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UK Reform Party leader Nigel Farage once described one of the party’s volunteers who is also a convicted fraudster and the alleged owner of an illegal crypto ATM, as being ‘like a son to me.’   According to the Byline Times, Farage made the comment about financier George Cottrell in 2020. Cottrell, also known as ‘Posh George,’ was caught in an FBI sting operation agreeing to launder £120,000 per month in drug funds. He allegedly threatened to report the fake drug traffickers to the police in an attempt to blackmail them out of 130 bitcoins, then worth $80,000.    Cottrell also faced allegations of owning an illegal crypto ATM machine at a private members club and casino in Montenegro. However, he denies having any financial ties to the casino and company records state a ​​Malaysian accountant from London owns the property.  He was subsequently sentenced to eight months on one count of wire fraud in 2017 and was issued another 20 charges incl...

British Members of Parliament (MPs) have claimed that crypto has “no intrinsic value and no useful social purpose” while suggesting the space may be better regulated if it’s treated more like gambling.  The comments were made in a new report on regulating crypto in the UK , published on Wednesday by the Treasury Select Committee, a panel of ​​MPs from across the political spectrum. The report claims that regulating retail trading and investment activity in unbacked crypto assets (such as bitcoin and ether) as a financial service, will “create a ‘halo’ effect, leading consumers to believe this activity is safe and protected when it is not.” Instead, the report says UK crypto should be regulated like gambling .  “Unbacked crypto assets have no intrinsic value, and their price volatility exposes consumers to the potential for substantial gains or losses while serving no useful social purpose,” the report reads. “These characteristics more closely resemble gambling than a financ...