Crypto
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Bitcoin and these 4 altcoins are showing bullish signs
Cryptocurrency markets lack any signs of volatility going into the year-end holiday season. This suggests that both the bulls and the bears are playing it safe and are not waging large bets due to the uncertainty regarding the next directional move. This indecisive phase is unlikely to continue for long because periods of low volatility are generally followed by an increase in volatility. Willy Woo, creator of on-chain analytics resource Woobull, anticipates that the duration of the current bear market may “be longer than 2018 but shorter than 2015.” Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 The crypto winter has resulted in a loss of more than $116 billion to the personal equity of 17 investors and founders in the cryptocurrency space, according to estimates by Forbes. The carnage ha...
Crypto is a nonexistent asset for big institutional investors – JPMorgan exec
Big institutional investors are still largely staying away from the crypto market, as the asset class’ volatility poses a challenge to money managers, Jared Gross, head of institutional portfolio strategy at JPMorgan Asset Management, told Bloomberg. “As an asset class, crypto is effectively nonexistent for most large institutional investors,” Gross noted, explaining that “the volatility is too high, the lack of an intrinsic return that you can point to makes it very challenging.” Gross believes that most institutional investors are currently “breathing a sigh of relief that they didn’t jump into that market”, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon. The bear market also brought to an end the idea that Bitcoin (BTC) could be a form of digital gold or serv...
Former Alameda CEO confirms firm borrowed billions from FTX customer deposits as part of plea deal
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, said as part of her plea deal that she was aware FTX funds had been made available for the venture capital firm’s investments. In a transcript of proceedings for her plea deal in the Southern District of New York released on Dec. 23, Ellison acknowledged the financial ties between FTX and Alameda at the center of prosecutors’ case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. According to the former Alameda CEO, Alameda had access to a “borrowing facility” through FTX from 2019 to 2022. “I understood that FTX executives had implemented special settings on Alameda’s FTX.com account that permitted Alameda to maintain negative balances in various fiat currencies and crypto currencies,” said Ellison. “In practical terms, this arrangement permit...
Web3 projects would rather get hacked than pay bounty: 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. Uniswap, one of the leading decentralized exchange platforms, is integrating debit and credit card support for its users. It will allow Uniswap users to buy cryptocurrency directly with their cards. An ex-employee caused Ankr protocol’s recent $5 million hack. The DeFi protocol alerted relevant authorities and is seeking to prosecute the attacker while shoring up its security practices. A Web3 developer has claimed that many crypto ecosystem projects would rather get hacked than pay bounties. After reporting and helping patch a smart contract vulnerability, the developer claims that the projects he helped started ...
Sam Bankman-Fried found ‘chilling’ in JFK airport lounge on $250M bail bond
The momentary arrest of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) can be attributed to the efforts taken by the crypto community to aid investigations and track down the whereabouts of the infamous entrepreneur. While SBF eventually escaped prison time via a $250 million bail bond, the community continues to monitor his every move publicly. Just three days after being released on a personal recognizance bond, a crypto community member allegedly spotted SBF “chilling” in a John F. Kennedy International Airport lounge. The supporting images were shared on Twitter by @litcapital, which shows SBF sitting on a lounge chair with access to a laptop and mobile phone. Sam Bankman-Fried found at the JFK airport lounge. Source: Twitter Based on the pictures, other community members confirmed that SBF’s ...
DeFi flash loan hacker liquidates Defrost Finance users causing $12M loss
Defrost Finance, a decentralized leveraged trading platform on Avalanche blockchain, announced that both of its versions — Defrost V1 and Defrost V2 — are being investigated for a hack. The announcement came after investors reported losing their staked Defrost Finance (MELT) and Avalanche (AVAX) tokens from the MetaMask wallets. Moments after a few users complained about the unusual loss of funds, Defrost Finance’s core team member Doran confirmed that Defrost V2 was hit with a flash loan attack. At the time, the platform believed that Defrost V1 was not impacted by the hack and decided to close down V2 for further investigation. Core team member Doran confirming attack on Defrost Finance. Source: Telegram At the time, the platform believed Defrost V1 was not impacted by the hack...
FTX paid $12M retainer to a New York law firm before bankruptcy filing
Defunct crypto exchange FTX paid a retainer of $12 million to bankruptcy lawyers as security for payment of its fees and expenses amid Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, shows a court filing dated Dec. 21. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (S&C), a law firm headquartered in New York City, received $12 million from West Realm Shires Services Inc. on behalf of FTX for legal services. In addition, the filing confirmed that over the past 90 days, i.e., since Aug. 26, 2022, FTX paid nearly $3.5 million to S&C. Snippet of the court filing revealing FTX’s historical payments to S&C law firm. Source: aboutblaw.com Based on the information provided, FTX paid at least $15.5 million to avail and retain the legal services of S&C. The filing further revealed that S&C currently ...
Crypto billionaires lost $116B since March: Report
The bear market and the wave of bankruptcies in the crypto industry drained $116 billion from the pockets of founders and investors in the past nine months, according to recent estimates by Forbes. The loss represents the combined personal equity of 17 people in the space, with over 15 losing more than half of their fortunes since March. As a result, 10 names were removed from the crypto billionaires list. One of the major losses was attributed to Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. In March, his 70% stake in the crypto exchange was valued at $65 billion, but it is now worth $4.5 billion. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has a net worth estimated at $1.5 billion, down from $6 billion in March. The fortune of Ripple’s co-founder Chris Larsen was reduced from $4.3 billion to...
What is an NFT whitelist, and how can you join one?
Crypto-based scams are constantly sweeping the nonfungible token (NFT) space; therefore, staying updated is the most significant way to prevent both new and existing NFT scams. Other than fraud, intense rivalry for newly minted NFTs may cause prices to rise and transaction fees to skyrocket, making them unaffordable for early supporters. Nonetheless, these issues have been solved by NFT providers by establishing whitelists or allowlists, giving special privileges and access to a newly minted nonfungible token. Before public minting begins, nonfungible token projects employ allowlists to restrict who can mint NFTs. For example, one can mint NFTs without being concerned about gas wars if they are on the whitelist. This article will discuss the NFT whitelisting concept and process, why ...
SBF sent home, FTX heads plead guilty, and Binance gets Voyager assets: Hodler’s Digest, Dec. 18-24
Top Stories This Week SBF sent home after his parents put up their house to cover his astronomical bail bond Sam Bankman-Fried will spend the holidays with his family in Palo Alto, California, after his parents secured $250 million in bail funds with the equity in their home. Among the conditions of the bail are home detention, location monitoring and his passport surrender. The former FTX CEO signed surrender documents on Dec. 20, allowing his extradition from the Bahamas to the United States, where he faces eight charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. Bankman-Fried will now wait for his sentence at home with his family. Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang plead guilty to fraud charges Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang have ple...
BTC price levels to watch as Bitcoin limps into Christmas under $17K
Bitcoin (BTC) entered the Christmas holiday period unchanged at $16,800 as an eerie lack of volatility persevered. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Hopeful price target sees Bitcoin at $17,400 Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed another day of an almost imperceptible range for BTC/USD just below $17,000. The pair had struggled to break out despite multiple potential catalysts coming from United States economic data prints. With the holiday season ahead, a Santa rally appeared unlikely, while a lack of significant events to come further reduced the chances of flash volatility. In weekend analysis, however, Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, nonetheless reiterated the possibility of a step higher to ne...
Xmas dinner table: What to tell your family about what happened in crypto this year
After a lackluster rise of crypto in 2021, which saw many new crypto millionaires and several crypto startups attain unicorn status, came the dramatic fall in 2022. The industry was plagued by macroeconomic pressures, scandals and meltdowns that wiped out fortunes virtually overnight. As 2022 comes to a close, many crypto proponents are perplexed about the state of the industry, especially in light of the recent FTX collapse and the contagion it has caused, taking down several firms associated with it. Many who couldn’t stop talking about crypto and recommending their family to invest in it last year at Christmas dinner could see the tables turn this year, with them having a lot of explaining to do about the state of crypto today. While as awkward as that conversation is going to be,...
