Crypto
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Australia overtakes El Salvador to become 4th largest crypto ATM hub
El Salvador, the first country to legalize Bitcoin (BTC), has been pushed down yet another spot in total crypto ATM installations as Australia records 216 ATMs stepping into the year 2023. As part of El Salvador’s drive to establish Bitcoin as a legal tender, President Nayib Bukele had decided to install over 200 crypto ATMs across the country. While this move made El Salvador the third largest crypto ATM hub at the time after the United States and Canada in September 2021, Spain and Australia overtook the Central American country’s ATM count in 2022. On October 2022, Cointelegraph reported that Spain became the third-largest crypto ATM hub after installing 215 crypto ATMs. However, Spain continued its installation drive and is home to 226 crypto ATMs at the time of writing. El Salvador’s ...
US lawmakers under pressure following FTX collapse: Report
Legislators in the United States seem to be reevaluating the crypto industry and its regulatory needs in light of FTX’s collapse. According to the Wall Street Journal, since the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy in November, lawmakers have been under pressure to set a new regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Several proposals are in the works that would apply existing banking, securities, and tax rules to cryptocurrencies, and lawmakers are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt an aggressive approach to the crypto market. In a December House hearing, Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who is also a member of the bipartisan Congressional Blockchain Caucus, reportedly noted that “it’s time for the blockchain investors and entrepreneurs to build thing...
2023 will see the death of play-to-earn gaming
Play-to-earn gaming enabled by blockchain technology has grown exponentially over the few years. Gamers have embraced the opportunity to collect cryptocurrencies or nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that have been produced in blockchain-based games. Through the advent of this new technology, players have been able to generate income by selling in-game NFTs or earning cryptocurrency rewards, both of which can be exchanged for fiat cash. Because of this, according to data from Absolute Reports, the estimated value of the GameFi industry will grow to $2.8 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.4% over the same period. But such predictions may well prove to be unfounded. Given the rate of exponential growth over recent years, one might think that there was absolutely n...
SBF to enter plea deal, Mango’s exploiter arrested, and Celsius news: Hodler’s Digest, Dec. 25-31
Top Stories This Week Bankman-Fried may enter plea in NY federal court next week before Judge Lewis Kaplan Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled to appear in court on the afternoon of Jan. 3 to enter a plea on two counts of wire fraud and six counts of conspiracy against him in relation to the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. After being released on a $250 million bail bond, Bankman-Fried reportedly met with Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, a bestseller that was turned into a movie, spurring speculation that a film about the disgraced exchange’s saga is on the way. SBF borrowed $546M from Alameda to fund Robinhood share purchase In another headline related to Sam Bankman-Fried, an affidavit by the founder of FTX revealed that he previ...
Top crypto funding stories of 2022
2022 was a watershed year for crypto venture capital, as investors poured tens of billions of dollars into blockchain-focused startups despite the overwhelmingly bearish trend in asset prices. Is the VC-dominated crypto funding model good for the industry? Only time will tell. Cointelegraph Research is still in the process of tallying all the funding figures for the year, but 2022 easily outpaced all other years in terms of total capital raised and deals completed. VC inflows were above $14 billion in each of the first two quarters before receding to just under $5 billion in the third quarter — still an impressive tally given the industry-wide contagion sparked by the sudden collapses of Celsius, Three Arrows Capital, Genesis, BlockFi and FTX, among others. Against this backdrop, we’...
Companies and investors may need to return billions in funds paid by FTX
The collapse of FTX Group may not yet be finished with its contagious spread, as clawback provisions could force businesses and investors to return billions of dollars paid in the months leading up to the crypto exchange’s collapse, an insolvency attorney told Cointelegraph. In short, a “clawback” refers to money paid out that is required to be returned due to special circumstances or events, such as an insolvent company that needs to recover funds paid within 90 days before filing for Chapter 11. If the creditor is an insider, the 90-day period is extended to one year. As a result, creditors could seek a clawback on transfers made by FTX to external parties, including the $2.1 billion paid by FTX to Binance when Binance exited its Series A investment in FTX. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance‘s...
Sam Bankman-Fried to reportedly plead not guilty to criminal charges
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), currently free on a $250 million bail bond, will reportedly plead not guilty to the alleged FTX and Alameda-related financial frauds in court on Jan. 3. SBF was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government under suspicion of defrauding investors and misappropriation of funds held on the FTX crypto exchange. Following a court hearing on Dec. 22, SBF was released on bail and is slated to appear on court on Jan.3 before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan. During the hearing, SBF is expected to enter a plea of not guilty to the criminal charges, according to a Reuters report. On Dec. 13, the SEC charged the former FTX CEO with violating the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of ...
Winners and losers of 2022: A disastrous year that saw few winners among a sea of losers
2022 was supposed to be the year crypto went mainstream, with a significant chunk of traditional venture capital firms betting heavily on the ecosystem in 2021. However, with one disaster after another, 2022 turned out to be a catastrophic year for the nascent crypto ecosystem. Some of the biggest names touted as pivotal to taking the crypto ecosystem forward turned out to be the orchestrators of its worst year in recent memory. That said, quite a few protagonists rose to the occasion. These winners proved that crypto is not just about a few select individuals and companies but a vibrant ecosystem that can survive significant setbacks. Let’s start with some of the biggest winners of the crypto ecosystem in 2022. The list includes individuals, companies and anonymous groups working for the ...
Bitcoin stays put with yearly close set to seal 60% YTD BTC price loss
Bitcoin (BTC) kept traders guessing to the last minute into the 2022 yearly close as volatility remained absent from the market. BTC/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView BTC price: Where’s the volatility? Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD clinging to a familiar area around $16,500. The pair continued to disappoint players on both sides of the trade after a sideways Christmas, ignoring the potential significance of the simultaneous weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly candle close. “Technical resistance and overhead liquidity suggests sub $17k local top, but anything goes in the Wild Wild West,” on-chain analytics resource Material Indicators wrote in part of commentary on the Binance BTC/USD order book. An accompanying chart nonethe...
Crypto Biz: Did Michael Saylor buy the Bitcoin bottom for once?
Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy is showing no signs of backing down on its Bitcoin gambit. Right around the time that Sam Bankman-Fried was being exposed as a fraud, MicroStrategy was scooping up more Bitcoin (BTC) — this time, the firm bought as close to the bottom as it’s ever gotten. While Bitcoin can always go lower, seeing a MicroStrategy buy around $17K is refreshing. Interestingly, MicroStrategy also sold some BTC earlier this month — but not for the reason you think (more on that below.) The final Crypto Biz newsletter of 2022 discusses MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin buy, Fidelity Investments’ foray into the metaverse, Changpeng Zhao’s response to haters and the collective woes of Bitcoin miners. MicroStrategy adds to Bitcoin stake despite steep loss Business intelligence firm Mi...
DeFi sees exploits and exit scam drama in the last week of 2022: Finance Redefined
Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. For DeFi, the last week of 2022 saw another slew of exploits, insider job accusations and exit scam drama. It all started on Christmas, when Defrost Finance, a decentralized leveraged trading platform on the Avalanche blockchain, was exploited by a DeFi flash loan attack causing $12 million in losses. However, the hacker behind the attacks reportedly returned a portion of the funds the next day. Security analytic firm Certik looked into the chain of events and concluded that the $12 million of funds drained were a part of an exit scam. On Dec. 26, when the Defrost exploit saga was unfolding, Bitkeep, a multichain ...
Proof of reserves is becoming more effective, but not all its challenges are technical
Proof of reserves (PoR) has gone from a buzzword to a roar in recent weeks as the crypto world tries to recover from the shock and losses of the current crypto winter. After a flurry of discussion and work, criteria and rankings for adequate PoR are beginning to appear, but the fine points of how to conduct proof of reserves, or even who should do it, remain open questions. The difference between proof of assets and proof of reserves was pointed out quickly, along with their deficiencies by themselves. Traditional auditors’ attempts at providing PoR were soon frustrated, with major firms stepping up and quickly retreating. I’m sorry but no. This is not PoR. This is either ignorance or intentional misrepresentation. The merkle tree is just hand wavey bullshit without an auditor to mak...
