Are you tired of checking the price of your cryptocurrency fortune every hour or so? We might have the perfect distraction for you: a website that shows the salaries of some of the world’s most popular athletes… but in Bitcoin.
BitcoinSalaries sources the yearly salaries of pro athletes and then converts the amount into Bitcoin based on the latest exchange rates – as simple as that.
The site also has a separate “Into crypto?” category, which shows if the athletes have previously done any business with cryptocurrency. FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, for instance, ticks off that category, as he previously shilled Sirin Labs’ $1,000 blockchain phone on Instagram and Facebook.
Interestingly, BitcoinSalaries creator Menajem Benchimol says he built the site using only “No Code” tools .
One quick note though: it seems the site doesn’t play nice with adblockers – the Bitcoin salaries indicator got stuck on “Loading…” until I switched AdBlock off.
Another thing to point out is that the list isn’t exactly what you’d call exhaustive, so don’t be surprised if there’s no data on each and every one of your favorite athlete’s salary in Bitcoin. There’s currently only 50 entries on the site. Legendary boxing champion and cryptocurrency shilling hall-of-famer Floyd Mayweather is notably absent from the list.
There’s a typeform where you can request more athletes to be added, but it’s unfortunately set to private at present. We’ve notified the site’s creator, so hopefully you’ll be able to suggest some new additions soon enough.
Now go check out the gut-wrenching amounts of Bitcoin the world’s biggest athletes could be buying each year by clicking here . Pro-tip: don’t compare those numbers to your own salary, though – it’s truly depressing.
Update July 10, 13:20UTC: The typeform where you can submit new athletes to be added is now open to everyone. Go crazy .
Swiss watchdog says cryptocurrency mining firm’s $90M ICO was illegal
Financial regulators in Switzerland have disclosed the illegal acts committed by Envion AG, a cryptocurrency “mining operation” that illegitimately collected over $90 million with an initial coin offering (ICO) last year.
With this investigation, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) seeks to make it clear that ICOs can indeed fall within the scope of Switzerland‘s banking laws, reports Swissinfo .
Regulators found Envion AG had unlawfully received deposits from at least 37,000 investors that took part in its ICO, which concluded in January 2018.
Envion AG, ordered into liquidation in late 2018 and now entirely defunct , was a (supposed) German-Swiss tech company that had developed an “energy-efficient alternative for the creation of cryptocurrency.”
The firm’s main “creations” were to be container-based “Mobile Mining Units” to be flexibly deployed anywhere in the world and controlled remotely, and would leverage clean energy like hydroelectric and solar to mine cryptocurrency.
Development of these cloud miners was to be funded with an ICO for then-new EVN tokens. Investors could participate by purchasing in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and US dollars.
“Envion AG granted the token owners a claim to repayment after thirty years,” said FINMA. “Furthermore, the conditions for the EVN tokens issued in a bond-like form were not equal for all investors, the prospectuses did not meet the minimum statutory requirements and there was no internal audit unit as required by law.”
“In the present case, this acceptance of US dollars and the Ethereum and Bitcoin cryptocurrencies therefore amounted to an acceptance of public deposits for the purposes of the Banking Act. This however requires a banking licence,” it added.
Envion AG is now entirely bankrupt, which means FINMA has decided further supervisory measures aren’t required with bankruptcy proceedings already underway.
It did warn other startups it will continue taking action against cryptocurrency businesses that violate (or attempt to circumvent) Switzerland‘s supervisory law. “Ultimately, this can lead to the company being liquidated by FINMA,” today’s statement noted.
Switzerland’s “ the Zug “ is known for attracting the world’s tech entrepreneurs, thanks in part to its low tax ( 14-percent for corporations! ). A 2018 report named the Zug as the fastest growing tech hub in Europe .
It also plays host to an ecosystem of blockchain startups and associations called Crypto Valley , in which popular names in cryptocurrency like Bitmain, Ethereum, Cardano, and ShapeShift all maintain presence.
Did you know? Hard Fork has its own stage at TNW2019 , our tech conference in Amsterdam. Check it out .
Alleged EtherDelta hacker in federal court over $1.4M cryptocurrency plot
Alleged hacker Anthony Tyler Nashatka, also known as “psycho,” faced US federal court yesterday over a plot to steal $1.4 million worth of cryptocurrency from users of token exchange EtherDelta.
Authorities charged Nashatka, alongside his alleged accomplice Elliott Gunton , with counts of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, among others.
The indictment claims that in December of 2017, Nashatka conspired to target EtherDelta to obtain the private keys of its users, as well as other sensitive information, in order to steal their cryptocurrency.
It also alleges Nashatka and his co-conspirators unlawfully used one victim’s identity to spoof the platform via its domain name settings, which redirected users to a fake site under their control.
Police say they used their fake version of EtherDelta to log credentials of hundreds of victims, eventually stealing roughly $600,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
“In addition, using this fraud scheme, Nashatka and his co-conspirators stole and additional $800,000 from a single victim on December 26, 2017,” reads a Department of Justice release . “The investigation to identify additional victims is continuing.”
If convicted on all charges, Nashatka faces up to 40 years in prison, and at least $2.8 million in fines. Nashatka is scheduled to appear in court again on November 13.
As for Nashatka’s alleged accomplice, Hard Fork previously reported that Gunton’s parents received suspended sentences for transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of his ill-gotten cryptocurrency during a police investigation.
As well, UK police recently raised $369,000 by auctioning his cryptocurrency stash, selling it for above market rates (on average).
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