Moonday Mornings: Racehorse mogul allegedly stole $110M from OneCoin, bought horses

It’s the start of another week, which means we have another bunch of cryptocurrency and blockchain headlines from over the weekend to catch up on.

It’s Moonday Mornings, take a look.

1. Racehorse buyer accused stealing from OneCoin scheme

A high profile individual from the world of horse racing is believed to have been involved in the OneCoin scam. Amer Abdulaziz, the founder of Phoenix Thoroughbreds, a Dubai-based horse racing investment firm, is being accused of being a key figure in the scheme.

Konstantin Ignatov, the brother OneCoin figurehead Dr Ruja Ingatova, said that Abdulaziz also stole €100 million ($110 million) from OneCoin, and then went on a spending spree buying racehorses, Racing Post reports.

2. Maduro still not giving up on the Petro

In his latest push to keep his dreams of a national cryptocurrency alive, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is saying some 30 million barrels of oil will now back the petro, Reuters reports.

Earlier this year, the country’s authorities said the coin would be backed by 5 billion barrels of untapped crude oil, but according to another Reuters report there was no infrastructure to extract the reserves and the coin was nowhere to be found. Maduro has continually pushed his idea for a state-backed digital currency, he claims it’s an attempt to curtail the country’s hyperinflating fiat currency.

3. South Korea is betting big on blockchain

South Korea is reportedly planning to invest more than $380 million to explore and develop blockchain technologies, The Block reports. According to a ZDNet Korea report, the Asian county’s ministry of science and technology made an announcement of its intent to invest late last week. It said the ministry will make the investments over a six year period between 2021 and 2026.

4. JP Morgan files blockchain patent

JP Morgan is continuing its exploration of blockchain-based technologies. This time its eyes are on the motor industry.

The banking giant recently filed a patent for a distributed ledger system to help keep tabs on vehicle financing inventory at US motor dealerships, CoinDesk reports. The vehicle financing arm of the bank, Chase Auto, believes the system will reduce the amount of manual auditing required in the vehicle financing process.

And finally… another week, another crypto hoard is seized by authorities.

5. Cryptocurrency seized from movie pirate

Authorities in New Zealand have seized nearly NZ$6.7 million (US$4.3 million) in cryptocurrency from an alleged movie pirate, New Zealand herald reports.

Reports state this seizure is the be largest seen in the country. Police are accusing the individual of laundering money by receiving millions of dollars from an illegal movie streaming site they helped create. The individual denies the allegations and is yet to be charged.

Well, there you have it. See you next time.