- Bitcoin rebounds a bit after plunging on reports of Iran missile strikes against Israel.
- Binance executive who escaped custody in Nigeria is found in Kenya.
- Former Amazon engineer who stole $12 million from two decentralised exchanges is sentenced to three years in prison.
Bitcoin pares losses after Iran attack on Israel
Bitcoin recovered some of its losses on Sunday morning London time after falling sharply Saturday evening on reports that Iran attacked Israel with 300 missiles and drones.
Late Saturday, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, dropped 8.2% to $61,619 in the immediate aftermath of the news from the Middle East that Iran sent missiles and drones into Israel airspace directly from Iran.
Crypto traders found themselves as the first traders to react to the news because major financial markets are closed for the weekend, Bloomberg reported.
After the initial selloff, the price of Bitcoin climbed by as much as 8.3% Sunday morning, while Uniswap and Polkadot each rose by more than 10%, according to Bloomberg.
Bitcoin was recently trading at $64,100, down 5% in the past 24 hours. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is down 13% from its record high of $73,798 reached in March, but has more than doubled in the last year.
Binance executive found in Kenya
Nadeem Anjarwalla, a Binance executive who late last month escaped from custody in Nigeria where he was being detained on charges that Binance manipulated Nigeria’s currency, was tracked down in Kenya, according to Punch, a Nigerian newspaper.
Authorities in Nigeria and Kenya are in talks to extradite Anjarwalla to Nigeria, the outlet reported.
In February, Anjarwalla, a Kenya-based regional manager for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, and Tiger Gambaryan, a US-based head of the exchange’s crime compliance unit, flew to Nigeria to meet with government officials to resolve allegation that Binance took part in manipulating the naira. The two were subsequently detained. Gumbaryan remains in custody in Nigeria.
Hacker sentenced 3 years for stealing $12mn from two DeFi exchanges
Shakeeb Ahmed, a former Amazon security engineer, was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to forfeit $12.3 million and pay $5 million in restitution for stealing $12 million from two decentralized exchanges.
Ahmed, 34, of New York, was arrested last year on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, CoinDesk reported. He pleaded guilty in December.
Prosecutors had asked for a four-year sentence, but Ahmed accepted responsibility, leading to the more lenient sentence.
He stole the money from Nivarna Finance and a decentralized exchange built on the Solana blockchain, reportedly Crema Finance, according to CoinDesk.
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is down 5% on Sunday at $64,100.
- Ethereum is down 7.5% Sunday at $3,032.26.