Crypto
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China’s CBDC wallet resorts to ages-old tradition to boost adoption
China’s wallet app for its digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) introduced a feature for users to send money in an electronic version of traditional “red packets” to try to attract new users. The new feature was released over the weekend, around one month ahead of the Chinese New Year on Jan. 22, as reported by the South China Morning Post on Dec. 26. The “red packets,” called hongbao in China, are traditionally used for gifting money around the Chinese New Year and other celebrations as a gesture of good luck. The rising use of digital payments has seen virtual red envelopes offered by popular local services such as WeChat Pay and Alipay. Reportedly, the e-CNY app allows a red packet to be sent to only one person, or a “lucky draw” can be set up for a group of people who will...
Alameda wallets become active days after SBF bail, community mulls foul play
The crypto wallets associated with now-bankrupt trading firm Alameda Research, the sister company of FTX, were seen transferring out funds just days after the former CEO Sam Bankman Fried was released on a $250 million bond. The transfer of funds from Alameda wallets raised community curiosity, but more than that, the way in which these funds were transferred grabbed the community’s attention. The Alameda wallet was found to be swapping bits of ERC20s for ETH/USDT, and then the Ether (ETH) and USDT (USDT) were funneled through instant exchangers and mixers. For example, a wallet address that starts with 0x64e9 received over 600 ETH from wallets that belong to Alameda, part of it was swapped to USDT while the other part of the transaction was sent to ChangeNow. On-chain analyst ZachXBT note...
Argo Blockchain sells top mining facility to Galaxy Digital for $65M
Cryptocurrency mining firm Argo Blockchain has taken a difficult decision to sell its flagship mining facility Helios in order to survive the ongoing bear market. Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall officially announced on Dec. 28 a deal with Mike Novogratz’s crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital to sell Helios facility for $65 million. Argo has already been cashing its mined Bitcoin (BTC) to reduce the loan to Galaxy. Additionally, Galaxy will also provide Argo with a new $35 million equipment finance loan to help the troubled miner reduce its debt. “We’ve used the proceeds of that sale in a new Galaxy loan to pay off the debt that we owed to NYDIG and a tiny bit to another secured lender,” Wall noted. The new transactions aim to reduce Argo’s total debt by $41 million, improve liquidity and o...
FTX customers file class-action lawsuit to get priority reparations
While the government agencies are queuing to sue the FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the group of former customers made an effort to get their money back first. A class lawsuit initiated by four individuals demands priority access to frozen funds of the company for its customers, not investors. The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 27 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Four plaintiffs claim to be representing the whole class of former FTX customers, which might amass up to 1 million individuals. What the lawsuit seeks to obtain are the priority rights to return digital assets held by FTX US or FTX.com to its customers. The plaintiffs emphasize that the FTX User Agreement did not permit the platform to use customer funds for its own purposes, including ...
Wife of Hal Finney announces Bitcoin charity event
Fran Finney, the wife of crypto pioneer Hal Finney, has announced a charity event to benefit victims of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Discussing the event on Twitter, Finney encouraged Bitcoin (BTC) users to run a half marathon and share their experiences on social media between Jan. 1 and Jan. 10, 2023 to help raise funds to fight the disease. https://t.co/xpcvzCmtMd Hi everyone, this is Fran Finney, wife of Hal Finney, an early pioneer of Bitcoin. I want to let you know about a special event I’m organizing in honor of my husband. Thank you for all your interest in Hal and your support… he would love it! 1/5 — halfin (@halfin) December 27, 2022 The announcement was made by Fran Finney, using Hal Finney’s official Twitter account. The account had previously been reactiva...
Mark Cuban to Bill Maher: ‘If you have gold, you’re dumb as fuck… Just get Bitcoin.’
Arguments over whether gold or Bitcoin (BTC) is a better store of value continue to occur across the cryptocurrency space and in traditional investment circles. On the latest episode of Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, which aired on Dec. 26, billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban advocated for Bitcoin being a better store of value than gold. In response to Maher openly admitting that he is “rooting against Bitcoin,” Cuban chimed in with a cheeky agreement, remarking, “I want Bitcoin to go down a lot further so I can buy some more.” Cuban went on to offer some friendly chastisement to Maher, saying, “If you have gold, you’re dumb as fuck,” before encouraging him to “just get Bitcoin.” [embedded content] The two then discussed the pros and cons of both asset catego...
10 predictions for crypto in 2023
This year has been a particularly tumultuous one for the crypto market, with many decentralized and centralized entities failing or struggling to stay afloat. It feels as though we are in the final stages of the bear market, with bad actors and practices being purged in a process that is both dramatic and necessary for the maturity of the entire system. Despite this, the Web3 technologies that emerge from this crypto winter will change everything. Web3 represents the next evolution of information exchange, with similarities to the transformation from a largely agricultural society to a more industrial one. It is a computing fabric that is designed to put humans at the very center and prioritizes privacy. Blockchain technology will bring about a new way of interacting with the interne...
Maybe it WAS illegal: Mango Markets exploiter arrested on fraud charges
The crypto trader behind the $110 million exploit of decentralized exchange Mango Markets has been arrested in Puerto Rico — and charged with market manipulation and fraud. According to a previously sealed complaint filed with the Southern District of New York and made public on Dec. 27, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pinned Avraham Eisenberg with one count commodities fraud and one count of commodities manipulation in relation to his exploit of Mango Markets. Eisenberg’s Oct. 11 exploit of Mango Markets worked by manipulating the value of the platform’s native token, MNGO, artificially inflating its price relative to USD Coin (USDC). Eisenberg and his team then took out “massive loans” against its inflated collateral, which drained Mango’s treasury of around $110 million worth ...
BTC price dips 1% on Wall Street open as Bitcoin miners worry analysts
Bitcoin (BTC) saw a fresh hint of volatility at the Dec. 27 Wall Street open as United States equities began the final trading week of the year. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Bitcoin ekes out fresh volatility Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it dropped around 1% at the opening bell. Despite involving a move of only $150, the event was still noticeable on lower timeframes, Bitcoin having shunned any form of volatility for multiple days. The move came in response to a 0.6% drop in the S&P 500 at the open, with the Nasdaq Composite Index dropping 1.4%. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) responded in kind, making up for ground lost earlier to return to its position from Dec. 25. U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) 1-hour candle chart....
BitKeep CEO says some users’ private keys remain at risk after exploit
According to a letter posted on Chinese blockchain news publisher Odaily.com on Dec. 27, Kevin Como, the anonymous CEO of BitKeep, warned that users’ private keys are still at risk after a security incident on Dec. 26 led to over $13 million in losses at the time of publication. BitKeep is one of the more popular noncustodial, decentralized finance multichain wallets with over 6 million users. Specifically, Como wrote: “This was a large and atrocious hacker attack incident. The BitKeep APK 7.2.9 (Android Package Kit) installation package was hijacked and swapped by the hacker, and as a result, some users already installed the APKs that were planted malware by the hackers, leading to a leak of users’ private keys.” Como urged users who had already downloaded the Android APK 7.2.9. to transf...
What to expect from the crypto market in 2023: Watch The Market Report
This week on The Market Report, the resident experts at Cointelegraph discuss what investors can expect from the cryptocurrency market in 2023. Will this bear market carry on, or will we see the beginning of the bull market? Also up for discussion is what projects have the potential to make a splash in 2023. We start off this week’s show with the latest news in the markets: 4 ‘emerging narratives’ in crypto to watch for: Trading firm Despite an eventful year fraught with crypto collapses and price drops, Steven Goulden, a senior research analyst at crypto trading firm Cumberland, has pointed to several “green shoots” to break the surface in crypto in 2023. Make sure to listen as our experts go over which industries have the potential to break out in 2023. Crypto community expresses Christm...
Bitcoin Jack’s BTC trading is based on a list of risks and components
Well-known Twitter personality Bitcoin Jack, who tweets as @BTC_JackSparrow, joined Cointelegraph’s Crypto Trading Secrets podcast for an interview, which was recorded on Dec. 19. Jack covers many topics in the episode, including how he looks at the crypto space and prioritizes timing over price levels — “when” over “where.” Jack analyzes the crypto market based on a self-made list of possible risk factors. “When I look at ‘when,’ I’m trying to figure out what’s going on and what I want to see in the market to happen before I kind of think that the list of risks dissipate out of the market enough,” he explained when answering a question about Bitcoin’s (BTC) price at the time of recording. Jack mentioned that he maintains a personal list that includes crypto industry entities, global...
