CEO of Collapsed Crypto Fund HyperVerse Seems to Not Exist At All + More News
The CEO of a defunct crypto-currency fund, HyperVerse, appears to not exist at all. This is according to an investigation by Swissinfo. The Swiss financial news outlet attempted to track down the man behind HyperVerse, Adam Power, but were unable to find any trace of him.
The only person who seemed to be associated with Power is a Markus Richter, who is listed as the chairman of the HyperVerse board. But even he was impossible to track down, with no online presence and no contact details available.
The HyperVerse fund launched in 2018 with the intention of allowing investors to gain exposure to cryptocurrency markets by investing in a professionally managed portfolio. However, its operations quickly fell apart when its chief executive, Adam Power, disappeared.
The investigation revealed that HyperVerse had raised over 20 million Swiss francs in the months leading up to Power’s disappearance, most of which is unaccounted for. At the same time, the company was also receiving fees from investors, amounting to an estimated 4 million francs.
The Swiss financial market regulator, FINMA, has also launched an investigation into the matter, but their findings have not been made public.
The HyperVerse story is far from unique in the cryptocurrency world, as many projects have turned out to be scams or have otherwise failed.
Elsewhere in the crypto-verse, the European Union has released a report that recommends stricter regulations for crypto-assets and service providers. According to the report, the EU should move to harmonize the rules for cryptocurrency service providers, impose capital requirements on them, and make them accountable to the banking sector.
In other news, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has seen record futures trading volume in the past month. This was due to a combination of increased institutional interest and a surge in retail trading. The CME said that it has seen solid growth in its BTC, ETH, and other crypto contracts.
Finally, US regulators are beginning to take a tougher stance on crypto-token traders accused of market manipulation. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently warned retail traders to be careful with how they trade crypto-assets as “there may be unlawful risks associated with market manipulation.” This comes at a time when the US regulator continues to crack down on fraudulent trading activities in the cryptocurrency space.
