Bitcoin thief, Aythami Jose M.P., a resident of Canary Islands was detained on Monday for theft of 32.35 Bitcoins. He was later released with pending charges for theft. The value of stolen BTCs has been estimated around 8,200 Euros with the current rate of exchange at 231,4 Euros per BTC.
This is the first time that a criminal activity with reference to Bitcoins has been reported in Spain. These charges against Aythami were brought forward by people who were working with the accused. Posing as the CEO of Cloud Trading & Devs, Aythami published himself on number of Bitcoin trading forums as a company that created its own algorithms for trading, in combination with professional programmers and a team of economists. They guaranteed assured returns of 65% over the investment made by potential clients.
Cloud Trading & Devs promoted itself as not only an investment group but also called itself a consultant for ventures associated with Bitcoins. However, since Aythami’s arrest, the company has altered their description across all the channels of social media. They have also dropped the work “investments” from their company message and now only position themselves as consultants.
Ponzi scheme in the Bitcoin Ecosystem
Although it is not exactly known the true value of bitcoins that Aythami collected via these investments. However, he operated for a while by selectively choosing the contracts that he commissioned with existing clients by taking investments from the newer ones. As a result, he garnered favorable reviews from the people who actually did make money through this scheme.
Future of Bitcoins in Spain
Although the tax department in Spain has made a revelation in the past that their fraud investigation team will closely monitor the use of crypto-currency so that they can prevent any kind of tax frauds, however, their current stance is fraught with ambiguity, as is with the rest of the world.
Even though this small theft is extremely insignificant when compared to other thefts of much greater magnitude in the world of Bitcoin, it does set a milestone in Spain for being the first one of its kind. The possibilities of Ponzi scheme will also perhaps persuade the lawmakers in Spain to get an in-depth understanding of crypto-currencies for the sake of simplicity.
Bitcoins are growing by leaps and bounds across the world and it is about time that some form of regulation is in place to ensure safe handling of money and prevention of such Ponzi schmes that have only been made easier with Bitcoins.
Bitcoin News brings you the latest in the world of crypto-currency. Access this link for Bitcoin.Directory.
