After a busy week, Finance Magnates editor's pick is bringing all the big news from forex, fintech and crypto space.
IG Group Agrees to Sell Nadex and Small Exchange to Crypto.com
IG Group Holdings (LON: IGG) announced it is selling its stakes in two subsidiary trading platforms: North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) and Small Exchange, to Foris DAX Markets, which operates as Crypto.com.
The combined price of IG’s shareholdings in both companies is estimated to be $216 million, and the transaction will be made in cash.
Read more about the Nadex sale here.
Playtech Shareholders Approve Gopher’s $250M Bid for Finalto
Playtech concluded its general meeting on Wednesday as shareholders of the London-listed company approved the acquisition of Finalto by Hong Kong-based Gopher Investments. Under the agreement, Gopher will acquire Finalto for $250 million in an all-cash deal, finalizing the process by the second quarter of 2022.
Read more about the Finalto sale here.
Celsius Suspends CFO after His Arrest in Israel
Yaron Shalem, the Chief Financial Officer at Celsius, was among the seven people arrested in Tel Aviv this month. Following the arrest, Celsius announced recently that it has suspended the ‘involved employee’, and the arrest has nothing to do with his time or work at Celsius.
Read more on the arrest of Celsius CFO here.
US-Based Crypto Trader Pleads Guilty
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damiam Williams, recently announced the guilty plea of Jeremy Spence in a crypto scam worth more than $5 million. The details shared by the authority outlined that Spence solicited money from over 170 individuals through various illegal crypto funds.
Read more about Jeremy Spence’s scam here.
Crypto Exchange Coinbase to Buy Unbound Security
Coinbase announced the company’s plan to acquire cryptographic security firm Unbound Security yesterday. According to Coinbase, the acquisition will play an important role in the development of its product and security roadmap.
Based in Israel, Unbound Security is a pioneer in the global cryptographic security ecosystem.
Read more about Coinbase’s Unbound acquisition here.
Kraken Enables Shiba Inu (SHIB) Deposits
Kraken, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange, announced that deposits with Shiba Inu (SHIB) would be available starting November 30 on its platform. Also, the feature includes enabling order entry and execution.
Deposits would require 20 confirmations or five minutes, and the minimum deposit was set at 373,000 SHIB.
Read more about Kraken’s SHIB deposit here.
Vietnam Police Bust $3.8 Billion Crypto Gambling Ring
Vietnamese police have busted a massive illegal online gambling ring in the country that was accepting cryptocurrencies to make transactions, leading to 59 people being detained. It was the biggest gambling ring busted in the country involving around $3.8 billion.
Read more about the massive gambling bust here.
Bust of Money Mule Network Leads to 1,803 Arrests
A joint investigation of multiple agencies, led by Europol, against the international network of money mules has come to an end that results in 1,803 arrests and the identification of 18,351 money mules.
These money mules were used to launder money extorted from a wide array of online scams like sim-swapping, man-in-the-middle attacks, e-commerce fraud, phishing and forex scams.
Read more about the bust of the money mule network here.
GemForex Signs Football Icon David Beckham as Brand Ambassador
GemForex announced that it has inked a multi-year partnership deal with football icon David Beckham, making him the brand ambassador of the forex and CFDs broker.
Beckham will help to promote the GemForex brand and its services across Asia.
Read more on David Beckham and GemForex's partnership here.
FX Cartel: EU Antitrust Agency Fines Four Banks $390 Million
The European Commission has slapped a total fine of €344 million (around $390 million) on four banks, including UBS, Barclays, NatWest (previously RBS), HSBC and Credit Suisse, for their involvement in a forex cartel.
UBS escaped the penalty with ‘full immunity’ as it blew the whistle on the scandal.
Read more on the EU’s penalty on the big banks here.
The Problem with NFTs
NFTs will be an integral part of Web3 and the overall movement towards online decentralization. In the future, they will still be used for art and design, but will also enable the ownership of other kinds of digital property and will be linked to physical assets too.
This is all good, but there are some problems for NFTs to overcome.
Read more about the Problem with NFTs here.
