Digital Currency News This Week
14 years later: An incredible influence of Bitcoin’s revolutionary programme “Satoshi Nakamoto”
Fourteen years have passed since Satoshi Nakamoto unveiled Bitcoin 0.1, the first version of the program now known as “Bitcoin Core.”
Although it was not widely accepted at first, this small symbol has printed a permanent and influential mark in the world of technology and finance.
On January 8, 2009, an anonymous “Nakamoto” published up to the hour a paper on a crepto mailing list identifying the characteristics of bitcoin.
He described it as an electronic payment system based on proof of encryption rather than trust or central authorities.
The years that followed were marked by tremendous difficulty in embracing and understanding this innovation.
But despite all the odds, bitcoin and other alternative cryptocurrencies prevailed.
Since its inception 14 years ago, both existing companies and technology start-ups have embraced this leading protocol worldwide, launching products using digital codes, smart contracts or other blockchain-based applications, the same technology that supports bitcoin.
What began as a mysterious program was eventually adopted by major corporations and even governments around the world that suddenly realized its potential for organizations and individuals alike.
As with any new invention, it may take some time to fully understand the implications for society and culture as a whole.
However, what was created by Satoshi Nakamoto still has a significant transformative effect.
Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) lead alternative cryptocurrency rally
After 9 days of the New Year 2023, cryptocurrencies were finally able to begin their first apparent rise.
The digital currency Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) both gained more than 20% each.
As of the time of publication, the digital currency Cardano (ADA) rose 19% and is currently trading at $0.33 and a market value of $11.4 billion.
Since the beginning of 2023, ADA has shown great strength by making a gain of nearly 10% last week.
Digital currency Cardano returned to the news after the resumption of the accumulation of whales for ADA.
Since New Year’s Day, Cardano addresses with between 1 million and 100 million ADAs have added a total of more than 200 million ADAs to date.
According to technical schemes, the rate of ADA’s digital currency exceeded the resistance level of $0.3.
If the ADA price continues to hold up after this, we can expect it to turn this resistance into support and continue the journey up.
Solana’s recovery continues:
Another cryptocurrency facing a significant rise in prices over the past week is Solana Currency (SOL).
Solana, one of Ethereum’s competing currencies, rose by more than 20% and traded above $16 with a market value of $5.9 billion.
Over the past week, the SOL price has risen by 60% making it one of the best performing alternative cryptocurrencies on the market.
The SOL digital currency faced a massive correction after the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency trading platform in November 2022.
Solana ended 2022 with a staggering 95% price drop but now speculators are back in front in 2023.
According to technical charts, the digital currency Solana (SOL) exceeded the first resistance at $15.
The following immediate resistance to SOL on the top side is $18.1.
If Solana breaks this resistance, she can prepare for the next bull run.
The wider alternative currency area is currently booming with Ethereum (ETH) achieving gains of over 4% while BNB from Benance is up 7%.
MATIC and LTC prices also increased by 6% and 8% respectively.
After FTX… will the wrath of US prosecutors turn towards Benance?
As part of a lengthy investigation into possible violations of money laundering laws at one of the world’s largest crypto companies, federal prosecutors are now looking into Benance’s ties to U.S. hedge funds.
According to the latest reports, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington has issued subpoenas in recent months directing investment companies to provide details of their contacts with Benance.
Binance and more trouble:
The subpoenas were issued at a time when Benance was subject to further scrutiny by the media as well as regulatory authorities over her business and financial affairs.
This cash peaked at the end of the previous year following the FTX implosion, which left billions of dollars in financial gaps shaking investors’ confidence in the increasingly volatile and unstable crypto market.
According to legal professionals, the United States authorities are still examining existing evidence and are currently discussing a possible settlement with Benance, thus indicating that the alleged subpoenas are not intended to bring charges against the cryptocurrency trading company or the hedge funds concerned.
In an interview, he told “Patrick Hillman”, chief strategy officer at Benance, that Benance regularly communicated with almost every regulator around the world, but did not clarify the status of any ongoing investigations in the United States of America.
Existing legal issues about Benance:
According to legal experts, Binance has built a good reputation over the years by successfully evading rules and exploiting legal loopholes to keep its business going in many countries.
Lawmakers were concerned about Benance’s role in money laundering because the company had not previously asked users to provide any kind of definition such as “know your customer” officially.
Penance was reportedly linked to the Russian dark web market Hydra last year, with one of the leading media outlets describing it as a hub for hackers, fraudsters and drug dealers.
At the time, Benance strongly denied the allegations and publicly challenged the report by issuing an official statement along with a blog post from the company’s official Twitter profile.
Recently, Benance has been making efforts to strengthen its commitment to compliance.
Benance made significant attempts to grow its security and compliance workforce by 500% in 2022.
Capture the founder of the famous NFT group The Mutant Ape Planet…
Unexpectedly, Orelin Michel, a French citizen resident of the United Arab Emirates, was arrested on Wednesday evening and charged with defrauding investors in the immutable code program Mutant Ape Planet, for $2.9 million.
A criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. federal court on Thursday revealed that the 24-year-old had been arrested the previous day by U.S. government authorities at JFK International Airport.
Michelle benefited from NFT when interest in it was in aspects early last year by presenting 9,999 images of monkeys.
This NFT collection was sold on Ethereum blockchain and cost approximately $468 each at the launch of the collection.
Michelle allegedly tricked investors and ran away with their money.
The United States Government’s complaint reads as follows:
Orielyn Michel committed a scheme to pull the rug and steal nearly $3 million from investors for personal use.
Mutant Ape Planet NFTs buyers thought they were investing in a trendy new range, but they were scammed and received none of the promised benefits.
Thomas Fatoroso, Acting Special Agent on behalf of the IRS, stated in the U.S. Department of Justice press release:
Once NFT was sold, Michelle allegedly stopped calling and withdrew buyers’ money from the company’s cryptocurrency portfolios, filling his pockets with nearly $3 million in investor money.
Decline in interest in NFT:
The arrest of Orelin Michel comes at a time when the world of NFT is under tight government scrutiny.
Prices of NFT (non-replaceable codes) fell in 2022 amid general chaos in the crypto market.
While many high-profile NFT projects have experienced a decline in their values, the world of NFT has experienced hacking problems.
Millions of dollars were stolen from NFT in 2022 and trust in the thriving digital market collapsed.
Recently released Trump NFT cards saw their value drop by more than 75% over the first two weeks.
However, against the backdrop of hacks and crypto chaos, the number of NFT traded last year increased significantly, although total trading volume remained relatively stable.
Analytics company “DappRadar” recorded nearly 101 million NFT transactions during 2022, up from about 58.6 million in 2021.
With lower cryptocurrency and NFT rates, more NFT was exchanged at lower values.
US authorities investigate DCG crypto group on internal transfers
One day after Digital Currency Group (DCG) announced the closure of its wealth management unit, U.S. authorities launched an investigation into the company’s internal financial transactions.
For information, DCG is Grayscale’s parent group as well as the Genesis lending vacuum that is facing a significant liquidity problem right now.
Federal authorities from Brooklyn are now investigating internal transfers between DCG and its beleaguered Genesis branch, sources familiar with the matter said.
They are also looking at information that DCG has provided to investors regarding remittances.
According to some sources, prosecutors began considering the company’s internal documents while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Authority joined the investigation.
Investigations are still in the early stage and neither DCG nor its CEO Barry Selbert have been charged with any wrongdoing.
Commenting on the developments, the company said:
DCG has a strong culture of integrity and has always run its business legally.
We have no knowledge or reason to believe that there is any investigation in the Eastern District of New York towards DCG.
Regulators such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York have not commented on anything yet.
Genesis draws with it its parent company DCG to problems:
Cryptocurrency lending company Genesis has experienced a major problem following the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency trading platform.
After liquidity problems, Genesis suspended all withdrawals last month resulting in the DCG parent group being pulled into the matter.
DCG kept its distance from Genesis’s problems as the parent company itself showed that it operated as an independent company.
In its letter to shareholders in November 2021, DCG founder Barry Silbert stated that he had received about $575 million in loans from Genesis Global Capital due before May 2023.
Silbert added that these inter-firm loans were part of normal business and always organized on a purely commercial basis and priced at prevailing market interest rates.
But cryptocurrency exchange platform Gemini was heavily criticized at Digital Currency Group because it has more than $900 million in deposits from its products with Genesis.
Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, accused Silbert of procrastinating to solve the problem.
Bitcoin price rises and approaches more than $ 17 thousand after US jobs report published
The unemployment rate in the United States of America has fallen to historic lows.
The United States continues to exceed expectations for new jobs added for December 2022, according to the Department of Labor.
The December 2022 report indicated that the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% from 3.7% recorded in November.
Meanwhile, the world’s strongest economy added 223,000 jobs in December, above Bloomberg’s estimate of 200,000 jobs.
Overall, the United States ended the year by adding 4.5 million new jobs, after the same figure fell when the country was recovering from the collapse caused by the spread of the coronavirus.
The best month in 2022 in terms of added jobs was February, adding more than 700,000 jobs, while December was better than expected.
Bitcoin price affected by US jobs report:
Shortly after the report was published, bitcoin began to move, heading north with a slight move of $150.
As a result, the cryptocurrency jumped to just over $16,800 but bounced back almost quickly.
The currency then re-rose and is gradually approaching the $ 17 thousand level.
Observed in the Krypto market recently it is clearly influenced by US advertisements and reports such as CPI numbers and interest rate hikes, as they have a significant impact on bitcoin price movements.
- For the dates of announcement of US monthly inflation figures for 2023 will be disclosed on these dates:
- January 12th
- 14 Feb
- March 14
- April 12th
- May 10
- 13 June
- July 12th
- 10 August
- 13 September
- October 12th
- 14 November
- December 12th
Why do Wall Street analysts think it’s time to buy bitcoin?
Despite downward expectations for the market, Bernstein analysts remain optimistic that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may reach new heights, according to the source.
The company’s analysts pointed to the industry’s track record of recovering from its lows and rebounding again with huge revenues after each passing winter.
Bernstein’s optimism is centered on the expectation of long-term growth due to increased adoption among bitcoin internet users.
Although there are many downward factors for cryptocurrencies, such as unfavourable macro conditions and regulatory threats, advances in blockchain technology can overcome these challenges in the future.
Ultimately, investors should focus on adopting long-term users if they plan to see significant returns over time.
The previous year brought countless challenges to the cryptocurrency market.
Bitcoin 2022 closed significantly lower, losing 65% of its value.
This price decline stands in stark contrast to a 60% gain recorded in 2021 and an almost four-fold increase observed in 2020.
Downward market conditions remind us of 2018 when the main cryptocurrency experienced a 74% decline.
The recent collapse of FTX, as well as weak risk appetite due to severe interest rate hikes by the Fed, have played their part as bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices in general should be pushed down to coincide with the end of the year.
Bitcoin price stabilizes at $16,800 as dominance of alternative cryptocurrencies declines
The global crypto market has changed significantly over the past hours.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and others continued to improve as capital flows continued.
The improvement in capital flow shows that 2023 may be much better for the crypto market than at least last year in the few days of the beginning of 2023.
Although the crypto winter has lasted more than usual this time, there is a chance that it will end soon.
At present, there is a greater need for sustained incoming financial flow and enhanced investor confidence.
SEC recently intervened in the acquisition of Voyager’s assets by Benance US platform Binance.US, questioning the legitimacy of the transaction.
The SEC questioned its legitimacy and demanded more details on the transaction.
Binance.US decided to buy Voyager Digital’s bankrupt assets worth more than $1 billion and help settle customers’ debts.
The SEC disagreed with the transaction and found that the information contained in the court filing regarding the information provided by Binance.US was insufficient.
The SEC said in its filing that to complete a transaction at this level, more information is needed.
The SEC sent its concerns to Binance.US lawyers, and the revised disclosure statement is due before subsequent hearings.
Back at crypto market prices, bitcoin was able to return to $16,800 levels, the return was slow and the currency has now stabilized.
Bitcoin BTC has improved in value as the currency trades in the range of $16,840, while bitcoin’s market value is estimated at $324 billion.
For the 24-hour bitcoin trading volume for approximately $18,161,736,432.
Overall, the global crypto market has seen a positive trend over the past hours.
Bitcoin and Ethereum performance showed a bullish trend for most alternative cryptocurrencies, leading the total market value to improve and be estimated at $821 billion.
Investment flow towards cryptocurrencies falls to three-year lows
Investment flows towards cryptocurrencies recorded one of their worst times in 2022.
2022 was full of declines and negative events that wiped more than $2 trillion out of the market value of the crypto market.
Investors responded by withdrawing their money from the market, and investors invested the lowest cumulative number they have made since 2018.
Institutional investors invest cautiously:
A report from CoinShares, released in 2022, shows how cryptocurrency assets invested in it performed.
The report showed that over the entire year, total inflows amounted to $433 million.
The last time flows from these investor categories were so low in 2018 was when the figure reached $233 million.
To put this in perspective, in 2021, flows reached $9.1 billion.
This was during the bull market and greed was at an all-time high.
What this means is that between 2021 and 2022, inflows fell by more than 95%.
Until 2020 it was much better when incoming flows touched up to $6.6 billion.
Interestingly, outflows for 2022 were relatively lower compared to 2018.
The year’s largest weekly inflows recorded only 0.7%, an encouraging figure despite a decline in inflows.
This large offload shows that institutional investors remain very cautious of the cryptocurrency market, and fear can continue until 2023 if there is no recovery.
Bitcoin controls inflows:
Most of the inflows of cryptocurrency investments for 2022 went to bitcoin.
Bitcoin leads the market, accounting for more than half the value recorded at $287 million.
It was followed by multi-asset investment products that received much support for the year with flows of $209 million.
It is worth noting that there is also a significant correlation between the decline in bitcoin price throughout the year and lower flows towards cryptocurrency assets.
In 2022, bitcoin lost about 63% of its value, pulling the rest of the market with it.
This significant downturn has turned investors’ feelings into fear and thus less money towards the market.
Hackers steal $3.4 million in GMX cryptocurrencies
Breakthroughs continue in the crypto market.
Finding gaps in DeFi’s decentralized funding protocols code does not stop with hackers.
Once they find a loophole, they outrageously exploit it and steal millions of dollars from it.
Hack into a GMX cryptocurrency whale:
A group of hackers stole $3.4 million worth of digital currency GMX from a whale, according to security companies CertiK and PeckShield.
The hack saw perpetrators take control of 82,519 GMX coins and replace them with 2627 Ethereum.
The stolen cryptocurrencies were then transferred to the Ethereum network via the Hop and Across Protocol Protocol.
The breakthrough led to a sudden fall in the value of the digital currency GMX to $38, but the currency has since recovered to $41.
A GMX group official confirmed on telegram a phishing attack, explaining that there were no security gaps on the GMX platform itself.
One of the group’s mediators stated that they had been in contact with the victims of the attack.
Set the date of the FTX founder’s trial who declared himself not guilty?
Unlike two former colleagues, Sam Bunkman Fred, co-founder of FTX, stated that he was not guilty of criminal charges against him that he deliberately deceived investors.
Louis Kaplan, judge of the United States District Court, set the trial date at the beginning of October.
Bankman was expected to hold his first hearing on January 3 after his arrest in the Bahamas last month and subsequent deportation to the United States of America.
The leaked documents indicated that he would defend himself not guilty of criminal charges that he had deceived investors by transferring the money they deposited in FTX for his personal purposes and to Alameda.
Some of the other charges he faced in Manhattan federal court included fraud and conspiracy to launder money.
Judge Lewis Kaplan set the trial date for October 2, 2023, saying the trial could last four weeks.
If convicted, the former FTX executive can be sent to prison for up to 115 years.
Bankman’s confession is quite different from that of former Alameda CEO Caroline Allison and former FTX executive Gary Wang, both of whom have already pleaded guilty.
Bankman was released on $250 million bail before Christmas.
He must also wear an electronic monitor during his stay at his parents’ home.
Despite the restrictions imposed by the court, there have been many suspicious transactions from Alameda or the personal krypto portfolio of “Bankman” in the past few weeks.
Bankman has denied any connection with these transactions, but the US authorities will investigate according to these transfers.
14 years have passed since Bitcoin and the Crypto Market in general… Learn about the details of the beginning!
Yesterday, January 3rd is the day to celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of bitcoin formation block.
Currently, 14 years and a day have passed since the creation of Bitcoin blockchain, a remarkable achievement added to the achievements of Bitcoin, which has not known to stop throughout its lifetime.
On January 3, 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis, bitcoin’s genesis block was launched by the unidentified and famous hero Satoshi Nakamoto and the Krypto community, whose true identity is still unknown to the hour.
The formation block was the first of its kind in bitcoin blockchain and marked the beginning of a new era in decentralized digital money and the launch of one of the most revolutionary inventions of the century.
The configuration block contained 50 bitcoins, which were not spent, as encryption experts assumed that this would be considered a reward for running the contract on the network.
The composition block also contains the headline of one of the old newspapers from the London Times, which was entitled:
The consultant is about to save the banks’ second.
This was thought to be a statement about the overall state of money at the time, with banks rescued due to irresponsible banking practices.
But then it was explained that “Satoshi” used this title to refer to opposition to how big banks run things before cryptocurrencies arose, and how something like bitcoin could make those banks themselves redundant by providing decentralized solutions for financial transaction management.
The Bitcoin blockchain network has changed itself dramatically since its modest start 10 years ago, with a total of more than 770,111 blocks now.
After 14 years, bitcoin remains at the forefront of cryptocurrencies and has even contributed to a new market once worth more than $3 trillion.
Genesis CEO requests more time to resolve complex financial situation
On 4 January, Harar Islam, interim CEO of Genesis Trading, a cryptocurrency brokerage and loan company forced to halt withdrawals in November 2022, stated that the company needed more time to resolve its complex financial situation.
This comes after Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, wrote an open letter highlighting the delay in resuming withdrawals for his Gemini platform, due to its partnership with Genesis affiliate DCG.
Genesis requests more time:
After the failure of the FTX cryptocurrency trading platform in November 2022, Genesis received $900 million in customer funds for the Gemini platform’s customers.
At the beginning of December, Genesis stated that its return to work would take some time, despite rumors that there was an immediate solution or even a looming bankruptcy file.
In a letter addressed to the company’s customers on Wednesday, Islam’s damage was quoted as saying:
We are committed to moving as quickly as possible, but this is a very complex process and will take some extra time.
Genesis further stated that it would continue to work with advisers while maintaining its main focus on seeking treatment for borrowing and lending work.
In a previous letter sent to investors on November 23, Genesis reported that it had begun discussions with potential investors as well as the largest creditors and borrowers, including Gemini and DCG, to agree on a solution that supports the overall liquidity of their lending business as well as meeting customers’ needs.
Things started to get more tense after Winkelvoss tweeted Gemini’s manager last Monday, in which he sent a letter to DCG founder and CEO Barry Selbert that Selbert DCG and its lending arm Genesis were dragging their feet on the deal to return the $900 million freezer they owe to Gemesis users.
Genesis lays off 30% of its employees… Is filing for bankruptcy next?
According to the latest reports, “Genesis Trading,” the lending arm of the major digital currency group (DCG), has begun a new wave of layoffs, which will reduce its workforce by 30%.
The demobilization process is a strong indicator of the financial instability that Krypto is currently facing and also raises doubts about its sustainability in the cryptocurrency market.
Company “Genesis” lays off more workers:
Genesis incurred significant losses as a result of loans to businesses such as Alameda Research, and to the prominent hedge fund “Three Arrows Capital (3AC)” in 2022.
Due to the financial crisis faced by these companies, bankruptcy petitions were filed with the courts while cryptocurrencies took a sharp fall that erased all of the gains made earlier by cryptocurrencies.
Genesis laid off 20% of its 260-person workforce during the summer of 2022.
The failure of FTX has made matters worse for the company.
According to the information obtained, “Genesis” provided a credit of at least hundreds of millions of dollars to Alameda Research, which is FTX’s sister trading company, before the latter collapsed in November.
It also made significant contributions to the hedge fund “3AC”, which was reported bankrupt and lost $2.4 billion.
Genesis is about to go bankrupt?
On November 16, Genesis temporarily suspended the financing of new loans to repay previous loans.
Because of the “Genesis” procedure, “Gemini” – a cryptocurrency trading platform that had previously collaborated with “Genesis” on loan servicing – has suspended $900 million in withdrawals from its Earn program.
In order to survive, “Genesis” turned to investors for a $1 billion emergency loan.
The company has made attempts to secure financing from powerful private equity firms such as Apollo Global Management and Benance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange company.
This week, “Islam Damage” informed the interim CEO that the company was working to find a solution to its borrowing and lending arm, and that this would require additional time to do so.
This came after the co-founder of Gemini wrote an open letter highlighting the delay in resuming withdrawals, which they owe to their customers.
Increased interest rates and concerns about the economic slowdown led investors to escape high-risk assets, disrupting the cryptocurrency market.
In addition, recent bankruptcies and recent layoffs have led to doubts about the feasibility and extent of Genesis’s ability to remain in the cryptocurrency industry.
Are the initial ICO offerings safe in 2023?
An initial digital currency offer (ICO) can be launched by selling to investors before the currency goes public.
The question now is, in 2023, is this operation safe or can it be a scam?
Before touching on the core of the subject we limp first and know what ICO is:
What is the initial ICO offer?
When compared to traditional finance, the initial currency offering works like an initial public offering in traditional financial markets.
In the initial public offering, the company sells some of its shares as a means of obtaining money that will then go towards financing new projects or whatever else they may need.
For the initial coin offering, developers who are about to launch a new cryptocurrency are displaying and selling some of their digital codes at a set price.
By doing so, they raise capital and start providing their own currencies or digital codes to buyers.
What are the risks of ICO’s initial offer?
The main difference between the ICO and the IPO is that while the IPO is largely regulated by the government or other entities such as the SEC, the initial currency offer is not regulated by anyone.
This in turn makes it dangerous so almost anyone can create their own ICO.
This apparent lack of regulation, in simple words, means that nothing stops the project to get your money and escape, a scam known in the crypto world as “pulling the rug.”
What pulls the rug?
Rug withdrawals have been a common phenomenon in recent years with many developers collecting and immediately escaping a lot of money, simply because there have been no official regulations.
To avoid pulling the rug, you will need to do as much due diligence as possible and look more about the project and who is behind it
Where does the money go in ICO?
When you participate in the initial currency offer, you will invest in a project and the funds you provide will, in theory, go towards financing the project and thus help the currency succeed.
The absence of this initial investment will hamper the success of the currency as it will certainly delay the implementation of specific features as well as the advertising and marketing strategy of the digital currency to be invested in.
How can I profit in ICO?
By participating in ICO, you will get early access to the currency at a likely cheaper price.
So once you launch the currency and increase its price, investors can sell at a profit.
An important point to note is that the vast majority of primary currency offerings were in fact unable to follow this path either because their price fell after their launch, or the project did not get off the ground as planned.
Conclusion:
When dealing with initial currency offerings, one should always be wary of scams.
The ICO space is very promising as it can introduce a new and innovative blockchain project and offer the addition in the crypto world.
But it has become very difficult under fraudulent conditions that occur daily and monitor many fraudsters to investors.
Set up a dedicated FTX team to accelerate users’ refunds
Yesterday, Tuesday, January 3, the Manhattan Attorney General’s Office announced the formation of an FTX task force that will focus in particular on all investigations and charges facing the company.
The aim of the formation of the special task force is to accelerate the process of recovery of victims’ assets from the collapse of the company.
This development came when the FTX founder appeared in Manhattan Magistrates’ Court to defend himself as not guilty in his criminal case.
The trial of Sam Bunkman Fred was prepared for trial later this year on October 2, 2023.
Bankman has been charged with financial fraud and multiple financial offences and could face 115 years’ imprisonment.
Sam Bankman is currently on a $250 million bond but is under house arrest at his parents’ home.
Besides “Bankman”, both FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison, former Alameda CEO, face multiple charges.
Damian Williams told the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan in a statement Tuesday that:
The Southern District of New York is working around the clock to respond to the FTX internal explosion.
We are launching the FTX Task Force to ensure that this urgent work continues, supported by all resources and expertise, until justice is achieved.
FTX Task Force:
The Manhattan District Court’s task force will include lawyers specializing in money laundering tracking, securities and commodity fraud, criminal corporate administrations and public corruption.
Andrea Griswold, the first deputy of Williams, is leading this task force.
According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) estimates, customers lost $8 billion in the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research.
The hedge fund Alameda Research of “Bunkman Unique” had a very large share of FTT’s original FTX cryptocurrencies.
Bankman used this as a guarantee to grant billions in loans.
As things unfolded, Binance announced that it would sell its share of the FTT currency, causing a large flow of capital.
Hours later, FTX declared bankruptcy in mid-November 2022.
UK approves cryptocurrency tax exemption for foreign investors
As part of the newly elected Prime Minister’s efforts to make the UK a global cryptocurrency hub, the new cryptocurrency tax break for non-residents and foreign investors came into effect on January 1, 2023.
The news was first reported by CoinDesk, which said that the UK Government’s tax arm, HM Revenue, and Customs, had been told by email that:
This exemption is an important factor in attracting global investors, meaning foreign investors will not be brought into the UK tax once UK investment managers are appointed.
To build on the UK’s status as an investment management centre, this exemption has been extended to krypto assets, so that the funds it includes from the appointment of directors in the UK are not reached.
The UK already has a tax guide for resident cryptocurrency traders, in July, “HM Revenue and Customs” issued a consultation for the views of investors and professionals on how the State should tax decentralized finance.
Bank of England: Cryptocurrencies are too dangerous to regulate
The Bank of England recently made statements regarding the risk of cryptocurrencies and the absolute need to regulate the industry.
The deputy governor of the Bank of England warned that trading cryptocurrencies was simply too dangerous to remain unregulated and added that it could pose a systemic problem if no action was taken.
The deputy governor added that the Bank of England could soon regulate the industry in an effort to protect investors from the risk of trading cryptocurrencies, as well as the broader financial system against the implications associated with cryptocurrencies.
The Bank of England’s position is that individual investors should be able to safely speculate on cryptocurrencies, as they do in traditional markets.
Benance prepares to return to South Korea market by acquiring a local trading platform
Recently, press reports emerged that the world’s largest digital currency trading platform is close to completing the acquisition of the latter Gopax platform is one of the most widely used Korean digital currency trading platforms.
If the deal closes, Benance will be able to return to the South Korean market.
Citing a report by a local media outlet, the journalist Colin Wu reported that the Benance platform had recently completed the necessary procedures regarding the acquisition of Gopax.
In the report, it emerged that Benance planned to announce the New Year’s purchase and acquisition, but was delayed by last-minute discussions and actions about the value of the transaction.
Benance, led by “CZ”, will buy a 41.2% stake in “Lee Jun-Haeng”, current CEO of Gopax and is also the company’s largest shareholder.
Just as we indicated Gopax is one of South Korea’s five largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, along with Coinone, Upbit, Corbit and Bitsum.
The report further stated that Benance was actively exploring the Korean market, and that this had proved to be the safest route.
It is worth mentioning that “Changpeng Zhao” has already hinted at a possible return to the Korean market after a now more than two-year hiatus.
Benance was forced to close her South Korean subsidiary after a dispute with local regulators.
The company then employed countless employees and managers at KYC and AML and compliance in the past few years to fight such issues.
It should be noted that Benance has not yet confirmed the news of the acquisition.
Digital Currency News This Week
Bitcoin developer loses over 200 bitcoins this way!
One of Bitcoin’s primary developers, Luke Dashjr, told him that he had lost most of the Bitcoin he had on December 31.
Penetration and access to keys:
“Luke Dashjr”, the primary bitcoin developer, revealed that he lost more than 200 bitcoins when his portfolio was hacked before the new year.
Luke addressed the community via a Twitter post, citing the loss of his money.
Pirates somehow took control of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) key and accessed his wallet.
PGP keys system is a common security method with encrypted information hidden behind two other special keys.
Luke tweeted:
My server was reached this morning by an unknown person.
Complete analysis is in progress, but be sure to check any downloads by PGP.
He tweeted “Luke” also titled a wallet some of the stolen bitcoins were sent to.
Although the total amount stolen was not disclosed, the portfolio address reported received four transactions between 2:08 and 2:16 pm UTC on December 31.
These transactions amounted to 216.93 bitcoin, valued at $3.6 million at current prices.
Crypto Community Interaction:
The Twitter user asked what it was to contact PGP, replying “Luke”:
This is how you can check that your Bitcoin Knots or Core download is not full of malware.
To be clear: do not download the bitcoin node and trust it until this problem is resolved.
If you have already done so in the last few months, consider closing this system for now.
Another Twitter user revealed and told he only noticed the hack after receiving emails from the Queen Pace and Kraken platform about login attempts.
Despite Luke’s claim that he did not know how hackers had access to his own key, some Twitter users pointed out a relationship with an earlier tweet he tweeted “Luke” on November 17, tweeting at the time that his server had been undermined by new malware and indirect access.
Director Benance Consoles Bitcoin Developer:
One Reddit user suggested that “Luke” did not take the November 17 security breach seriously enough and failed to take measures to separate his various activities.
According to this user, “Luke” kept his hot wallet on the same computer he used in all his other activities.
The discussion about the event rose to the attention of Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Benance, who tweeted:
Sorry to see you lose so much.
Notify our security team of the surveillance.
If we come our way any of bitcoin profiled, we will freeze it.
If there is anything else we can help with, please let us know.
We deal with these a lot, and we have relationships with law enforcement agencies (LE) around the world.
Digital Currency News This Week
SOL digital currency rises by 17% and OKB currency price reaches the highest level
After entering Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies in the case of price-level motor strain, movement and wobble finally returned.
The price of bitcoin began to rise slightly and set a multi-day high of $16,700.
Most alternative cryptocurrencies in green, led by huge gains from OKB, Solana and others.
Start the recovery of the SOL digital currency price:
Since the collapse of FTX, many cryptocurrency trading platforms have repeatedly provided proven reserve, and the OKX trading platform has been at the forefront.
Its original OKB cryptocurrency was wobbly in the same time frame.
The last 7 days of the OKB cryptocurrency alone brought a 26.7% increase, resulting in an increase of over $30 for the first time in more than a year.
OKB has almost doubled its dollar value since the collapse of FTX and has found its place in the adult matrix.
Currently (at the time of publication of the article) the digital currency OKB is in patch mode as it fell 2% in the last 24 hours.
Solana is one of the winners in the last 24 hours, a few days after its price fell back to back.
SOL’s price is now up 17% and the currency is trading above $11.
Lite Queen, Cardano, Doug Queen and Polygon have also added impressive proportions on a daily scale.
The price of Ethereum recovered the $1,200 level after an increase of 2%.
Benance’s currency is close to $250.
The market value of cryptocurrencies has returned to more than $800 billion after an increase of $20 billion.
Digital Currency News This Week
Bitcoin eyes focus on $ 17 thousand level:
The core cryptocurrency ended a fairly violent 2022 without any significant price movements.
Quite the contrary, the price of bitcoin gradually dropped below $16,500 and remained there for a few consecutive days.
Yesterday didn’t bring anything different, and bitcoin stood around the same number.
While the last 12 hours or so have been a bit different.
Bitcoin began gaining some momentum, adding a few hundred dollars, and went just over $16,700.
After charging a 5-day high, the price has lost some of its strength and the currency currently stands just above the $16,700 level.
Although its market value has increased to more than $320 billion, its dominance of alternative cryptocurrencies has taken a slight hit and is now less than 40%.
Here are the most influential moments in the cryptocurrency market in 2022
Digital Currency News This Week