A former takeaway worker found with Bitcoin worth more than £2bn was jailed for six years and eight months for a crime linked to money laundering on Friday.

Jian Wen, 42, from Hendon, in north London, was involved in converting the currency into assets including multi-million-pound houses and jewellery.

At Southwark Crown court in March, she was convicted of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement.

The Metropolitan Police said at the time of the conviction the seizure was the largest of its kind in the UK.

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Bitcoin price extended its decline below the $68,000 level. BTC is now slowly moving lower toward the $66,250 support zone in the near term.

• Bitcoin extended its downside correction below the $68,000 zone.
• The price is trading below $68,500 and the 100 hourly Simple moving average.
• There is a key bearish trend line forming with resistance at $67,900 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair could continue to move down unless there is a close above the $68,500 level.

Bitcoin Price Dips Further

Bitcoin price extended its downside correction below the $69,000 level. BTC bears were able to push the price below the $68,000 support. Finally, the price tested the $67,000 zone.

A low has formed at $67,100 and the price is now consolidating losses. It recovered above the $67,5000 level and the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the downward wave from the $70,600 swing high to the $67,100 low, with a bearish angle.

Bitcoin is now trading below $68,500 and the 100 hourly Simple moving average. On the upside, the price is facing resistance near the $68,000 level. There is also a key bearish trend line forming with resistance at $67,900 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.

The first major resistance could be $68,800 or the 50% Fib retracement level of the downward wave from the $70,600 swing high to the $67,100 low.

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$68,211 will need to see a slowdown in United States inflation when results are released next month before it can consider surpassing its all-time highs reached in March, according to a crypto analyst.

“If inflation prints 3.3% or lower, Bitcoin should make a new all-time high,” 10x Research head researcher Markus Thielen stated in a May 29 report ahead of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releasing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) results on June 12.

This represents a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the previous CPI result, which came in at 3.4% on May 15. Thielen believes that in these two weeks before the May CPI results are released, spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) inflows will “remain strong” in anticipation.

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Semler Scientific, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMLR), a pioneer in developing and marketing technology products and services to healthcare providers to combat chronic diseases, announced today that its board of directors has adopted bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. In addition, Semler Scientific announced that it has purchased 581 bitcoins for an aggregate amount of $40 million, inclusive of fees and expenses.

“Our bitcoin treasury strategy and purchase of bitcoin underscore our belief that bitcoin is a reliable store of value and a compelling investment,” said Eric Semler, Semler Scientific’s chairman. “Bitcoin is now a major asset class with more than $1 trillion of market value. We believe it has unique characteristics as a scarce and finite asset that can serve as a reasonable inflation hedge and safe haven amid global instability. We also believe its digital, architectural resilience makes it preferable to gold, which has a market value of approximately 10 times that of bitcoin. Given the gap in value between gold and bitcoin, we believe that bitcoin has the potential to generate outsize returns as it gains increasing acceptance as digital gold.

“Furthermore, we are energized by the growing global acceptance and ‘institutionalization’ of bitcoin — reflected most recently by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s January 2024 approval of 11 bitcoin exchange-traded funds. These funds have reported more than $13 billion of net inflows, with investments from nearly 1,000 institutions, including global banks, pensions, endowments and registered investment advisors. It is estimated that more than 10% of all bitcoins are now held by institutions,” added Mr. Semler.

Semler Scientific’s board and senior management have spent substantial time examining potential uses of cash, including acquisitions. “After studying various alternatives, we decided that holding bitcoin would be the best use of our excess cash,” said Mr. Semler. 

In conjunction with its bitcoin treasury strategy, Semler Scientific will continue to focus on its core medical products and services. “We remain dedicated to our customers and our goal of operating a growing and profitable healthcare company,” said Doug Murphy-Chutorian, MD, Semler Scientific’s chief executive officer. “We are focused on maintaining sales of QuantaFlo® for peripheral arterial disease testing, while seeking a new 510(k) clearance from the FDA with expanded labeling for use as an aid in the diagnosis of other cardiovascular diseases.” 

As Semler Scientific continues to generate revenue and free cash flow from sales of QuantaFlo, it will proactively evaluate its use of excess cash. Bitcoin will serve as Semler Scientific’s principal treasury holding on an ongoing basis, subject to market conditions and the anticipated cash needs of Semler Scientific. 

Expected Scenario

• The Bitcoin price provided clear positive trades in the previous sessions, as it attacked the 70000.00$ barrier. However, we notice that the price rebounds bearishly after placing a lower high as appears on the chart, which supports the chances of continuing the decline and achieving negative targets that start at 67080.00$ and extend to 65485.00$.
• Therefore, we expect to witness more bearish bias in the upcoming sessions, noting that breaching 70200.00$ will stop the expected decline and lead the price to achieve new gains on the intraday and short-term basis.

Expected Trading Range

Between 65500.00$ support and 70000.00$ resistance.

Rising crypto of a spot Ether ETFapproval, increasing inflows into crypto investment products and a strong technical setup are some catalysts behind the crypto market’s rise at any time it comes up.

Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) are usually the leading gains, which have in previous days risen approximately 6.4% and 18.5% in the same period.

Increasing chances of a spot Ethereum ETF approval drive prices higher

Crypto bulls are speculating a spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval after reports emerged that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is possibly changing its stance on the issue — possibly due to political pressure — with reports stating it has asked ETF exchanges to update their 19b-4 filings.

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Blachunas said they were increasing their odds of a spot Ethereum ETF approval from 25% to 75%, citing the SEC’s 180-turn on the “increasingly political issue.”

The rise of Bitcoin has been a topic of interest in recent years. Investors have seen the value of Bitcoin increase significantly over time. Many people are intrigued by the idea of a digital currency that operates independently of traditional banking systems. The rise of Bitcoin has brought attention to the potential of blockchain technology in revolutionizing financial transactions. Its increasing popularity has sparked debates about the future of money and how we perceive value in the modern world.

Yuval Harari Voices Concerns Over Bitcoin

Yuval Noah Harari has openly stated his dislike for bitcoin (BTC), the cryptocurrency developed by the anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. “When I look at bitcoin as a historian, I don’t like it … Because it’s a money built on distrust,” Harari explained. “The central idea of bitcoin is that it is basically electronic gold, so we don’t trust banks, the governments, so we don’t want to give them the ability to create as much money as they like, so we create this bitcoin.”

The historian added:

It’s a currency of distrust. I do think that the future belongs to electronic money but what we’ve seen over the last centuries, is that it is actually a good idea to give banks and governments the ability to create more and more money in order to build more trust within society.

Harari’s unease extends beyond bitcoin, as the noted historian has also voiced significant worries about the dangers artificial intelligence (AI) could pose to both humanity and global civilizations. He argues that AI represents a leap unlike any technology humans have previously developed, setting it apart even from milestones like the printing press.

Regarding the future of electronic currency, Harari admits his uncertainty about its evolution over the next two to three decades, yet he remains hopeful for a currency founded on “greater trust and not a currency of distrust.” These remarks drew criticism from cryptocurrency enthusiasts on platforms such as X.

Address poisoning scams are carried out by thieves who make spoof accounts of their victim’s online crypto “address,” which they use to send a small amount of currency to the victim in hopes that they will accidentally send money to the fake address later, according to Transak, a crypto trading platform.

Because blockchains are public, it’s easy for scammers to find people’s crypto addresses and send out spoof transactions to phish for victims.

CertiK, a blockchain security firm, confirmed it detected a transfer of $69.3 million worth of Bitcoin to an address “linked with address poisoning” in a post on X.

The victim’s crypto wallet now shows a total loss of around 97% of its assets on Coinbase. The account is now worth just more than $1.6 million.

Peckshield, another security firm, wrote on X that the scammers traded the stolen Bitcoin for 23,000 Ethereum and then transferred the funds. Ethereum is trading at $3,116 a coin, according to The Daily Hodl.

Trezor, another crypto trading platform, recommends double-checking every address before sending a transaction and never copying an address from transaction history when transferring funds to avoid address scams.

Sending a small test transaction before making a large transfer is also an effective method of verifying the address, the company says.

Cryptocurrency-related scams are on the rise, according to the FBI’s 2023 internet crime report. Crypto-related frauds cost investors $3.94 billion last year, the report says, making up more than three-quarters of the year’s investment scam losses.

One study showed that crypto “pig butchering” scams cost investors $75 million from 2020 to 2024. The fraud starts with criminals sending a wrong-number text that they use as a way to build trust with victims.

Then, they send small payments to them and lure them into making fake crypto investments, only cutting off contact once the victim has sent a large amount of money to the thief.

The scam’s name refers to fattening a pig up before the slaughter.

Most cryptocurrency scams involve scammers trying to get victims in unrelated scams to pay them in Bitcoin so that their crimes cannot be traced, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The best way to spot a crypto scam is to never trust someone who will only accept payment in crypto or who is promising big profit returns on a fishy investment, the agency says.

“Investment scams are one of the top ways scammers trick you into buying cryptocurrency and sending it on to scammers,” the FTC says. “But scammers are also impersonating businesses, government agencies, and a love interest, among other tactics.”