Netflix orders documentary series about alleged scheme to launder billions of dollars in cryptocurrency: Crypto Moves

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RIYADH: American subscription streaming service, Netflix has ordered a documentary series about a couple’s alleged scheme to launder billions of dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency in the biggest criminal financial crime case in history.

The company indicated that Chris Smith, who is famous for directing The Greatest Party That Never Happened and Tiger King, is set to direct and executive produce the Bitfinex documentary series.

It will be about the couple who allegedly laundered more than $4 billion worth of bitcoin from a 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex, Bitcoin.com reported.

“Ilya ‘Dutch’ Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan were arrested in their New York City apartment on Tuesday, February 8, and now face charges of conspiring to launder nearly 120,000 bitcoin tied to the 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange.”

Daily trading

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded slightly higher on Sunday, raising by 0.33 percent to $42,379 at 1:38 p.m. Riyadh time.

Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $2,921, up by 0.22 percent, according to data from Coindesk.

Other news:

The Hungarian National Bank, the central bank of Hungary, published a statement on Friday by its governor Gyorgy Matolcsy, declaring that the time has come to ban cryptocurrencies trading and mining in the EU.

“It is clear-cut that cryptocurrencies could service illegal activities and tend to build up financial pyramids,” Matolcsy said.

The governor added that the Russian Central Bank was right in saying that the rapid growth and market value of cryptocurrencies are determined primarily by speculative demand for future growth, which leads to bubbles.

“I perfectly agree with the proposal and also support the senior EU financial regulator’s point that the EU should ban the mining method used to produce new bitcoin,” he said.

Russia’s central bank proposed in January to outlaw all cryptocurrency operations in the country, according to Bitcoin.com

However, the crypto ban proposal by the central bank was met with opposition as the Russian government, parliament, and even law enforcement departments are reportedly not willing to back the proposal.

Last week, the Russian government approved a plan to regulate cryptocurrency.