š³š¬Nigeria claims š Binanceās bribery allegations are āblackmailā
The Nigerian government has refuted bribery allegations made by crypto exchange Binance, which were described as baseless and an attempt to distract from the companyās legal challenges in the country, according to a press statement released on May 8. Binance CEO Richard Teng recently alleged that Nigerian officials demanded $150 million in crypto to settle an ongoing criminal investigation against the company.
š³š¬Nigeria claims š Binanceās bribery allegations are āblackmailā
The Nigerian government has refuted bribery allegations made by crypto exchange Binance, which were described as baseless and an attempt to distract from the companyās legal challenges in the country, according to a press statement released on May 8. Binance CEO Richard Teng recently alleged that Nigerian officials demanded $150 million in crypto to settle an ongoing criminal investigation against the company.
In general, many financial experts support their clientsā desire to buy cryptocurrency, but they donāt recommend it unless clients express interest. āThe biggest concern for us is if someone wants to invest in crypto and the investment they choose doesnāt do well, and then all of a sudden they canāt send their kids to college,ā says Ian Harvey, a certified financial planner (CFP) in New York City. āThen it wasnāt worth the risk.ā The speculative nature of cryptocurrency leads some planners to recommend it for clientsā āsideā investments. āSome call it a Vegas account,ā says Scott Hammel, a CFP in Dallas. āLetās keep this away from our real long-term perspective, make sure it doesnāt become too large a portion of your portfolio.ā In a very real sense, Bitcoin is like a single stock, and advisors wouldnāt recommend putting a sizable part of your portfolio into any one company. At most, planners suggest putting no more than 1% to 10% into Bitcoin if youāre passionate about it. āIf it was one stock, you would never allocate any significant portion of your portfolio to it,ā Hammel says.
Telegram and Signal Havens for Right-Wing Extremists
Since the violent storming of Capitol Hill and subsequent ban of former U.S. President Donald Trump from Facebook and Twitter, the removal of Parler from Amazonās servers, and the de-platforming of incendiary right-wing content, messaging services Telegram and Signal have seen a deluge of new users. In January alone, Telegram reported 90 million new accounts. Its founder, Pavel Durov, described this as āthe largest digital migration in human history.ā Signal reportedly doubled its user base to 40 million people and became the most downloaded app in 70 countries. The two services rely on encryption to protect the privacy of user communication, which has made them popular with protesters seeking to conceal their identities against repressive governments in places like Belarus, Hong Kong, and Iran. But the same encryption technology has also made them a favored communication tool for criminals and terrorist groups, including al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
