🇳🇬 Nigeria Now Has Its First Bitcoin Lightning Network Node Operating
According to Bitcoin blockchain discovery sites Mempool and Amboss, Megasley, who manages the country’s LLightning Network node, is currently the only active LN node operator on the map in Nigeria. A new Lightning Network node in Nigeria is motivating Africans to adopt Bitcoin.
Lightning Network (LN) has been around for a while, but its adoption in rural places is still a long way off. However, the city of Nigeria, Lagos, just received its first Bitcoin Lightning Network node, a significant step toward better linking the continent to a Bitcoin-based layer 2 payment network. Megasley, who runs the country’s LLightning Network node, revealed his idea for delivering low-cost, rapid payments to Africa with the solution. He stated that his purpose is to assist Africans in receiving rapid and free money.
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🏦 Former Coinbase Manager Gets 10-Month Prison Term
Nikhil Wahi, the brother of Ishan Wahi, a former product manager at Coinbase, entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for using his family ties to engage in insider trading of cryptocurrency tokens.a lawsuit alleging insider trading involving digital assets was brought up against Nathaniel Chastain.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams noted that this was the first occasion “a defendant has admitted guilt in an insider trading case involving the cryptocurrency markets” after the defendant’s guilty plea in September. Ishan Wahi, in contrast, entered a not-guilty plea in August. Prosecutors, on the other hand, wanted to see him serve up to 16 months in jail. Nikhil will be sent back to India after serving his punishment.
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🪙 The Circle Reserve Fund Managed By BlackRock Has $12.79 Billion Invested In
According to Circle’s most recent attestation report, 30% of USDC’s reserves – or $12.79 billion – are invested in its government money market fund, the Circle Reserve Fund, managed by BlackRock. Thus, the RRP would significantly improve USDC’s risk profile.
Base on BlackRock’s disclosure daily update page, the share of USDC reserves held in the Circle Reserve Fund has climbed to about $28.6 billion, or 65%, since then. Circle is ceding some of its management over USDC’s reserves to an external manager subject to SEC oversight, which eventually makes USDC safer. Transparency is also improved because USDC users can now receive regular updates from BlackRock.
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⚡️ Animoca Brands Seeks to Raise $1 Billion in Q1 2023 to Invest in Web3
The Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands could roll out a $1 billion Web3 and Metaverse investment fund. The initiative comes in spite of the market decline and the FTX crash, which have vaporized much of the interest in cryptocurrencies.
The Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands seeks to double down on its Web3 endeavors by raising $1 billion to support blockchain and Metaverse startups. Chairman and Co-Founder – Yat Siu – said the firm aims at completing the fundraisiер during the first three months of 2023.The Hong Kong entity vowed to roll out a $2 billion fund (called “Animoca Capital”) to invest in Metaverse businesses across the globe in partnership.
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🏦 Coinbase Pays $100 Million To New York Regulator Fine For AML Regulatory Vulnerability
After looking into Coinbase’s compliance program, the New York State Department of Financial Services, or NYDFS, has come to an agreement with the company. The NYDFS fined Coinbase $50 million and compelled the company to invest another $50 million into its compliance program.
Following a settlement with the regulator, which discovered glaring gaps in the cryptocurrency exchange’s review of customer IDs and notifications on transactions, the NYDFS fined Coinbase $50 million and compelled the company to invest another $50 million into its compliance program. according to the financial authority. The NYDFS reported problems with user onboarding and transaction monitoring procedures.
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🆘 Alameda Research Might Fall From The Beginning In 2018
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, Alameda’s trading algorithm is designed to conduct a large number of automated and fast transactions, but it caused losses as early as 2018 due to wrong guesses about price movements.
By the spring of 2018, Alameda’s assets had fallen by more than two-thirds, to about $30 million, partly because of huge losses on XRP, the token of Ripple’s payments network. Sam Bankman-Fried, Alameda owner, needs more and more capital to stay afloat. In late 2018, he promised potential lenders annual returns of up to 20% in cash or cryptocurrency, according to people familiar with the matter.
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💰 FTX Debtors Now Fighting To Get Their Forfeited Money Back From The Bahamas Government
FTX Trading and its affiliated debtors announced on Friday that they would seek the restoration of cryptocurrency held by the Bahamas Securities Commission to their chapter 11 estates. FTX customer assets worth more than $3.5 billion since Nov. 12.
The FTX debtors have informed the Bahamas Commission that they do not believe Bankman-Fried, Wang, or the Bahamas Commission have the authority to take any of their cryptocurrency. The agency is urged by the FTX debtors to clarify any misunderstandings that their recent comments have caused and to give the public, correct information about the cryptocurrency.
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💰 Celsius Seeks To Help Customers Extend Deadline To File Claims
Celsius wants to delay the deadline for creditors to report the amount they are owed until early February rather than January 3.The bankruptcy court handling the issue will hear the application to extend the deadline at a hearing on January 10.
According to the crypto lender, its objective is to provide account holders more time to submit any proof of claim. Later this week, the business will submit a motion asking for a postponement of the bar date. Celsius customers will have an extra deadline to file a claim as the company appears to be trying to get the court to extend the time until February next year.
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📣 Argo Blockchain Avoids Bankruptcy With $100 Million Agreement With Galaxy Digital
Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain decided to sell its Helios mining operation in Dickens County, Texas, to Galaxy Digital for $65 million, preventing it from seeking bankruptcy protection. Argo Blockchain will sign a two-year hosting deal with Galaxy Digital.
Argo Blockchain found itself difficult when a plan for $27 million in the capital fell through in October. The acquisition will help Argo strengthen its balance sheet and prevent bankruptcy. The miner announced earlier this month that it was in advanced talks to sell some of its assets and complete an equipment finance deal to avoid declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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🚨 White Hat Hackers Crack the Code: Over $65M in Crypto Bug Bounties Since 2020
The white hat hackers were rewarded for safeguarding over $25 billion in crypto assets. Immunefi, a leading bug bounty platform for the cryptocurrency industry, has paid out a total of $65 million to white hat hackers since its founding in 2020.
According to Immunefi, 58.3% of the paid reports were for smart contract vulnerabilities, with 728 submissions. There were 488 submissions for cases in the Websites and Applications category, making up 39.1% of the total, and 32, or 2.6%, for Distributed Ledger Technology/Blockchain cases. they only accounted for 2.9% of the payouts, while smart contract bugs represented 89.6% of the payments.
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💰 Bitcoin closes year with 26th largest market cap globally
Bitcoin (BTC) heads into the Christmas period with the 26th largest market cap at $324.68 billion, just below Mastercard with $328.35 billion. Ethereum (ETH), on the other hand, ranks 77th on the list with a $147.60 billion market cap.
Gold, Apple, and Saudi Aramco are the top three assets, with the largest market cap of $11.939 trillion, $2.103 trillion, and $1.819 trillion, respectively. Microsoft, Silver, Google, and Amazon follow as the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh with $1.775 trillion, $1.333 trillion, $1.137 trillion, and $854.80 billion market caps, respectively. Meta Platforms and Samsung, on the other hand, are ranked after BTC as 30th.
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💰 FTX creditors tap Paul Hastings LLP for representation: reports
FTX creditors will be represented by Paul Hastings LLP in the crypto exchange's high-profile bankruptcy proceedings.Paul Hastings was chosen from a pool of candidates by a nine-member committee formed last Thursday, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The ongoing bankruptcy proceedings for FTX see the company attempting to reclaim more than $1 billion spread around the world. Its founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, was in FBI custody and extradited to the U.S. from the Bahamas on criminal charges. Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Bankman-Fried's sister firm Alameda Research, agreed to a plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice. FTX co-founder Gary Wang did the same.
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💰 Imprisoned Sam Bankman-Fried May Relent in Extradition Fight: Reports
The former executive's legal team is expected in Bahamanian court on Monday to waive its earlier notice, which came as bail was denied and an extradition hearing was set for February 8. The news was first reported by Reuters.
Sam Bankman-Fried faces at least eight criminal charges in the U.S., including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The Securities and Exchange Commission separately charged him with orchestrating a scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX. Extradition of people located abroad can take many months or even years to complete, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
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💰 FTX Files to Sell Four Independently Operated Subsidiaries
FTX filed a new motion to the Bankruptcy Court of Delaware to approve bidding procedures for four of the firm’s independent solvent subsidiaries. The sale of the subsidiary businesses is an attempt to generate money to repay its creditors.
Bankrupt businesses must obtain permission from the court if the sale of assets is outside the ordinary course of business. According to the filing, FTX wants to sell Embed Technologies, LedgerX LLC, FTX Japan, and FTX Europe over the next two months. The motion is scheduled for hearing on January 11, 2023, with an objection deadline of December 29, 2022.
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📣 Magic Eden introduces discount and rewards system for marketplace users
Magic Eden announced a rewards system that allows users to receive rewards, discounts and other perks based on their activity on the platform. Magic Eden Rewards, as it's called, will officially launch on 5 p.m. EST on Dec. 14. such as a reinstated creator royalty system.
The move by Solana's biggest NFT and gaming marketplace follows other attemps to bolster user engagement on the platform, including its reinstated royalty protection system for creators and hiring a Chief Gaming Officer Chris Akhavan to scale web3 gaming sales on Magic Eden. Magic Eden CEO Jack Lu and Head of Marketing Tiffany Huang told The Block in an email.
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📉 Crypto.com Has Lost About 55.66% USDT In 7 Days Before Delisting In Canada
Data shows that Crypto.com has lost $80 million in the past seven days. The exchange held about 52 million USDT before having to delist in Canada. Today, Crypto.com had to delist from Canada due to compliance with the laws of this country.
Web3 knowledge mapping protocol 0xscope tweeted on its account that data shows crypto exchange Crypto.com currently holds the most significant amount of USDC, around 777 million USDC. Meanwhile, the amount of USDT holding is only about 52 million tokens. That number has dropped by about $80 million in the past seven days. Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com plans to delist Tether (USDT) from Canadian users starting January 31, 2023.
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📶 Ethereum Developers Submitted An Improvement Proposal EIP-5988
The eips.ethereum page shows that Ethereum developers have submitted an improvement proposal, EIP-5988. It is understood that the proposal introduces a new pre-compiled solution, which aims to improve the efficiency of running zero-knowledge proofs on the network.
The Poseidon arithmetic hash function was created with Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems in mind. In order to interface with the EVM in the best possible way, Ethereum must incorporate facilities for L2s because its roadmap is rollup-centric. For the aim of creating effective ZK/Validity rollups on Ethereum, the Poseidon hash function is especially well-suited because it is a collection of permutations over a prime field.
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📶 Shanghai upgrade to include Ethereum unstaking
Ethereum developers said the upcoming Shanghai upgrade, slated for March, would add functionality to withdraw staked ETH, according to Bloomberg News.The confirmation brings welcome relief for stakers and vested parties.
Since the Beacon Chain went live in November 2020, Ethereum deposited into the staking contract has amassed at a steady rate. Currently, 15.9 million ETH, valued at approximately $19.8 billion, have been deposited, representing 13.2% of the supply. Data from Messari showed Ethereum has the lowest staking ratio of any major Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chain. The staking ratio of other significant PoS chains ranged between 46%, going as high as 90% for BNB.
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📣 Immunefi researcher saves $200 million from potential theft on three Polkadot parachains
A security researcher discovered a software vulnerability that could have been exploited to steal as much as $200 million from three Ethereum-compatible parachains on Polkadot — Moonbeam, Astar Network and Acala. The researcher, known as pwning.eth, was awarded a $1 million bounty.
The researcher, known as pwning.eth, found and reported the critical vulnerability in June, when the program was submitted, in a software called Frontier that is used for "wrapping" native tokens on the three blockchain projects (or parachains) on the Polkadot network. The report was submitted on the crypto-focused bug-hunting platform Immunefi on June 27, but only recently disclosed.which holds the native tokens in escrow and issues the wrapped tokens to the user.
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🪙 NEAR Foundation Improves Grant Allocation Process From Early 2023
According to the official blog, the NEAR Foundation announced that it is improving its appropriation process, including a more decentralized capital allocation model through DAO appropriation, initially involving DeveloperDAO, MarketingDAO, CreativesDAO.
Additionally, expect to take 6-8 weeks to work with community members to outline a clear application process for applying for funding through the DAO. Projects that have received partial funding and are running will continue to receive support for the remainder of their original program. Any application that has not yet reached the approval stage will not be awarded funding. which will be handed over to MarketingDAO when they are set up to manage them.
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🪙 Litecoin Records Certain Milestones In 2022 Despite The General Downtrend
Litecoin achieved several on-chain and off-chain milestones despite the broad slump that characterized the previous trading year. Although it saw more than 50 million unique wallet addresses, LTC has lost more than half of its value as of the time of publication.
According to a Litecoin tweet, over 39 million transactions were executed on the decentralized, open-source LTC network at the end of the 2022 trading year. Additionally, throughout the year, Litecoin’s hashrate reached a brand-new record high of 613.81TH/s. Additionally, on December 3rd, after 11 years of operation, the network’s average difficulty reached a record high. LTC’s value fell by 54% as a result of the dramatic market slump during the last year.
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💰 Cardano (ADA) Is The Most Actively Developed Cryptocurrency Protocol In 2022
The majority of the cryptocurrency market is still battling to recoup its value following the FTX collapse, capping off one of the worst years in the sector’s history, but Cardano (ADA) is making progress in terms of development activity.
According to a list issued on December 30 by the on-chain and social metrics platform Santiment, Cardano is the top blockchain protocol by development activity in 2022, followed by Polkadot (DOT) and Cosmos (ATOM). The Cardano team’s development activity rates were the highest among all observed protocols over the full year of 2022, despite ADA ranking sixth in terms of its return on investment (ROI) after the token sale.
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🇧🇷 Brazilians are turning to stablecoins to protect savings from inflation
According to recent market data, 50% of the Brazilian Real (BRL) volumes involve a stablecoin. The recent development poses an impressive figure about the usage of stablecoins in Brazil, especially as only 5% of the BRL volume involves USD directly.
Brazil’s Real continues to struggle to hold its value as inflation, coupled with the global economic crisis, continues to hit hard on the South American country. In June, the inflation rate grew to 9.704%, the highest in 2022. The struggle against inflation in Brazil caused the Real to weaken against the U.S. dollar. In Brazil, stablecoins are seen as an excellent way to protect savings from inflation.
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🆘 Amun’s Products Hacked Resulted In A Loss Of $300,000
Amun’s PECO and DFI products were compromised on December 26, 2022, causing a loss of underlying funds of about $300,000. The team will give token owners their money back and let them know how they can anticipate repayment as soon as possible.
The index product provider Amun issued an article saying that on December 26, its products PECO and DFI were attacked, resulting in a loss of about $300,000 in basic funds. The attacker minted 80 billion tokens and dumped them on all available DEXs, causing all available liquidity pools to be exhausted. The DFI token was also subject to the same attack.
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🪙 Avalanche Web3 Products Are Implemented On FIDE
Avalanche and Core will be promoted as sponsors at FIDE competitions, such as the upcoming 2022 World Rapid and Blitz Championships, and they will contribute to FIDE’s product development to bring chess to Web3.
Over 500 million people play chess worldwide, and FIDE competitions like the World Chess Championship and Chess Olympiad draw hundreds of millions of viewers. An official announcement claims that FIDE selected the blockchain as the technical foundation for its planned chess player on-chain applications. Transparent data processing, tamper-proof experience tracking.
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💰 FTX attempts to maintain ownership of Robinhood shares in court
FTX and Alameda Research are attempting to secure ownership of Robinhood stock worth over $440 million, based on a court filing dated Dec. 22. According to the text of the filing, Emergent Fidelity Technologies currently holds about 56 million Robinhood share.
The ownership of those Robinhood shares is now disputed, as three separate parties are attempting to claim ownership in courts across multiple jurisdictions. The first claimant is BlockFi, which accepted the Robinhood shares as additional collateral on loans between itself and Alameda Research prior to Alameda and FTX’s collapse. BlockFi now intends to obtain and sell those shares.
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📣 BlockFi seeks to reopen withdrawals for certain users
Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi is seeking to reopen withdrawals for users who have crypto locked in wallet accounts. The lender filed a motion on Dec. 19 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of New Jersey.
"The BlockFi Wallet Terms of Service are clear," said BlockFi in the filing. "They provide that 'title to the cryptocurrency held in your BlockFi Wallet shall at all times remain with you and shall not transfer to BlockFi.' The Debtors have no legal or equitable interest in cryptocurrency that was present in the Wallet Accounts as of Platform Pause, and clients should be able to withdraw such assets from the platform if they choose.
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📣 Digital Currency Group tokens red across board, sparking market speculation
Assets on the Digital Currency Group portfolio have taken a hit over the last 24 hours, triggering market speculation. It has been a month since troubled crypto lender Genesis Global Capital, daughter company of DCG, suspended redemptions.
“DCG and Genesis have highly competent teams. In normal circumstances neither would pay 15%-30% of slippage to rapidly exit long-held positions over the weekend, so observers are naturally speculating this was a forced event of some kind,” Rich Rosenblum, president of trading firm GSR, told The Block on Saturday. A market downturn on DCG’s portfolio assets is sparking industry speculation.
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🇭🇰 First Hong Kong bitcoin, ether ETFs lure nearly $75 million with trading set to begin Friday
CSOP Asset Management, a China Southern Asset Management subsidiary, will list the first bitcoin and ether ETFs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday. The two funds attracted over $74 million in investment, with most going into the bitcoin fund.
CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF and CSOP Ether Futures ETF will track CME's bitcoin and ether futures, the company said. The CSOP bitcoin and ether ETFs have received more than $74 million in initial investments — $54 million and $20 million, respectively — shaking off the slump in cryptocurrency prices and the fallout from high-profile collapses of FTX and others. The approval of the ETFs is an "important milestone" for digital assets in Asia.
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🪙 Binance CEO warns colleagues 'crypto winter' isn't over: Bloomberg
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao warned colleagues at the world's biggest crypto exchange that the proverbial "crypto winter" isn't over, and the months ahead won't be easy, according to Bloomberg. While we expect the next several months to be bumpy, we will get past this challenging period.
Zhao — who often goes simply by his initials, CZ — blamed the collapse of high-profile competitor FTX for adding "a lot of extra scrutiny and tough questions" on Binance. On Tuesday, a U.S. grand jury charged former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with committing or conspiring to commit fraud on FTX’s customers and lenders, as well as money laundering. He was reportedly denied bail and remanded to the custody of the Bahamas Department of Corrections.
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