Chinese Fraud Victims Seek UK's Aid; Ethereum Upgrade in Pipeline; BlackRock Shares for USDC Now Possible
Summary:
Victims of a Chinese financial fraud are appealing to the UK government to recover $4.3 billion in Bitcoin. Simultaneously, a planned Ethereum upgrade could eradicate the issue of lost private keys with a new 'social recovery' component. Additionally, investors in BlackRock’s tokenized fund can now exchange their shares for Circle’s USD Coin (USDC). The illicit transactions conducted by the Chinese electronic company, Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, resulted in a Bitcoin seizure by UK authorities. BlackRock has also made significant strides in the digital asset market.
In an attempt to recoup over $4 billion worth of Bitcoin seized by law enforcement, victims of financial scheming from China are appealing to the U.K. government. Meanwhile, a future upgrade to Ethereum could include a "social recovery" function for digital wallets, potentially making lost private keys obsolete. Furthermore, shareholders in BlackRock's token-based fund now have the capability to exchange shares for Circle’s USD Coin (USDC).
An association representing victims of an investment fraud involving a Chinese electronics firm seeks to retrieve $4.3 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) purchased with their funds via the helpline of the U.K. government. A request was made to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign affairs by the aforementioned victims' group, imploring them to negotiate with the U.K. government for the recovery of the confiscated Bitcoin. The financial scheme spearheaded by Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology from 2014-2017 is responsible for the loss of said funds. After the attempt to purchase a $30-million mansion with BTC by former service industry worker Jian Wen was foiled due to her inability to account for the funds' origin, U.K. officials seized the cryptocurrency.
Government authorities consequently conducted an investigation and executed a raid in 2021. At this point, they discovered 61,000 BTC at a property rented by Wen and her alleged accomplice, Zhimin Qian, who authorities believe coordinated the investment fraud.
The upcoming Pectra hard fork of Ethereum will likely implement a new "social recovery" feature that could signal the end of seed phrases. This key feature is a core component of the proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 3074 upgrade, devised to enhance ordinary Ethereum wallets with newly-developed capabilities based on smart contracts. These capabilities will include the recovery of assets via social logins and transactions that require no gas.
Users wanting to utilize the social recovery feature will first need to migrate their asset ownership to an invoker contract using a digital signature. This contract will oversee future transactions and function calls on the user's behalf. Another aspect of the EIP-3074 upgrade will enable users to make transactions without needing extra Ether (ETH) in their wallets - the entity responsible for the invoker contract will prepay for transactions.
Circle recently disclosed that shareholders of BlackRock’s tokenized investment fund now have the option to exchange shares for the USDC stablecoin. BlackRock’s USD Institutional Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) investors can trade their shares for USDC, as stated in Circle's announcement. The introduction of the BUIDL fund on the Ethereum blockchain last month allows investors to access U.S. dollar yield through Securitize Markets, a firm specializing in tokenizing real-world assets.
The process of asset tokenization can help solve many investor pain points, according to Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire. The CEO also stated that USDC's functionality improves investor experience by speeding up transactions, lowering costs, and eliminating friction. Since acquiring the approval to initiate a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in January, BlackRock has risen as the most extensive institutional entity in the primary digital asset market. As of April 10, BlackRock’s spot ETF possesses more than 266,580 BTC.
Please note that this article does not provide investment guidance or suggestions. Any investment move or trade involves risk, so readers should thoroughly research before making a decision. Geraint Price, Sam Bourgi, and Felix Ng provided additional reporting.
Published At
4/12/2024 3:32:24 PM
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