Alabama – Earlybirds Invest https://earlybirdsinvest.com Latest Crypto News Fri, 12 Sep 2025 09:40:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.8 https://i0.wp.com/earlybirdsinvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cropped-New-Project-2024-12-17T235703.455.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Alabama – Earlybirds Invest https://earlybirdsinvest.com 32 32 240146708 GENIUS Act Sparks Fears Over Small Bank Survival in Alabama https://earlybirdsinvest.com/genius-act-sparks-fears-over-small-bank-survival-in-alabama/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/genius-act-sparks-fears-over-small-bank-survival-in-alabama/#respond Fri, 12 Sep 2025 09:40:28 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/genius-act-sparks-fears-over-small-bank-survival-in-alabama/

Alabama State Senator Keith Kelley has expressed concerns over how the recently enacted GENIUS Act could negatively affect smaller banks across rural areas of the country.

According to a September 10 report by 1819 News, Kelley pointed to a gap in the wording of the law that could allow crypto firms to offer financial perks through indirect channels.

The GENIUS Act explicitly prevents stablecoin issuers from paying interest or similar benefits to those who hold these digital assets. However, the law does not clearly block related businesses, like crypto exchanges or affiliates, from offering such incentives on the issuer’s behalf.

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According to Kelley, this opens the door to crypto platforms using partner services to deliver rewards to users. Customers may be tempted to move their money from local banks to these crypto platforms in search of returns.

He explained that while larger financial institutions may have diverse sources of funding, smaller banks often depend directly on savings from residents.

When those deposits shrink, it becomes harder for them to continue lending for home purchases, vehicle financing, or operating capital for small businesses.

Kelley placed focus on agricultural areas, where income tends to vary by season and borrowing is often used to manage operations. He argued that these communities could be vulnerable if they lose access to familiar banking services that understand their specific needs.

On August 19, the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) and the Blockchain Association sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee about the GENIUS Act. What did they say? Read the full story.

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Alabama officials have recovered more than $125,000 in cryptocurrency for two residents who were tricked by online scams known as “pig butchering”.

In one case, a woman from Baldwin County met a scammer on the dating app Bumble. Over the course of three months, she was convinced to buy and transfer around $185,000 in crypto to what she believed was a trading platform.

When she later tried to withdraw her investment, which was shown as having grown to over $443,000, she was told to send more crypto to cover supposed taxes. That demand raised suspicions, and she reported the case to the authorities.

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The Alabama Securities Commission (ASC) managed to recover $53,227.81 for her.

The second case involved a resident of Etowah County who responded to an ad on WhatsApp. The scam claimed to be connected to the financial firm Charles Schwab and claimed to be properly registered.

The victim ended up sending $395,310 to the fraudulent platform. Wells Fargo Advisors flagged the activity when the person attempted to make large withdrawals for crypto investments. The ASC was able to recover $73,927.68 in that case.

ASC Director Amanda Senn noted that crypto-related fraud is on the rise and that many of these scams originate overseas. Once the funds are sent, they are hard to trace or recover due to the speed of crypto transactions.

SlowMist, a blockchain security firm, recently reported that a crypto holder lost nearly $6.9 million after purchasing a discounted cold wallet through Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. How did it happen? Read the full story.

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]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/crypto-con-job-alabama-victims-scammed-regulators-step-in/feed/ 0 42455 Alabama Man Sentenced for Hacking SEC’s Social Media to Post Fake Bitcoin ETF News https://earlybirdsinvest.com/alabama-man-sentenced-for-hacking-secs-social-media-to-post-fake-bitcoin-etf-news/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/alabama-man-sentenced-for-hacking-secs-social-media-to-post-fake-bitcoin-etf-news/#respond Sun, 18 May 2025 02:12:04 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/alabama-man-sentenced-for-hacking-secs-social-media-to-post-fake-bitcoin-etf-news/

A 26-year-old man from Alabama has been sentenced to more than a year in prison for his role in a social media hack that briefly sent the price of bitcoin

soaring.

Eric Council Jr. of Huntsville pleaded guilty to charges tied to the January 2024 hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

Posing as a telecom customer using a fraudulent ID, Council used a SIM-swap technique to hijack a phone number tied to the SEC’s account. His co-conspirators then used it to falsely post that the agency had approved spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a long-awaited regulatory milestone.

Within minutes, the price of bitcoin surged by more than $1,000. It crashed soon after, losing more than $2,000 in value once the post was revealed as fake. The SEC did later that month approve the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs.

Authorities say Council was paid in bitcoin for his role. He will serve 14 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Federal prosecutors called the attack a calculated attempt to manipulate financial markets. “The deliberate takeover of a federal agency’s official communications platform was a calculated criminal act meant to deceive the public and manipulate financial markets,” said Acting FBI Assistant Director Darren Cox. “By spreading false information to influence the markets, Council attempted to erode public trust and exploit the financial system”

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