New York Jury Finds IcomTech Founders Guilty In Multimillion-Dollar Ponzi Scheme

In a significant development, a New York District Court jury found David Brend and Gustavo Rodriguez guilty of wire fraud conspiracy for their involvement in IcomTech, a company exposed as a Ponzi scheme. The company, founded by David Carmona, promised guaranteed daily returns on investments but instead used funds from new investors to pay earlier ones. Rodriguez set up fraudulent investment packages and manipulated daily returns, while Brend and others diverted substantial amounts of investor funds for personal use. The scheme collapsed in 2019, defrauding tens of thousands of people out of tens of millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, a Solana-based memecoin project called Slerf accidentally burnt a significant portion of its token supply, leading to the loss of $10 million in funds raised from presale investors. Despite this mishap, the price of SLERF increased by approximately 242% over an hour.

London is preparing for an influx of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), with major providers like CoinShares, WisdomTree, and ETC Group eager to list their offerings on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has relaxed its regulations but still bars retail investors from accessing crypto ETPs on the LSE.

Fans of a Shiba Inu puppy meme wearing a hat, associated with the DogWifHat (WIF) cryptocurrency, launched a successful crowdfunding campaign. The "Wif on Sphere" campaign raised over $705,000 to display the meme on the Las Vegas Sphere, the largest spherical structure globally.

Solana's (SOL) price increased by 10% to $203 following the resolution of transaction delays on Coinbase. Despite recent technical challenges, Solana outpaced Ethereum and other EVM-based Layer-2 solutions in 24-hour transaction volume.

Bitfinex warned that the upcoming Bitcoin halving could lead to a concentration of mining power in the hands of publicly traded miners, potentially posing risks such as censorship of transactions and increased vulnerability to attacks or regulatory pressures. However, the halving could also have positive effects on Bitcoin's price due to reduced coin generation.

Binance CEO Richard Teng predicts that Bitcoin's value will surpass $80,000 due to increasing investments in crypto-backed ETFs. Despite concerns of a potential speculative bubble, crypto industry leaders generally share a positive outlook for Bitcoin's future.

Investment products based on digital assets saw a record-breaking inflow of $2.9 billion from March 11 to March 15, surpassing the previous record of $2.7 billion. Bitcoin inflows accounted for 97% of all year-to-date inflows, totaling $2.86 billion.

Crypto-focused political action committees (PACs), such as Fairshake, are making significant financial contributions to Senate races, aiming to elect crypto-friendly leaders and shape the broader lines of crypto regulation and acceptance in the U.S. political mainstream.