TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Crypto Capital president arrested in money laundering case. Maduro to allow Petro withdrawals in foreign currency. Bakkt trading volumes go up. Tether explains Chain Swaps. BitPay card users experiencing fraudulent charges, and Binance lists Nigerian niara as the first fiat currency on its exchange.



Crypto Capital President Arrested

Ivan Manuel Molina Lee, president of Crypto Capital, was arrested by Polish authorities for allegedly using cryptocurrency connections with Bitfinex to launder funds from Colombian drug cartels. Crypto Capital is also linked to the sudden disappearance of $850 million from Bitfinex that the exchange had to recover via a token offering, … and is now facing a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General for using borrowed funds from Tether to cover the loss. Crypto Capital was apparently involved with other exchanges as well.

Maduro to Allow Petro Withdrawals in Foreign Currency

¡Buena Noticia! Hemos decidido premiar a los 3 millones de ahorristas del Petro, que han confiado en esta iniciativa. A partir de hoy #22Oct, su ahorro en Petro podrá ser canjeado en divisas convertibles para que hagan las compras que deseen. ¡Petros Convertibles para el Pueblo! pic.twitter.com/W0KvIIf7oD — Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) October 23, 2019

The Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro announced he will allow withdrawals of the Petro in foreign currencies, allowing the state-backed crypto’s holders to use them normally. According to Maduro, there are more than 3 million Petro holders that would benefit from this decision. The currencies that would be available for conversion were not announced. The Petro was rolled out last year internationally, but it had a short lifespan after being banned by an Executive Order from President Trump.

Bakkt Trading Volumes Thrive

Bakkt, the physically-settled bitcoin futures exchange, experienced a rise in monthly futures trading volumes to almost $5 million in just one day. The volume went up more than five times from the day before, when less than $1 million were traded. The volume change might have been due to a drop in BTC prices, which lost 7% in just one day, crashing the price to sub $8K levels at the time. Bakkt has struggled to find interest in institutional investments for their products since its launch, but volatility does seem to help short term.

Tether Explains Chain Swaps

How does a chain swap work? Review our latest post on chain swaps to learn morehttps://t.co/abfgnELSvi — Tether (@Tether_to) October 24, 2019

Tether, the stablecoin company, posted an article explaining the latest batch of USDT mints, which are in fact chain swaps. USDT is now on several blockchains, and a chain swap happens when an exchange or an important customer needs their Tether to be swapped from a blockchain. However, the number of USDT issued stays the same because the exchanged USDT is supposedly burned. The explanation might’ve been posted as a result of widespread doubts about the latest batch of USDT minted on top of TRON.

BitPay Card Holders Experiencing Fraudulent Charges

In the past few days, we've received a handful of reports like yours + have informed the card program manager. As you probably know, BitPay does not manage or hold card numbers, so right now we are awaiting further details. We will update you + any impacted customer ASAP. — BitPay (@BitPay) October 24, 2019

Users of the BitPay provided credit card are reporting having experienced fraudulent charges in the last days, according to reports on social media. The charges appear to come from California, and the number of users affected is still unknown. In a Twitter post, BitPay stated they don’t “manage or hold card numbers, so right now we are awaiting further details.”

Binance Adds Nigerian Fiat to Crypto Trading Options

Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange, started opening fiat-to-crypto optons for their customers, and its first fiat currency listed is the Nigerian niara. The exchange is handling deposits of the Nigerian currency through a third party payment processor called Flutterwave. While normally deposits will pay fees of 1.4%, Binance will not charge users for deposits up to 36,000 niaras, and will give $10K in rewards to be distributed between newly registered users.

CONTINUE THE SPICE and check out our piping hot VIDEOS. Our podcast, The CoinSpice Podcast, has amazing guests. Follow CoinSpice on Twitter. Join our Telegram feed to make sure you never miss a post. Drop some BCH at the merch shop — we’ve got some spicy shirts for men and women. Don’t forget to help spread the word about CoinSpice on social media.

DYOR: CoinSpice is your home for just spicy crypto things. We’re not affiliated with any cryptocurrency project or token. Each published piece is intended for information purposes only, not investment advice and not in the hope of impacting speculative markets. There are plenty of trading sites and coin-specific advocacy journals out there, we’re neither. CoinSpice strives for rigorous accuracy in our reporting. Information presented here is contingent usually on a host of factors, and the ecosystem moves fast — prices change, projects change, and at warp speed. Do your own research.