Bitcoin Fraud Prompts Lawsuit Against Facebook
Television hitmaker and Dutch billionaire John de Mol, creator of the Big Brother reality television series and the Voice, has filed a lawsuit against Facebook. He claims the social networking giant distributed bogus crypto ads from scammers attempting to steal money from Facebook users. The scheme involved a third-party platform where people could “buy Bitcoin” from a company that was “backed” by de Mol.
According to the lawsuit filed today, de Mol alleges that Facebook allowed the fake ads to feature his name and image, despite complaints. Victims reportedly sent as much $1.7 million euros ($1.9 million) to the fraudsters.
California-based Facebook manager, Rob Leathern, says the company is actively working to prevent fraudulent ads, reports Reuters.
“The people who push these kinds of ads are persistent, they are well-funded and they are constantly evolving their deceptive tactics to get around our systems.”
Vitalik Buterin Calls Bitcoin SV a “Complete Scam”
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says Bitcoin SV (BSV), a hard-fork chain split of Bitcoin Cash, billed as “the original Bitcoin, restoring the original Bitcoin protocol” by supporter Craig Wright, is a scam.
Wright’s controversial legal battles, copyright filings and assertions that he is the creator of Bitcoin and that “BTC is not Bitcoin” also evoked blowback from Binance and other crypto exchanges that eventually delisted BSV.
In an interview with YouTuber Hardcore Crypto, Buterin questions how crypto leaders are wielding their power – given the controversy surrounding BSV.
“Obviously BSV is a complete scam, but the delisting from Binance – that was interesting. There’s arguments in favor of it, but then there’s also an argument that this is a centralized exchange that’s wielding a lot of power.”
He adds,
“I’m sure you heard my comment last year that I want centralized exchanges to burn in hell as much as possible.”
Binance delisted BSV in April on the grounds that it no longer met the exchange’s standards.
Ripple Crosses into Switzerland
San Francisco-based Ripple, a blockchain based global settlements platform for cross-border transactions, has registered a new entity in Switzerland. Ripple Switzerland GmbH ( Ripple Switzerland LLC ) was registered on May 27, 2019 by Ripple Labs Inc.
According to the filing, the move is designed to boost sales of XRP.
“The purpose of the company is the sale of digital assets XRP to institutional buyers. The Company may establish branches and subsidiaries in Switzerland and abroad, engage in other business activities in Switzerland and abroad and conduct any business directly or indirectly related to the purpose.”
Ripple recently released a statement about how it will revamp market data and volume reporting in the wake of revelations that crypto exchanges have been fudging figures. The goal is to raise the level of trust in the industry in order to spur interest, drive investment and advance crypto adoption.
“Longer term, by being more demanding about our expected standards for market structure and reporting, we hope to begin raising the bar industry-wide.”
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