The CEO of investment management firm VanEck says he can’t see a world where Bitcoin (BTC) is overtaken as the leading store of value on the internet.
“I think it’s impossible for me to imagine some other internet store of value [will] leapfrog Bitcoin,” Jan van Eck said in a Dec. 16 interview with CNBC.
“There’s 50 million users of Bitcoin, so it’s got network effects.”
The CEO — $76.4 billion in assets under management — also crushed accusations that Bitcoin is in a “bubble,” — explaining that no asset has ever been in a bubble that continues to outperform itself every market cycle. He added:
“Bitcoin is the obvious asset that is growing up in front of our eyes.”
Meanwhile, Van Eck expects Bitcoin to see all-time highs in the next 12 months.
VanEck CEO @JanvanEck3 expects Bitcoin all-time-high in the next 12 months. “It’s an asset that’s growing up in front of our eyes.” Also some good notes on the spot Bitcoin ETF effort and macro cycle. pic.twitter.com/02qZOVBPyx
The VanEck CEO said he and his late father, John van Eck — who founded the firm in 1955 — have store of value investing in their “DNA” and that he sees Bitcoin becoming an “accompaniment” to gold.
VanEck launched the first gold fund in the United States under John van Eck’s leadership in 1968.
VanEck is one of 13 applicants gunning for an approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States.
The firm’s CEO expects all spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications to be approved on the same day.
ETF analysts predict the Securities and Exchange Commission will issue a decision on several pending spot Bitcoin ETF applicants sometime between Jan. 5–10, with BlackRock, Grayscale, Bitwise, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Fidelity, and Hashdex, and other financial firms also waiting for a final decision by the SEC.
Blockchain-based lending is regaining momentum this year, with the value of active tokenized private credit now sitting at $582 million — a staggering 128% increase from a year ago.
While still far off from its peak of $1.5 billion in June 2022, according to data from real-world asset loan tracker RWA.xyz, the resurgence could signal that loan-seekers are looking for blockchain-based alternatives to traditional financiers amid a recent rise in interest rates.
The current average percentage rate is 9.64% for blockchain-based credit protocols, while financiers have been offering small business bank loan interest rates between 5.75% and 11.91%, according to a Dec. 1 report by NerdWallet.
The loans being taken out aren’t small either. RWA.xyz has tracked $4.5 billion in blockchain-based loans across 1,804 deals, which means the average loan comes out at about $2.5 million.
One of the most noteworthy loan-seekers of late is United Kingdom-based asset management firm Fasanara Capital, which took out a $38.3 million loan from Clearpool at a sub-7% base APY.
Brazilian bank Divibank is another financial institution participating in the market.
Active loans market from blockchain-based protocols since October 2020. Source: RWA.xyz
Ethereum-based Centrifuge owns over 43% of the current active loans market with $255 million, up 203% from $84 million at the start of 2023.
Goldfinch and Maple are the second and third largest blockchain credit protocols, with $143 million and $103 million in active loans, respectively.
United States dollar-pegged stablecoins Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC) and Dai (DAI) are three of the main cryptocurrencies used to facilitate these loans.
The largest blockchain-based loan-seekers come from the consumer ($197.7 million) and automotive ($186.8 million) sectors, followed by fintech, real estate, carbon credit and cryptocurrency trading, the data shows.
Active loans market by sector from blockchain-based protocols. Source: RWA.xyz
Despite the recent rise, the $506 million active loan market is about 0.3% the size of the $1.6 trillion traditional private credit market.
Obtaining loans from blockchain-based protocols does, however, come with risks. Loan-seekers should weigh insolvency, collateralization, smart contracts and other security risks before borrowing.
The Buffalo Bills romped over the Dallas Cowboys, 31-10, on Sunday evening and stayed afloat in their race to clinch a playoff spot.
Josh Allen had a touchdown pass and a rushing touchdown in the game but only threw for 94 yards. Running back James Cook carried the bulk of the load on offense as he rushed for 179 yards and ran for a score. Cook also had two catches for 42 yards and a receiving touchdown.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen answers questions during a news conference after playing against the Dallas Cowboys, Dec. 17, 2023, in Orchard Park, New York.(AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
The star quarterback summed his performance up with a great analogy.
“I don’t think I threw the ball that many times, which again … just get it done,” he said, “just find a way to win. I felt like the kid that didn’t do anything in the class project but still got an A.”
Buffalo Bills running back James Cook (4) celebrates with quarterback Josh Allen after scoring touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the second quarter, Dec. 17, 2023, in Orchard Park, New York.(AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Allen and the offense had the Cowboys on their heels the entire game. It started with a Latavius Murray 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and then continued with Allen’s touchdown pass to Cook and his own rushing touchdown before the half.
Dallas only scored one more time after that on a 3-yard run from CeeDee Lamb.
Dak Prescott may have seen his MVP chances slip away as he was 21 of 34 with 134 passing yards and an interception. He was sacked three times.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the second quarter, Dec. 17, 2023, in Orchard Park, New York.(AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
UFC President Dana White didn’t mince words Saturday night when he was asked about the melee involving fighters Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis.
The two fought in the stands ahead of UFC 297 on Jan. 29. They were in attendance for UFC 296, which was main-evented by Colby Covington and Leon Edwards. White took responsibility for the brawl, blaming himself for putting the two heavy hitters next to each other.
Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis face off during the UFC 2024 seasonal press conference at MGM Grand Garden Arena on Dec. 15, 2023, in Las Vegas.(Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
“What kind of an a–hole sits Strickland next to du Plessis,” White asked rhetorically. “This a–hole, that’s who. … I do every seating assignment every week. How f—ing stupid is that? I mean, seriously, I don’t know what humans you can sit Strickland next to, but definitely not Du Plessis. I don’t know how I missed that.”
“It’s my job to make sure that stuff doesn’t happen. If I wasn’t an a–hole, those two wouldn’t have been sitting next to each other. It blows my mind that I let that slip.”
Du Plessis was booing Strickland before the latter stood up, pointed an imaginary gun in his direction and fired away. That’s when Strickland turned around and started having words with Du Plessis. Strickland then told those in between him and Du Plessis – at least one kid was in the row behind him – to move over.
With cameras still trained on them, Strickland approached Du Plessis and started to throw punches, landing his right hand on Du Plessis’ head numerous times.
Dricus Du Plessis reacts after defeating Robert Whittaker (not pictured) during UFC 290 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 8, 2023.(Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)
“I go hard on everyone I know this, izzy mouth feeding his dog, Dricus kissing his coach and grabbing his cup,” Strickland wrote on X, calling out fellow UFC fighter Israel Adesanya in the process. “[Sean] Omalley (sic) talking about sharing his wife in a podcast. You’re a man, on a world stage doing this in public.”
Du Plessis fired right back with his own.
“Now I understand why you have a 33% finish rate, you hit like a girl, also 20 January the security won’t be there to save your life when I’m on top #rentfree,” Du Plessis tweeted.
Sean Strickland celebrates after defeating Israel Adesanya (not pictured) during UFC 293 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Sept. 9, 2023.(Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports)
Strickland is 28-5 in his MMA career with a 15-5 mark in UFC. Du Plessis is 20-2 all-time and 6-0 in UFC.
A Solana Saga phone appears to have sold for as much as $5,000 on eBay — more than eight times its retail cost — after a frenzy to pick up a free memecoin airdrop caused the devices to sell out on the official website for the first time.
According to a Dec. 16 listing on the online marketplace eBay, two unopened, in-box phones have recently sold, listed for $5,000 or “best offer,” while another device has sold for $3,316 or “best offer.”
Solana Saga phones were being resold for as high as $5,000 on eBay. Source: eBay
An additional 20 devices managed to sell for over $2,000 over the weekend, a more than $1,400 markup on the original $599 price tag on the Solana Mobile website.
Since the device launched on May 8, each new Saga phone has come with a free 30 million Bonk (BONK) token airdrop. Traders last week began noticing that a price surge in Bonk meant that the free airdrop has become more valuable than the device itself — causing the phone to become “SOLD OUT” as of Dec. 16.
The Saga is SOLD OUT!
Words cannot describe how much we appreciate your support. We are nothing without this amazing community
While these past few days will be cemented in our history, we’re excited for the future
Buyers of these scalped Saga phones are likely a bet that the price of the memecoin will continue to appreciate even further. In the last 30 days, Bonk surged nearly 800% as the token gained mass traction among memecoin enthusiasts and opportunistic traders.
The price of Bonk has surged more nearly 800% in the last month. Source: TradingView
However, for traders to profit from the eye-watering $5,000 price tag, the price of Bonk would need to grow a further 620% from its current value. This would see Bonk command a total market cap of $8.68 billion — placing it at a similar valuation to Tron (TRX) or Polkadot (DOT).
However, it would seem that the phone buyers may not be solely betting on the price of Bonk, with several Solana-based projects recently announcing airdrops and other financial incentives for device users.
In a Dec. 17 post to X (formerly Twitter) the pseudonymous founder of the DeFi protocol, Solend confirmed that the team would be working on an airdrop for Saga phone holders.
Additionally, a fellow memecoin project called Samoyed Coin (SAMO) announced they would be releasing an airdrop for Saga holders, with more details “coming soon.”
On Nov. 15. decentralized storage provider GenesysGo previously announced that users would be able to mine its native Shadow (SHDW) token by way of an application on the Saga phone.
Matthew Stafford passed for 258 yards and hit Cooper Kupp and Demarcus Robinson for touchdowns, leading the Los Angeles Rams to a 28-20 victory over the freefalling Washington Commanders on Sunday.
Kupp’s eight receptions for 111 yards were highlighted by a 62-yard TD catch right after halftime for the Rams (7-7), who have won four of five to push their way into the playoff picture even in a self-described remodeling season.
Kyren Williams overcame the first two lost fumbles of his two-year NFL career to rush for 152 yards and a touchdown while his Rams slid into one of the three NFC wild-card playoff positions alongside fellow 7-7 teams New Orleans and Minnesota.
The Rams’ defense largely shut down the Commanders (4-10) in the first three quarters before Washington backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett made things interesting in his first significant playing time of the season.
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) hands off to wide receiver Puka Nacua (17) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Brissett relieved Sam Howell in the fourth quarter and immediately led two touchdown drives for the Commanders, who have lost five straight. Curtis Samuel caught two TD passes, including a 3-yard grab with 1:46 to play.
Howell passed for 102 yards and threw a 19-yard TD pass to Samuel in the third quarter for the Commanders’ first points, but they returned from their bye week with more of the same defensive lapses, offensive inefficiency and mental mistakes that have dominated the past three months of coach Ron Rivera’s fourth season.
Brissett gave Washington an immediate spark, however: Terry McLaurin caught a 29-yard TD pass and then made a 48-yard reception — Washington’s first pass play all season longer than 40 yards — at the Los Angeles 1 with 4:47 to play.
Thanks to some sketchy clock management, a touchdown taken off the board by offensive pass interference and a drive-extending pass interference call on fourth down against Los Angeles’ Derion Kendrick, the Commanders needed eight snaps before Brissett’s TD pass to Samuel more than three minutes later.
But Joey Slye’s extra point was blocked by Cobie Durant, and Kupp batted the onside kick out of bounds before the Rams ran out the clock.
Brissett, who started 11 games for Cleveland last season, finished 8 of 10 for 124 yards and two TDs.
Los Angeles could have turned this game into a blowout with better execution in the first half. Stafford completed his first 12 passes while the Rams opened with two long drives resulting in 155 yards, but just three points.
The Commanders also wasted their only early scoring opportunity when Howell’s pass was batted down on fourth and 1 at the Los Angeles 12.
The Rams led only 13-0 at halftime despite taking the ball inside the Washington 10 on four of their five drives, but Kupp ran completely unguarded down the Washington sideline on the second play of the second half, and Stafford hit him for the Rams’ second-longest scoring play of the season.
INJURIES
Commanders: P Tress Way was slow getting up after he was hit while falling on a terrible snap late in the first half. He was evaluated for a concussion and a back injury, but returned in the second half. … LT Charles Leno Jr. left in the second half with a calf injury. … Leading rusher James Robinson Jr. sat out with a hamstring injury incurred before the bye.
Rams: CB Ahkello Witherspoon left with a groin injury in the fourth quarter. … Starting RT Rob Havenstein (groin) and WR Tutu Atwell (concussion) sat out. … Backup DB Tre Tomlinson injured his thigh in the second half.
James Cook had a career-best 179 yards rushing and scored twice as Buffalo dominated on the ground, and the Bills beat Dallas 31-10 on Sunday, ending the Cowboys’ five-game winning streak.
Josh Allen threw for just 94 yards for the Bills (8-6), who won consecutive games for the first time since a three-game winning streak ended on Oct. 1. Buffalo gained ground in the AFC playoff race, moving one game ahead of Denver and Pittsburgh.
The Cowboys (10-4) clinched their third playoff berth before kickoff thanks to losses by Green Bay and Atlanta on Sunday and Detroit beating Denver on Saturday. But nothing else went right for Dallas, which fell a game behind NFC-best San Francisco.
The Cowboys, who are 7-0 at home — where they’ve outscored their opponents by a combined 279-108 — dropped to 3-4 on the road, where they’ve been outscored 156-152.
Buffalo rushed for 266 yards, held the ball for 10 minutes more than Dallas and had 28 first downs to the Cowboys’ 14.
The Cowboys, who had scored 40 or more points five times this season and enjoyed eight wins by 20 or more, were held to a season-low 195 yards of offense. Dak Prescott finished 21 of 34 for 134 yards with an interception.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the second quarter of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
So much for the momentum Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy hoped his team would carry over from a 33-13 win over division rival Philadelphia last week. Dallas closes its schedule with two of its last three on the road.
The Bills, coming off a 20-17 victory at Kansas City, are trying to secure their fifth straight playoff berth and stay in contention for a fourth consecutive AFC East title.
Buffalo’s interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady used the running game to play keep-away against a Cowboys offense that entered the week leading the NFL with 421 points.
The Cook-led attack overwhelmed a defensive front that was missing defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins. Cook scored on an 18-yard catch three minutes into the second quarter and put the game away with a 24-yard scamper 2:30 into the fourth.
Allen had an easy day, only attempting 15 passes and completing seven. He had a touchdown pass and 1-yard TD rush.
Latavius Murray opened the scoring with a 2-yard run to cap Buffalo’s first drive. And Dallas had little chance after Tyler Bass hit a 23-yard field goal to cap Buffalo’s opening drive of the third quarter, which ate up 8:22 minutes of clock.
Cook rushing total was the highest for a Bills player since Fred Jackson had 212 yards in a 2010 season-ending win over Indianapolis.
Christian McCaffrey scored three touchdowns, Charvarius Ward had two interceptions — including a pick-6 — and the San Francisco 49ers clinched the NFC West title by pushing their winning streak to six games with a 45-29 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
San Francisco’s Brock Purdy — making his first NFL start at State Farm Stadium, which is about 45 miles from where he grew up — completed 16 of 25 passes for 242 yards and tied a career high with four touchdowns. He also shook off a hard hit in the second quarter that caused him to miss a few plays.
During their winning streak, the 49ers (11-3) have won all of their games by at least 12 points. They’ve also won 12 straight against divisional opponents in the NFC West. San Francisco has won back-to-back division titles for the first time since the 2011-12 seasons.
McCaffrey scored his second touchdown early in the third quarter, sneaking out of the backfield for a 41-yard score and a 28-13 lead. The running back was so wide open that he leaped for the catch, fell down, and still had enough time to get to his feet and sprint to the end zone.
He made it there a third time later in the third quarter after plowing ahead 1-yard for the touchdown and a 35-16 advantage. Deebo Samuel followed with his second touchdown catch in the fourth, a 19-yard reception that made it 42-22.
The 27-year-old McCaffrey finished with five catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns while also running for 115 yards and a score.
Ward put the 49ers ahead for good when he stepped in front of Trey McBride to grab Kyler Murray’s pass after the Cardinals (3-11) decided to go for it on fourth-and-3. The cornerback ran 66 yards the other way for a 14-7 lead, pulling away from a pair of Arizona defenders.
The mistake ended Murray’s streak of 96 passes without an interception.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, center, celebrates after scoring against the Arizona Cardinals during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Arizona’s Matt Prater cut the margin to 14-13 by making two field goals in the second quarter, one from 58 yards and another from 43.
Purdy briefly left during the second quarter with a left shoulder stinger after a big hit from Arizona’s Dennis Gardeck, who was called for a 15-yard penalty. But the quarterback returned later in the drive and hit McCaffrey for a 5-yard touchdown with 1:14 left before halftime for a 21-13 lead.
Murray completed 26 of 39 passes for 211 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. The Cardinals are 2-3 since he returned from a ACL tear in his right knee last month.
Emari Demercado added a 49-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. McBride caught 10 passes for 102 yards.
The Cardinals ran for 234 yards, finding some holes in the NFL’s No. 1 rush defense.
Arizona got off to a hot start with Murray finding McBride twice for a total of 49 yards through the air before James Conner ran for a 2-yard touchdown, capping an efficient seven-play, 75-yard march.
But the 49ers weren’t down long, responding with their own touchdown drive that ended with Purdy hitting a wide-open Samuel for a 12-yard touchdown.
Tornado Cash — a cryptocurrency mixer service that can hide the origin of crypto transactions — hit the headlines after being sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in August 2022.
The mixer opened Pandora’s box, igniting an open debate about the role of mixers in ensuring personal financial privacy when using cryptocurrencies.
U.S. authorities have continued sanctions against these services, with Sinbad.io being the most recent big player under OFAC sanction. Tornado Cash and Sinbad have been taken down by the FBI, with the U.S. Treasury accusing them of facilitating billions of dollars in illicit transactions, particularly those of North Korea-based hacking group Lazarus.
An anonymous representative of mixing service Mixero told Cointelegraph that mixers, such as Tornado Cash and Sinbad, are popular with North Korean hackers because of their “substantial cryptocurrency reserves, which enable North Korea to transfer large amounts at once, thus saving time.”
Despite their reputation, mixers provide a legitimate service by keeping cryptocurrency transactions private. However, criminals using mixers to launder millions of dollars may threaten the legitimate use of these services by ordinary users seeking financial privacy when using cryptocurrencies.
The role of mixers in financial privacy
Cryptocurrencies have evolved in their properties and usage, but currently, for the mainstream audience, they are still often seen as synonyms for a totally private medium for illicit activities.
Contrary to this misconception, cryptocurrencies are not fully anonymous. The underpinning blockchain technology for most of the top cryptocurrencies is an open ledger in which all transfers are public.
For example, the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), is only pseudo-anonymous. BTC addresses don’t necessarily reveal their owner’s identity, which provides a layer of privacy.
However, if a unique transfer is linked to their identity, all historical past transfers and future movements can be tracked to that individual. Convertible virtual currency (CVC) mixing — the service provided by crypto mixers — was created for that core reason.
There are many instances where citizens might want financial privacy, such as ordering delivery food and paying with cryptocurrency. The courier or the delivery company shouldn’t be able to see your daily transactions or the total money in your wallet. In this case, a mixer can interrupt the chain between the recipient and the sender.
Other more serious examples include not wanting your salary to be public or letting criminals know your total wealth. There are also extreme cases in which a mixer could save a life, such as avoiding a totalitarian regime to be able to see who donated to an LGBTQ+ cause or endorsed a journalist critical of the government.
In such situations, mixers can anonymize cryptocurrencies to provide financial privacy and safety.
Can mixers guarantee safety for financial privacy?
Mixers enhance privacy in cryptocurrency transactions by pooling and mixing multiple users’ funds, making it challenging to trace the origin of specific coins. This breaks the transaction trail, increasing fungibility and anonymizing the source of cryptocurrencies to improve user privacy.
Even if mixers ensure that all crypto transactions are anonymized, the closures of Sinbad and Tornado Cash demonstrate how authorities can still track this anonymizing tech.
Jason Somensatto, head of North America public policy at blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, told Cointelegraph that mixers can’t provide a guarantee of privacy: “I would clarify that mixers do not delete the trail. In many cases, Chainalysis can trace through mixing services and detect a user’s outputs. Further, all transactions are captured permanently on the blockchain. So even if an illicit actor uses a service to effectively obfuscate their activity today, it may be traced in the future as tracing technology continues to improve.”
If an intrinsic feature of blockchain technology is its public ledger and mixers may not be impenetrable, why do criminals still use cryptocurrencies to launder money? Somensatto explained:
“Bad actors use cryptocurrencies for the same reasons people use them for legitimate purposes — they’re easy to use, cross-border, instantaneous and liquid. Even in cases where a criminal understands crypto’s transparency and traceability, they may decide that these benefits outweigh the risks.”
U.S. policy against mixer services
In October 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) stated its intention to target mixers “as a class of transactions of primary money laundering concern.”
The policy seeks to enhance transparency over mixers to combat their exploitation by malicious actors, “including groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” as outlined in the document. In the words of FinCEN director Andrea Gacki:
“CVC mixing offers a critical service that allows players in the ransomware ecosystem, rogue state actors, and other criminals to fund their unlawful activities and obfuscate the flow of ill-gotten gains […].”
FinCEN will pursue any of these services “within or involving jurisdictions outside the United States.” The U.S. has already stepped abroad, with the controversial arrest of the developer of Tornado Cash in Amsterdam and collaborating with Dutch authorities to take down Sinbad.io.
The issue for U.S. authorities may not strictly be the mixer service itself but rather its largest clients.
As Chainalysis’s on-chain data analysis reveals, Sinbad has managed over $24 million of stolen funds from the Lazarus Group, including Ether (ETH) and BTC from the Axie Infinity and Horizon Bridge hacks.
The U.S. sanctions crypto mixer Sinbad.io for its role in North Korean laundering activities. Source: Chainalysis
Taking down an international mixer is not easy. While the clearnet website — the site conventional web browsers can access — many no longer exist, Sinbad’s dark website is still operational. Tornado Cash has also been relaunched in the clearnet, though it has changed its approach and offered some compliance mechanisms.
Either way, with the U.S. authorities on their tail, illicit mixer users may have already migrated, signaling the possible end for Sinbad.
Sinbad’s clearnet site is no longer operational. Source: Sinbad.io
Speaking to reporters in February 2023, pseudonymous Sinbad founder Mehdi described the mixer as a legitimate privacy-preserving technology project. He compared its service to privacy-focused cryptocurrencies Monero (XMR) or Zcash (ZEC), anonymity-enhancing crypto wallet software like Wasabi or the Tor browser, which encrypts user traffic and routes it through multiple servers to hide people’s identities.
Financial privacy rights are a primary driver for the creators of the mixers. The Mixero representative explained:
“We hold the view that the U.S. sanctions targeting mixers such as Tornado Cash or Sinbad are not only unjustified but also represent an infringement on human privacy rights. Additionally, it’s perplexing why mixers are singled out, especially considering the existence of fully anonymous cryptocurrencies like Monero. This raises questions about the rationale behind these actions against mixers.”
Protecting privacy: Can mixers address misuse?
Total freedom, as a pure libertarian would want, has a price. A mixer following a zero-control policy may have legitimate values and can also be used by sanctioned groups like DPRK hackers, bringing the mixer under regulatory scrutiny.
So, should ordinary users avoid mainstream mixers? What if mixers could implement barriers to block certain groups that draw attention from U.S. authorities, such as the Lazarus Group? Is this feasible?
According to the Mixero spokesperson, the only way to satisfy legislators would be to implement Know Your Customer standards, “but this goes against the very purpose of what a mixer is created for.”
Conversely, Somensatto said that there are mechanisms that mixers can implement, “including using Chainalysis tools to monitor transactions and be notified of exposure to illicit sources.” He added, “Broadly speaking, mixing service providers can avoid being subject to enforcement actions by implementing a robust AML/CFT [Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism] program, which, at its core, is a mechanism to prevent the laundering of money by illicit actors and sanctioned entities.”
The Mixero representative said, “Adopting these methods would be against our policy.” Yet again, anonymity ideology crashes with money laundering prevention tools.
Financial privacy as a human right
Many in the cryptocurrency space consider financial privacy a human right. But at the moment, few governing bodies recognize it as such.
The United Nations has an extensive list of “rights inherent to all human beings.” Financial privacy does not explicitly appear as a human right, but privacy does. For some, it could be reasonable to include financial privacy by extension. What about the law?
Suzanne Ulrich, a privacy lawyer and consultant based in the Netherlands, told Cointelegraph that there are solid laws that apply to financial privacy:
“In Europe, people are protected by various laws, such as the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Rights and the General Data Protection Regulation. In addition to these European umbrella protections, many countries have also included privacy rights in their constitutions. In the United States, there is also the right to privacy, but financial privacy is less generally protected than in Europe. In the United States, financial privacy is regulated through laws enacted at the federal and state level.”
The law firmly protects the human right to privacy, but financial privacy may be vague. Therefore, are privacy protection laws sufficient to justify the existence and legitimacy of mixer services?
Mixers have gained an unpopular image over the years as they have opened the saloon doors to any drifter in town. To clean up their image, they may need to find strategies to bar entry to illicit actors, and their survival may depend on it.
An NBA G League basketball player and another woman were charged Sunday with carrying out a murder plot against a female victim in Nevada, per Las Vegas police.
Chance Comanche, 27, was arrested Friday on a first-degree kidnapping charge and booked into the Sacramento County Jail in California, according to online jail records. His girlfriend, Sakari Harnden, 19, was arrested on a kidnapping charge Wednesday and was booked into the Clark County Detention Center in Nevada.
On Sunday, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said Comanche and Harnden “were responsible for the murder” of the woman.
Chance Comanche, 27, was arrested Friday on a first-degree kidnapping charge and booked into the Sacramento County Jail in California, according to online jail records.(Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports)
“Two individuals have been arrested in connection with the disappearance and killing of a 23-year-old female after executing murder plan,” police said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, along with a statement.
Police identified the victim as Marayna Rodgers. She vanished on Dec. 5 after hanging out with friends and meeting with Harnden, who bought Comanche with her, police said.
“Early in the investigation, detectives suspected foul play and obtained evidence to arrest Harnden and her boyfriend Comanche for their role in the kidnapping and disappearance of Rodgers,” police said.
Comanche is being held without bail. His next court date is set for Wednesday.(Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
“Based on information obtained after the arrest of [Harnden] and Comanche, detectives were able to recover human remains in a desert area in Henderson, Nevada. The remains were later identified by the Clark County Coroner to be of Marayna Rodgers,” police said.
Comanche is being held without bail. His next court date is set for Wednesday.
He played for the Sacramento Kings’ G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings. The team released Comanche after the arrest was made.
The Kings and the NBA did not immediately answer a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Sakari Harnden, 19, was arrested in the death of a Nevada woman.(Las Vegas police)
Comanche had played a G League game against the developmental team, the G League Ignite, in Henderson, Nevada, on Dec. 5, which was the night before Rodgers went missing. The Kings played the Rip City Remix in Portland on Dec. 7, and Comanche was present for the game.
Harnden’s bail at a downtown Las Vegas jail was set at $500,000. A criminal complaint stated that Harnden held or detained Rodgers against her will and without her consent for the purpose of killing her and/or inflicting bodily harm.
Comanche, a 6-foot-10-inch center who went undrafted out of the University of Arizona, made a single appearance in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2022-2023 season.
He’s made 24 appearances for the Stockton Kings over the past two seasons, including 13 this year, averaging 14 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.4 blocks per game.
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.
