Bitcoin Daily: Bitcoin, Ether Hit New Record Highs; Criminals Go After Bitcoin ATMs; Landry’s, NYDIG Work on Crypto Rewards Program

Bitcoin and ether have reached new record highs as analysts posited that a rally in financial assets could be partly due to investors who are attempting to hedge against inflation, Bloomberg reported.

Bitcoin jumped as much as 3.6% to $68,513, according to the report. Ether advanced to $4,840.

There is often a mystery as to why cryptocurrencies rally, the report stated. Theories this time have gravitated to the hunger for assets to deliver returns — even as pandemic recovery increases inflation.

U.S. equity markets have been seeing new records almost every day, according to the report. Bitcoin is up over 130% this year, and ether is up about 550%.

In other news, criminals have been targeting bitcoin ATMs, using them to facilitate drug trafficking, money laundering and other types of fraud, CNBC reported, quoting law enforcement. The machines are often privately-owned and located in convenience stores.

The fraud has become more widespread as more ATMs have been installed. There are now over 26,000 machines, which is a massive increase from 4,212 in January 2020, per stats from Coin ATM Radar cited in the report.

The FBI has warned about the fraud schemes, which make use of the crypto ATMs and QR codes to get paid, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Landry’s is working with bitcoin company NYDIG on a new offering for Landry’s rewards members to earn bitcoin rewards, according to a press release.

The partnership will make it so that Landry’s Select Club members can earn bitcoin points when eating at its various nationwide locations, the release stated. Over time, they might be able to get higher value for points, based on the value of bitcoin. NYDIG’s platform is powering the program.

Currently the Landry’s Select Club Program offers a point back for every $1 spent, and 250 points equals a $25 reward, according to the release.

Landry’s plans to support the program by investing in NYDIG’s custody solution. It also plans to hold some of its treasury reserves in bitcoin through NYDIG, the release stated.