Episode 216 - New Ethereum upgrade, India proposes banning crypto, and a vibrant week for scams.

Welcome to Flagship Friday, where we go over the most important crypto news of the week. This time around we're talking about Ethereum's new Istanbul upgrade, about India proposing banning cryptocurrency, and we're going over scams. A lot of them. You'll have to tune in and see.

Rapid FireJack Dorsey Tweet Thread For Open Sourced Social Media StandardsBitMex Gets Sued By Seed InvestorBasically saying their $30k investment should be worth $50M now, so they're suing for $300MCharles Hoskinson decided he wanted to fight Chico Crypto? Jesus. I think it's not happening now.In a very un-ripple move (at least for my bias) they are rolling out a digital marketplace for music where the creator gets 100% of proceeds. Called XSongsCoinbase's debit card has added a stablecoin.Craig Wright Tries To Avoid Paying $658k Legal FeesMatic Massive DumpAfter rising 180% in 2 weeks, Shed 70% of its value in minutes on TuesdayA trader pointed out holders of the coin "basically became 1% poorer every 15 seconds for 30+ minutes in a row"there was speculation of it being a p&d within the Matic Team but then CZ refuted that claim pretty quicklythe Matic COO tweeted out that he woke up to this nightmare and claiming it had nothing to do with them. They would post a detailed analysis and will come out stronger than ever" (He's indian, lost in translation slightly)Matic was one of Binances IEO's, initial exchange offering, and CZ raised the question on if exchanges should interfere in situations like this in the future. What do you guys think about that?Major bank ING looks to offer cryptocurrency custodyDutch Bank ING is working on plans to offer its customers secured cryptocurrency storageReuters relays that crypto custody will be among one of ING's many blockchain initiatives in the near future.Fidelity launched their custody service a few months ago too, but that was more for institutional investorsEthereum Has Successfully Upgraded to IstanbulThis is basically a group of 7 Eth Improvement protocols, the first of which just lists the rest of them.One will change how the storage of data is calculated, making smart contracts able to execute functions easier.One willOne will change some of the pricing to prevent spamming attacks.There are two protocols that allow cheaper use of the SNARK and STARK tech, which is the zero knowledge proof ability similar to zk-SNARKS like on Zcash or ZEN.They also add the ability to do atomic swaps of ZCash and Eth by allowing the chain to verify the Equihash Proof of work protocol (maybe this is to help secure the POS that is coming?)They mention that this will propel them above 3000TPS, which is "higher than visa" which might matter if they weren't trying to be a computer.We're not at 2.0 yet, and there will be a Berlin update in the future.Crypto Around the WorldProposed Cryptocurrency Ban In IndiaDuring recent monetary conference Reserve Bank of India reiterated its stance on banning privately-owned cryptocurrency in IndiaAccording to RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, issuing currency is a sovereign mandate and this should not be given to private companiesDas also revealed that RBI held internal discussions with Central banks and is considering the possibility of coming out with India’s own digital currency (but thats its very early)RBI had previously announced that no banks could deal with entities or consumers dealing with crypto, gave them 3 months to settle their servicesWorth noting that there are internal challenges to this ban at their supreme court, we'll see how it rulesTHAT'S A SCAMSEC Charges Shopin CEO With Fraud Over Unregistered $42mil ICOShopin CEO name is Eran EyalSo what was Shopin? It was one of the ICO craze companies that was built to track and store customer data across shopping platforms. Solving the problem of having 50,000 accounts I guess?They didn't build anything at all.They listed partnerships that they don't appear to have made, called them partnerships with "multiple retailers" and they even listed an advisory role with a "prominent Silicon Valley Blockchain Entrepreneur"So I'm not really sure how this works, but he has already pleaded guilty to fraud with another separate case that was brought by the NYAG in 2017. He had a previous company called Springleap that he defrauded of $600k, and he has to pay that back in the form of 125k in restitution and 475k in judgements. Apparently 450k of crypto has been seized to pay for this.The SEC lawsuit is significantly higher, and it expects to charge him with an unregistered security offering, as well as bar him from acting as an officer of any company in the future.He also took 500k in funds from the ICO for the following reasons, none of which were related to the thing. "Rent, shopping, entertainment, expenses, and a Dating Service"Three Men Arrested, 5 Charge in New Jersey $722 Million Cryptocurrency Ponzi SchemeDepartment of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey Releasedefrauded investors out of 722m promising huge returns if they joined investing clubwhile privately calling their clients “sheep” and “idiots,”defendants operated BitClub Network, which they promoted as "the most transparent company in the history of the world” and “too big to fail.”Looks like they were just promising a BTC mining setupThey got thousands of people according to Carpenting (US Attorney for NJ)One of the people arrested in Germany, the other in Colorado, the other in FL, and the last in Californiaindictment said the defendants operated BitClub Network from October 2014 until this monthThey would essentially show false figures and were told they were Bitcoin mining earningsFebruary 2015, for example, Mr. Goettsche directed one of his conspirators to “bump up the daily mining earnings starting today by 60 percent,”Person responded “That is not sustainable, that is Ponzi” territory and a “fast cash-out Ponzi … but sure,”Sep 2017 Goettsche (main dude) then told another conspirator to drop earnings significantlyin January 2015 that “we are building this whole model on the backs of idiots.”In one video they said $3,599 investment can yield...250k over 3 years! Conservatively!They never bought mining equipmentPlus Token Is A Top Ten Holder of ETHWe reported on Plus Token some time ago and thankfully it has been shut down but before it was all said and done the ponzi scam holds nearly 800k Ethereum worth close to $120mil. Still, Plus Token scammed nearly $3billion so this is a just a fraction of what was scammed.It's unsure if Chinese authorities has control of this address or not.