Search results: cryptocurrency

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried took funds from his trading firm, Alameda Research, to buy stock of trading app Robinhood, court documents revealed Tuesday.

Several wallets associated with Alameda Research, the trading arm bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.com, came to life on Wednesday, swapping various tokens. 

Former customers of FTX have filed a class action lawsuit against the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange and its top executives, including Sam Bankman-Fried, to seek priority rights to repayment before any non-customer creditors.  

Kraken announced on Wednesday that it will “cease its operations” in Japan and deregister from the Financial Services Agency.

From Terra and FTX crises to Ethereum’s triumphant Merge and China’s inventive NFT industry, Forkast reviews a rollercoaster year and its consequences.

In times of market volatility, regulation can restore confidence and public trust in crypto, writes Albert Isola, Gibraltar’s minister for digital and financial services.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) reportedly plans to allow the circulation of foreign-issued stablecoins in the local market next year.

After a year of new all-time highs for major cryptocurrencies in 2021, 2022 was a challenging year for Web3. Industry experts tell Forkast what crypto has in store for 2023 and beyond.

Bitcoin and Ether prices dropped on Wednesday morning in Asia while other non-stablecoin top 10 cryptocurrencies posted mixed results with BNB leading gains.

While the collapse of FTX may invite more scrutiny for centralized exchanges, Binance’s Patrick Hillmann believes it could benefit the industry through more decentralization.

Blockchain browser and mining pool BTC.com said on Monday that it got hacked earlier this month, and lost around US$2.3 million of its own assets and US$700,000 of clients’ assets.

The FTX collapse was a pivotal point the cryptocurrency industry needed to grow beyond just a speculative asset class, Ledger’s Alex Zinder says.

Bitcoin and Ethereum inched up in Monday afternoon trading in Asia. Most other non-stablecoin top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were little changed

Like an awkward teen, Bitcoin is facing a crisis of confidence, writes Eddie Hui of MetaComp. What lies in store for the original cryptocurrency in 2023?

ICBA vice-president Brian Laverdure believes that community banks are unfazed by FTX’s collapse, but remain split on cryptocurrencies.

This year’s cascade of crypto collapses should be a wake-up call to regulators, says the Independent Community Bankers of America’s Brian Laverdure.

Failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. has asked a bankruptcy court to keep US$450 million worth of Robinhood shares frozen, as three parties battle for the true ownership of the assets. 

A lot of the troubles for India exchanges in 2022 will run into next year as they shed staff and run down reserves to stay afloat, and not all are expected to make it.

Bankman-Fried won an upgrade from his Bahamas prison cell after posting bail following his extradition to the U.S. on Wednesday, where he faces charges for what prosecutors called “fraud of epic proportions.”

U.S. Republican Senator Pat Toomey introduced a bill on Wednesday to set regulations for stablecoins and to further “sensible” regulation of cryptocurrency.

British Columbia has paused new electricity connection requests from crypto miners for 18 months to support the province’s climate action.

Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, two integral members of the Sam Bankman-Fried now collapsed cryptocurrency businesses, are cooperating with prosecutors.

Core Scientific said it may sell some of its mining facilities under development that could be worth up to a gigawatt of power after it filed for bankruptcy protection.

Core Scientific, one of the largest publicly traded crypto mining firms in the U.S., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the state of Texas on Wednesday.

Top blockchain and crypto news: US senators push for crypto KYC. SBF faces the music in US courts. Alibaba Cloud to launch blockchain node.

As crypto investors move towards self-custody following FTX’s collapse, Brian Paik wonders whether it could teach people the true value of Bitcoin, beyond hype and price speculation.

The new restructuring team of FTX has reportedly located over US$1 billion in cash assets that are held in U.S. financial institutions.

The supply of Bitcoin owned by retail investors has reached an all-time high of around 17%, according to blockchain research firms Glassnode and IntoTheBlock.

BlockFi, an early victim of the financial contagion caused by the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, said it wants to return assets locked up in its bankruptcy proceedings.

Troubled U.S.-based Bitcoin mining firm Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. has entered a debt restructuring agreement with NYDIG, a cryptocurrency service provider to which Greenidge owes US$74 million.

Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, has signed documents in the Bahamas for extradition and is scheduled to the U.S. on Wednesday.

A S.Korean court has approved prosecutors’ request to freeze assets of US$93.3 million belonging to seven former associates of Terraform Labs.

The deal will need approval in a court hearing on January 5 and also faces a vote by creditors under Voyager’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Busan announced the steering committee for its flagship exchange, but it didn’t include global partners earlier linked to the project.

The latest Bitcoin mining difficulty level rose 3.27%, as miners continue to face cash shortages due to low Bitcoin prices and high energy costs.

Centralized exchanges releasing ‘proof of reserves’ is not enough to win back users, while improving user experience will be key, writes Holger Arians of Banxa.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried appeared in court in the Bahamas, but did not agree to be extradited to the U.S. 

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has acquired Indonesia-based crypto exchange Tokocrypto, according to a CNBC report

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX, India’s first crypto unicorn, published its complete proof of reserves (PoR) on Monday detailing its USDT liabilities and reserves.

Bitcoin and Ether were little changed on Monday after a weekend slump amid worries about a global recession and the stability of crypto exchanges.

Several venture funds tell Forkast they have become conservative and are only investing in ‘true believers’ of Web 3.0

Putting property on-chain is a novel way of opening up opportunities for investors and landlords alike. The second article in Forkast’s three-part series on real estate tokenization explores what they stand to gain.

Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly made a second application for bail in the Bahamas – this as lawyers feud over control of the FTX bankruptcy, raising concern the sour grapes may seep into efforts to have Bankman-Fried extradited to face fraud charges in the U.S.

Hong Kong launched two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking cryptocurrency futures on Friday, the first of their kind in Asia, the local exchange said.

Bitcoin and Ether prices fell Friday morning in Asia, along with most of the top 10 non-stablecoin crypto, as U.S. stocks had their biggest declines in weeks.

Asia’s cryptocurrency community is “on the path of moving on” from the FTX fiasco, following the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, said Yat Siu, cofounder and chairman of Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming studio and venture capital firm Animoca Brands.

Kevin O’Leary Kevin O’Leary, chairman of venture capital firm O’Leary Ventures and star of TV’s Shark Tank, said in a congressional hearing on Wednesday that Binance Global Inc.’s chief executive and founder Changpeng Zhao deliberately caused the collapse of Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX.com. 

A Japanese lawmaker called for more transparent regulations following the FTX meltdown, where investors were not warned of the risks with FTX Token.

ConsenSys Inc., the company behind leading crypto wallet MetaMask, announced on Thursday a new partnership with PayPal Holdings Inc.

As U.S. prosecutors line up charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Senator Elizabeth Warren is seeking to pass bipartisan regulation to rein in the “dark underbelly” of the crypto industry.

The bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX doesn’t represent the biggest losses for crypto investors in 2022, according to a report from Chainalysis.

Top blockchain and crypto news: SBF denied bail, US extradition likely next. The Block chief quits over secret FTX loans. Hong Kong readies digital asset rules.

Bitcoin and Ether increased in Asian trading on Wednesday afternoon, with Solana leading gains across most top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies

Interpol fugitive and chief of Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. Kwon Do-hyung has registered his residential address in the Republic of Serbia.

Members of a U.S. Congressional hearing expressed frustration about the timing of Bankman-Fried’s arrest, saying they wanted him to testify under oath so the public could get the answers they are seeking about the collapse of FTX.

Wemade Co. filed an immediate appeal against the court’s Dec. 7 decision that rejected the developer’s request to disallow four of the nation’s largest crypto exchanges from delisting its native cryptocurrency, WEMIX.

Bitcoin and Ether both rose more than 3% in Wednesday morning in Asia, as the U.S. consumer price index came in lower than expected.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced at 12:54 a.m. on Wednesday in Hong Kong that USDC stablecoin withdrawals have resumed.

The Hong Kong SFC said that virtual asset investments offering high-interest returns on cryptocurrency deposits and those that guarantee additional assets at fixed rates are unregulated products that are not protected by law. 

Bitcoin jumped more than 5% on Tuesday evening Hong Kong time, after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said that the consumer price index (CPI), a key inflation indicator, was up 7.1% in November from a year earlier, less than the expected 7.3%, and down from 7.7% in October. The CPI rose 0.1% in November from October.

The Binance cryptocurrency exchange “temporarily paused” USDC stablecoin withdrawals while it carried out a “token swap,” the company announced Tuesday.

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried has been charged by the U.S. SEC for orchestrating a years-long fraud on investors, the agency announced on Tuesday.

By some estimates, job cuts in the cryptocurrency-specific industry are running at about 30-40%, which means tough times for employers and employees, and compensation packages are also taking a hit.

John J. Ray III, the new CEO of FTX.com, said the company’s failure was caused by the “concentration of control in a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals.”

The fall from grace: Once one of the most admired figures in crypto, the former head of the FTX exchange is unlikely to see his Bahamas penthouse anytime soon after being arrested Monday on U.S. charges that are expected to lead to his extradition.

Stablecoins in USD are becoming the digital world’s default currency — which burdens ordinary crypto users and monetary policies in smaller nations, writes Wei Zhou of Coins.ph.

Prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) are reportedly split on filing charges against Binance and its executives on possible money laundering and sanctions violations, as part of a long-running criminal investigation.

KuCoin, a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange, on Monday released its proof of reserves report issued by third-party auditor Mazars, which concluded that the exchange’s reserves of Bitcoin, Ether, USDT and USDC are overcollateralized.

Crypto is weathering this year’s extreme turbulence so far. But its long-term health will require the sector’s urgent attention to regulation, education and security, writes Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex Global.

S.Korean authorities may mandate companies to pursue direct approval from regulators to list their crypto on local digital assets exchanges.

Michael McCaffrey, the CEO of crypto news outlet The Block, resigned after reports revealed that he received undisclosed multi-million dollar loans from Alameda Research.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has advised publicly-listed firms to disclose their exposure to the cryptocurrency market, in light of the fallout of the FTX collapse.