crypto blog
How Crypto Twitter reacted to Kim Kardashian’s $1.26M SEC fine
The crypto community reacted with a mix of disbelief and amusement after reality star Kim Kardashian was fined for promoting the cryptocurrency EthereumMax (EMAX). The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Kardashian $1.26 million on Oct. 3, for “touting on social media” about the EMAX without disclosing she was paid $250,000 to post about it. Kardashian has neither admitted to nor denied the SEC’s allegations, but settled the charges and agreed to not promote any cryptocurrency assets until 2025. SEC chairman Gary Gensler tweeted the fine was a reminder that celebrity endorsement of investment opportunities doesn’t “mean those investment products are right for all investors.” Today @SECGov, we charged Kim Kardashian for unlawfully touting a crypto securi...
Tether commercial paper exposure now under $50M, says CTO
Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) has nearly completely slashed its commercial paper holdings, with less than $50 million worth of commercial paper units as of Sept. 30, 2022. Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino made the announcement in an Oct. 3 tweet, adding also that Tether’s United States Treasury bills increased to 58.1% of its total portfolio, up 25.1% from its Jun. 30 figure of 43.5%. #tether portfolio update. Tether as of 30 September 2022 holds ~58.1% of its assets in US t-bills. Up from 43.5% on June 30 2022.CP exposure is < 50M now.@Tether_to — Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) October 3, 2022 Commercial papers are short-term debt instruments issued by companies, which are often used to finance various business operations, while treasury bills are claimed to be more stable than commercial pap...
Beeple’s Discord URL ‘hijacked,’ directing users to wallet drainer
Non fungible token (NFT) artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann has found himself the target of phishing scammers yet again, warning users that the URL link to his official Discord server was “hacked” — sending unaware new members to a wallet draining Discord channel if they follow the link. In an Oct. 3 post, the NFT artist warned users not to go into the “fraudulent” Discord channel and verify as it will “drain your wallet.” it appears our discord URLs were hacked to point to a fraudulent discord. DO NOT go into that discord and do not verify, it will drain your wallet!! once again massive thanks again to discord for being garbage. — beeple (@beeple) October 3, 2022 However, Beeple wasn’t the first to notice the URL slight-of-hand, with Twitter user maxnaut.eth not...
CoinShares’ Butterfill suggests ‘continued hesitancy’ among investors
Minor inflows for digital asset investment products over the last few weeks suggest a “continued hesitancy” towards crypto amongst institutional investors amid a slowdown of the U.S. economy. In the latest edition of CoinShares’ weekly “Digital Asset Fund Flows” report, Coinshares head of research James Butterfill highlighted stand-offish institutional sentiment towards crypto investment products, which saw “minor inflows” for the third week in a row. “The flows remain low implying continued hesitancy amongst investors, this is highlighted in investment product trading volumes which were US$886m for the week, the lowest since October 2020.” Between Sept. 26 and Sept. 30, investment products offering exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) saw the most inflows at just $7.7 million, with...
Binance burns $1.8M in LUNC trading fees following community proposal
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced it completed the first burn of Terra Classic tokens’ trading fees in response to a community proposal from September. In an Oct. 3 update, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the exchange had burned roughly $1.8 million worth of Terra Classic (LUNC) — formerly Terra (LUNA) — trading fees for LUNC/BUSD and LUNC/USDT spot and margin trading pairs. According to Binance, the burn included the equivalent of 1,863,213.47 Tether (USDT) — roughly 5.5 million LUNC. First LUNC burn, $1.8 million ish.https://t.co/b86RlCYqe3 — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 3, 2022 The exchange’s original announcement from Sept. 26 said the burns would be completed every Monday — making the next event on Oct. 10 — sending trading fees to a LUNC burn address. Many in the Terr...
A crumbling stock market could create profitable opportunities for Bitcoin traders
Some of the biggest companies in the world are expected to report their 2Q earnings in October, including electric automaker Tesla on Oct. 18, tech giants Meta and Microsoft on Oct. 24, Apple and Amazon on Oct. 26 and Google on Oct. 30. Currently, the possibility of an even more severe global economic slowdown is in the cards and lackluster profits could further add to the uncertainty. Given the unprecedented nature of the United State Federal Reserve tightening and mounting macroeconomic uncertainties, investors are afraid that corporate profitability will start to deteriorate. In addition, persistent inflation continues to force businesses to cut back on hiring and adopt cost-cutting measures. Strengthening the dollar is particularly punitive for U.S. listed companies because their produ...
US Treasury recommends lawmakers decide which regulators will oversee crypto spot market
Officials with the United States Financial Stability Oversight Council, or FSOC, have recommended U.S. lawmakers pass legislation to determine which “rulemaking authority” will be responsible for regulating parts of the crypto spot market. In an Oct. 3 meeting of the FSOC, Jonathan Rose, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said the FSOC had released a report in accordance with President Joe Biden’s executive order on crypto, detailing potential financial stability risks of digital assets and regulatory gaps. The report identified regulatory gaps including the spot market for cryptoassets that were not securities subject to “limited direct federal regulatory” — hinting at lawmakers stepping in to prevent possible market manipulation and conflicts of interest. “While s...
a16z leads $40M raise for decentralized knowledge protocol
Decentralized knowledge protocol Golden has closed a $40 million funding round led by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, with additional participation from Protocol Labs, OpenSea Ventures and the founders of Solana, Dropbox, Postmates and Twitch, among others. In addition to leading the Series B funding round, Andreessen Horowitz’s general partner Ali Yahya will join Golden’s board alongside a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen. The funding gives Golden additional resources to continue building its protocol, which is designed to standardize the discovery and verification of knowledge in the era of Web3. Specifically, Golden is developing a decentralized interface that incentivizes collecting and verifying canonical data. The company claims that over 35,000 users participated in ear...
Jewish Creators Launch NFT Fundraiser for Feminist Nonprofits
New York, New York, 3rd October, 2022, Chainwire A collective of Jewish creators have teamed up to launch an NFT project that will raise funds for women’s nonprofits. The philanthropic cause will donate much of its proceeds to charities promoting women’s rights, especially as they relate to the Jewish community. The campaign will directly benefit women in Jewish communities while showcasing the power of NFTs for inspiring positive change. Artist Jill Blutt, writer Leigh Cuen, and technologist Yotam Bar-On are among the many creators behind this interactive digital art project. The Matriarchs, as it is known, will launch publicly on October 11, 2022. Until then, supporters are welcome to join the community conversation on Telegram. The launch will be marked by the promotion of visual art re...
Binance signs MoU with Kazakhstan to fight financial crime
Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a part of its global law enforcement training program. The program, which involves officials from regulatory and law enforcement organizations worldwide, aims to strengthen industry cooperation with national and international law enforcement in the fight against financial crime and cybercrime. The program further aims to identify and block digital assets obtained illegally and used to launder criminal proceeds and finance terrorism. Kazakhstan has emerged as one of the leading crypto nations for Bitcoin (BTC) mining and in recent times, the Central Asian nation has also beendeveloping favorable crypto regulations such as allowing crypto...
Kim Kardashian pays SEC $1.26 million to settle EthereumMax charge
American socialite Kim Kardashian will pay $1.26 million in penalties for her involvement in the promotion of a cryptocurrency scheme called EthereumMax (EMAX). The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the charges against Kardashian on Oct. 3 for “touting on social media a crypto asset security offered and sold by EthereumMax” without disclosing the payment received for her promotional involvement. Kardashian has agreed to settle the charges and pay $1.26 million in penalties, disgorgement and interest and is set to cooperate with further investigations by the SEC into the EthereumMax project. The announcement noted that Kardashian failed to disclose a $250,000 payment she had received to publish a post on her Instagram profile promoting EMAX to...
Bitcoin Lightning Network capacity strikes 5,000 BTC
Bear markets are for building out capacity on the layer-2 Lightning Network. Despite macroeconomic headwinds and sluggish price action, the Lightning Network, the layer-2 payments solution fo Bitcoin (BTC), continues to flourish. The Bitcoin Lightning Network reached a milestone capacity of 5,000 BTC ($96 million). In effect, more and more Bitcoin is being introduced to Lightning Network payment channels worldwide, as Bitcoiners continue to support the growth of the network. Bitcoin Lightning Network capacity. Source: Look into Bitcoin The Lightning Network allows users to send Bitcoin (or satoshis, the smallest amount of a Bitcoin) to send or receive money faster and with lower fees. The more capacity on the network, the more liquidity is on hand. As a result, users can experience faster ...
