Stablecoin giant Tether has amassed a total of over 7.7 tons of physical gold to back its tokenized asset, Tether Gold. Tether revealed this via an attestation report, the first the company has issued for its digital asset Tether Gold…

Tether holds more than 7.7 tons of gold backing its XAUT token

Metaplanet Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 3350 / OTCQX: MTPLF), a publicly listed 
bitcoin treasury company based in Japan, has announced the acquisition of an 
additional 1,004 bitcoin, increasing its total holdings to 7,800 BTC. The 
latest purchase was made at an average price of 15,134,304 yen per bitcoin, 
amounting to a total investment of approximately […]

Metaplanet Expands Bitcoin Holdings to 7,800 With Acquisition of 1,004 BTC

A group of Coinbase users from Illinois have filed a class-action lawsuit 
against the crypto exchange, alleging that its identity checks violate the 
state&#8217;s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
Plaintiffs Scott Bernstein, Gina Greeder and James Lonergan claimed in the May 
13 lawsuit filed in a federal court that Coinbase&#8217;s &#8220;wholesale collection&#8221; of 
faceprints for its Know Your Customer requirements violates BIPA, as they 
weren&#8217;t notified.
The group claimed Coinbase failed to notify users in writing of the 
collection, storage, or sharing of their biometric data and the purpose and 
retention schedule for their data.
&#8220;Coinbase does not publicly provide a retention schedule or guidelines for 
permanently destroying Plaintiffs&#8217; biometric identifiers as specified by 
BIPA,&#8221; they alleged.
The complaint said Coinbase requires users to verify their identity by 
uploading a government-issued photo ID and a selfie, which is then sent to a 
third-party facial recognition software to scan and extract facial geometry.
This process captures biometric identifiers without users&#8217; informed written 
consent, which the suit claimed violates BIPA.
_Coinbase ID verification procedures. Source:__CourtListener_ _ _
Additionally, the group claimed Coinbase violated the law by sharing biometric 
data without users&#8217; consent to third-party verification vendors such as Jumio, 
Onfido, Au10tix and Solaris.
&#8220;Coinbase &#8216;obtains&#8217; biometric data in violation of [BIPA] because it 
explicitly directed the Third Party Verification Providers to use its software 
to verify and authenticate users, including Plaintiffs, and its software does 
so by collecting biometric data,&#8221; the complaint read.
The group claimed that more than 10,000 individuals have filed demands for 
arbitration over these issues with the American Arbitration Association, which 
Coinbase has allegedly refused to pay the required arbitration fees, causing 
them to be dismissed.
_**Related:**__**Alabama drops staking lawsuit against Coinbase**_
The suit brings three claims of violating state biometric privacy laws and one 
for consumer fraud under the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business 
Practices Act.
The group is seeking relief of $5,000 per willful or reckless violation found, 
$1,000 per negligent violation found, along with injunctive relief and 
litigation costs.
Coinbase has also recently been hit with at least six lawsuits over its May 15 
disclosure that some of its customer support agents were bribed to leak users&#8217; 
data.
## Past BIPA violation suit sent to arbitration
In May 2023, a group of Coinbase users sued the exchange under similar 
accusations of BIPA violations.
A judge later allowed that lawsuit to pause pending arbitration and dismissed 
the lawsuit without prejudice on Feb. 3 after Coinbase and the group of users 
agreed to drop the action.
_**Magazine:**__**Arthur Hayes $1M Bitcoin tip, altcoins &#8216;powerful rally&#8217; 
looms: Hodler&#8217;s Digest**_

Coinbase faces lawsuit over alleged breaches of Illinois biometric privacy law

Dogecoin started a fresh increase and climbed above the $0.2320 zone against 
the US Dollar. DOGE is now correcting gains and approaching $0.2180. DOGE 
price started a fresh increase above the $0.220 and $0.230 levels. The price 
is trading just below the $0.2250 level and the 100-hourly simple moving 
average. There is a connecting bullish trend line forming with support at 
$0.220 on the hourly chart of the DOGE/USD pair (data source from Kraken). The 
price could start a fresh increase if it clears the $0.230 resistance zone. 
Dogecoin Price Faces Rejection Dogecoin price started a fresh increase after 
it found support near $0.2110, like Bitcoin and Ethereum. DOGE climbed and 
recovered above the $0.220 resistance zone. The bulls even pushed the price 
above the $0.2320 resistance zone. However, the bears were active near the 
$0.2380 level. A high was formed at $0.2378 and the price reacted lower. There 
was a move below the 50% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the 
$0.2109 swing low to the $0.2370 high. Dogecoin price is now trading just 
below the $0.2250 level and the 100-hourly simple moving average. However, 
there is a connecting bullish trend line forming with support at $0.220 on the 
hourly chart of the DOGE/USD pair. DOGE Immediate resistance on the upside is 
near the $0.2250 level. The first major resistance for the bulls could be near 
the $0.2320 level. The next major resistance is near the $0.2380 level. A 
close above the $0.2380 resistance might send the price toward the $0.250 
resistance. Any more gains might send the price toward the $0.2720 level. The 
next major stop for the bulls might be $0.2850. More Losses In DOGE? If DOGE’s 
price fails to climb above the $0.2320 level, it could start another decline. 
Initial support on the downside is near the $0.220 level. The next major 
support is near the $0.2170 level and the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the 
upward move from the $0.2109 swing low to the $0.2370 high. The main support 
sits at $0.2120. If there is a downside break below the $0.2120 support, the 
price could decline further. In the stated case, the price might decline 
toward the $0.20 level or even $0.1880 in the near term. Technical Indicators 
Hourly MACD – The MACD for DOGE/USD is now gaining momentum in the bearish 
zone. Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for DOGE/USD is now below 
the 50 level. Major Support Levels – $0.220 and $0.2120. Major Resistance 
Levels – $0.2320 and $0.2380.

Dogecoin (DOGE) Struggles to Sustain Gain as Meme Coin Mania Cools Off

XRP is showing muted price action as markets await a potential catalyst in the 
form of regulated futures trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group on 
Monday, May 19. The token has been range-bound between $2.32 and $2.62 for 
the…

XRP sideways structure holds as traders eye May 19 CME futures launch as next catalyst

Russian law enforcement has arrested the co-founder of the crypto game Blum in 
Moscow as part of a criminal investigation into large-scale fraud. Smerkis 
Steps Down as Blum CMO Russian law enforcement arrested Vladimir Smerkis, co- 
founder of the crypto game Blum, in Moscow as part of a criminal investigation 
into large-scale fraud. The announcement of […]