Although bitcoin prices plummeted over the weekend, the overall bull-run remains alive, as well as the crypto-related fraud cases in South Korea. The latest figures by the domestic financial watchdog show that such incidents are still on the rise.

Police to Dedicate a Special Unit to Investigate Crypto Frauds

According to Asia Kyungjae, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) revealed that crypto fraud reports skyrocketed by over 41.6% yearly.

The statistics from the FSS from January to October 2020 show that the 41,6% increase belongs to 555 cases of suspicious transactions.

Due to the significant surge of cases, the police promised to increase its efforts in cracking down crypto-related fraud rings across the nation. In fact, authorities launched a dedicated investigation team at the financial crime unit in provincial offices.

Among the bureaus involved in the crypto fraud’s investigations include the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service, the State Affairs Coordination Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutors’ Office, and the National Police Agency.

South Korean Fraudster Found Guilty of Scamming $16 Million

Furthermore, Yonhap reported another millionaire crypto fraud case in South Korea as a fraudster named by the court just as Lee was given a six-year jail term. He was found guilty of having built a scheme that scammed around 1,300 people in just seven months.

Prosecutors said he took from victims around $16 million worth in crypto and fiat. Judge Cho Sang-min revealed details of the case:

The defendant tricked the victims, saying that they could get big profits in a short time, and sold virtual currency issued by an intangible Chinese company.

Lee ran its fraud scheme between October 2018 and May 2019, attracting investors by telling them, “if you buy cryptocurrency sold by a Chinese parent group, you can make enormous profits.”

However, the fraudster became even more suspicious after claiming that the Chinese company he was promoting is “a solid business with a 30-year history of 500 trillion won and plans to enter the electric vehicle industry with an investment of 4 trillion won.”

Also, the court handed 18-month and eight-month sentences to two of Lee’s accomplices for their participation in the crypto fraud ring.

What do you think about the bullish trend in the reported cases of crypto fraud in South Korea? Let us know in the comments section below.

The fallout sparked by reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) printed over $150 million for states’ funding continued a few days after the allegations were initially made. In the latest twist, the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) vice-chairman Dan Orbih said the CBN governor Godwin Emefiele’s response to the allegations is “politically motivated.”

Money Printing Unsustainable

In his riposte, Orbih is quoted by a local news site suggesting that “if drastic measures were not taken to address the situation” then the country might be headed for a worse outcome “than what happened in Uganda.” The politician said:

We need the youths to come up with ideas and programmes that will help this government to come out of their mess because the revelations by Godwin Obaseki is a sad reminder of what happened in Uganda under former President Idi Amin.

The PDP official also concludes that “no government can sustain the economy of a country with that type of abuse.”

In his initial remarks, Godwin Obaseki, Edo State Governor alleged that the “federal government (had) printed an additional $120-$150 million (50-60 billion naira) to top-up for us to share.” However, the claim has been dismissed by the Nigerian finance minister, Zainab Ahmed. According to the minister, this reported allocation is in fact “revenue from different agencies of the government.”

CBN’s Right to Print Money

In his own response to the allegations on April 15, governor Emefiele called the claims “unfortunate and totally inappropriate.” Although Emefiele did not directly deny or confirm the claims, he argued however that “the bank must always act to support the government at times of financial difficulties.”

Meanwhile, the CBN governor is quoted in a different publication asserting that the central bank’s right to print money. The governor said:

That’s our job – to print. It’s about lending money and so there’s no need putting the controversy about printing of money as if we are going into the factory printing the naira and start distributing on the streets.

Emefiele also revealed that the country had faced a similar situation in 2016 although he acknowledges that the situation “far worse today.” Still, the report quotes the CBN governor stating that the central bank is “also concerned with issues of inflation.”

Do you agree that the CBN should print more in times of economic difficulties? You can share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The Canadian publicly traded bitcoin mining company Bitfarms has announced a deal that will see the company developing a 210 megawatt (MW) mining farm in Argentina. Bitfarms says that the company was able to secure a low electricity rate at $0.02 per kWh during the contractual period.

Argentine-Based Bitcoin Mining Facility Aims to Acquire 210 MW of Power

The company Bitfarms (TSXV:BITF, OTC:BFARF) has announced the firm is expanding to South America, as it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in order to build a 210 MW bitcoin mining facility.

Bitfarms says the purchase agreement started back in October 2020 and initially the farm would be around 60 MW. However, since then the agreement has been “significantly enhanced,” as the power purchase agreement with a utility-grade private power producer in Argentina will allow the firm to “draw up to 210 MW of electricity at its discretion.”

Bitfarms also details that the warmer climate in Argentina helps the company mine bitcoin without depending on costly liquid immersion cooling techniques. The company also says that the firm will relocate a number of bitcoin miners to the Argentinean facility. During the first week of March, Bitfarms announced the acquisition of 48,000 next-generation bitcoin miners.

“Bitfarms plans to relocate a substantial number of its older miners to the new data centre. While the older miners are less efficient than the new miners, the low cost of electrical power and the proven reliability of these miners will extend their economic life,” the company’s announcement details. “This strategy will allow our older miners to continue to be accretive to cash flow from operations and to contribute to Bitfarms’ overall corporate hashrate.”

Bitfarms Finds Break-Even Costs in Argentina Is 45% Cheaper Than Québec

Further, the company did a comparison to find out the break-even cost to mine BTC in Québec in contrast to mining in Argentina. The company estimates that the Argentinean facility would give the firm a “45% savings.”

Mining bitcoin in South America with 210 MW of low-cost power will help the company achieve an 8 exahash per second (EH/s) target for Q4 2022. “It is also intended to provide geographic production diversification to reduce risk and serve as an effective hedge for Bitfarms against the next halving event in 2024,” Bitfarms’ announcement emphasized.

The company already has operations in Cowansville, Farnham, Magog, Saint-Hyacinthe, and Sherbrooke, Québec. Bitfarms plans to expand Sherbrooke operations 1&2 to an additional four expansions, Cowansville will see a second, Saint-Hyacinthe will see another, and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a city in eastern Montérégie will see a 5 MW facility.

What do you think about Bitfarms setting up a 210 MW bitcoin mining operation in Argentina? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.