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All the news about cryptocurrencies in one place. Round-the-clock, operational and automatic updating. Promo inquiries: @ryder_reilly
South Korean court freezes $92M in assets related to Terra tokens.
The CEO of Terraform Labs’ affiliate firm Kernel Labs reportedly held the largest amount in illegal proceeds from Terra.
More than six months after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, South Korean authorities continue to investigate and freeze the funds of persons involved in Terra.
After seizing 140 billion won ($108 million) from Terra co-founder Shin Hyun-Seong in November, the Seoul Southern District Court has recently ruled to confiscate more assets related to Terra.
The South Korean court has ordered to freeze of 120 billion won ($92 million) in assets of former and incumbent CEOs of Terraform Labs’ affiliate firm Kernel Labs, The Korea Economic Daily reported on Dec. 20.
Founded in 2018, Kernel Labs is a blockchain consultancy firm focused on decentralized applications and blockchain payment systems. Kernel Labs is believed to have close ties with Terraform Labs, as CEO Kim Hyun-joong once reportedly served as vice president of engineering at Terraform Labs. According to some sources, Kernel Labs employees also worked at the South Korean office of Terraform Labs.
According to the new report, the Seoul Southern District Court has accepted the prosecution's request to seize the property of seven people involved in selling pre-issued Terra tokens to make astronomical profits.
Kernel Labs CEO Kim is one of the persons involved in the case, reportedly holding the largest amount in illegal proceeds from Terra. Prosecutors estimated Kim’s illegal gains to amount to at least 79 billion won ($61 million). Prosecutors also found that another Kernel Labs executive, a former CEO, received about 41 billion won ($31 million) in illegal proceeds from Terra.
Kim reportedly made some major real estate purchases in South Korea in 2021. In November, he bought a building in Gangnam-gu, the most expensive area in Seoul, for 35 billion won ($27 million). In June, he also purchased an apartment in Seongdong-gu for about 9 billion won ($7 million).
The news comes amid global authorities continuing to search for Terraform Labs' controversial founder and CEO Do Kwon.
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White House silent on whether it will return $5.2M in donations from SBF.
A White House spokesperson dodged point-blank questioning on whether President Joe Biden is planning to return the political donations from Sam Bankman-Fried.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has declined to answer questions from a reporter on whether United States President Joe Biden will return the $5.2 million in campaign donations previously given by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
“Will the president return that donation?” Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller asked in a Dec. 13 press briefing. “Does he call on all politicians who got campaign donations that may have come from customer money to return those funds?”
“I'm covered here by the Hatch Act,” Jean-Pierre responded, adding she was “limited on what I can say.”
”Anything that's connected to political contributions, from here I would have to refer you to the DNC,” she said, referring to the Democratic National Committee, the governing body of the U.S. Democratic Party,.
The Hatch Act is a federal law prohibiting those employed in the executive branch of government from being involved in political campaign activities.
“I’m asking the president’s opinion though,” Miller pressed. Jean-Pierre repeated that she was “covered by the Hatch Act,” adding:
“I just can't talk to political contributions or anything related to that I cannot speak about it from here.”
Miller again pushed for Jean-Pierre’s response on Biden’s opinion, bushe said she couldn’t speak about “even his opinion, even his thoughts about the contributions, donations — I cannot speak about that from here.”
Bankman-Fried was charged with violations of campaign finance laws on Dec. 13, including contribution violations and obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s functions, along with making contributions in the name of others.
He was the second-largest “CEO-contributor” to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, with his $5.2 million in donations behind only the $56 million of contributions from media mogul Michael Bloomberg.
The FTX founder was also a top individual donor in the 2022 mid-term elections, again the second-largest Democratic Party contributor in the cycle,with $36.8 million funneled to its candidates.
Why is Crypto Going Up – DXY Down, Time to Buy Coins For Altcoin Season?
On Friday, a weaker dollar may have helped propel crypto prices upward as stock market investors remained cautious after U.S. inflation numbers came in at historically high levels despite a slight easing, and uncertainty around the upcoming FOMC meeting next week.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market made a significant recovery yesterday as it bounced 2.30% off the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement level of support. Today markets are continuing to rally so far, with Bitcoin up 1.49% and Ethereum up 2.02% as of writing. As the market cap tries to find its way back above the $860 billion range, is the market once again attempting to break this key resistance area?
EMA
In the long run, prices remain bearish as the market continues to trade below both EMA 50 and 100. But for now, a bit of optimism may be setting in as the market stays steady above the EMA 20 for the last couple of days.
RSI
Yesterday, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) broke past the RSI 50 mark at RSI 50.03 and is now hovering around RSI 50.44. It's essential to maintain this level over the next few days in order for us to see a potential market uptick.
MACD
The MACD's bullish crossover with the climbing moving averages is a sign of potential upward movement, however, the shrinking gap between them may be cause for concern. To sustain this promising trend we need to experience further growth in market momentum.
Supports and Resistances
Fib 0.236 and Fib 0.382 has been proven significant for the past couple of weeks. Therefore, the levels of $789 billion to $804 billion are the immediate supports for the Crypto Total Market Cap. If the price successfully breaks out from the range of $800 billion to $830 billion, it may be time to think about taking some positions, but only with proper risk management in place since market volatility remains high. The next potential targets are the daily EMA50 at $837 billion and the previous support area, now turned resistance, of $850 billion to $860 billion.
NFTs minted on FTX break, highlighting Web2 hosting flaws.
NFTs hosted on FTX platform were affected by the firm’s collapse, showing blank images instead of the original art.
The FTX collapse highlighted many flaws in the crypto industry. Now, the effects of the FTX debacle have broken into the nonfungible token (NFT) space with users unable to view their FTX-hosted NFTs.
In a tweet, Solana engineer jac0xb.sol pointed out how the metadata of FTX-hosted NFTs now points to a restructuring website that gives out information about bankruptcy proceedings. According to jac0xb.sol, the NFTs minted on FTX were hosted using a Web2 application programming interface (API), resulting in images not showing.
After the FTX exchange filed for bankruptcy, the FTXus domain was entirely redirected to the bankruptcy proceeding page. Because of this, NFT owners are still able to see that their NFTs exist. However, images cannot be seen anymore, even when viewing them within wallets or listing them on NFT trading platforms.
With this, jac0xb.sol also called out to collections that are still hosting metadata on Amazon Web Services, suggesting that there is a “lesson to be learned” with how FTX hosted their NFTs using a Web2 API service. In addition, some users even commented that this highlights problems with Web3 companies relying on centralized services like AWS or the Google Cloud Platform.
On Aug. 5, NFT executives brought up the topic of NFTs not living on the blockchain. In a Cointelegraph interview, Jonathan Victor, the Web3 storage lead at Protocol Labs and Alex Salnikov, the co-founder of Rarible, explained that technically, the tokens are stored somewhere else. The duo highlighted that main chains often are very limited in size and that it costs more to store data on the blockchain.
Despite the troubles brought about by the FTX collapse, the NFT industry remains confident in the future of the space. On Nov. 22, various players within the NFT space spoke with Cointelegraph and expressed their confidence that the space will eventually recover. The executives highlighted that it's important for the NFT community to focus on bringing more utility to their collections.
Pakistan launches new laws to expedite CBDC launch by 2025.
The State Bank of Pakistan signed in new laws for Electronic Money Institutions — non-bank entities offering digital payment instruments — to ensure the timely issuance of a CBDC in the next three years.
Regulators worldwide see central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as a way to enhance fiat capabilities by inheriting the financial prowess of technologies that power cryptocurrencies. Pakistan joined this list by announcing new regulations to ensure the launch of an in-house CBDC by 2025.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) signed in new laws for Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) — non-bank entities offering digital payment instruments — to ensure the timely issuance of a CBDC in the next three years. The World Bank helped Pakistan design the new regulations, according to local media Arab News.
In addition to timeline adherence for the CBDC launch, the regulations warrant preventive measures against money laundering and terror financing while considering consumer protection and reporting requirements.
The state bank, SBP, will issue licenses to EMIs for CBDC issuance. During the announcement, Finance Minister Asad Umar stated that using EMIs in promoting the digital economy will safeguard financial institutions from cybersecurity threats. Deputy Governor of SBP Jameel Ahmad envisions curbing fiat-induced corruption and inefficiency through CBDCs. He said:
“These landmark regulations are a testament of the SBP’s commitment toward openness, adoption of technology and digitization of our financial system.”
The commencement of a speedy regulatory environment places Pakistan among the nearly 100 countries that are actively involved in researching and launching CBDC initiatives.
Neighboring country India also recently joined the race to launch a home-grown CBDC. On Nov. 22, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced an ambitious plan to launch a retail CBDC pilot by the end of 2022.
Indian central bank, RBI, is reportedly in the final stage of preparing the retail digital rupee pilot rollout, which will be initially tested among 10,000 to 50,000 users of participating banks.
AAX exec leaves the crypto exchange amid ongoing operational halt.
Former AAX executive Ben Caselin said that his role in the firm became hollow and that the trust in the brand is broken.
Weeks after the AAX exchange started halting its withdrawals, its vice president for global marketing and communications announced that he has resigned from his role at the cryptocurrency exchange.
In a Twitter thread, Ben Caselin confirmed that he has left the firm and highlighted reasons as to why he decided to leave his post at the crypto exchange. According to Caselin, despite his efforts in fighting for the community, the initiatives that they came up with were not accepted. The executive described that his role in communications became “hollow.”
The former AAX executive also expressed his disagreement with the way that AAX is handling the issue. Caselin described the actions of the exchange as “without empathy” and “overly opaque.”
In the midst of the withdrawal halt, the former executive also highlighted that many people, including some of his family members, have asked him for help. However, Caselin wrote that there was nothing he could do at the moment and that everyone is waiting for actions from the exchange.
Despite the current situation, the former AAX executive believes that things will be handled without evil intentions, but noted that the damage is already done. “The brand is no more and trust is broken,” he wrote.
On Nov. 14, the AAX exchange started the halt for withdrawals, citing a need to fix a glitch on its system upgrade. The exchange assured its community that the halt in withdrawals had nothing to the with the ongoing FTX collapse and said that they have no financial exposure to the embattled FTX exchange.
After the announcement, the AAX team highlighted that it needs additional capital because its investors have decided to withdraw their funds from AAX because of the FTX collapse. The exchange explained that this puts them at risk of a capital deficit, which they have to fix before resuming normal operations.
Recent FTX hacks prove it was right to ‘secure’ its assets: Bahamian regulator.
The Securities Commission of The Bahamas said the continued hacking attempts on FTX prove it made the right call to “secure” FTX’s digital assets.
The Securities Commission of The Bahamas says the continued “hacking attempts” on FTX’s digital assets prove they made the right call to take control of the exchange’s assets on Nov. 12.
In a statement on Nov. 23, the commission said the fact that FTX’s “systems were compromised, and that they continue to face new hacking attempts – reinforces the wisdom of the commission’s prompt action to secure these digital assets.”
On the same day that FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, the crypto community began flagging roughly $266.3 million worth of outflows on wallets associated with FTX. By Nov. 12, the outflows had ballooned to more than $650 million.
Blockchain analysts have suggested that $477 million is suspected to have been stolen, while the remainder was moved to secure storage by FTX themselves.
In its latest statement, the commission said while it suspended FTX Digital Markets (FDM) license to conduct business and stripped its directors of their power on Nov. 10, this was not sufficient in protecting customers and creditors of FDM.
The commission further explained that due to the “nature of digital assets” and “the risks associated with hacking and compromise,” it sought an order from the Supreme Court to transfer all digital assets from FTX to the commission for “safekeeping.”
The latest statement reinforces recent analysis from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, and Twitter crypto sleuth ZachXBT, who said that on-chain evidence suggests that the actions of the Bahamian regulator is not related to the alleged “FTX hacker.”
The commission has also lashed out at the Nov. 17 emergency motion by FTX Trading Limited, which called out the “Bahamian government” for “directing unauthorized access to the Debtors’ systems” after the commencement of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings.
“It is unfortunate that in Chapter 11 filings, the new CEO of FTX Trading Ltd. misrepresented this timely action through the intemperate and inaccurate allegations lodged in the Transfer Motion,” the Commission said.
FTX hacker dumps 50,000 ETH, still among top 40 Ether holders.
The FTX wallet drainer address has been meticulously swapping assets and using bridges to launder stolen funds.
The hacker behind the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX started transferring their Ether (ETH) holding to a new wallet address on Nov. 20. The FTX wallet drainer was the 27th largest ETH holder after the hack but dropped by 10 positions after the weekend ETH dump.
The FTX hacker drained nearly $447 million out of multiple FTX global and FTX US exchange wallets just hours after the crypto exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11. Majority of the stolen funds were in ETH, making the exploiter the 27th largest ETH whale.
On Nov. 20, the FTX wallet drainer 1 transferred 50,000 ETH to a new address, 0x866E. The new wallet address then swapped the ETH for renBTC (ERC-20 version of BTC) and bridged to two wallets on the Bitcoin blockchain. One of the wallets bc1qvd…gpedg held 1,070 renBTC while another wallet bc1qa…n0702 held 2,444 renBTC.
Crypto analytic group CertiK later tracked the bridged renBTC on bc1qvd…gpedg address and found that the address employed a money laundering technique called peel chain to launder the renBTC.
A Peel chain is a technique to launder a large amount of cryptocurrency through a lengthy series of minor transactions. A small portion is “peeled” from the subject’s address in a low-value transfer. These incremental laundered funds are often transferred to exchanges where they can be converted to fiat currency or other crypto assets.
At the time of the FTX hack, there were two parties involved, one black hat that managed to drain $447 million and a white hat that managed to move $186 million of FTX assets to cold storage. However, when Bahaman Securities and Exchange Commission released a notice suggesting they are trying to move assets from the FTX, it raised many eyebrows, with many claiming that the securities regulator was, in fact, the black hat behind the exploit.
On-chain analyst ZachXBT highlighted the token transfer pattern of the black hat wallet and said that the wallet was dumping tokens and bridging sporadically was a very different behavior from the other addresses that withdrew from FTX and instead sent to a multisig on chains like Ethereum or Tron.
Polygon is one of the better performers amid FTT and SOL weaknesses - How will Oryen perform after its ICO?
The most important thing to remember when investing in cryptocurrency is that the market is highly dynamic. Therefore, what might be a good investment today might not be a good investment tomorrow. This is why it's essential to stay up-to-date on all the latest news and trends in the industry.
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What is the Oryen Network (ORY)?
Oryen's primary goals are to change how investors stake and to provide rebasing rewards for ORY token holders. These rewards are given out every 60 minutes based on a percentage of the total number of tokens held.
Oryen offers a great way to generate passive income and accumulate fixed yield through them. This is further enhanced by its unique auto-staking mechanism (OAT). With ORY tokens, you can get up to a 90% APY fixed yield, which is one of the highest rates available in the crypto world.
ORY has an elastic supply, which means the initial token supply in circulation increases or decreases automatically according to the token's price. The network's initial supply is currently at – 40 million. The more demand for ORY tokens, the bigger the pool gets. Oryen then uses a positive rebase formula to keep the 'supply house' going.
All of this has diverted a lot of popularity towards the platform. In fact, Crypto enthusiasts like Daryl Boo and Steven Clarke have picked the Oryen Network as the top crypto choice for 2022. The table below shows how the price of ORY goes up while the bonus goes down every seven days.
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Binance shares wallet addresses and activity after proof-of-reserve pledge.
Days after CZ took to Twitter to announce a new proof-of-reserve system for Binance users, the site went live with public details of its wallet addresses and on-chain activity.
In light of the FTX liquidity crisis and the near-acquisition by Binance, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao assured his community that his network would provide full transparency on asset holdings.
On Nov. 10, Binance published a new page titled “Proof of Assets” on which all details are available of its on-chain activity for its hot and cold wallet addresses. This comes only two days after the initial tweet from CZ on Nov. 8 in which he pledged to create a proof-of-reserve mechanism to ensure “full transparency” to the community.
Binance released an official statement on the new page in which it says it’s the next step in its “commitment to transparency and fostering trust in the ecosystem,” but also that it is only a starting point.
The final goal is to create a Merkle Tree proof of funds, which will be shared with the community in the following weeks, according to the exchange.
“Our objective is to allow users of our platform to be aware and make informed decisions that are aligned with their financial goals."
The announcement also included a snapshot of hot and cold wallet addresses from Nov. 10, 2022 at approximately 12:00 am UTC.
Additionally, the announcement reiterated that the company’s Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) has been topped at $1 billion. The initial statement came in a tweet from CZ on Nov. 9 and was said to be done “in light of recent price fluctuations.”
Users on social media responded to the publicized numbers, with Reddit users worrying about not seeing Monero listed on the new Proof of Assets page but still being available for purchase through the exchange.
Many users across platforms including Twitter and Reddit have said it’s a good start but that reliability tests will be needed.
As the market fumbles in response to the FTX–Binance incident, other crypto platforms have voiced their support of proof-of-reserve mechanisms for their own communities.
In a tweet on Nov. 10, Cryptocom CEO Kris Marszalek said he believes that it should be necessary for crypto platforms to publicly share their proof of reserves.
Mastercard adds 7 blockchain startups to its crypto accelerator.
The crypto gateway provider Fasset and Singapore’s Digital Treasures Center are among the startups entering the latest Mastercard Start Path program.
Global payments giant Mastercard continues supporting cryptocurrency and blockchain startups as part of its fintech accelerator, the Mastercard Start Path program.
Mastercard has chosen another seven industry startups for its Start Path program in order to promote the adoption of crypto and blockchain technology, the firm announced on Nov. 3.
The new cohort of startups includes the crypto gateway provider Fasset, Singapore’s crypto payments platform Digital Treasures Center and the Colombian stablecoin-focused firm Stable. Mastercard previously partnered with Fasset in July to jointly work on digital solutions to drive financial inclusion in Indonesia.
The latest Mastercard Start Path program also includes the Web3-focused social payments system provider Loot Bolt, Quadrata privacy startup, the blockchain-based media fintech project Take Back the Mic and the brand-oriented platform Uptop.
According to the announcement, the chosen companies will engage with bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3 as one of their main goals. “We’re welcoming a new cohort of startups to ease access to digital assets, build communities for creators and empower people to innovate for the future through Web3 technologies,” Mastercard added.
Launched in 2014, Mastercard Start Path is a six-month accelerator program that is designed to help startups in expanding and commercializing their products and services. Mastercard has supported more than 350 startups so far, with many of them achieving unicorn status, including firms such as banking provider Thought Machine, the Indian fintech startup Zeta and Razorpay.
In 2021, Mastercard launched a dedicated crypto division of Mastercard Start Path, dubbed Start Path Crypto. The crypto accelerator was established to support seed, Series A and Series B startups involved in crypto and blockchain development, offering a three-month support program.
Twitter’s top brass gutted as Elon Musk’s takeover begins.
Some of Twitter’s C-suite has reportedly been flushed out by the company’s new owner, with its CEO, CFO, and legal head all sacked on Elon Musk’s first day at the helm.
Elon Musk reportedly finalized his $44 billion takeover of social media platform Twitter on Oct. 27 and has started his tenure at the company by cleaning house at the upper executive level.
According to sources from multiple outlets, CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and head of legal and policy Vijaya Gadde are reported to have been sacked, with Musk accusing them of misleading him over the number of spam accounts on the platform.
Agrawal and Segal were “escorted out” of the company’s headquarters when the deal closed, according to Reuters sources.
Musk had previously attempted to back out of the deal to buy Twitter in July, accusing the company of making “false and misleading representations” regarding the number of spam and fake accounts.
With the deal now closed, Musk looks to change the platform into a bastion of free speech, change the algorithms to prevent political echo chambers, and remove all fake and spam accounts.
In an open letter to Twitter advertisers on Oct. 27, Musk further reiterated his motivations for buying Twitter, saying it is important for the “future of civilization to have a common digital town square” free from political polarization.
He added he purchased the platform “to help humanity, whom I love” and penned his aspirations for Twitter to become the “most respected advertising platform in the world.”
Musk is aware of the “meme-ability” of the prolonged deal and was filmed walking into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Oct. 26 carrying a sink, tweeting “let that sink in” while also changing his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit.”
On Oct. 20, The Washington Post reported Musk planned to cut up to 75% of Twitter’s staff, but a report from Bloomberg days later disclosed that Musk told Twitter staff on Oct. 26 during his visit that the statements were false and he doesn’t plan to sack any staff. However, those at the top of the Twitter tree have just found out otherwise.
‘Well worth the fight’ — Ripple counsel confirms Hinman docs are in their hands.
The truth will be shameful and shocking for the SEC, according to Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse.
San Francisco-based fintech firm Ripple has inched closer to victory in its ongoing battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On Oct. 21, Ripple general counsel Stuart Alderoty confirmed on Twitter that they finally have the elusive documents after “18 months and 6 court orders,” though noted they remain confidential at the SEC’s insistence.
“It was well worth the fight to get them,” he exclaimed, adding:
“I’ve always felt good about our legal arguments, and I feel even better now. I always felt bad about the SEC’s tactics, and I feel even worse about them now.”
The fought-over documents relate to a 2018 speech by former SEC division director William Hinman regarding the status of Ether, with the financial regulator seemingly pulling out all the stops to keep the documents under wraps.
In late September, U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres overruled the SEC’s second attempt to withhold the documents.
At the time, he stated that ETH was not a security and Ripple considers this a key argument in its case against the regulator, which has accused it of conducting an unregistered securities sale of its native token XRP.
Over 18 months and 6 court orders later, we finally have the Hinman docs (internal SEC emails and drafts of his infamous 2018 speech). While they remain confidential for now (at the SEC’s insistence), I can say that it was well worth the fight to get them.
Partner at Hogan & Hogan Jeremy Hogan commented that these are the briefs “where we’ll really see how strong each position is,” while posturing how the SEC will respond. He added that the briefs will be made public on Oct. 24.
“The SEC wants you to think that it cares about disclosure, transparency and clarity. Don’t believe them. When the truth eventually comes out, the shamefulness of their behavior here will shock you.”
Related: Ripple boss tips when SEC case will end as Hoskinson hits back at XRP army
US Financial Stability Oversight Council urges congressional action on crypto.
According to the FSOC, issues at FTX had “precipitated price decreases in Bitcoin and other crypto-assets” but “had a limited impact on the broader U.S. financial system.”
Officials with the United States Financial Stability Oversight Council, or FSOC, have recommended U.S. lawmakers pass legislation aimed at addressing regulatory gaps for crypto-related activities.
In its annual report released on Dec. 16, the FSOC recommended members of Congress pass legislation granting “explicit rulemaking authority for federal financial regulators over the spot market for crypto-assets,” noting that tokens previously identified as securities would be exempt. The council also noted the lack of a comprehensive regulatory framework — specifically addressing stablecoins and visibility and supervision of crypto firms — in the United States.
The FSOC cited the recent downfall of crypto exchange FTX as part of its background information in recommending actions on digital assets. According to the council, issues at FTX had “precipitated price decreases in Bitcoin and other crypto-assets” but “had a limited impact on the broader U.S. financial system.”
“Risks from this speculative, volatile, and what I believe is a largely non-compliant market put investors at risk,” said Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler in the FSOC report. “This is why bringing intermediaries and issuers of crypto securities tokens into compliance is so important. While the risks from the crypto markets generally do not appear to date to have spread to the traditional financial sector, we must remain vigilant to guard against that possibility.”
The annual report reiterated calls for legislation as one from the FSOC in October, which the council released in accordance with U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive order on crypto. At the time of publication, both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have argued in favor of their respective agencies taking a leading role in regulating digital assets in the United States — the report did not seem to suggest which body should assume responsibility upon instructions from Congress.
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The new play-to-earn (P2E) and metaverse gaming project has excited investors and analysts because of the variety of ways players can earn rewards and monetize their experience.
RobotEra is a new GameFi project that we've dubbed the best play-to-earn game of the year as it allows players to rebuild a metaverse world and create active and passive revenue in a number of ways.
Players must rebuild the destroyed planet Taro after a cataclysmic event, purchasing metaverse plots of land and improving them with infrastructure and buildings.
On their metaverse plots, players are free to build what they want, from roads and houses to concert venues, museums and more. Players can charge an entry fee for events, or sell buildings to other players for their worlds - billboard space can also be sold to advertisers.
No coding knowledge is needed to build, with RobotEra utilizing custom building tools - furthermore, players can add 3D scenes, sounds, user interaction and physics with few limitations on what can be developed.
RobotEra's founders believe more utility and revenue drivers will emerge in time with players able to build their worlds how they see fit.
Players need to build robot companions to play the game and rebuild Taro and they can also be upgraded and customized and then sold to other players as NFTs.
TARO tokens can be staked for three benefits - helping to rebuild Taro, earning a passive income and granting voting rights on future project developments in a community DAO.
Breaking: 127K Bitcoin (BTC) Worth Over $2 Billion On The Move
Bitcoin (BTC) price fell suddenly on Monday, breaking the $16.5k support level. Analysts expect Bitcoin to see a pullback to $14,500 to confirm a bottom.
However, some believe the BTC price can rise from current levels based on the historical bear markets data. Meanwhile, whales moved massive amounts of Bitcoin this month.
https://coingape.com/127k-bitcoin-btc-worth-over-2-billion-move/?gh
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Ethereum Climate Platform launches to address the network’s prior PoW emissions.
Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin said that while the Merge set a high standard for climate mitigation, the crisis still requires more radical change.
Months after the Ethereum Merge, when the network shifted to the more eco-friendly proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus, the Ethereum community is now shifting its focus to redress the network’s former proof-of-work (PoW) carbon emissions.
At the COP 27 climate action event, Web3 firms, civil society leaders and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change announced the formation of the Ethereum Climate Platform, which aims to counteract the carbon footprint left by the Ethereum network since it launched in 2015.
Led by software company ConsenSys and climate-focused blockchain firm Allinfra, the founding members of the coalition include a number of organizations, such as Microsoft, Polygon, Aave, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, the Global Blockchain Business Council, Huobi and Laser Digital.
Using Web3 technologies, funding mechanisms and governance protocols, the newly formed group will invest in climate projects that promise to mitigate Ethereum’s past emissions.
According to Ethereum co-founder and ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin, while the Merge set a high bar for climate mitigation, the climate crisis still requires “more radical change.” Furthermore, Yorke Rhodes III, co-founder of blockchain at Microsoft, also expressed the company’s excitement to contribute. “Core to our collaboration on this initiative is to assist the Ethereum community to chart an informed path forward,” the executive explained.
Back on Sept. 15, the Ethereum network completed its long-awaited shift to a PoS consensus. According to the Ethereum Foundation, the Merge will make the network 99.95% more energy efficient. The update also aims to set the stage for more upcoming scaling solutions, like sharding.
The Merge was the initial step in a five-step process previously outlined by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. After the Merge, the next step in the list of upgrades is the Surge, where the network will implement sharding, a way to improve the blockchain’s capabilities to access and store data.
AAX reiterates withdrawal halt is unrelated to FTX contagion.
In a previous post on Twitter, the AAX exchange said it has no financial exposure to FTX and its affiliates.
Hong Kong-based crypto exchange AAX has reiterated that its suspension of withdrawals on the platform has nothing to do with the ongoing fallout from FTX’s collapse and rumors to the contrary are false.
The crypto community reported seeing a “System upgrade notification” message on Nov. 13, which said that a system upgrade “is taking longer than usual,” which will delay withdrawals. Some shared concerns about whether the exchange was the next domino to fall after FTX and BlockFi.
However, in a Nov. 13 post, AAX reiterated the temporary halt to services was in order to fix a glitch in a system upgrade.
The exchange said it was understandable why users may have panicked over its halting of withdrawals on Nov. 13.
“In light of the insolvency of one of our industry’s largest players last week, crypto users are rightfully concerned about the operational and financial stability of centralized digital asset exchanges.”
The crypto exchange, which is understood to have 2 million users worldwide, explained the scheduled system upgrade is the result of “the failure of our third-party partner,” which led to some users’ balances being “found abnormally recorded in our system.”
As a result, it has limited its services to prevent further risks, including a seven to ten-day suspension of withdrawals “to avoid fraud and exploitation.”
Fears of contagion from the fall of FTX have sparked many in the crypto community to advise others to pull their funds from centralized exchanges and into self-custody solutions.
AAX vice president Ben Caselin acknowledged in a Nov. 13 Twitter post the inopportune timing of the upgrade, but said it was aimed at addressing “serious vulnerabilities.”
Caselin also pointed out that the task was “not easy while market is fearful:”
In an earlier Nov.11 Twitter post AAX said they had “no financial exposure to FTX and its affiliates.”
“More importantly, all digital assets on AAX remain intact with a substantial amount stored in cold wallets, and user funds are never exposed to counterparty risk from any financing or venture activities,” it added.
Joe Biden unhappy with Elon Musk for buying a platform that “spews lies”.
Biden attended a fundraising event in Chicago for upcoming elections, wherein he called out Elon Musk for purchasing Twitter.
The relevance of social media platforms in swaying global politics was first highlighted with the rise of Facebook (rebranded later to Meta), which was accused of manipulating information based on user demographics. Twitter, which was recently acquired by Elon Musk, got the short end of the stick as United States President Joe Biden accused the website of spewing lies.
Biden attended a fundraising event in Chicago for upcoming elections, wherein he called out Elon Musk for purchasing Twitter. He stated:
“Now what are we all worried about? Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that sends and spews lies all across the world.”
While the Biden administration has previously clarified its stance to promote the suppression of hate speech and misinformation on social media platforms, the president highlighted the lack of supervision on Twitter, adding:
“There’s no editors anymore. There’s no editors. How do we expect kids to be able to understand what is at stake.”
Ever since Bitcoin launched in 2009, the crypto community chose Twitter as its home for discussing various nuances and attaining consensus on the decisions made. Musk’s $44 billion Twitter acquisition came with a promise of free speech. However, with the increase in hate speech, numerous advertisers have backed out from doing business with Twitter over content moderation concerns.
Musk’s immediate course of action for Twitter includes imposing an $8/month fee for users that wish to retain their account verification.
Supporting Musk’s Twitter acquisition drive, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the CEO of crypto exchange Binance, chipped in $500 million using fiat currency.
Binance has laid out plans to form a team to support Twitter’s blockchain efforts, however, an official statement is currently being awaited.
Reserve Bank of India to reportedly launch digital rupee pilot in November.
Now debuting a wholesale CBDC, the RBI plans to launch the digital rupee for the retail segment within a month in select locations.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is on track to debut a central bank digital currency (CBDC) after announcing its digital rupee project in February.
The central bank of India will launch the digital rupee pilot for the wholesale segment on Nov. 1, the RBI announced on Oct. 31.
The pilot will involve nine locally operating banks, including the biggest Indian bank, the State Bank of India. According to a report by Reuters, other banks in the pilot will also include Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC.
The main use case of India’s CBDC pilot will be to settle secondary market transactions in government securities. The digital rupee is expected to add more efficiency to the interbank market by reducing transaction costs of settlements, the RBI said.
Wholesale CBDCs are a type of CBDC primarily used by financial institutions like banks, involving interbank transactions such as securities settlement and cross-currency payments.
Unlike wholesale CBDCs, retail CBDCs are utilized by households and businesses, allowing them to make payments directly and store value via the digital version of a specific fiat currency, like the Indian rupee. According to the new report, the RBI plans to launch the digital rupee for the retail segment within a month in select locations.
India has been somewhat quick in launching a CBDC. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the initial plans in February 2022, declaring that a digital rupee would be a “big boost” for India’s economy. The RBI then proposed a three-step graded approach for its rollout, aiming for little or no disruption to the traditional financial system.
While rushing the CBDC’s development, the Indian government has been taking measures to make crypto less attractive for local investors, including adopting a 30% tax on digital asset holdings and transfers in April.
Fireblocks launches crypto payment engine with Checkout.com and Worldpay as pilot partners.
Checkoutcom settled $1 billion in stablecoin transactions during its initial pilot phase of Payments Engine.
Following a successful pilot phase, digital asset custody platform Fireblocks has launched its new payment engine for merchants, opening up pathways for businesses to settle and accept cryptocurrency transactions across jurisdictions.
Fireblocks’ new Payments Engine is said to provide “turnkey solutions” for businesses that want to integrate digital assets into their operations, the company announced on Oct. 24. The platform allows payment service providers to incorporate new crypto payment rails and accept, settle and process digital asset transactions instantly. The platform also supports cross-border internal settlement, micropayments and merchant adoption with lower processing fees.
Ran Goldi, Fireblocks’ vice president of payments, told Cointelegraph that the solution is “token-agnostic,” meaning that payment service providers can incorporate whatever type of digital assets they want. “They can use any of the 42 blockchains and 1,300+ tokens that Fireblocks supports,” he said. Goldi also clarified that due to a confluence of factors — including regulatory changes — stablecoins have emerged as the front-runner for digital asset payments.
Payments Engine was piloted by payments processor Checkoutcom, which settled $1 billion in merchant transactions using the solution. On Oct. 24, Fireblocks announced that FIS, the world’s largest merchant acquirer, would also begin piloting the solution. FIS manages Worldpay, a multibillion-dollar payment processing company it acquired in 2019.
Fireblocks expanded its infrastructure offerings to include crypto payments when it acquired First Digital, a stablecoin settlement platform, in February 2022. As reported by Cointelegraph, the estimated $100 million acquisition allowed Fireblocks to add business-to-business, business-to-consumer and cross-border payment support services.
The acquisition came at a time when more retailers were signaling their intent to adopt crypto payment services shortly.
Three Aussie crypto funds halted as regulator cites non-compliance.
Three funds tracking Bitcoin, Ether and FileCoin have been issued interim stop orders by Australia’s market regulator due to “non-compliant” target market determinations.
Australia’s chief financial market regulator has placed interim stop orders on three cryptocurrency-related funds set to be offered to retail investors, due to non-compliant target market determinations (TMDs).
In a media release dated Oct. 17 local time, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it has placed interim stop orders on three of Australian asset manager Holon’s crypto funds, which separately aim to invest in Bitcoin.
A target market determination is a document that describes who a product is appropriate for, based on likely needs, objectives, and financial situation as well as how the product can be distributed, according to Invest Smart.
In a statement to Cointelegraph, a spokesperson from ASIC said the TMDs were “too broad given the volatility and speculative nature of crypto markets.”
They added the regulator's concern that Holon has “not appropriately considered the features and risks of the funds in determining their target markets.”
In its statement, ASIC said it considers the funds not suited to the wide target market defined in the TMDs, including those with a “medium, high, or very high risk and return profile,” those intending to use the fund as a “satellite component” — up to 25% of their portfolio, and those who intend to use the fund for 75% to 100% of their investment portfolio.
ASIC added that cryptocurrency funds could see investors exposed to significant negative returns but stated the product disclosure statements (PDS) provided by Holon say they could face a “total loss of value.”
“ASIC made the interim orders to protect retail investors from potentially investing in funds that may not be suitable for their financial objectives, situation or needs,” it said, adding that the order would be valid for 21 days unless revoked earlier.
The specifics of what ASIC has requested Holon to change are unclear and the ASIC spokesperson did not provide further details. However, the regulator said it expects Holon to consider the concerns and take immediate steps to ensure compliance.
