Bitcoin Daily: Cambridge Analytica Had Crypto Plans, Iceland’s Bitcoin Heist Suspect Escape Prison

Before Cambridge Analytica got caught up in a scandal involving the use of Facebook data, it was thinking of raising money through crypto, Reuters reported. According to sources familiar with the plan, the company had reportedly approached a firm that advises clients about structuring initial coin offerings (ICOs).

In other news, the man who was allegedly behind a heist of 600 computers used to mine crypto reportedly escaped from prison in Iceland and boarded a flight to Sweden, the AP reported. Ironically, a witness said that he boarded the same plane as the country’s prime minister. The suspect reportedly used a passport with another person’s name. He also had an accomplice: “We are sure of that,” police chief Gunnar Schram told Visir.

And the price of bitcoin plummeted by greater than 2 percent within minutes on Tuesday (April 17), Business Insider reported. The drop happened only hours after the attorney general of New York, Eric Schneiderman, said he was investigating major crypto exchanges. Overall, bitcoin has dropped 41 percent since the beginning of 2018. The cryptocurrency was trading at $7,892.97 as of 6:54 p.m. on Tuesday (April 17), according to CoinDesk.

In other news, the founder of Telegram says that he has been paying network administrators to help bypass a Russian ban, CoinDesk reported. Pavel Durov said that he is paying administrators who run virtual private networks (VPNs) – along with proxy services – to allow users to access his service, which is banned in Russia.

And Ripple is calling for more cryptocurrency regulation, Business Insider reported. The company, which is behind the XRP currency, said regulators should focus on anti-money laundering (AML), consumer protection and financial stability.

In investment news, Harbor has notched $28 million in funding from multiple large VC firms, CoinDesk reported. The round for the tokenized securities startup was led by Founders Fund, with Andreessen Horowitz and Pantera Capital participating.