Alas, not all fraudsters can be detected and prosecuted. This brings to mind the events of last week, when it became known about a large-scale hacking of cryptocurrency wallets by an anonymous hacker. Exactly how he gained access to other people’s crypto-assets is unknown.

Most notably, the victims in this case were experienced users of digital assets who had at least a few wallets at their disposal.

The largest fine in the cryptocurrency world

As part of the settlement agreement, half of the said amount will go to compensate the victims and the other half will be considered a fine. Steinberg has become a record-breaker – the fine in his court case was the largest ever imposed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Generally, the CFTC filed charges against Steinberg and his company in the summer of 2022. According to the regulator’s ruling, the accused was involved in an international multilevel marketing (MLM) fraud scheme involving bitcoin investments. Steinberg promised his victims income from a commodity pool organised by his South African company MTI, essentially making money through trivial investment.

From around May 2018 to March 2021, the fraudster assured his clients that MTI had created a special trading bot that supposedly achieves great profitability in Forex thanks to its winning strategy. Naturally, the company did not have any software and all the bitcoins collected from customers simply supported the pyramid scheme. That is, the money from new users helped make payments to older users.

According to Decrypt’s sources, Steinberg managed to achieve the high popularity of the scheme he organised. By the end of March 2021, he had attracted at least 29,421 BTC “investments” worth over $1.7 billion at the time. More than 23,000 people in the US and around the world had become victims of the scam.

Steinberg is now in Brazil on an Interpol warrant since December 2021 and remains a fugitive from South African authorities. In addition to the charges brought against him by the CFTC, Steinberg is also permanently banned from registering with the agency and trading on any markets controlled by the regulator. This means that the fraudster will not be able to work in trading and investing, which is a pretty logical decision given his previous merits.

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This kind of malicious activity needs to be countered internationally, as almost half of millennials already own cryptocurrencies – and this creates risks for the popularisation of such activity. These are the results of a survey conducted by Bitget cryptocurrency analysts. In their latest report, they noted that around 46 percent of millennials have already invested in crypto.

The Bitget study was conducted between July 2022 and January 2023. It involved 255,000 respondents from 26 countries, which is about 10,000 respondents per country. Apart from the aforementioned result, it found that of the so-called generation X, Z and baby boomers, only 25, 21 and 8 percent respectively own crypto, Cointelegraph reported.

In addition, 4 percent of baby boomers, 6 percent of Generation X, 27 percent of millennials and 36 percent of Generation Z said they consider crypto regulation an important factor when voting for political candidates. Bitget analysts commented on these results with the following quote

Early in the next decade, demographics could lead to a dramatic shift towards higher adoption of cryptocurrencies, as younger generations continue to show high demand for digital assets despite slowing population growth.

These results are to be expected – the older generation has a hard time embracing innovation, and it’s not just about cryptocurrencies. In the early days of the internet, there was also scepticism about it, but eventually the global web became popular even with the elderly. It is quite possible that something similar will happen to crypto.

The experts’ conclusions are relevant, because already today some politicians are trying to attract voters using the topic of cryptocurrencies. For example, at the end of March 2023 Elizabeth Warren, a well-known opponent of crypto and decentralization, launched a campaign with the slogan “Warren is raising an army against cryptocurrencies”. That is, she wants the votes of those who share outdated views on digital assets.

Warren herself is 73, which also raises some questions about Elizabeth’s general ability to understand decentralisation and blockchain.


This situation is a clear reminder that good returns don't just happen overnight. And if someone offers you unprecedented interest in a relatively simple scheme, it is safer to turn it down. Of course even a pyramid scheme can make money for some time, but in the end it will either end in crash or in the appearance of law enforcement agencies, which in any case will lead to loss of assets. So, in this case, it is safer to choose steaking, which brings small profit, but does not deprive users of control over their digital assets.


What do you think about this? Share your opinion in our ex-wealthy cryptochat. There waiting for the onset of a new bullrun to help bring back the fortunes of yesteryear.