A Nigerian court recently convicted and fined a peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trader accused of running a pig butchering scam. According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the crypto trader’s activities were “contrary to and punishable under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition etc.) Act, 2015.”
A Nigerian court recently convicted a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trader accused by authorities of committing a “computer related fraud.” In his ruling, Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court ruled that Lawrence Karinate was accused of using a fake identity and a fake bank account to lure investors into his P2P crypto platform, promising them high returns on their investments.
However, instead of using the funds to trade cryptocurrencies, he allegedly used them to buy pigs from local farmers, butcher them, and sell their meat to various markets in Lagos. The court heard that the trader made over 100 million naira ($240,000) from the scam, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle.
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“That you, Success Lawrence Karinate, sometime in 2023, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, with intent to defraud, fraudulently held out yourself on social media platforms, as a female, bearing the name ‘Jessie Randall’, a fashion influencer, to unsuspecting members of the public, with intent to gain advantage for yourself and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition etc.) Act, 2015.”
He was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in February 2021, after some of his victims reported him to the authorities. The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison and ordered him to refund the money he stole from his investors. The judge also warned the public to be wary of online platforms that offer unrealistic returns on investments, especially those that involve cryptocurrencies, which are largely unregulated in Nigeria.
Karinate, who pleaded guilty to the charge, was arrested by EFCC operatives in the Lekki area of Lagos State. At the time of his arrest, the operatives recovered a mobile phone which the crypto trader used to perpetrate the scam.
Ethereum validator queues drop to record lows.
One of the most anticipated events in the crypto space this year is the launch of Ethereum 2.0, the upgrade that will transition the network from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS) one. This means that instead of relying on miners to secure the network and validate transactions, Ethereum will use validators who stake their ETH tokens and run nodes to perform these functions.
However, becoming a validator is not as easy as it sounds. It requires a minimum of 32 ETH (around $120,000 at current prices) to be locked in a smart contract, as well as running a node that is online and synced with the network at all times. Moreover, there is a waiting period before a validator can start earning rewards or exit the network, which depends on the number of validators in the queue.
According to data from Beaconcha.in, an Ethereum 2.0 explorer, the validator queue has dropped to record lows in recent days, reaching as low as 1.5 days on October 15. This means that new validators can join the network and start earning rewards in less than two days, compared to over 20 days in August.
This is a positive sign for Ethereum 2.0, as it indicates that more people are willing to stake their ETH and support the network’s security and decentralization. It also shows that the network is able to process more validators per epoch (a period of 6.4 minutes), thanks to the recent optimizations and upgrades implemented by the developers.
The validator queue is expected to fluctuate depending on the demand and supply of validators, as well as the network’s performance and stability. However, as Ethereum 2.0 progresses and more features are rolled out, such as sharding and the merge with Ethereum 1.0, the incentives and opportunities for validators will likely increase, attracting more participants and enhancing the network’s value proposition.