“Bitcoin (BTC) hodlers have capitulated more than at almost any point in Bitcoin’s history this month. The results have been mixed, Glassnode reveals, with a major loss of confidence, on one hand, triggering loss-making divestment of funds, while “strong accumulation” has also occurred.

One consistent event which motivates the transition from a bear back towards a bull market is the dramatic realization of losses, as investors give up and capitulate at scale. November has seen the fourth largest capitulation event on record, recording a 7-day realized loss of -$10.16B. This is 4.0x larger than the peak in Dec 2018, and 2.2x larger than March 2020.

Glassnode [also] referenced Bitcoin’s adjusted market-value-to-realized-value (MVRV) ratio, which shows that coins moving on-chain are returning loss-making levels rarely seen before in what it calls “peak under-performance.” Despite the previous losses, hodlers have been accumulating BTC aggressively since — and the trend is encompassing everyone, from the smallest “shrimps” to the largest whales.

In other words, if we discount profit held across the presumably lost supply, the current market is the most underwater it has been since the near pico-bottom set in Dec 2018 and Jan 2015. From a comparative point of view, the recent strong accumulation score following the recent sell-off resembles that of late 2018.”

See Also: FTX Fiasco boosts Bitcoin ownership to new highs
See Also: Bitcoin Generational Bottom (Video)

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“Despite the decline in deal-making and a troubled year for crypto, Web3 and DeFi projects were still the largest areas for investment in emerging tech, beating out fintech and biotech.

In the third quarter, investment in the sector was $879 million, the lowest recorded amount since the second quarter of last year. But $6.5 billion has still been poured into the space over the past 12 months, far-outstripping the second most-backed space of fintech, which has raised $2.7 billion.

While the strength of investment in this category suggests sustained interest from ETI investors, the recent failure of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX and the subsequent contagion across the industry is likely to have a negative impact on future investment levels.

But they also flagged areas that are “less exposed to trading activity” that should be less affected, such as companies working on blockchain protocols.”

---

“FTSE Russell, the company behind the London Stock Exchange’s benchmark FTSE 100 equity index, has rolled out a set of measures for the digital asset market. The FTSE Global Digital Asset Index Series comprises eight gauges ranging from large and mid-cap assets down to micro cap. The indexes will monitor data from hundreds of exchanges to “define the investable universe.”

Growth of interest in the crypto industry in recent years has spurred the development of instruments to measure the performance of digital assets, including Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Indices, S&P Cryptocurrency Indices and CoinDesk’s own family of market indexes.”

---

“Among the more unprecedented elements of the FTX saga has been the fact that Bankman-Fried, who was raised by two lawyers, can’t seem to keep his mouth shut despite mounting legal threats. After cryptic tweet threads and a viral DM exchange with a Vox reporter in which he said “f**k regulators” and admitted that his philanthropic identity was largely manufactured for PR reasons, Bankman-Fried’s actual voice is being heard for the first time post-FTX collapse.

Bankman-Fried rehashed many of the same defenses and rationalizations for his behavior that he had shared previously in other places to explain what went wrong. In general, Bankman-Fried’s defense was (and continues to be) that he greatly mistook how leveraged he was. This explanation is wholly unsatisfying given that it fails to address precisely how FTX and Alameda misappropriated billions of dollars in FTX user deposits.

As for whether Bankman-Fried created a “back door” to discreetly move user funds to Alameda without attracting attention, as reported by Reuters, Bankman-Fried suggested that ‘I certainly didn’t build the back door in there and I don’t know exactly what they’re referring to.’ Bankman-Fried said that he couldn’t have built a back door because ‘I don’t even know how to code,’ though this defense doesn’t really address Reuters’ core claim – which is that he used a back door, not that he built one.”

See Also: Sam Bankman-Fried Says FTX Hacker May Be a Former Employee

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“Sasha Hodder, founder of Hodder Law, a firm that specializes in crypto law, said ‘the regulator is in line, in front of retail creditors.’

The customers are really at the bottom of the list here. It is far-fetched that they will get their money back.

What the SEC is trying to say is that all of this lending activity should be considered a debt security. And if it was a security, then it would have to be held on a platform that met certain regulatory standards.”

See Also: Bankrupt Crypto Lender BlockFi Sues Bankman-Fried for Robinhood Shares, FT Reports
See Also: BlockFi Has $355M in Crypto Frozen on FTX, Attorney Confirms

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“The company took note of “low usage” as its reason for no longer supporting those tokens.”

See Also: Solana’s Top Crypto Wallet Looks to Ethereum, Polygon Next
See Also: Serum exchange rendered ‘defunct’ following the collapse of Alameda and FTX

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“Dominica’s government will partner with Huobi to issue Dominica Coin (DMC) and digital identity documents (DID) with DMC holders set to be granted digital citizenship in the country. DMC and DID will run on the TRON network and be issued on Huobi Prime and will serve as credentials for a future Dominica-based metaverse platform.

Not to be confused with the nearby, larger Dominican Republic, Dominica is home to some 72,000 people and is situated in the middle of the Lesser Antilles archipelago. The government is looking to explore metaverse and Web3 technology to drive its development and attract talent from the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem.

The island nation is one of the first Caribbean countries to adopt a citizenship-by-investment program. Dominica also adopted the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) CBDC program in December 2021.”

---

“France and Luxembourg have used an experimental central bank digital currency (CBDC) to settle a bond worth 100 million euros (US$104 million), the latest in a series of trials in tokenized financial markets.

The Venus Initiative shows how digital assets can be issued, distributed and settled within the eurozone, in a single day and confirms that a well-designed CBDC can play a critical role in the development of a safe tokenised financial asset space in Europe.”

See Also: India to Test Digital Rupee in 4 Cities With 4 Banks

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“LBRY alleges that it was asked to censor anything related to COVID-19, especially vaccines and potential human origins of the virus, or face having its apps removed from the Apple store.

Apple may make good products, but they have been opposed to free speech for some time.”

---

“The company said it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, indicating it hoped to restructure, continuing operations in the meantime. According to a press release, BlockFi has about $257 million in cash on hand. Executives estimate the company has between $1 billion and $10 billion in both assets and liabilities.

The company’s largest creditors include West Realm Shires Inc., the legal name for FTX US, which has a $275 million unsecured claim, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has a $30 million unsecured claim. BlockFi’s largest creditor is Ankura Trust Company, which the lender appears to have hired in February and now has a $730 million unsecured claim.”

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“At the time of publication, all votes favored raising the rate to 1%.

The voting is occurring as yields in decentralized finance (DeFi) have plummeted amid lower appetite for crypto lending. Meanwhile, yields in traditional markets have increased dramatically due to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to raise interest rates, which has exacerbated the capital flight from DeFi.

Increasing the reward is possible as Maker boosted its revenue by putting a part of its $7.7 billion in reserves to work. The strategy consists of teaming up with institutional investors such as Coinbase and allocating in multiple yield-generating investment strategies, including investing in traditional assets like government bonds.

A part of that new-found revenue should be redistributed to DAI holders to make the stablecoin more attractive for crypto investors. As Maker increasingly invests in assets outside digital assets, it may offer a way to capture the rising yields in traditional markets while simultaneously mitigating capital outflows from crypto. Raising the reward would also make DAI more competitive compared to rival stablecoins.“

See Also: MakerDAO Community Rejects CoinShares Proposal to Invest Up to $500M in Bonds
See Also: Ethereum Staking-as-a-Service Startup Kiln Raises $17.6M

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“On Nov. 28, users of decentralized finance, or DeFi, lending platform Compound Finance passed a proposal to impose restrictions on the maximum borrowing of 10 tokens on the protocol.

Most notably, tokens such as Uniswap (UNI) and COMP had their borrow limits slashed from 11,250,000 and 150,000 to 550,000 and 18,000, respectively. Other less liquid altcoins on Compound, such as year.finance (YFI), had its borrow cap reduced from 1,500 to just 20. Coins such as wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), which previously had no borrow limit on Compound, have been slapped with a ceiling of 1,250 on maximum borrow.

According to Gauntlet, the proposal would prevent ‘insolvency risk from liquidation cascades, price manipulation Mango squeeze exploits, risk of high utilization, and risk from shorting assets from a short position on Compound of significant size relative to the circulating supply of the asset.’

Currently, the Compound Finance protocol has $654.7 million in total borrowings collateralized by $2.146 billion worth of assets.”

See Also: Wrapped Bitcoin Trades at Discount Amid Market Contagion
See Also: Centralized Crypto Exchanges Will Remain Dominant Despite FTX Collapse: JPMorgan

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“Lagarde referred to MiCA II — presumably additional legislation building on the work lawmakers did for the original bill — in June. At the time, the ECB president said the framework ‘should regulate the activities of crypto-asset staking and lending.’ The European Parliament economics committee accepted the MiCA framework in October following trialogue negotiations between the EU Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament. Many expect the policy to go into effect starting in 2024.

This is not it — there will have to be a MiCA II, which embraces broader what it aims to regulate and to supervise. The FTX case makes it clear what dangers a completely unregulated crypto market and crypto exchanges without licenses entail.”

See Also: Israel’s Ministry of Finance Proposes New Guidelines for Regulating Digital Assets
See Also: Bahamas’ Attorney General Defends Country’s Regulatory Regime Amid FTX ‘Debacle’
See Also: FTX under ‘active’ civil and criminal investigation: Bahamas AG

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“Putin criticized the monopoly in global financial payment systems and called for an independent and blockchain-based settlement network on Nov 24, speaking at the International AI Journey Conference in Moscow.

The technology of digital currencies and blockchains can be used to create a new system of international settlements that will be much more convenient, absolutely safe for its users and, most importantly, will not depend on banks or interference by third countries.”

“The latest analysis from several well-known crypto names suggests it is time to give up the bear market narrative. Be it thanks to macro or just good old Bitcoin price cycles, there are three new reasons to flip bullish on Bitcoin in its current state near two-year lows.

First in line is a theory involving a macro market catalyst. With the FTX scandal weakening the correlation between BTC and stocks, there is nonetheless no reason to abandon the idea that it will return. For Zeberg, a rising tide lifts all boats, and a final rally throughout the risk asset field could take BTC/USD over $100,000.

Bitcoin moves as a Risk Asset (not like Gold!). When SPX explodes higher in Blow-Off Top towards 5700 – 6000 target area – Bitcoin should reach 90k – 110k. Final rally before Deflationary Bust!

[Second], back to crypto-centric triggers, according to popular trader Alan Tardigrade, now is the time to pay attention as the BTC/USD weekly chart has printed 20 weeks of bullish divergence. A move to the upside would correspond to Bitcoin’s behavior after the March 2020 COVID-19 cross-market crash.

This indicates the weakening of downtrend momentum. BTC may pick up a Massive Rally.

[Finally], the BTC/USD relative strength index (RSI) is now printing a bullish divergence on weekly timeframes — something never seen before, not even at previous bear market lows.

Every Bull Market Peak $BTC formed a bearish divergence on RSI followed by a bear market correction! This the first time ever BTC is printing a bullish divergence on WEEKLY. Probably nothing.”

See Also: Bitcoin Outlook – A Discussion with PlanB (Video)
See Also: How bad is the FTX collapse for Bitcoin? On-chain analyst explains (Video)
See Also: Matrixport Favors ‘Systematic Bitcoin Call Overwriting’ Strategy for 2023

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“Crypto exchange Binance has allocated another $1 billion for its industry recovery fund, effectively increasing the size of the fund to over $2 billion. Aptos Labs and Jump Crypto, along with other prominent crypto companies joined Binance’s initiative and will contribute $50 million to the fund.

The recovery fund would be used to buy distressed crypto assets and support the industry.”

See Also: Jihan Wu’s Crypto Lender Matrixport Looks to Raise $100M at $1.5B Valuation
See Also: Binance US Steps Into National Politics With New Campaign PAC

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“Binance provided a snapshot of account balances and its own Bitcoin reserves as of 23:59 UTC on November 22, 2022. The exchange claims it has 582,485 BTC in its reserves, while its users have a net balance of 575,742 BTC — giving Binance a reserve ratio of 101%. The launch of the PoR system initially starts with Bitcoin (BTC), with other tokens and networks to be added in the next couple of weeks.

We are specifically referring to those assets that we hold in custody for users. This means that we are showing evidence and proof that Binance has funds that cover all of our users assets 1:1, as well as some reserves.

[Notably], users can also verify their personal Bitcoin holdings on the trading platform through a provided link or against Binance’s own Merkle Tree—a cryptographic tool that consolidates large amounts of data into a single hash. As explained by Binance, after logging into the exchange, users can click “wallet,” followed by “audit,” which will generate a unique record ID that confirms assets are covered and as well as confirming users’ asset balance at the time of the audit.

Binance went on to say it also plans to involve third-party auditors to check its PoR system and to implement zero-knowledge proof technology (zk-SNARKs), a move aimed at ‘improving privacy and robustness, and proving the total net balance (USD) of each user is non-negative.'”

See Also: Independent research verifies GBTC’s 633K Bitcoin: So why won’t Grayscale?

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“After teasing Suave at this year’s Devcon, Flashbots outlines how the plug-and-play solution will transform the way validators earn MEV.

According to Flashbots, Suave, a so-called sequencing chain, will be geared towards completely decentralizing the block-building process. By the firm’s description, it would be a “plug-and-play” solution that “unbundles the mempool and block-builder role” from existing blockchains. In addition to maximizing the revenue that validators earn for operating blockchains, Flashbots hopes Suave can ameliorate rising concerns around transaction censorship, exploitative MEV practices and slow transaction execution.

Right now, the way to earn MEV, mainly through MEV-Boost, has a centralizing effect. Validators connect to MEV-Boost through relayers, like the one that Flashbots runs, to earn MEV. About 91% of blocks relayed have used MEV-Boost; of those, 78% have used the Flashbots relayer. In August, Flashbots’ relayer started censoring Tornado Cash transactions to comply with U.S. Treasury Department sanctions, but decided to make open source its MEV-Boost relayer code so that others could develop their own non-censoring relayer options.

Suave’s aim is to decentralize and democratize block builders around MEV. Flashbots said Suave’s architecture would be set up in three parts. These three components make up what will be called the Suave Chain. The chain will be EVM-compatible, meaning it will work with blockchains built using Ethereum’s core technology stack.

The first part, the “Preference Environment,” will collect “preferences” from users – messages which “express a particular goal or unlock a payment if the user’s conditions have been met.” The second part, the “Execution Market,” will allow third-party “executors” to earn MEV by competing with one another “for the right to turn a preference into a transaction (or bundle) and fulfill the users’ preference at the best price possible.” The final part, the “decentralized block building network,” will turn these transactions into blocks that can be added to a blockchain while maximizing MEV for builders and validators.”

See Also: 1inch releases new tool to protect traders against ‘sandwich attacks’
See Also: StarkNet makes Cairo 1.0 open source in first step toward community control

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“Several U.S. state regulators are looking into whether crypto trading firm Genesis Global Capital may have violated securities laws, according to a report from Barron’s.

The report said that Alabama Securities Commission Director Joseph Borg indicated that his agency and several other states are involved in the investigations, which focus on whether Genesis and other companies persuaded residents of their states to invest in crypto securities without having the proper registrations.”

See Also: FTX stake in US bank raises concerns about banking loopholes

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“Tuesday’s pro forma hearing decided that Pertsev must remain detained until at least February – and also offered, for the first time, a clear statement of charges against the developer. But it also gave a hint about what the case will and won’t do.

In the U.S., the Tornado Cash issue is often talked about in terms of the Constitution – which the U.S. Supreme Court has said includes the right to publish computer code. In Europe, there’s no equivalent legal doctrine. Lawyers in the case don’t seem to be making any appeal to the free speech provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, and it looks more like the trial will instead get deep into the mechanics of how decentralized finance (DeFi) works in practice.

If so, the proceedings may do little to resolve more general questions – such as the fear many developers have that they could now be held responsible for the open-source software they develop.”

---

“On Thursday, Ethereum developers decided to consider eight Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) for inclusion in the network’s upcoming hard fork, called “Shanghai.” Having EIPs “considered for inclusion” (CFI) means that the developers will commit to developing these proposals and will run them through tests on developer networks (devnets).

Even before the core developers met, they’d determined that Beacon Chain withdrawals, or EIP 4895, was definitely going to be part of the fork. This means that once Ethereum goes through its next upgrade, users that staked ether prior to the Merge by locking them up in the Beacon Chain smart contract will be able to access them, along with any additional accrued rewards.

For now, EIP 4844, also known as proto-danksharding, is in the CFI package. EIP 4844 is a significant step the protocol would take toward making the network more scalable. The implementation of the EVM Object Format (EOF) [also] made it into the batch, which is a collection of EIPs that essentially upgrade the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the environment where Ethereum is able to deploy smart contracts. Most of the changes are focused on making the smart contract execution safer, by verifying that certain conditions are met.

[For timing], some developers want to expedite Shanghai and include only the ETH withdrawal EIP along with a few other smaller EIPs, sometime in March 2023. Then, a subsequent fork would include another significant scaling upgrade – proto-danksharding – and would ship sometime during the fall of 2023. Other developers want a bigger, comprehensive Shanghai upgrade to happen that would include both major upgrades. Last month, developers introduced the Shandong testnet, where they can explore and resolve any bugs related to some of these EIPs.”

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“Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has confirmed that the exchange’s U.S. wing will be making a fresh bid for crypto lender Voyager now that the defunct FTX is unable to follow through with acquiring it. Following Voyager’s bankruptcy, FTX emerged as the front runner to acquire the lender, with Binance’s bid said to be held back over concerns that it would represent a national security concern for the U.S. government.

I think the U.S. national security concerns were rumors spread by FTX to try and push us out of the bid. There was never any concerns about us participating in the bid.”

See Also: Binance Targets $1B Recovery Fund for Distressed Crypto Assets: Bloomberg
See Also: CrossTower eyeing further crypto acquisitions outside of Voyager bid

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“Chainalysis’ research lead found that Mt. Gox averaged 46% of all exchange inflows in the year leading up to its collapse in 2014, compared with FTX’s average of 13%.

Jardine [further] noted in 2014, when Mt. Gox collapsed, that centralized exchanges (CEXs) were the only players in the game. Meanwhile, in late 2022, nearly half of all exchange inflows were captured by decentralized exchanges (DEXs) such as Uniswap and Curve.

When it’s boiled down to market fundamentals, there’s no reason to think the industry can’t bounce back from this, stronger than ever.”

See Also: No Let-Up in Demand for Bitcoin, Ether Puts After Dovish Fed Minutes

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“The former FTX CEO said he will be speaking at a conference by The New York Times, the same outfit that wrote the recent puff piece on Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried announced he will be speaking with The New York Times journalist Andrew Sorkin at the DealBook Summit “next Wednesday.” The news was confirmed publicly by Sorkin.

Vocal members of Crypto Twitter have questioned why the former CEO of the now-bankrupt exchange continues to walk free, given the events over the last month.

U.S. Attorney John Deaton and founder of Crypto Law remarked to his 229,300 Twitter followers that if U.S. law enforcement doesn’t arrest and charge Bankman-Fried — who’s currently situated in the Bahamas — for fraud and theft offenses if he enters the U.S. next week, then the justice system “has been compromised.”

The fact he is going to be speaking on stage at a damn conference rather than in custody being investigated for fraud and theft is incredible.”

See Also: Why Isn’t Sam Bankman-Fried In Handcuffs Yet?

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“Cryptocurrencies without an issuer such as bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) are not securities, Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority said Thursday.

The rules say that transferable instruments with an issuer are likely to constitute a security. That means they must produce an honest prospectus of information for potential investors, and must apply an EU law known as MiFID, which requires financiers to be clear and to avoid conflicts of interest. Even if those rules don’t apply, there are still existing requirements on crypto companies to apply anti-money laundering procedures, the guidance said.”

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“The firm said that when using Infura, which is the default remote procedure call (RPC) provider, on digital wallet MetaMask, Infura will collect the user’s IP address and Ethereum wallet address for transactions. If a user switches to a different RPC on MetaMask the financial data will not be collected.

Meanwhile, Crypto Twitter community members expressed displeasure at the move, which some felt invaded a user’s privacy.”

---

“Russian lawmakers are working on amendments to launch a national crypto exchange. This effort is reportedly supported both by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Russia, which have a long history of disagreement over crypto regulation in the country.

It makes no sense to deny the existence of cryptocurrencies, the problem is they circulate in a large stream outside of state regulation. These are billions of tax rubles of lost tax revenues to the federal budget.

See Also: IMF calls for tighter crypto regulation in Africa as the industry unfolds

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“Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo brothers will produce a mini-series based on FTX’s collapse, with “multiple Marvel actors” in talks to star.

Describing the collapse of FTX as ‘one of the most brazen frauds ever committed,’ the Russo brothers called Bankman-Fried, ‘an extremely mysterious figure with complex and potentially dangerous motivations.’ It will be based on “insider reporting” from multiple unnamed journalists who’ve covered the FTX saga and its founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.”

“The newly appointed majority whip did not mince words when blaming Sam Bankman-Fried and SEC Chair Gary Gensler for the industry’s current state. Emmer reiterated his belief that the issue was not with cryptocurrency or decentralized finance.

This is about centralized finance, which needs to be brought under a regulatory umbrella and Gary Gensler has done nothing to make that happen. Decentralized finance is not what it’s about. It’s not about the crypto industry, this is about Sam Bankman-Fried and regulators.

The congressman reserved much of his ire for the SEC chair, saying investigating these firms is what Gensler is supposed to be doing and asking where he was on Voyager and Celsius, Terra Luna, and more recently on FTX. The congressman then asked why the SEC chair was going after “good actors” in the community and working what he called “a backroom deal” with people doing nefarious things.

Sam Bankman-Fried was pushing special treatment legislation through Congress. We need to get to the bottom of this—we need to understand why Gary Gensler and the SEC were not doing their job.”

See Also: US Senators Demand Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX Execs Be Held Accountable to ‘Fullest Extent of the Law’
See Also: Howls Of Outrage After New York Times Confirms SBF To Speak Alongside Zelenskyy, Yellen
See Also: US Sen. Elizabeth Warren says crypto will ruin economy — Community responds

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“Genesis Global Capital confirmed that it has hired investment bank Moelis & Co. to explore how to shore up its crypto-lending business’ liquidity and address clients’ needs, days after halting withdrawals. Islim noted that other Genesis divisions remain fully operational, including its trading arm and custody businesses.

We’ve begun discussions with potential investors and our largest creditors and borrowers, including Gemini and DCG. We expect to expand these conversations in the coming days.”

See Also: Founder of EOS Developer Block.One Buys 9.3% of Crypto Bank Silvergate

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“Bitcoin (BTC) jumped about 1% after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting showed that the majority of central bankers prefer a slower pace of rate hikes going forward.

A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate

Traders in futures contracts on federal funds on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) now see an 75% chance that the Fed will move ahead with a 50 basis point hike at the next meeting on Dec. 13-14, and a 25 basis point increase at the first two meetings in 2023.”

See Also: Institutional investors are buying through crypto winter: Survey
See Also: Crypto Market Analysis: Commitment of Traders Report Shows Asset Managers Trimming Long Positions
See Also: Pre-Halving Rally? Litecoin Surges 43% to 6-Month High

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“A research paper published at Harvard university highlighted how central banks can use Bitcoin (BTC) to hedge against financial sanctions from fiat reserve issuers.

Ferranti argued that there’s merit for central banks to hold a small amount of Bitcoin even in normal circumstances. However, when there’s a risk of sanctions, the researcher said that it makes sense to hold a larger portion of BTC along with their gold reserves.

The researcher also pointed out that countries that were facing risks of sanctions from the United States have been increasing the share of their gold reserves much more than countries that had less sanction risk. If these central banks cannot acquire enough gold to hedge the risks of sanctions, the researcher argued that Bitcoin reserves are an optimal alternative.

Ferranti concluded that there are significant benefits in diversifying reserves and allocating portions to both Bitcoin and gold.”

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“El Salvador’s national assembly is considering a draft bill to regulate digital securities, indicating the country is going ahead with plans to issue bitcoin-backed bonds. The issuance of El Salvador’s “volcano bonds,” initially planned for March, was delayed with the country’s Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya blaming the war between Ukraine and Russia.

The new rules, if passed into law, mandates the creation of a Bitcoin Fund Management Agency responsible for administering, safeguarding and investing ‘funds from public offerings of digital assets carried out by the State of El Salvador and its autonomous institutions‘ as well as any returns from these public offerings.“

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“The new law sets a two-year moratorium on new and renewed air permits for fossil fuel power plants used for energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining.

The New York State Senate passed a bill targeting proof-of-work (PoW) mining in June this year an effort to address some of the environmental concerns about cryptocurrencies.”

See Also: New York AG pushes prohibition of crypto purchases via retirement funds

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“A crypto wallet attributed to the BTC-e exchange that’s been linked to the 2014 Mt. Gox hack burst into life Wednesday with its largest transaction since August 2017, sending a total of 10,000 bitcoin ($165 million) to two unidentified recipients. The distribution pattern is open to interpretation: It’s possible the wallet owner simply sent the money to other wallets of their own, sent it to other people or cashed out through an unofficial over-the-counter broker. The remaining 6,500 stayed put.

Mt. Gox, the first bitcoin exchange, was robbed of 744,408 BTC and shut permanently in 2014. Alexander Vinnik, alleged to be the operator of BTC-e – which he denies – was arrested in 2017 at a resort near Thessaloniki, Greece, at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice on money laundering and other allegations. Vinnik was extradited to France from Greece in 2020 and sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering. In August of that year he was extradited to the U.S. He is now at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California.“

See Also: 3 Things We Learned at Tornado Cash Dev Alexey Pertsev’s Trial
See Also: Bitcoin Will Become ‘Less Important’ for Cybercrime Payments: Kaspersky
See Also: Aave proposes governance changes after failed $60M short attack

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“Amid concerns over the health and future of Digital Currency Group (DCG) following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, company CEO Barry Silbert told shareholders of the crypto conglomerate that while it owes its own Genesis Trading arm $575 million, the firm aims to emerge “stronger” from the crypto winter.

Silbert said in the letter to investors, that the $575 million worth of intercompany loans are due in May 2023, and that DCG took out the loans like any other crypto firm would. Loan funds were used towards investments and also to repurchase DCG stock from non-employees, Silbert wrote.

DCG also owes Genesis $1.1 billion on a promissory note due in June 2032 related to the default of Three Arrows Capital. Silbert said that DCG is on track for $800 million in revenue in 2022, a dip of about 20% from last year, and told shareholders that ‘we will let you know if we decide to do a financing round.’

Genesis leadership and their board decided to hire financial and legal advisors, and the firm is exploring all possible options amidst the fallout from the implosion of FTX.

Let me be crystal clear: DCG will continue to be a leading builder of the industry and we are committed to our long-term mission of accelerating the development of a better financial system. We have weathered previous crypto winters, and while this one may feel more severe, collectively we will come out of it stronger.”

See Also: Genesis Global Capital Has Hired Investment Bank Moelis to Explore Options Including Bankruptcy: New York Times
See Also: Gemini Still Working With Genesis, Digital Currency Group to Unlock Earn User Withdrawals
See Also: Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest Buys $1.5M in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Shares
See Also: Binance Cites Conflict of Interest for Passing on Genesis Investment: Report

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“‘You have witnessed probably one of the most abrupt and difficult collapses in the history of corporate America,’ an attorney for FTX said during the company’s first bankruptcy hearing in Delaware on Tuesday. There are over 100 different debtors tied to the FTX group that filed for bankruptcy.

Bromley described the FTX empire – at its height valued at $32 billion – as the ‘personal fiefdom of Sam Bankman-Fried.’ The lawyer told the court that Bankman-Fried and a small group of executives ran the company ‘with a lack of corporate controls that none of us in the profession … have ever seen.’

FTX was in the control of a small group of inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals, and unfortunately, the evidence seems to indicate that some or all of them are also compromised individuals.

A substantial amount of [FTX’s] assets have either been stolen or are missing.

The attorney questioned some of FTX’s expenditures, saying that one of the U.S. entities spent around $300 million on real estate in the Bahamas – homes and vacation homes for members of FTX’s leadership team.

The new team at FTX, including new CEO John Ray III, has “assembled a team of investigators,” which includes former enforcement officials with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and former prosecutors, Bromley said. FTX has also retained crypto analytics firm Chainalysis to help it investigate the company’s holdings.”

See Also: FTX Bankruptcy Filing: ‘No Amounts’ Will Be Paid to SBF or His Inner Circle
See Also: Bahamas FTX Liquidators Agree to Transfer Bankruptcy Case to Delaware
See Also: Singapore central bank explains why Binance was on its alert list, but FTX wasn’t

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“The various divisions of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crumbling set of companies have $1.2 billion in cash as of Nov. 20, far below the $3.1 billion it owes its top 50 creditors, court documents show.

About $751 million of that is held in debtor entities and the rest, $488 million, is in non-debtor entities, according to the document. About $514 million is unrestricted cash, $260 million is custodial and $465 million is restricted cash, which is earmarked for specific purposes like loan repayments and can’t be use for general business purposes. It may have more than 1 million creditors, and owes the 50 largest about $3.1 billion.

Alameda Research has the largest reserve of cash out of the various entities at $393 million, while FTX Japan has the largest reserve of cash at $171 million of firms under the FTX silo. The Japanese crypto exchange has reportedly said it is preparing to restart withdrawals by the end of the year.”

See Also: ‘Substantial amount’ of FTX’s assets stolen or missing — Bankruptcy counsel

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“Alexey Pertsev has been ordered to stay in jail until Feb. 20 after a Netherlands court found the Tornado Cash developer represented a flight risk. Pertsev has been held in detention since August, days after the U.S. Treasury used sanction powers against the Tornado protocol.

At the hearing on Tuesday, Dutch public prosecutor Martine Boerlage announced money-laundering charges for the first time. Boerlage has accused Pertsev of facilitating the processing of dirty money by writing the Tornado Cash code.

Boerlage also denied claims that the software was autonomous, saying that Pertsev and others had de facto control. Pertsev, Semenov and Storm may have held so many tokens for the protocol they could in practice ‘always outvote everyone else‘ when it came to decision making, Boerlage added.

Pertsev’s lawyer, meanwhile, argued that the service had legitimate uses. ‘The goal of Tornado Cash is to bring privacy for the user, giving the user control over crypto transactions,’ Cheng said. The prosecution had not convincingly demonstrated specific facts linking Pertsev to the alleged crime as required by Dutch and European law, Cheng added.

It’s clear to us that these judges are not as familiar with the subject matter as they should be. At the moment, the case law regarding criminal activities is all about bitcoin mixers … It’s very important that the court understands that Tornado Cash is something different.

Pertsev’s arrest and detention has drawn widespread outcry, including protests in Amsterdam and a tweet from Edward Snowden comparing Pertsev’s treatment to the kid gloves afforded to executives at collapsed crypto exchange FTX.”

See Also: Mango Exploiter’s Funds Get Liquidated After Roiling Aave Using $20M of Borrowed Curve Tokens

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“There’s a common theme underlying the year’s biggest crypto blowups. From 3AC and Celsius to FTX (and perhaps soon Genesis?) — plenty of centralized crypto entities have been blowing up and leaving users holding the bag.

Amid the recent FTX-driven turmoil in crypto’s centralized finance sector, the top DeFi projects on Ethereum have been trodding along just fine. These battle-tested decentralized protocols show us the power of being able to personally manage your own money onchain without having to worry about corrupt intermediaries like FTX’s leadership.

Accordingly, this Bankless tactic will walk you through the best ways to take control of your crypto by doubling down on DeFi using the most proven dapps available today.”

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“Sales for the Saudi Arabia-themed non-fungible token (NFT) collection called “The Saudis” increased 387% on Tuesday following the country’s surprise 2-1 win against Argentina, which is considered one of the best soccer teams in the world. Argentina’s fan token (ARG), in contrast, dropped 21% over the past 24 hours.

Crypto tokens have become popular among gamblers in this year’s World Cup. Chiliz (CHZ), the native token of the Chiliz blockchain that powers Socios.com, the largest sports fan token creator platform, surged 39% in the week before the start of the competiton.”

See Also: Ethereum Metaverse Game The Sandbox to Launch LAND Sale With Playboy, Tony Hawk, Snoop Dogg

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“After its lending arm suspended services last week and spent the weekend on fruitless fundraising efforts, crypto industry stalwart Genesis Trading has warned that it may be facing bankruptcy, Bloomberg has reported. Despite the report, the company said it has no such plans.

We have no plans to file bankruptcy imminently. Our goal is to resolve the current situation consensually without the need for any bankruptcy filing. Genesis continues to have constructive conversations with creditors.

Genesis launched the first over-the-counter Bitcoin trading desk in 2013, going on to become one of the industry’s largest players. But in the wake of the catastrophic failure of FTX, the company was facing “abnormal withdrawal requests” and was casting about for a $1 billion bailout last week.”

See Also: Bernstein Says Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Is Protected From Fallout at Sibling Company Genesis Global
See Also: Investors Short Crypto Assets as Industry Scrutiny Intensifies
See Also: Coinbase, MicroStrategy Bonds Tank as FTX Collapse Dents Institutional Confidence in Crypto

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“In the case of FTX, the red flags that VCs missed may have in part been due to the “byproduct of the funding environment,” which made it easier for crypto startups to receive early-stage funding with “extremely low interests,” as “tons of capital” flooded into the VC market.

The amount of money available from funds that didn’t ask tough questions more than offset the amount from more discerning investors who were turned off by the lack of oversight at FTX’s board. FTX’s collapse may be a marker for addressing the broader issues of “oversight, compliance [and] auditing” and that may weed out some founders.

Now, the tide for VCs may be shifting, giving investors more leverage in negotiations.”

See Also: FTX Owes Its Largest Creditor $226M; Top 50 Owed Total of About $3.1B
See Also: US CFTC’s Behnam Will Testify at FTX Hearing in Senate
See Also: US Senators Ask Bank Regulators to ‘Review’ SoFi’s Crypto Listings

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1) We recently posted an update regarding how Ren will move forward from Alameda: https://t.co/VFEYHbjZmz

— Ren (@renprotocol) November 20, 2022

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“Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor at the Bank of England (BoE), said the U.K. may need a digital British pound as he discussed whether the collapse of crypto exchange FTX would influence the country’s decision to issue a government-controlled digital currency.

Over the past few days, I have had a few comments both to the effect that the collapse of FTX shows that we need to get on and issue a digitally native pound.

Cunliffe said that crypto needs to be regulated in the U.K. to protect consumers and investors, ensure financial stability and enable innovation.”

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“The agreement will allow Celo to make use of ConsenSys’ Infura infrastructure. Developers will be able to deploy Ethereum-based decentralized applications (dapps) built with Truffle. The integration will also allow for developers to transact between Celo and other DeFi platforms and dapps.

In addition, the partnership is intended to kick off Celo’s compatibility with MetaMask, a popular Ethereum-based wallet. Celo will also join the Ethereum Climate Platform that ConsenSys launched last week.

Developers can use Infura’s trusted and complementary tooling to seamlessly communicate with the Celo blockchain for rapid deployment and scaling.”

See Also: Crypto Exchange Uniswap Says It Collects Users’ Public On-Chain Data
See Also: FTX Blowup Helped Enrich the Ethereum Validators Who Run the Blockchain

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“2022 has been a brutal year, with the collapses of former titans like Terra, 3AC, and FTX wreaking havoc on the industry. The total crypto market cap is down over 71% from its peak, wiping out more than $2.2 trillion in value in just over a year.

But could the worst be over? Chris Burniske believes so. A partner at venture firm Placeholder, Chris is a true crypto OG, having survived numerous cycles. He wrote one of the earliest books on crypto investing, and was the first buy-side analyst to cover crypto. He’s also nailed this bear market, calling the top in November 2021, and urging caution during the July-August rally.

Now when many are questioning crypto’s future… Chris has flipped bullish and believes there’s a strong chance we’ve bottomed.

1. No Forced Sellers

The industry as a whole is also better positioned to weather the FTX storm relative to the collapse of Terra and 3AC, as credit across crypto (and for that matter, TradFi) is much tighter now than it was when those events occurred.

While we may see some bankruptcies, this will not add near-term sell-pressure to the market, as assets held by bankrupt companies will be auctioned off at a much later date. Chris does acknowledge that there is a risk of end-of month selling from fund redemptions, but believes the impact of this on the market may be reduced, as most funds who are getting redeemed have likely been rekt.

2. BTC Is in Deep Value Territory

A variety of on-chain, technical, and quantitative indicators that suggest Bitcoin is in deep-value territory.

3. ETH’s Fundamentals Are Strong

Ethereum’s strong fundamentals also suggest that the bottom may be in. Chris believes the effects of the Merge on ETH market structure and flows are beginning to take hold. ETH’s technicals suggest that it’s in value-territory, as it’s trading below its 200-week moving average.

Chris also looks to the application layer. In particular, DeFi on Ethereum has not skipped a beat. Major DeFi protocols have operated flawlessly, with major lending markets remaining fully solvent and executing liquidations, while DEXs have facilitated billions in trading volumes. Chris believes that capital allocators who are paying close attention to the space are aware of and understand this.

4. Improving Macro

Risk-assets have been hammered in 2022 as the Fed has hiked interest rates. This dramatic increase in the risk-free rate has contributed to multiple compression in the equity market, as investors are no longer willing to stomach nose-bleed valuations now that there is a true cost of capital.

As a result, high-growth tech companies, particularly those in the Nasdaq (which crypto has demonstrated a strong correlation to), have experienced a brutal drawdown of a similar magnitude to the unwinding of the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s.

However, one critical difference between now and then is that the fundamentals of many of these companies are strong, with businesses such as Meta continuing to be free-cash flow machines with a strong grip over the market in their verticals.

Inflation, the straw that stirred the tightening drink, is also showing signs of rolling over, with recent CPI and PPI prints coming in soft. While some may scratch their heads at the market rallying with headline inflation at a 7-handle, it’s important to remember that markets are forward looking.

5. These Factors Are Aligning

With the post-LUNA deleveraging coming to an end, bullish on-chain, technical, and quantitative indicators for BTC and ETH as well as an improving macro backdrop, the stars are aligning for crypto to have put in a bottom. The aforementioned confluence of factors is enough for him to believe that there is a strong probability that the worst (at least in terms of price) is behind us.”

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“Whoever was behind the $600 million exploit of crypto exchange FTX started exchanging millions of dollars worth of ether to Ren Bitcoin (renBTC), a token that represents bitcoin on other blockchains, early on Sunday. Funds stolen from FTX were steadily converted to ether over the past week, making the exploiter one of the largest holders of the token.

The use of renBTC may surprise some in the crypto space: In 2021, Alameda Research – the Sam Bankman-Fried-owned trading arm at the center of a multibillion-dollar scandal – said Ren’s development team was “joining” Alameda and would work on expanding Ren’s usage to several blockchains.

As per a study by blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, the Ren bridge has been previously used to launder stolen funds to the tune of at least $540 million – as it may provide privacy to users, per the Elliptic report.“

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“An expert review of FTX’s audited financial statements reveals a series of red flag related-party transactions that should have led to more scrutiny of the company’s operations.

This month’s blowup of Bankman-Fried’s empire was like a meteor striking the crypto world, and the shock waves are still upending the industry. But if you knew where to look in the audited financial statements, there were signs that it was coming.”

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“Following a discussion with angel investor Balaji Srinivasan and crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken and Binance, Buterin recommended options for the creation of cryptographic proofs of on-chain funds that can cover investor liabilities when required, also known as safe centralized exchanges (CEX).

The Merkle tree technique is basically as good as a proof-of-liabilities scheme can be, if only achieving a proof of liabilities is the goal. But its privacy properties are still not ideal.

As a result, Buterin placed his bets on cryptography via zk-SNARKs. For starters, Buterin recommended putting users’ deposits into a Merkle tree and using a zk-SNARK to prove the actual claimed value. Adding a layer of hashing to the process would further mask information about the balance of other users.

The best case scenario, in this instance, would be a system that does not allow crypto exchanges to withdraw a depositor’s funds without consent. ‘In the longer-term future, my hope is that we move closer and closer to all exchanges being non-custodial, at least on the crypto side.’ On the other hand, highly centralized recovery options can be used for wallet recovery for small funds.

Fellow crypto entrepreneur CZ, who has been vocal about Binance’s intent for complete transparency, acknowledged the importance of Buterin’s recommendations, stating:

Vitalik’s new ideas. Working on this.”

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“FTX, along with 101 of the 130 affiliated companies, announced the launch of a strategic review of their global assets. The review is an attempt to maximize recoverable value for stakeholders. SBF’s replacement, CEO John J. Ray III, confirmed that FTX affiliates have solvent balance sheets, which could be sold or restructured to cut losses.

It will be a priority of ours in the coming weeks to explore sales, recapitalizations or other strategic transactions with respect to these subsidiaries.”

See Also: SBF’s lawyers terminate FTX representation due to conflicts of interest

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“The added pressure comes after Genesis Global Capital, an arm of Digital Currency Group (DCG), owner of Grayscale Investments, which manages GBTC, announced this week that it would halt customer withdrawals from its lending unit. According to QCP Capital, many observers are now expecting DCG to ‘use the most liquid part of the business – Grayscale – to shore up Genesis and other parts of the business.’

The friction is that Grayscale would then have to give up rights to a contractual stream of fees, currently 2% of assets under management. There’s also the question of DCG’s own holdings of GBTC. In October 2021, DCG said in an announcement it had purchased $388 million worth of GBTC shares.

Those expecting GBTC to allow a one-off redemption for Genesis to meet liquidity needs are misguided, as this has to be done with the SEC’s approval. On the bright side this also means a low chance of a large one-off BTC selling pressure from this.

For some investors, the recent widening of the discount may have made the vehicle even more attractive: Bloomberg reported that Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management bought more than 315,000 shares worth roughly $2.8 million of GBTC shares earlier this week.”

See Also: Genesis Sought $1B Bailout From Investors Before Halting Withdrawals: Report
See Also: FTX Catastrophe Likely Triggered By Terra Collapse: Nansen

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“London-based investment manager Man Group Plc is preparing to launch a cryptocurrency hedge fund, signaling continued investor appetite for digital assets in the wake of FTX’s monumental collapse earlier this month. By the end of September, Man Group had $138.4 billion in assets under management.

Institutional appetite for digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) has grown over the past two years, driven partly by the recognition that crypto represents a new investment class. However, broad institutional exposure to crypto has been hindered by a lack of clear regulations and the perception that fiduciary standards prevent fund managers from openly advocating for the sector.”

See Also: Bitcoin Holds Fast Over 16K
See Also: 4 Key Takeaways from the FTX Fiasco

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“The Chief Growth Officer at METACO believes all financial assets will eventually be represented on distributed ledgers. As such, Donoghue mentioned that there is an imperative to redesign the financial market infrastructure.

This is the reason why virtually all tier-1 banks are now investing in building new infrastructure: not for the currently bearish crypto market, but for the much larger vision of how every asset will be represented and how value will be created and exchanged, globally.

Donoghue added that banks will eventually become the bridge for institutions seeking exposure to digital assets and DeFi. He explained that this is due to the fact that traditional financial institutions have consumer trust, large balance sheets and a network of market participants creating liquidity, along with a customer base with unmet needs.

The crypto market is not much of a factor affecting banks, particularly when it comes to DeFi. For instance, he pointed out that JPMorgan used Polygon to conduct a live cross-currency transaction that involved tokenized Singapore dollar and Japanese yen deposits, along with a simulation of tokenized government bonds. According to Butler, those assets have no correlation with crypto prices.

Essentially, financial institutions are looking for ways to tokenize traditional assets — and this could be anything, from bonds and fiat currencies to real estate deeds — and transact them digitally. The latest advancements in DeFi can help make the whole process of transacting significantly more efficient and convenient.”

See Also: BofA: Don’t Tarnish Blockchain Technology With Speculative Crypto Trading

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“Tether today announced a $1 billion chain swap to convert USDT it had on the Solana blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain. Tether has done this in the past when demand to use its stablecoins shifts from one blockchain to another. For example, in mid-2020, Tether twice swapped $1 billion in USDT from Tron to Ethereum, within the span of two months.

The announcement comes as Solana, which just weeks ago ranked within the top 5 biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap, faces difficulties following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Solana now ranks 16th by market cap and is down 25.4% in the last seven days. It is currently trading hands for $13.33, down 95% from its all-time high of $256.

FTX, once one of the biggest exchanges, has deep ties to Solana: the company has invested heavily in several Solana-related crypto projects and was instrumental in developing Solana’s primary decentralized exchange and DeFi liquidity provider, Serum.”

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“[The Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy] is seeking detailed information on the significant liquidity issues faced by FTX, the company’s abrupt decision to declare bankruptcy, and the potential impact of these actions on customers who used your exchange.

The action comes on the heels of the House Financial Services Committee’s announcement that a hearing about FTX’s collapse will be held next month. Across Capital Hill, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) have also sent their own letter to FTX asking for answers.”

See Also: FINRA Targets Crypto Communications/Ads After FTX Collapse
See Also: Bahamas Securities Regulator Says It Ordered FTX Crypto Transferred to Government Wallets

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“The firm sees real potential in the technology creating new and more efficient ways for businesses and consumers to interact with each other. Mabbott stated that virtual interactions on metaverse platforms could not only revolutionize client engagement and service delivery but potentially also open up additional revenue streams for the firm.

I think there will be an explosion actually in terms of uptake and use and applicability of these technologies as well.”

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“The system will walk the line between preserving privacy and allowing regulators and auditors a backdoor into the system when permission is granted.”

See Also: Cardano-Based Regulated Stablecoin USDA Will Hit the Market in Early 2023

“New FTX CEO John J. Ray III issued a scathing assessment of “unprecedented” poor management practices by his predecessor, Sam Bankman-Fried, in a series of filings in a Delaware court. Ray, who has previously supervised financial scandals such as Enron, criticized poor record-keeping and a lack of experience among senior managers, as well as the use of company funds to purchase real estate in the Bahamas.

Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here. From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented.

FTX did not keep appropriate books and records or security controls for its digital assets, used unsecured shared email accounts to access private keys, and to this day cannot provide a list of those working for the company.

Ray also criticized the use of software to conceal the “misuse of corporate funds,” a failure to reconcile blockchain positions daily, and the absence of independent governance between Alameda and the cluster of companies that includes FTX.com. In the Bahamas, FTX Group corporate funds were ‘used to purchase homes and other personal items for employees and advisors,’ and assets were assigned to staff personally with no record of them having to repay any loan.

Those attempting to salvage something from the wreckage of the complex network of scores of companies are now caught up in a complex jurisdictional tussle.”

See Also: FTX Affiliate Alameda Research Loaned $4.1B to Related Parties – Including $1B to Sam Bankman-Fried
See Also: FTX Ventures Was a Disorganized Mess With Missing Financials, Bankruptcy Documents Say

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“The Democratic senators sent letters to both FTX’s current and former CEO demanding answers about what went wrong at the bankrupt exchange – which they say ‘appears to be an appalling case of greed and deception.’ The letter kicks off an investigation into the collapse of FTX and the behavior of Bankman-Fried and his close-knit circle of fellow executives, who have been accused of self-dealing and fraud.

By Nov. 28, Ray and Bankman-Fried are required to provide Warren and Durbin with information and documents about FTX and its subsidiaries’ balance sheets, the cause of the exchange’s liquidity crisis, its rationale for buying bankrupt crypto exchange Voyager Digital, and whether reports that Bankman-Fried and other executives built a “backdoor” into FTX’s accounting system to allow them to alter financial records and move money around without alerting other people are accurate.

Warren and Durbin’s letter also demands answers – and internal communications – about the late-night hack on Nov. 11, which saw hundreds of millions of dollars drained from FTX-controlled wallets.

[Notably], Bankman-Fried’s father, Stanford law professor Joseph Bankman, helped Warren draft legislation for her Tax Simplification Act in 2016, and was previously a donor to her campaign.”

See Also: Sam Bankman-Fried Switches Legal Counsel as Investigations Into FTX Collapse Mount: Report
See Also: Binance’s Lack of Transparency on FTX Bid Could Influence UK Lawmakers’ Crypto Recommendations: Report
See Also: ‘Proof of Reserves’ Emerges as a Favored Way to Prevent Another FTX

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“Binance.US, the American arm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is preparing to bid for bankrupt lending platform Voyager Digital. Voyager’s native token VGX jumped as much as 50% [following the news].

Thomas Braziel, managing partner at investment firm 507 Capital said matters are complicated by the fact Voyager is going to have a claim against the FTX estate for breach of contract.

A previous auction, which was completed around the end of last September, saw the now defunct FTX emerging as the “white knight,” winning out against rivals Wave Financial and Binance. Earlier this week, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said his exchange is setting up an industry recovery fund to help rebuild the industry.”

See Also: Confusion Abounds As Binance and OKX Suspend Support for USDC, USDT on Solana, Then Backpedal

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“The real beneficiaries are going to be people who have very big names and very large balance sheets. People like Fidelity and BNY Mellon.

In 2018, Fidelity launched its trading platform, Fidelity Digital Assets, which focuses on crypto-based institutional custody. Meanwhile, the New York-based BNY Mellon threw its hat into the ring, offering crypto custody services last month. Marenzi said that smaller crypto-native custody services players like Coinbase (COIN), on the other hand, may fall short of gaining institutional interest.

Very large asset managers and traders are going to be very careful about the contracts they sign and what they feel their custodian or the person holding their bitcoin is doing with it.”

See Also: Wells Fargo, HSBC Add Offshore Yuan to Blockchain Foreign-Exchange System

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“Staking vanilla ether (ETH) is generating eye-catching yields for crypto hopefuls amid a broader market crisis with returns on most fixed-income crypto products dropping as low as 0%. Users simply staking staked ether (stETH) at staking service Lido are earning as much as 10.7% – an all-time high since the Merge event – with even higher returns for holders as the value of stETH increases.

The increased rewards have led to related borrowing strategies offering yields of as much as 25.5% on the Interest Compounding ether product (icETH) offered by Index Coop. The Interest Compounding ETH Index (icETH) enhances staking returns with a leveraged staking strategy. The strategy uses a user’s stETH tokens as collateral on DeFi lending service Aave to borrow wrapped ether (WETH) – a token that tracks ether – that is in turn used to purchase additional stETH tokens.

However, there are some caveats to these high yields. ‘Apart from smart contract risk, investors in icETH need to consider the liquidation risk from borrowing ETH from Aave and interest rate risk from the spread between borrowing cost and staking return.'”

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“With a few lines of code, developers can use SSX to integrate Sign-In with Ethereum, enable DAO logins, build a direct relationship with their users, and access the entire universe of decentralized identity patterns.

Sign-In with Ethereum (SIWE, pronounced “see-we”) has become the dominant standard for wallet-based login in web3. It empowers any user to begin the journey to control their own identity and enter a world that doesn’t rely on being locked to centralized identity providers.”

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“ConsenSys, an Ethereum-software firm that helped engineer the Merge, is co-launching with 18 other firms the Ethereum Climate Platform (ECP) at COP27’s UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub. The platform is built for the Ethereum ecosystem, and will aim to mitigate the excess energy consumption that the blockchain used before it went through the Merge in September.

The idea is to gather a bunch of capital and invest the capital into technologies that can have a significant positive impact.”

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Aave is live on Aztec.

The leading open source protocol for non-custodial liquidity markets, now with full privacy and 12x lower gas fees than L1: pic.twitter.com/vEk7tPuoj2

— Aztec (@aztecnetwork) November 15, 2022

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