<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Guadalupe Pardo</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>US investigators are accusing a bitcoin entrepeneur of running a Ponzi scheme that brought in nearly $20 million (£13.2 million).</p><p>Josh Garza, former CEO of GAW Miners, allegedly defrauded customers by promising vastly larger returns than it was capable of providing in an attempt to trick them into signing up, the US Securities and Exchange Commission says.</p><p>New bitcoins are created through "mining" - using computers to solve complex algorithms, helping to contribute to the upkeep of the network powering bitcoin in the process. It can be profitable - but requires costly specialised hardware to get started.</p><p>GAW Miners operated a "cloud" mining service: Users could pay for a share of the profits generated by the company's hardware, meaning they don't need to buy any kit of their own. These shares were called "hashlets."</p><p>A criminal complaint filed on Tuesday by the SEC, <a href="http://www.coindesk.com/gaw-faces-ponzi-scheme-charges-from-sec/">which we saw over at CoinDesk</a>, alleges that "hashlet sales had many of the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme. Because defendants sold far more computing power than they owned and dedicated to virtual currency mining, they owed investors a daily return that was larger than any actual return they were making on their limited mining operations."</p><p>The SEC says that GAW Miners "earned about $19 million in revenue from the sale of the hashlets." The company closed down earlier this year.</p><p>Garza's lawyer told CoinDesk in a statement: "Josh Garza is disappointed that the SEC has filed a lawsuit against him. Any further comments will be through the court process."</p><p><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/photos-iceland-bitcoin-mine-genesis-mining-cloud-2015-8">Speaking to Business Insider earlier this year</a>, Marco Streng - CEO of Genesis Mining, another cloud mining company - said that fraud was a problem within the industry. "Cloud mining has a major trust issue ... [fraudulent companies] don't ever even own their own mining facilities. They just take pictures from other companies, photoshop them, then pretend they are theirs." Streng did not accuse any specific companies of fraud.</p><p>"Though cloaked in technological sophistication and jargon, defendants' fraud was simple at its core," The SEC's complaint about GAW Mining says. "Defendants sold what they did not own, and misrepresented the nature of what they were selling."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/helicopters-from-nyc-to-airports-2015-11">We flew to the airport like the 1% - on the 'Uber of helicopters'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="x0Y2k4eToCC_cExbEjJ6KxdK8pD5kxrX" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

US investigators are accusing a bitcoin entrepeneur of running a $20 million Ponzi scheme

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The New York couple accused of a scheme to launder $4.5 billion in bitcoin will be split up after a judge granted bail to wife <keyword id="13155149" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="heather-morgan" source="Orion">Heather Morgan</keyword> but not husband <keyword id="13155150" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ilya-lichtenstein" source="Orion">Ilya Lichtenstein</keyword>.</li><li>The ruling came Monday as the couple appeared in a Washington, D.C. court for the first time since their arrest on February 8.</li></ul><p>WASHINGTON, D.C.—A federal judge ruled that a 34-year-old US-Russian dual citizen accused of trying to launder $4.5 billion in stolen bitcoin must await trial behind bars, but ordered his co-defendant and wife, Heather Morgan, released to home incarceration.</p><p>Morgan, 31, and her husband Ilya Lichtenstein, were arrested on February 8 at their apartment in New York City on charges related to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heather-morgan-ilya-lichtenstein-nyc-couple-accused-bitfinex-bitcoin-laundering-2022-2">2016 hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex</a>.</p><p>The couple's Silicon Valley pedigree and Morgan's side hustle as a rapper with the pseudonym "Razzlekhan" has captivated the public's attention and shocked acquaintances, many of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitfinex-indictment-heather-morgan-ilya-lichtenstein-friends-react-2022-2">whom told Insider they could not imagine</a> the quirky but otherwise unremarkable duo to be capable of pulling off the elaborate <keyword id="11893298" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crime" source="Orion">crime</keyword> that prosecutors allege. </p><p>In a courtroom empty aside from lawyers and family members on Monday, the couple sat next to each other wearing green jumpsuits and respiratory masks in their first court appearance since the day of their arrest. As the judge handed down the ruling, Lichtenstein and Morgan passed a note to their lawyers, but otherwise the couple appeared to remain silent and calm for most of the 3-hour-plus court hearing.</p><p>Judge Beryl Howell said on Monday that private bitcoin keys discovered in an online account connected to Lichtenstein were the "electronic version of the smoking gun in his hand," rejecting arguments by the couple's lawyers about the strength of the evidence.</p><p>"I totally disagree with that ascertainment and description," the judge told the couple's lawyer earlier in the hearing. "It's not flimsy evidence."</p><p>In court documents filed last week, prosecutors described reams of evidence, including private keys to cryptocurrency wallets connected to the hack, as well as folders detailing fake personas, and shipping information for fake IDs ordered on the darkweb.</p><p>While searching the couple's home on January 5, US authorities also discovered hollowed-out books, 50 electronic devices, multiple hardware wallets, and a bag labeled "burner phone" as well as more than $40,000 in cash and "what appears to be a substantial amount of foreign currency," according to the filing. </p><p>Despite prosecutors' arguments that the couple presented <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitfinex-bitcoin-couple-prosecutors-allege-russia-ukraine-contingency-plan-2022-2">a significant flight risk because of their ties to Russia and Ukraine however,</a> the judge ruled Monday that Morgan could remain in her home with location monitoring until the trial.</p><p>Defense attorney Samson Enzer had argued during the hearing that Lichtenstein and Morgan remained in New York after the January raid on their apartment.<br /> <br />"They did not run. They did not go anywhere," Enzer said. "They had the means to flee and a warning to flee but didn't flee."</p><p>The couple built a life in New York City, and recently renewed their lease for a year, Enzer said. They also froze embryos in New York, and "would literally be leaving their future behind if they left," he said.</p><p>The decision Monday partially reverses an earlier ruling by a magistrate judge in New York, who released Morgan  on a $3 million bond, and Lichtenstein  on a $5 million bond. They were each required to get five co-signers on their bond and post their parents' homes as security, in addition to being tracked electronically and forfeiting the use of smart phones. Morgan will be released under the same conditions. </p><p>At the hearing Monday, which members of the media watched on TV from a room down the hall, Lichtenstein and Morgan's defense lawyers argued that the Justice Department has not presented proof of the charges. But Judge Howell posited that that the private keys, found in a cloud storage account belonging to Lichtenstein, seemed like "pretty clear direct proof of the charges."</p><p>"I would say so, your honor," Pelker, a prosecutor, agreed.</p><p>"Sort of like the smoking gun?" the judge then asked.</p><p>"Yes, your honor," Pelker replied. </p><p>Although <keyword id="11899820" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="law" source="Orion">law</keyword> enforcement has seized the majority of the stolen funds, there are at least 24 virtual currency addresses linked to the 2016 hack that prosecutors believe are still in the couple's control. Law enforcement was not able to find the private keys in the online accounts for which a warrant was granted. Those 24 addresses contain approximately 7,506 BTC, which is currently valued at over $328 million.</p><p>The hearing was the first time that the couple, who married after getting engaged in 2019, signaled that they might not move forward in the case as a team. The defense attorneys argued that prosecutors did not have enough evidence against Morgan in particular to withhold her bail, and Judge Howell questioned whether the defense lawyers had potential conflicts of interest representing both parties.</p><p>A federal prosecutor said the Justice Department believes she was an "integral part of the scheme," in part because of her knowledge of economics and familiarity with cryptocurrency, and pushed against the notion that she was a "naive wife unwittingly coopted into her husband's scheme."</p><p>Prosecutors painted the picture in their court filings of a couple whose activities "appear pulled from the pages of a spy novel." For acquaintances of Morgan and Lichtenstein, the depiction of cloak-and-dagger tradecraft has been tough to reconcile with a young couple they describe <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitfinex-hack-bitcoin-heist-seizure-suspect-heather-morgan-tiktok-raps-2022-2">as kooky startup entrepeneurs who were known for walking a leashed Bengal cat around town</a> and frequently posting videos on social media.</p>

Heather Morgan, the rapper and wife in the NYC couple accused of laundering $4.5 billion of stolen bitcoin, can await trial at home

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Kutenda is an online marketplace platforming cards and gifts designed by artists and entrepeneurs from marginalized groups – the first business of its kind in the world.</li><li>The marketplace hopes to normalise the portrayal of the LGBTQ+ community, the BAME community, and those who identify as disabled in <keyword id="636065" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Greeting-cards">greeting cards</keyword>.</li><li>Nearly 60% of people agree that card shops should offer more gender neutral designs, a GlobalData survey shows.</li></ul><p>The world's first online marketplace for greeting cards featuring and designed by diverse and underrepresented communities launched on Saturday to mark Black Pound Day, a day that encourages spending at Black-owned businesses in the UK.</p><p><a href="https://kutenda.co.uk/">Kutenda</a> aims to normalize the portrayal of marginalized groups in cards and gifts so that they can buy products that accurately represent them. This includes the LGBTQ+ community, the BAME community, and those who identify as disabled. Despite the UK spending around <a href="http://www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk/resources/for-publishers/the-market/facts-and-figures">£1.7 billion</a> ($2.25 billion) annually on greeting cards, <a href="https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/greetings-cards-lack-of-diversity-interracial-couples-anniversary-valentines-birthday-cards/272581">the industry doesn't accurately represent marginalized groups</a>.</p><p>Kutenda also platforms the work of up-and-coming artists and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, saying that "large retailers either ignore minority artists or steal their ideas." Alongside cards, the marketplace also sells gifts including mugs, stationery, and bookmarks.</p><p>Founder Avila Diana Chidume said Kutenda hopes to "create a sense of belonging in a world created to not adequately provide representation." The young entrepreneur named the company after the word for "thankful" in Shona, a language spoken in her home country of Zimbabwe.</p><p>Chidume was motivated to create the business by the cards she received growing up. "I could never relate to, or understand why, I never got cards or gifts with Black people on them," she said, adding that the first ever birthday card she got featuring a Black person was for her 21st birthday – and it was one of her own designs from her greeting card company <a href="https://aviladiana.com/">Avila.Diana</a>, which she launched in response to this problem.</p><div type="image" title="avila.diana 2" height="1166" width="1555" msid="77963109" hostid="261"></div><p>Chidume isn't the only person to recognize <a href="https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/greetings-cards-lack-of-diversity-interracial-couples-anniversary-valentines-birthday-cards/272581">this underrepresentation in greeting cards</a>. Nearly 60% of respondents to a <a href="https://store.globaldata.com/report/vr0125oc--all-year-gifting-cards-gift-wrap-2019/?utm_source=RetailInsight&amp;utm_medium=Research%20Reports&amp;utm_campaign=RSReportPageportPage">GlobalData survey</a> in 2019 agreed that card shops should offer more gender neutral designs.</p><p>Other entrepreneurs have also responded to this problem. <a href="https://huetribe.com/">Huetribe</a> was launched in 2017 after its founder struggled to find greeting cards reflecting her interracial relationship, and donates some of its profits to charities supporting racial, cultural and LGBTQ <keyword id="6378681" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="equality">equality</keyword>. Since 2005 <a href="https://www.theafrocardcompany.com/about">The Afro Card Company</a> has also been creating greeting cards that represent the Black community. </p><p>But Kutenda is the first of its kind to act as a marketplace for marginalized artists and entrepreneurs to showcase their products.</p><div type="image" title="Avila.Diana nurse" height="1155" width="1540" msid="77963111" hostid="261"></div><p>Though the business launched on Saturday, it has also set up a <a href="https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/kutendaofficial">crowdfunder</a> to raise £10,000 ($13,200) to maintain its website and support the brands selling their products through Kutenda.</p>

'I never got cards or gifts with Black people on them': A new marketplace takes on Hallmark and fills a historic gap in the greeting card industry

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>The woman Boris Johnson is accused of giving favours to while Mayor of London speaks out in her first broadcast interview.</strong></li><li><strong>She refuses to confirm or deny to ITV's Good Morning Britain whether she had a sexual relationship with the prime minister.</strong></li><li><strong>She describes Johnson as a "very close friend" who visited her flat around 10 times.</strong></li><li><strong>"It's no one's business what private life we had, or didn't have," she said.</strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</strong></li></ul><p>The woman at the cente of a sex scandal which threatens to drag Boris Johnson into a criminal inquiry, has refused to confirm or deny having a sexual relationship with the UK prime minister, as it would be "weaponised" against him.</p><p>The tech entrepeneur and former model Jennifer Arcuri told ITV that it was "no-one's business" whether she had an affair with Johnson when he was Mayor of London.</p><p>She admitted that Johnson, who she described as "a very close friend" who she "cares about deeply," visited her flat around 10 times, but denied that their close relationship was the reason why Johnson had granted her thousands of pounds of public money as well as access to foreign trade missions.</p><p>Asked repeatedly whether she had engaged in a sexual relationship with the prime minister, Arcuri relied that "it's no one's business what private life we had, or didn't have."</p><p>She added: "Because the press have made me this objectified, ex-model pole dancer, I really am not going to answer that question.""</p><p>"It's no one's business what private life we had, or didn't have," she said.</p><p>"Because the press have made me this objectified, ex-model pole dancer, I really am not going to answer that question...</p><p>"I'm not going to let you put me in a position where you weaponise my answer."</p><p>She denied a report in last week's Sunday Times that Johnson had recommended her for a senior tech job as fake news, adding that "Boris never wrote me a letter. Never."</p><p>In a bizarre moment when asked by host Piers Morgan whether Johnson had ever used the pole-dancing pole in her flat, she replied "I'm never going to tell you that."</p><p>Pressed again about her relationship with Johnson, she asked Morgan: "has it been ten minutes yet. Are you falling in love with me?"</p><p class="tagline">Our Brexit Insider Facebook group is the best place for up-to-date news and analysis about Britain's departure from the EU, direct from Business Insider's political reporters. Join <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/267178180471848/">here.</a></p>

Jennifer Arcuri refuses to confirm sexual relationship with Boris Johnson because it would be 'weaponised' against him

<p class="source"><span>Kairos</span></p><p class="caption">Guests attend the Kairos Society Global Summit Welcome Dinner At The Rockefeller Family Estate on April 20, 2017 in Tarrytown, New York.</p>There's a particular kind of people that get onto helicopters in New York City and fly to the Rockefeller estate about an hour's drive away. There, they attend a 200-person dinner with former heads of state, Admirals, CEOs, media elite and billionaire investors - shmoozing, chatting about business ideas, having a few glasses of wine. The next morning, they wake up and talk about the newest innovations in jet engine technology with some kids from MIT.<p>I will use a word to describe them - a word that has been thrown around with a negative connotation it simply does not deserve. These people are globalists.</p><p>And last weekend a number of these people - most of them young Silicon Valley types with an entrepreneurial bent - gathered for a meeting of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-kairos-society-2017-3">Kairos Society in New York City</a> and talked about what these people always talk about when they're together: fixing things and making money. </p><p>But these days, a global and entrepreneurial mindset means so much more than that.</p><p>We live in a world where the prevailing ideology in the White House is that the richest country in the world is a nation of losers who should be afraid of their own shadows. In the face of challenges, leaders around the world are increasingly telling their people that they can and should retreat. </p><p>The young entrepreneurs of the Kairos Society reject all that. And beyond the buzz words like "innovation" and "disruption," beyond the energetic speeches about changing the world, and the private discussions about venture capital allocation, there was a far more powerful underlying message at this meeting.</p><p>The globalists are coming, and whether you like it or not, they're here to help.</p><h2>The kids are alright</h2><p>The Kairos Society is a fellowship program for the best and brightest young entrepeneurs in the world. Founded in 2008, the group's co-founders <span>Ryan Bloomer, Alex Fiance, and Ankur Jain have since expanded the program to over 50 countries, and have also opened a venture fund. You must apply to be a part of Kairos, and referrals are ideal.</span></p><p><span>The idea, as Bloomer and his colleagues said over and over again during the three-day affair, is to tackle "the big problems the next generation should be focusing on." </span></p><p><span>Of course, after you've pinpointed the problems you need to find the capital to set about solving them.</span></p><p><span></span></p><p class="source"><span>Kairos</span></p><p class="caption">CEO and Founder at Me Salva! Miguel Andorffy attends the Kairos Society Global Summit Welcome Dinner At The Rockefeller Family Estate on April 20, 2017 in Tarrytown, New York.</p>Once you're in Kairos, you get access to the Kairos Rolodex, which - aside from a bunch of fresh faced, young brains from the Ivy League, Stanford and MIT - also includes a host of global leaders and investors you might run into at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. <p><span>They attend meetings like this one in New York City to explain the nuances of these problems the young entrepeneurs are turning their attention to. Those problems run the gamut from fake news in media to climate change. Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, for instance, showed up to discuss lowering the cost of healthcare. </span></p><p><span>Later, Papandreou, like everyone else in attendance, clapped at dinner when young Kairos fellow and Brazilian CEO Miguel Andorffy told the story of his education company, Me Salva.</span></p><p>Me Salva puts video classes on the internet, and as of now 400,000 classes are being watched a day. Four classes are being watched per second. Andorffy is looking for more capital to expand his business all over the world. Thus, the applause.</p><p><span>And thus, the appeal of Kairos. Entrepreneurship is in large part about seizing one's circumstances, but if the market isn't ready to receive your idea (i.e. you can't find enough capital), it doesn't matter how good it is. The point of organizations like Kairos is to move the invisible hand of the market just an inch in another direction.</span></p><p><span>And, in that sense, what people like nationalist White House advisor Steve Bannon say about globalists is true. There are only a few tens of thousands of people on the planet who get to move the hand, even just a little bit. Everyone else just has to deal with the consequences.</span></p><p><span></span></p><p class="source"><span>Kairos</span></p><p class="caption">Dr. Oz and the New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin bowling at the Rockefeller mansion</p><h2>Globalist Gary</h2><p>What would also likely upset Bannon and his ilk about Kairos is that the finest minds in the country are generally set about fixing the entire world's problems, rather than worrying about the concerns of their home nation. Thinking beyond borders is not just encouraged, it's basically a given.</p><p>On the second day of the conference, at the top of 1 World Trade Center, Kyle Nel, founder &amp; executive director of Lowe's Innovation Labs, challenged the Kairos kids to do something seemingly simple - make paint healthier and cheaper.</p><p>"Suggesting that something healthy is going to cost more is an old way of thinking," Nel said. "It's only helping people where they live globally if everyone can afford it... What we [at Lowes] don't have is the materials science. What we don't have is the new thinking."</p><p><span>Nel's "new thinking," in addition to maintaining a global rather than national focus, represents moving away from traditional national and global institutions because, after all, the problems Kairos fellows are trying to solve have been left unfixed by </span><span>"broken, old industries and government" (Jain's words).</span></p><p>In that way, and in that way alone, the Kairos kids and the nationalists that have taken hold of global politics are in agreement. Ankur Jain and Marine Le Pen could shake hands and agree that government has failed the people. Even Steve Bannon, who reportedly insults his White House colleague Gary Cohn by calling him "globalist Gary," would likely nod his head if he heard Periscope founder Keyvon Beykpor say the most important thing for entrepeneurs is that they "build stuff."</p><p>But that's where the similarities end.</p><p class="source"><span>Kairos</span></p><p class="caption">(Left to Right) Gerard Baker, Editor-in-Chief of The Wall Street Journal; Former Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou; Naveen Jain founder of Viome; and Werner Vogels CTO and President of Amazon</p><p><span>If you want to fly far out into the future of a Kairos mind then you need look no further than Jain's father, Naveen Jain. An entrepreneur himself, he spoke on a panel with Papandreou and </span>Werner Vogels, CTO &amp; President of Amazon.</p><p>The elder Jain described a world of entrepeneurs solving problems through private enterprise so successfully that the nation-state becomes irrelevant. Something like that would give the Le Pens, Bannons, and Trumps of the world a migraine. Take away the nation and people like them are also irrelevant; take away the nation and everything they know is gone.</p><h2>Places</h2><p class="source"><span>Kairos, Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Co-Founder at Kairos Society Ryan Bloomer presents a check to Ben Biron at the Kairos Society Global Summit at the New York Stock Exchange on April 22, 2017 in New York City.</p>It was fitting that on Saturday, the last day of the conference, Kairos members presented their "Kairos 50" companies (the 50 most promising start-ups in the Society) on the floor of the venerable but almost-useless floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Now that trading has gone from an open-outcry system to the digital world, the place is a glorified TV set.<p>It is a reminder that even the most powerful institutions must bend a knee to the force of technological change. It is a reminder that, no matter what Steve Bannon or Trump or anyone says, there is no going backward in time.</p><p>Which means the world will continue getting smaller and closer and more interconnected, regardless of hiccups along the way. Kairos' entrepeneurs plan with that in mind.</p><p>Nationalists would not like that the winner of the $100,000 "Kairos 50" prize (from venture capital firm Draper Associates) was a company called Benben, which seeks to streamline land and property administration in Africa using blockchain technology.</p><p>They would not like that the $50,000 prize went to Neolight, a company that seeks to revolutionize neonatal care. That company is especially focused on finding ways to prevent infants from dying of hypothermia or suffering from jaundice. These are problems one is more likely to encounter in the developing world than in say, Des Moines, Iowa.</p><p><span>In other words, the Kairos kids don't put America first. No one involved with the Society would ever ask them to. </span></p><p><span>No one there thinks that small.</span> </p>                 <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/video-shows-passenger-forcibly-dragged-off-united-airlines-plane-2017-4">People are outraged by this shocking video showing a passenger forcibly dragged off a United Airlines plane</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

Young Silicon Valley and a bunch of elites just held a meeting about the soul of the entire global economy

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Entrepeneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss arrive at the Met Gala in New York</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The Winklevoss twins are teaming up with Nasdaq, the exchange operator, to catch crypto criminals on its exchange. </strong></li><li><strong>Gemini will use Nasdaq's SMARTS surveillance technology to monitor the exchange venue.</strong></li></ul><p>Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, is going to use Nasdaq's surveillance technology to sniff out nefarious activity on its trading venue.</p><p>The cryptocurrency exchange <a href="http://ir.nasdaq.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1064900">announced the deal with Nasdaq</a> on Wednesday. As part of the deal, Gemini will use Nasdaq's SMARTS, a surveillance technology used across Wall Street, to identify unusual and potentially criminal trading behavior on its venue. The news comes amid a crackdown by regulators, concerned about manipulation and fraud in the Wild West world of cryptocurrencies.</p><p>"Since launch, Gemini has aggressively pursued comprehensive compliance and surveillance programs, which we believe betters our exchange and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole," Tyler Winklevoss, chief executive of Gemini, said in a statement. "Our deployment of Nasdaq's SMARTS Market Surveillance will help ensure that Gemini is a rules-based marketplace for all market participants."</p><p>Regulators have been looking at the the crypto exchange space with more scrutiny. Recently New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office sent out an inquiry to a number of cryptocurrency exchanges, including Gemini, requesting information about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-attorney-general-launches-an-investigation-into-crypto-2018-4">market manipulation and exchange outages</a>. At the Securities and Exchange Commission, regulators are looking into whether certain digital currencies - including ether - can be deemed a security, people familiar with the situation told Business Insider.</p><p>Market manipulation in crypto has long been a concern. An academic paper in the <a href="https://tylermoore.utulsa.edu/jme17.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Journal of Monetary Economics</a> found a bitcoin trader was able to manipulate the bitcoin in 2013 on the Mt. Gox Exchange, thereby driving the price up by more than $1,000. As noted by Business Insider's Oscar Williams-Grut, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-traders-pump-and-dump-cryptocurrencies-2017-11">pump and dump schemes are commonplace</a>.</p><p>This isn't the first time Gemini has partnered with a well-established exchange. Notably, it tried to get an exchange-traded fund for bitcoin off the ground with Bats, the exchange venue acquired by Cboe last year. Gemini also partnered with Cboe on its bitcoin futures product.</p><p>As for Nasdaq, it is preparing its own bitcoin futures product, which is not expected to go live until the second half of 2018. </p><p class="tagline"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/bitcoin-101?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=fintech_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=fintech_ctgr_leadgen_bitcoin-101"></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-volatility-facebook-tesla-amazon-stock-earnings-larry-hatheway-gam-2018-4">A Wall Street chief economist explains what could be the saving grace for mega-cap tech companies</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The Winklevoss twins are teaming up with Nasdaq to sniff out bad actors on their cryptocurrency exchange

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Eugene Marinelli</span></p><p class="caption">Eugene Marinelli, CTO of Blend Labs</p></div><p></p></div></div>Eugene Marinelli has a resume that many Silicon Valley hopefuls would envy. </p><p>The recent inductee to <a href="http://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2016/finance/#604a3ec13c91">Forbes' 30 under 30 finance list</a> has two degrees in computer science, and he interned for the engineering departments at Apple and Google.</p><p>After his internships Marinelli landed a job on the finance engineering team at <a href="https://www.palantir.com">Palantir, the big data company</a> founded by billionaire Peter Thiel. </p><p>"While working on Palantir's finance engineering team I quickly realized the degree to which many parts of the financial services industry were not up to speed with technology," he told Business Insider.</p><p>Ultimately this epiphany led Marinelli and his two cofounders to launch Blend Labs, a fintech startup that aims to make the mortgage process quicker and more affordable for lenders and big banks. </p><p>Blend does this by putting the entire process online and stripping it off its arcane elements such as the fax machines, massive amounts of paperwork, and of course, humans. Using algorithms that determine whether a person is worthy to receive a loan, Blend says it lessens the time it takes to close a mortgage from the close to <a href="http://www.elliemae.com/about/news-reports/press-releases/average-time-to-close-a-loan-holds-a-steady-at-44-days-according-to-april-origination-insight-report-from-ellie-mae">40-day average to minutes</a>. </p><p>The 29-year-old Marinelli told Business Insider that aspiring entrepreneurs should expect trial and error. He said idea for Blend didn't come to fruition until after another idea had been scrapped.</p><p><span>"Me and my cofounders were originally trying to tackle too much with our first idea," Marinelli told Business Insider. "Peter Thiel knew my cofounders from their time at Clarium Capital and he told us we were spreading ourselves too thin with our original idea, making it difficult to gain traction."</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Fred Prouser / Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Peter Thiel, founder of Palantir and Paypal</p></div><p></p></div></div>"Thiel's advice put us on the right track and ultimately it led to us coming up with the idea for Blend Labs," he said.</span></p><p><span>In 2012 Marinelli's Blend Labs raised $2.5 million from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blend-labs-eugene-marinelli-quinn-slack-peter-thiel-andreessen-horowitz-2012-6">the billionaire and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz</a><span>.</span></span></p><p><span>Marinelli attributes much of his success to finding something that no one else was paying attention to. He encourages inspiring entrepeneurs to follow suit. </span></p><p>"We embarked on a journey to improve something that seemed boring at first glance," Marinelli said. "I would encourage all aspiring entrepreneurs to do exactly that. Find a niche that most tech enthusiasts wouldn't care to fix, and fix it," Marinelli said.</p><p>"Finding the right team is also key to entrepreneurial success" he added. "You have to be working with the right people <span>- e</span>specially early on <span>- </span>who compliment your strengths and weaknesses."</p> <p class="tagline"><div id="categorypromo"><p><h2><span>Learn more:</span></h2><ul><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay1">Credit Card Industry and Market</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay2">Mobile Payment Technologies</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay3">Mobile Payments Industry</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay4">Mobile Payment Market, Trends and Adoption</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay5">Credit Card Processing Industry</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay6">List of Credit Card Processing Companies</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay7">List of Credit Card Processing Networks</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay8">List of Payment Gateway Providers</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay9">M-Commerce: Mobile Shopping Trends</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay10">E-Commerce Payment Technologies and Trends</a></li></ul></p></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-lewis-german-feces-obsession-dukatenscheisser-2016-12">Michael Lewis reveals why some Germans are obsessed with 'human feces'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="phYnhtODE6X-6u8DRXnuYjpUsARkYHdZ" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

A 29-year-old tech founder named to the Forbes '30 Under 30' list shares his best entrepreneurship advice

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Tech City <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword></span></p><p class="caption">Tech City UK CEO Gerard Grech launched the programme at Noah conference in London today.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span>Fast-growing UK technology companies could soon receive an extra boost from a new government-backed programme that was announced today.</p><p>Upscale is a six-month pilot programme designed to accelerate the growth of 25 early stage high-growth digital businesses. It aims to pair up some of the UK's most promising entrepeneurs with a powerful network of individuals that have a proven track record, including Skype cofounder Niklas Zennström and the founder of movie streaming service LoveFilm, Saul Klein.</p><p>Digital businesses aiming to become the UK's next billion dollar organisations, or "unicorns" as they're now known, will be eligible to join "Upscale" if they are growing their users, sales, or subscriptions at 40% a month. They must also have revenues of at least £500,000, or a Series A round in the bank. </p><p>The programme, <a href="http://upscaleuk.com/" target="_blank">open for applications now</a>, is being led by Tech City UK, a publicly-funded organisation that was set up in 2010 by Prime Minister David Cameron and Internet Safety and Security Minister Joanna Shields, who used to work as a European managing director at Google and Facebook before moving into UK politics. Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley law firm will sponsor the programme.</p><p>Speaking at the Noah tech conference in London today, Gerard Grech, CEO, Tech City UK said Upscale will "facilitate the sharing of experience and ideas". He explained that the peer network will provide strategic advice and expertise on the critical challenges of scaling domestically and internationally.</p><p>Tech City UK also has a programme called Future Fifty which aims to help digital businesses that are later on in their lifecycle, where revenues are over £3 million a year.</p><p>However, this programme has received mix reviews, with one Future Fifty member, Huddle cofounder Alistair Mitchell, telling Techworld it <a href="http://www.techworld.com/startups/exposed-tech-city-yet-deliver-on-promises-made-future-fifty-winners-3495905/" target="_blank">doesn't offer a lot for his enterprise collaboration software company.</a></p><p>Other "Scale Coaches" include:</p><ul><li>Brad Feld, Techstars, Foundry Group</li><li>Alex Chesterman, Zoopla</li><li>Sarah Wood, Unruly</li><li>Greg Marsh, One Fine Stay</li><li>Simon Calver, LoveFilm, Moo</li><li>Jerry Colonna, Reboot.io</li><li>Alexandra Depledge, Hassle.com</li><li>Tracy Doree, Llustre, Spring Ventures</li><li>Doug Monro, Adzuna</li><li>Anthony Fletcher, Graze</li></ul>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gett-uber-flat-fares-surge-pricing-gmc-yukon-camry-2015-10">We tried the 'Uber-killer' that offers flat fares and no surge pricing</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1ocmdjeDrP7UksbISVgKIAdKEOCnZQBg" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

A new tech network that includes the cofounders of Skype and LoveFilm is going to support UK startups

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Foodies may know David Chang as the founder of <a href="http://momofuku.com/">Momofuku</a>, an award-winning restaurant group that includes nine restaurants in New York City, five in Toronto, and one in Sydney.</p>
<p>Now, the master chef is branching into tech, with a new food delivery app called <a href="http://trymaple.com/">Maple</a> that will launch early next year. </p>
<p>Chang will create a menu just for the delivery service, and new, seasonal dishes will rotate in everyday. New Yorkers can order menu items to be delivered through Maple's mobile app, which will also be enabled for desktop. </p>
<p><span>Chang </span><span></span><a href="http://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/tag/David%20Chang">won</a><span> a prestigious James Beard Award in 2013. </span><span>Momofuku Ko, Chang's daring 12-seat tasting room in the East Village, has had two Michelin stars since 2008. </span></p>
<p>He will serve as Maple's Chief Culinary Officer, and he'll be recruiting other top New York City chefs to join the company's Culinary Board of Directors. The board members, who will be announced in the coming months, will advise on the menu.</p>
<p>"I'm excited to partner with a team who is equally committed to pushing the status quo of food and technology," Chang said. "Together, we hope to redefine what people expect from delivery in New York City." </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Maple will be launched in New York City in early 2015. </p>
<p>Chang is joined by former High Peaks Venture Partners Entrepeneur-in-Residence Caleb Merkl, who will serve as Maple's CEO; High Peaks partner <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Akshay Navle, who will be COO; and Thrive Capital partner William Gaybrick. </span></p>
<p>Maple raised $4 million in seed funding earlier this year, led by Thrive Capital. High Peaks Venture Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, 14W, Momofuku, Blue Apron CEO Matt Salzberg, and angel investor <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Kal Vepuri also contributed to the round. </span></p>

Ramen King David Chang Is Launching His Own Food Delivery App

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon has died in a car accident.<p>It took place around 9 a.m. in Oklahoma and, according to officials, the car was going very fast.</p><p class="p1">"Speed was definitely a factor in the fatality," Oklahoma City officials said in a press conference. "He pretty much drove straight into the wall."</p><p>On Tuesday, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-chesapeake-energy-ex-ceo-mcclendon-indicted-2016-3">McClendon, 56, was indicted on&#xa0;conspiracy</a> to rig bids for oil and natural-gas leases. He and other companies allegedly colluded to figure out who would win the bids.</p><p>McClendon maintained his innocence in the following statement:</p><p class="p1" style="padding-left: 30px;">The charge that has been filed against me today is wrong and unprecedented. I have been singled out as the only person in the oil and gas industry in over 110 years since the Sherman Act became law to have been accused of this crime in relation to joint bidding on leasehold. Anyone who knows me, my business record and the industry in which I have worked for 35 years, knows that I could not be guilty of violating any antitrust laws. All my life I have worked to create jobs in Oklahoma, grow its economy, and to provide abundant and affordable energy to all Americans. I am proud of my track record in this industry, and I will fight to prove my innocence and to clear my name.</p><p class="p1"><div></div></p><p class="embed-spacer">McClendon, who founded Chesapeake in 1989, left it in 2013 with no shortage of controversy. It was the result of a 2012&#xa0;<span>Reuters investigation alleging conflict of interest at the country's second-largest natural-gas producer. The company did an internal investigation<span>&#xa0;of its Founder Well Participation Program, which granted McClendon exclusive rights to company wells. The program was eventually suspended, but the business&#xa0;said that it found no misconduct.</span></span></p><p class="embed-spacer"><span><span>At the time, energy magnate T. Boone Pickens sold all his Cheseapeake stock, but he also t<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/t-boone-pickens-chesapeake-energy-2012-5">old people not to count McClendon out.</a></span></span></p><p class="embed-spacer"><span><span>McClendon went on to found and become CEO of American Energy Partners. Upon finding out that he passed away on Wednesday Pickens said that McClendon was a <a href="http://www.boonepickens.com/2016/03/statement-from-t-boone-pickens-on-the-passing-of-aubrey-mcclendon/">"true American entrepeneur."</a></span></span></p><p class="embed-spacer"><span><span><span>"I've known Aubrey McClendon for nearly 25 years. He was a major player in leading the stunning energy renaissance in America. He was charismatic and a true American entrepreneur. No individual is without flaws, but his impact on American energy will be long-lasting," Pickens said in a statement on his website.</span></span></span></p><p class="embed-spacer"><span><span><span>The company said in a statement:</span></span></span></p><p class="embed-spacer" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span><span><span>Aubrey's tremendous leadership, vision, and passion for the energy industry had an impact on the community, the country, and the world. We are tremendously proud of his legacy and will continue to work hard to live up to the unmatched standards he set for excellence and integrity.</span></span></span></p><p class="embed-spacer"><span><span>That aside, McClendon lived incredibly well. He was the best paid CEO in America in 2008.&#xa0;</span></span><span class="slide-title">His collection of vintage Texas and Oklahoma maps are worth $12 million, and he owned a portion of the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team. There's a dorm at Duke, his alma mater, named after him.</span></p><p class="embed-spacer"><span class="slide-title">We'll continue to update this story as it develops.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-50-cent-made-lost-money-bankruptcy-court-2016-2">This is how rapper 50 Cent made millions and then lost it</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VlbnI2djrZXIh9tIkLc68cC984sL8GSb" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Former Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon has died in a car crash a day after being indicted for conspiracy

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>WikiCommons</span></p><p class="caption">Runa Khan, Founder &amp; Executive Director of Friendship spoke to Business Insider in Davos for the WEF meeting.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The small Swiss town of Davos was flooded with 2,500 of the world's most influential people from over 100 countries for the <a href="http://www.weforum.org/">World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2016</a> last week - a prime spot for charities and social entrepreneurs to seek investment.</p><p>And, <a href="http://www.friendship-bd.org/">Runa Khan, Founder &amp; Executive Director of the charity Friendship</a> spoke to Business Insider in Davos and told us why businesses need to change their mindset and give more generously - not just out of social or corporate responsibility but as a main service provider for them.</p><p>"I think this year, is the first time in 3-4 years where there's more social consciousness and no one looks quirkily at social entrepreneurs anymore," said Khan in an interview with Business Insider.</p><p>"Let's face it - social entrepeneurs are always looking for funds but unlike regular business entrepreneurs, we make a difference to touching people's lives. What's different about us is that we never compromise on our partners or our vision. Businesses already pay a hell of a lot for event management and consultancies for corporate responsibility and charity events. Why not view social entrepreneurs as a service provider for them? We have targeted output and we are the best at what we do, as a result businesses directly invest in the cause and that can be translated across the world."</p><p>Friendship, established 14 years ago, is one of those charities that is based in one region but is having major positive repercussions across the globe. And Khan thinks businesses should look at Friendship, and others like it, to leverage the projects, tech and expertise in their own countries.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Friendship</span></p><p class="caption">One of the floating hospitals created by Friendship.</p></div><p></p></div></div>For example, Friendship created the first floating hospitals in Bangladesh and built a sustainable healthcare system in the region. Now, Indonesia and the Phillipines are looking to replicate the success of parts of the healthcare system Friendship founded over there.</p><p>On top of this project, Friendship also builds sustainable development initiatives including education, financial assistance, good governance, disaster management services and cultural preservation, which has served more than 4.2 million people directly and annually in the most remote areas of the country.</p><p>Khan said the US President Barack Obama's cousin is also adopting some of Friendship's healthcare models as well to replicate in Kenya.</p><p>Most importantly, Khan said that Friendship has developed a <a href="http://friendship-bd.org/page/mhealth-189">new form of software called mHealth</a> that helps some of the poorest nations in the world to have some form of basic healthcare in a streamlined approach.</p><p>In other words, it allows people via basic mobile phones to easily interview patients and immediately obtain an automated response when it comes to their healthcare needs because the software has built in sophisticated algorithms with decision trees.</p><p>"We focus on everything that is needed for survival of a community and to give those people dignity and hope," said Khan.</p><p>"What we've shown is that our exemplary work does not only change lives but the projects and technology can change nations around the world because corporations and governments can tweak the technology to suit the region.</p><p>"Also, if there is a prime opportunity for a profit to be made out of that technology - not from the people who use it but from the organisations that fund it."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-cramer-come-back-jon-stewart-beatdown-show-up-motivational-speech-2016-1">Jim Cramer's inspiring words on how to come back from a beatdown</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="43czgxMDE6GqIsZB86yhV6ZIeE5-jMiE" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "entrepeneurs" and got 11 results

US investigators are accusing a bitcoin entrepeneur of running a $20 million Ponzi scheme

Rob Price

Heather Morgan, the rapper and wife in the NYC couple accused of laundering $4.5 billion of stolen bitcoin, can await trial at home

C. Ryan Barber,Becky Peterson

'I never got cards or gifts with Black people on them': A new marketplace takes on Hallmark and fills a historic gap in the greeting card industry

Grace Dean

Jennifer Arcuri refuses to confirm sexual relationship with Boris Johnson because it would be 'weaponised' against him

Adam Bienkov

Young Silicon Valley and a bunch of elites just held a meeting about the soul of the entire global economy

Linette Lopez

The Winklevoss twins are teaming up with Nasdaq to sniff out bad actors on their cryptocurrency exchange

Frank Chaparro

A 29-year-old tech founder named to the Forbes '30 Under 30' list shares his best entrepreneurship advice

Frank Chaparro

A new tech network that includes the cofounders of Skype and LoveFilm is going to support UK startups

Sam Shead

Ramen King David Chang Is Launching His Own Food Delivery App

Madeline Stone

Former Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon has died in a car crash a day after being indicted for conspiracy

Linette Lopez

This social entrepreneur told us why businesses should see charities as service providers

Lianna Brinded