange offerings

Mt Gox hackers are 2 Russians

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently made significant progress in the investigation of one of the crypto industry's most notorious hacks.

According to the DOJ, two Russian nationals, Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner, have been accused of orchestrating the 2014 hack of Mt. Gox, which remains one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history.

The DOJ alleges that Bilyuchenko and Verner gained unauthorized access to Mt. Gox's wallets as early as September 2011 and proceeded to steal a staggering 647,000 BTC over the course of nearly three years.

Now that was generational wealth! The stolen funds were then subjected to a money laundering process.

Further investigations by the DOJ have revealed that Bilyuchenko was also allegedly involved in the operation of BTC-e, a now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange that has been previously linked to money laundering activities related to the Mt. Gox theft.

The charges brought against both individuals include conspiracy to commit money laundering, while Bilyuchenko faces an additional charge of operating an unlicensed money services business.

The DOJ's investigation indicates that the defendants used an unnamed New York-based Bitcoin brokerage service to launder the stolen funds.

It is alleged that they transferred more than $6.6 million into overseas bank accounts, assisting in the laundering of over 300,000 BTC.

The Mt. Gox hack, which occurred in February 2014, led to the suspension of transactions on the exchange after approximately 750,000 BTC were reported as lost. This information was revealed through an internal document published by Ryan Selkis, the founder of Messari.

Great to see some progress in finding out the people who caused others to lose a lot of money.

Robinhood ends support for MATIC, SOL, and ADA

Robinhood has recently announced that it will no longer support three prominent cryptocurrencies:

• Cardano (ADA)

• Polygon (MATIC)

• Solana (SOL)

Starting from June 27, 2023, users of Robinhood will no longer be able to trade or hold these assets on the platform.

The decision to delist ADA, MATIC, and SOL comes in the wake of regulatory actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC has classified these tokens as unregistered securities in their ongoing lawsuits against major cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance.

Affected users must either sell their ADA, MATIC, and SOL assets or withdraw them from the platform. The sale of these tokens will be executed at market prices, and users will receive the proceeds from the sales.

Although Robinhood's list of supported cryptocurrencies will be reduced by three tokens, the platform will continue to provide support for popular options like:

• Bitcoin (BTC)

• Ethereum (ETH)

• Dogecoin (DOGE)

• and several others

Robinhood remains committed to offering a wide range of investment opportunities for its users within the framework of regulatory compliance.

The delisting of ADA, MATIC, and SOL on Robinhood reflects the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding cryptocurrencies.

Honestly, this is not looking great for the crypto space at the moment.

Crypto.com suspends its US institutional exchange offering

Crypto.com has announced the suspension of its institutional cryptocurrency exchange offering in the United States, effective from June 21. The decision is primarily driven by limited demand and challenging market conditions within the institutional segment.

While institutional clients in the U.S. will no longer be served by Crypto.com's exchange services, the platform's retail mobile application and other retail offerings will remain fully operational.

Retail users can continue to access Crypto.com's services and features as before.

It's important to note that American retail users still have access to CFTC-regulated cryptocurrency derivatives trading and the UpDown Options offering provided by Crypto.com.

These offerings comply with the regulatory framework set by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and remain available to retail users.

Despite the suspension, Crypto.com has expressed openness to the possibility of relaunching its institutional exchange in the United States at a later stage.

In recent developments, Crypto.com has obtained a major payment institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This license enables Crypto.com to provide services in Singapore, expanding its global presence and regulatory compliance efforts.

The regulatory landscape in the United States has witnessed increased scrutiny on the cryptocurrency industry, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiating legal proceedings against major exchanges like Binance.US and Coinbase for alleged violations of securities laws.

It seems that the SEC is chasing out the crypto industry from just the US alone, could we see other countries following suit or start to welcome these companies with open arms?

✨Bonus News✨

• Brutal shark attack. The attack was on a Russian man on holiday in Eygpt

• Wildfire spreads further. Although there is progress, the fires are seen to go across Columbia.

• Russia says it will deploy nuclear weapons. This would be done in Belarus, next to Ukraine.

Disclaimer: This is not any kind of financial advise. This newsletter is solely informational; it does not constitute investment advice, a solicitation to buy or sell any securities, or a recommendation regarding how to manage your money. Be cautious and conduct your own study, please.