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Hey Waivly Crew! 🌊 US government prosecutors have charged two men behind the $1.1 million Frosties NFT rug pull. The Bank of England has started published a report addressing future crypto regulation.

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US Justice Dept. charges NFT project creators over rug pull

Yesterday, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has arrested and charged two individuals behind the Frosties NFT scam.

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In a press release, the DOJ shared that Ethan Nguyen, aka “Frostie,” and Andre LLacuna, aka “Heyandre,” have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection to the Frosties NFT project.

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On January 9th, Frosties’ public mint started and quickly sold out. A few hours later, the creators shut down the project’s Discord server and transferred $1.1M in proceeds from the mint to other wallets, leaving holders with none of the utility promised.

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“NFT’s have been around for several years, but recently mainstream interest has skyrocketed,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a release. “Where there is money to be made, fraudsters will look for ways to steal it.”

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Nguyen and Llcanuna got arrested in Los Angeles, California after investigators matched their Discord account data to corresponding accounts linked to Coinbase accounts connected to a Citibank credit card and government ID.

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Investigators were also able to track the pair by tracing a series of transfers that they were allegedly trying to obscure the transfer of crypto funds which led to them being accused of money laundering. 

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Before getting arrested, Nguyen and Llacuna were in the process of promoting a new NFT project they were working on called Embers, expected to launch on March 26th and generate around $1.5 million.

The Waves

👀 Tetris plans to embrace NFTs and enter the metaverse

💰 Katie Haun raises $1.5B for two Web3 funds

👏 DeFiance Capital rescues $13.3 million at risk of being stolen

🚀 Crypto rallies to $2 trillion market cap

Crypto Special

Bank of England outlines first regulatory approach to crypto

On Thursday, the Bank of England started to outline Britain's first regulatory framework for cryptoassets.

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In a 39 page document released, the BoE's Financial Policy Committee (FPC) pointed out that while the crypto market is still relatively small, it could eventually pose a threat to the overall financial sector.

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"While cryptoassets are unlikely to provide a feasible way to circumvent sanctions at scale currently, the possibility of such behaviour underscores the importance of ensuring innovation in cryptoassets is accompanied by effective public policy frameworks to... maintain broader trust and integrity in the financial system," the FPC said.

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As decentralized finance (DeFi) continues to become more popular, the FPC believes all crypto activities that mirror conventional financial services, including exchanges, lending, and insurance, should be governed by existing rules and standards.

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“Where crypto technology is performing an equivalent economic function to one performed in the traditional financial sector, the FPC judges that this should take place within existing regulatory.”
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Coinbase rolls out staking for ADA

Coinbase recently expanded its staking offerings to include Cardano (ADA) staking, with plans to continue scaling its staking portfolio in 2022.

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“With today’s launch, Coinbase is offering an easy, secure way for any retail user to actively participate in the Cardano network and earn rewards,” Coinbase said in a blog post.

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The crypto exchange indicates that annual returns are estimated at around 3.75%. After holding for 20-25 days, users will generate rewards, which will get distributed every 5-7 days. If you decide to stake Cardano, Coinbase has noted that you can withdraw at any time.

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This announcement comes amid a broad portfolio expansion on Coinbase. Currently, ADA is the 5th cryptocurrency that can be staked on Coinbase, following recent support for Ethereum (ETH), Tezos (XTZ), Algorand (ALGO), and Cosmos (ATOM).

Own and secure your crypto with Ledger

If you’re into cryptocurrency and own crypto assets, you need a secure place to store your coins and tokens. You probably already know that you shouldn’t store your crypto on an exchange due to potential hacks, not being solely in control of your crypto’s private keys, and for other reasons, and so a hardware wallet is the way to go and the best option to protect your private keys, therefore, you should make the move to a Ledger wallet.

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Ledger wallets are an extremely secure and premium way to secure, manage, and grow your crypto assets with their Bluetooth-enabled hardware wallets, and easy-to-use app which lets you manage your portfolio on the go. They let you manage multiple assets, buy, sell, grow, and exchange crypto, gain financial freedom by you being in full control and ownership of your private keys, and so much more.

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The wallets are really simple to setup, and to move your crypto over to, so there’s no reason not to secure your assets and take control of your cryptocurrency now and get yourself a Ledger device. You can manage 1800+ coins and tokens directly in the Ledger Live app once you’ve got your device up and running, so you’ll always have your entire portfolio covered.

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