Hundreds of investors spent a total of $4.25 million in fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency in trading internationally, traded lower on Thursday, falling by 1.19 percent to $46,965.32 at 5:33 PM Riyadh time. Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, traded at $3,098.12, down by 1.00 percent, according to data from CoinDesk. Other major crypto news: Jared Rice, inventor of AriseCoin and former CEO of AriseBank touted as the world"s first decentralized banking platform, was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday for his role in a scam that deprived investors of $4.25 million. Hundreds of investors spent a total of $4.25 million in fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (1.93 percent) and ether (1.74 percent) to purchase AriseCoin. Under the decision, Rice must pay this amount as compensation. The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Wednesday announced its intention to roll out the Securities Control and Covenant System for Non-Convertible Bonds (NCDs) by April 1, 2022. It appears to be an important step for the blockchain use case within India’s financial ecosystem and follows other major institutions in leveraging the technology to increase the efficiency of systems. Microsoft on Thursday received a US patent for software that could help users develop blockchain applications by making it easier and more efficient to create crypto tokens. Microsoft’s patent describes a ledger-independent system to help users create and manage tokens across different networks. The system also provides a common interface for managing tokens, so developers don"t have to worry about a token specific to interact with them. While Citigroup is awaiting regulatory approval to begin offering Bitcoin futures trading to its clients. As Citigroup said, "We are currently looking at products such as futures contracts for some of our institutional clients, as these products operate under strong regulatory frameworks." “Our customers are increasingly interested in this area, and we are monitoring these developments,” Citigroup was quoted as saying by the news agency. “Given the many questions about regulatory frameworks, supervisory expectations, and other factors, we are carefully considering our approach.”