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According to journalist Colin Wu, yesterday BSC and SOL for thirty-one million dollars were withdrawn from the official commission wallet of the STEPN game. Some of them were transferred to FTX. At the same time, STEPN co-founder Jerry Huang was detained by police officers in London.
He is accused of several articles, in particular, fraud and tax evasion. In addition, part of the equipment from the main office of STEPN, which is also located in the capital of England, was confiscated. Recall that a few days ago the STEPN application was banned by the US and Chinese authorities. While it is still available in the AppStore and Google Pay.
The STEPN app promises users rewards for walking if customers purchase expensive NFTs in the form of sneakers. The more the user moves, the more rewards they can receive. One of stepn’s most recent updates added support for the BNB Chain network. As for Jerry Huang himself, no previous illegal actions were noticed behind him.
He has worked in marketing and video games for over 10 years. In addition, he is listed as a co-founder of another startup Falafel Games. This company is engaged in the creation of mobile applications. The company Find Satoshi Lab, where Huang works, also did not cause complaints.
At the end of April, STEPN smart contracts were tested, and Verilog specialists found several problems that were related to the risks of centralization, but indicated that the application is reliable.
STEPN has been in development since the end of August last year, and was able to bring creators in the first quarter more than $ 26 million in profit in the form of NFT commissions and royalties. Several Binance divisions, as well as Alameda, have invested in the application.
The arrest of Jerry Huang is likely to cause the company’s value to plummet, as will the app’s popularity. If the accusation is proven, then Huang will have to spend at least several years behind bars. At the moment STEPN (GMT) down 17% in the last day. This can be both a negative impact of this news, and a general decline in the market in the last day.
Unfortunately, accusations of non-payment of taxes in the cryptocurrency sphere have already ceased to be a rarity. The desire of regulators to strengthen control over this area is due, among other things, to the fact that funds are laundered through cryptocurrencies.
Author: Vadim Gruzdev, Analyst Freedman Club Crypto News
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