Crypto exchanges reported to account for a number of layoffs

Anna Evans on March 27, 2023

Crypto exchanges – The world watched as major tech industries like Amazon and Meta bid thousands of employees goodbye in a series of mass layoffs.

The trend continued into 2023, extending to the crypto space.

According to a CoinGecko report, January 2023 was the second worst month for crypto layoffs due to a wave of redundancies hitting the industry.

As a result, over 2,806 individuals lost their jobs.

The layoffs

The overall number of layoffs within the crypto industry last month might put the year on the right course to surpass 2022’s figure of nearly 7,000.

According to the research, the layoff course comes as the bear market and challenging global macroeconomic conditions continue to pressure companies.

Among the January figures, centralized crypto exchanges contributed to most of the cuts with 84% of all layoffs.

The researchers cited lower trading volumes and declining revenues as significant factors for the layoffs.

Exchanges

Some of the major crypto exchanges that announced mass layoffs in January include the following:

Blockchain.com
Coinbase
Crypto.com
Huobi
Luno

Coinbase and Crypto.com were among the companies to initiate layoffs early in 2022 (June, to be specific).

Bobby Ong, the COO and co-founder of CoinGecko, said:

“During the bull market run, crypto exchanges expanded aggressively in response to the rapid growth in retail investor demand.”

“While crypto companies, in general, have been hit hard by the onset of crypto winter amid a tough macroeconomic environment, layoffs have revealed that exchanges, in particular, have been ‘swimming naked’ and can no longer sustain their previous excesses.”

Recovery

In January, the crypto market recovered some of the losses they endured in 2022.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin gained nearly 40% value last month.

“It remains to be seen whether crypto exchanges will need to take any further cost-cutting measures,” said Ong.

However, June 2022 remains the month with the highest record of layoffs at crypto exchanges as 3,003 jobs were cut.

It was the first major crisis due to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem.

Terra

In the middle of the year, the crypto space endured the most challenging time as Terra’s UST stablecoin and the governance token LUNA collapsed.

LUNA has been part of the top ten when it fell 100% to a fraction of a fraction of a cent.

The collapse can be attributed to the mechanisms behind Terra and its stablecoin and general panic.

Upon hearing the stablecoin was dropping, many investors sought an exit.

Initially, the 20% rate was marked as stable, but it started to drop after Proposal 20 in March.

Proposal 20 means that if Anchor’s reserves increase by 5%, so would the interest rate.

However, if they decreased by 5%, the interest rate would also drop.

Further collapse

The crypto space faced more pressure in November when crypto exchange platform FTX collapsed.

The collapse led to a domino effect, which not only affected other crypto exchanges, but also cost 1,805 employees their jobs.

FTX also significantly affected companies that had exposure, including:

Genesis Trading
Galaxy Digital
Voyager Digital

Many of the companies lost access to millions of dollars that were kept with the crypto exchange.

Investors were also locked out of their funds.

According to the CoinGecko report, centralized cryptocurrency exchanges accounted for 82.2% of the November layoffs in 2022.

Regardless, crypto job cuts are still matching a broader number in the tech sector as crypto accounted for 4.3% of all tech layoffs last year.

However, the number was slightly lower in January, standing at 4% of all tech layoffs.

The following sectors were hit hardest by mass layoffs:

Consumer technology
Food tech
Transportation

Image source: Coin Telegraph

Blockchain association launches in Abu Dhabi

Greg Jackson on March 27, 2023

Image source: IDB

Blockchain technology has been the hottest topic in the tech industry in recent years, and now it is looking to take a massive leap.

Recently, a new blockchain and crypto-focused association launched in Abu Dhabi’s free economic zone.

It aims to improve the development of blockchain and crypto ecosystems across the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia.

The association

The Middle East, Africa & Asia Crypto & Blockchain Association (MEAACBA) launched days earlier in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

The ADGM is a free economic zone in the city’s center.

It is subject to its own set of civil and commercial laws.

Additionally, the zone is designed to improve the growth of fintech companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The non-profit organization aims to facilitate regulatory solutions, create commercial opportunities, and invest in education for industry growth support.

Staff

The MEAACBA is going to be spearheaded by board chairman Jehanzeb Awan, the founder of an international risk and compliance consulting firm based in Dubai.

Other supporters of the association include:

Richard Teng, Binance’s regional head of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Stuart Isted, Crypto.com’s general manager of Middle East and Africa
Ola Doudin, the CEO of BitOasis, a cryptocurrency exchange in the region

Awan said he hopes the organization will bring a collaborative and community-based approach to further industry growth in the MENA region.

He also hopes to create wide-reaching benefits for the “highly dynamic and exciting” space.

“The industry will benefit from the Association as it provides a coordination mechanism between regulators, government agencies, banks, legal tax, and advisory firms to address the most pressing challenges,” said Awan.

In addition, Ahmad Jasim Al Zaabi, ADGM’s chairman, said that the MEAACBA’s addition would help create a more “progressive financial sector” in the region.

The launch

The MEAACBA launch comes as the FSRA published a set of “Guiding Principles” in its approach to navigating the regulatory complexities brought by the digital asset industry in November.

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority is the financial regulator of ADGM’s free economic zone.

In addition, the principles are considered “crypto-friendly.”

It still complies with the strict international standards on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CFT) by the United Nations.

Additionally, recent studies show that the MENA region is the fastest-growing cryptocurrency market.

Furthermore, between July 2021 and June 2022, the transaction volume in MENA has a 48% increase from the past twelve months, reaching $566 billion.

The use case for cryptocurrencies in emerging markets comes from savings preservation and remittance payments.

Finally, it counters inflation in unstable economies.

Reference:

Middle East, Asia, and Africa blockchain association launches in Abu Dhabi

SEC blasted over lack of clarity by crypto executives

Madelyn Stewart on March 27, 2023

SEC – Multiple executives from crypto companies have expressed their frustration with the US government following the latest developments in the crypto space.

Many have blasted them for a lack of clarity with the industry’s rules.

However, a primary focus of the crypto community’s rage lies in the Securities and Exchange Commission due to its aggressive actions against crypto firms.

US & crypto

While other countries have become more accepting of cryptocurrency, the United States is a few steps behind.

The country has yet to develop a comprehensive set of regulations allowing cryptocurrency and blockchains firms to operate without the fear of regulators targeting them.

Since the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in 2022, the US SEC took the initiative to ramp up enforcement actions against companies.

The clash

On Wednesday, the SEC sent Coinbase, one of the top crypto exchanges in the space, a Wells notice.

It warned the company that it found potential violations of US securities law.

Additionally, the SEC unveiled fraud and unregistered securities charges against crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and celebrities who endorsed digital coins he was endorsing.

Currently, the SEC is in a legal clash with several other crypto companies, including Gemini, Genesis, and Ripple.

Reception

“It feels uncollaborative,” said an anonymous crypto executive over the Paris Blockchain Week event.

“It’s very frustrating for players that have been doing right the whole time.”

Meanwhile, ConsenSys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin said he thought the ecosystem was frustrated.

“I think we’re sort of continuing to watch the SEC play this game of punishing the people that are still surviving,” said Blockchain.com president Nicolas Cary.

“And it’s a little bit, you know, sort of frustrating thing to observe.”

Most of SEC’s actions involve the application of current regulations to the crypto industry decades after the Howey Test.

The Howey Test is a key test to determine if something is a security or not.

However, many in the crypto industry feel it isn’t the right way to go.

“Where I think you have less successful regulatory regimes is when you try to analyze crypto through the lens of traditional finance,” said Oliver Linch, the CEO of Bittrex Global.

“You say, ‘Well, is it a bit like a security? Is it a commodity?’ No, it’s kind of none of those things. It’s crypto.”

Clarity & sympathy

The Paris Blockchain Week is one of the most prominent crypto events in Europe, where the actions of the SEC was one of the hottest topics among attendees.

Several executives requested the US regulators for clarity.

“We’d love to have a little more clarity in regulation,” said Silvio Micali, the founder of blockchain company Algorand.

However, others were more sympathetic with SEC.

They suggested that the watchdog is operating along the existing rules, and that the US government has the power to change them.

“What are they supposed to do? If all you’re given is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail,” said Linch.

Meanwhile, Cary noted that the SEC is only doing their job to protect consumers.

The SEC

This month, SEC Chair Gary Gensler talked about the points in an opinion piece on The Hill, suggesting the regulator was clear on the rules.

“I find the talking point that there’s a lack of clarity in the securities laws unpersuasive,” he said.

“Some crypto companies might message that the laws are unclearer rather than admitting that their platforms don’t have sufficient investor protection.”

Gensler also cited examples of crypto firms falling under existing securities laws, including instances when companies offer lending products.

Additionally, he said crypto intermediaries aren’t lining up to register with the SEC and comply with the Congress’s laws.

Furthermore, the SEC chair said enforcement actions are another tool from the regulator’s toolbox to weed out noncompliance.

Falling behind

Executives warned that the lack of proper regulation in the United States could lead to the country falling behind others and jurisdictions.

“It’s incumbent, I think, on Congress to actually create a legal regulatory framework that regulates crypto properly, because… crypto is here to stay,” said Linch.

Governments worldwide are weighing up on how they could regulate cryptocurrency.

Dubai and Switzerland have endorsed themselves as crypto-friendly destinations with advantageous regulation.

Meanwhile, the European Union is slated to introduce the Markets in Crypto-Assets or MiCA regulation in 2023.

It is designed to bring rules in and around digital currency companies.

Monica Long, the president of Ripple, believes the US could fall behind other jurisdictions in the crypto economy.

“Europe is really emerging as a leader in terms of setting really clear regulations and rules that allow crypto companies and also traditional finance to embrace crypto,” said Long.

Image source: Cryptopolitan

SEC actions against Coinbase spur reaction from crypto community

Larry Jansen on March 27, 2023

SEC – US authorities have been cracking down on the crypto space, which has greatly affected the community.

On Wednesday, Coinbase received a notice from the SEC, alleging the company’s staking products make up unregistered securities.

It also mentioned parts of the Coinbase exchange and Coinbase Wallet.

The SEC’s actions against Coinbase have erupted among the crypto community.

As a result, questions have emerged about what the situation could mean for cryptocurrency in the United States.

Coinbase

According to sources, Coinbase leadership is frustrated with how the SEC allowed American investors to dive into crypto for years when they suddenly pulled the rug out.

Coinbase reportedly held talks with the SEC about regulatory and policy matters for months.

They started shortly after filing a petition with the SEC in July, where they asked the regulators to start a public rulemaking process to clarify what would be considered securities.

On Monday, Coinbase submitted a letter to the SEC to clear up the rulemaking clarity around staking.

The SEC then gave notice that it would pursue enforcement action against the company.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong highlighted in a Twitter thread how the SEC allowed the company to go public on the Nasdaq.

Earlier on Wednesday, Coinbase notified users that it would suspend Algorand staking rewards on March 29.

Later that afternoon, Paul Grewal published a blog post saying the Wells Notice didn’t provide information they could respond to.

Reaction

Custodia Bank founder and CEO Caitlin Long offered her two cents on Twitter writing:

“It should be crystal clear by now that the Biden Administration wants all crypto – even the legit parts of it – run out by the US.”

“See also yesterday’s White House economic report, which dunked on all financial innovation while espousing the “stability” of traditional banks.”

Long, along with others, questioned the SEC’s sudden delivery of a “Wells Notice.”

They allowed Coinbase, a publicly traded company, to offer staking rewards for years, but have only now threatened to sue the company, claiming they offered unregistered securities.

“Over the past 9 months, [Coinbase] has met with the SEC more than 30 times, sharing details of our business to build a path to registration,” wrote Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal.

“During this time, the SEC hasn’t given basically 0 feedback on what to change, or how to register. Instead, today we received a Wells Notice.”

Andreessen Horowitz general partner Chris Dixon chimed in, saying:

“Since day one, @coinbase has invested heavily in being fully compliant with US laws even when it forced them to move slower or lose a competitive edge vs other exchanges that chose to take shortcuts.”

“The US has a strong history of fostering innovation, and regulators have played a key role by establishing clear rules and pursuing bad actors,” he continued.

“We hope the US will take a more constructive approach to collaborating with innovators while protecting consumers.”

Support & criticism

Many in the crypto community expressed their support for Coinbase, saying they stood with the company and Adam Cochran, the founder of Cinnemhain Ventures of CEHV.

However, while others slammed the SEC, some members of the crypto community took the opportunity to criticize Coinbase.

The most vocal of critics came from the XRP community, many of whom were still bitter after Coinbase delisted XRP from the Coinbase Wallet last fall.

Meanwhile, Ripple Labs has been in a long-standing court battle with the SEC since December 2020.

The agency accused the company of misleading investors and raising $1.3 billion in unregistered securities.

“I doubt I will ever understand how the SEC can sign off on @coinbase being publicly listed then raise all these issues afterwards,” said attorney Bill Morgan.

“Forget just crypto, how is the SEC protecting shareholders of Coinbase with this dreadful conduct?”

Image source: Crypto Crunch

GameStop finally introduces Web3 gaming to its marketplace

Gary Roberts on March 27, 2023

Image source: Protocol

GameStop recently announced the addition of NFTs issued on Ethereum’s Immutable X Layer-2 scaling network to its marketplace.

The additional support allows users to buy and sell Web3 game assets.

Marketplace

Plenty of games now have interactive NFT items available on GameStop marketplaces.

The market offers digital trading cards, customizable bundles, and more.

Immutable X-based game titles include:

Gods Unchained
Illuvium
Guild of Guardians

In July, GameStop launched its long-awaited NFT Marketplace.

However, the platform only offered digital artwork and collectibles at launch.

Many in the Web3 space were curious when the company would include interactive game NFTs, given the company’s direction and plans for the market thus far.

Immutable X

GameStop’s partnership with Immutable X was announced in early February.

The companies announced a $100 million token incentive fund for Web3 game developers.

Additionally, GameStop participated in a $500 million investment and grant fund for NFTs and game makers on Immutable X.

The platform is built on Ethereum.

While Ethereum transactions require high gas fees, Immutable X allows faster and cheaper gaming, app and NFT interaction.

The platform offloads transactions to the second level of the blockchain, speeding up the transaction.

Immutable, the company behind the platform, achieved encrypted “unicorn” status in early 2022.

Tencent and Animoca are investing in the company’s Web3 gaming vision.

The two investors are bringing the startup to a $2.5 valuation through a Series C funding round of $200 million in March.

The platform

GameStop announced that its marketplace had completed beta testing.

As a result, it is encouraging merchants to use its NFT platform.

A representative said that the market returns users 1% of their daily trading volume in Immutable IMX tokens.

The market also offers rewards for staking tokens.

In addition, the marketplace commission is 0.2% for an indefinite period.

NFT

GameStop’s NFT, before the launch of Immutable X, only saw a total volume of over $29 million from nearly 24,000 retailers.

Meanwhile, OpenSea generated $309 million in trading volume last month.

Although GameStop NFT has more trading activity than Coinbase NFT, they still do not have a significant share of the NFT market.

Adding Web3 games to the platform could affect the change.

Reference:

GameStop adds Web3 gaming NFTs to marketplace with Immutable X

Avalon receives major funding from supports in recent round

Gary Roberts on March 27, 2023

Avalon – The Web3 space is expanding, with the gaming industry eyed for a potential expansion.

The prospect has also caught the attention of several video game industry figures.

Avalon Corp is the product of such promise, formed by a group of video game industry veterans who raised an incredible round of funding by Bitkraft Ventures.

The news

Bitkraft Ventures led a round of funding that led to $13 million raised.

It found an audience from angel investors like Kevin Lin, the co-founder of Twitch, and Charlie Songhurst, a former Microsoft executive, among many more.

Others who participated in the funding round include:

Coinbase Ventures
Delphi Digital
Hashed
Mechanism Capital

Avalon

The Avalon team is made up of incredible talents consisting of experienced game developers who have lent their genius to big names like:

Blizzard
Electronic Arts
Microsoft
Sony

Avalon is touted as the startup gaming studio’s flagship product, containing elements of the metaverse and some MMO.

It is currently being developed in Unreal Engine 5.

Despite the potential, Avalon Corp CEO Sean Pinnock and Chief Product Officer Jeffrey Butler revealed that they don’t view Avalon as a metaverse.

They explained that the term is misused and co-opted.

“Everyone’s kind of hopping onto this word and just beating the poor word to death,” said Butler.

He cited examples of major brands across industries like fashion and fast food claiming to build their own metaverse.

“At Avalon, we are creating an interoperable universe for creators to build the content of their dreams,” Butler added.

“And [in] our vision of something like a – not metaverse – we imagine that to build such a thing is incredibly challenging, and in fact impossible for a single company to do it,” said Pinnock.

“We’d like to empower gamers, creators, anyone to build worlds. And then those worlds over time interconnected could become something like an Oasis from Ready Player One.”

A fixed version

According to Pinnock and Butler, it won’t be consumer brands that bring metaverse into reality.

Instead, it will be game developers.

They explained that developers have the experience to bring an AAA game to life.

Pinnock and Butler also believe that once Avalon is developed, it could host major brands that are looking to stake their claim in the Avalon universe with their own intellectual property and customized experience.

In addition, Sean Pinnock revealed that Avalon’s COO was the previous Head of Business Development at the North American division of Bandai Namco.

Bandai Namco owns the IP rights of iconic Japanese properties, namely big names in manga and anime like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and One Piece.

Blockchain search

Avalon has yet to settle into a specific blockchain that can enable its interoperable economy.

However, Sean Pinnock has had his eyes on Ethereum Layer 2 protocols, particularly Polygon and ImmutableX.

“I personally am a big fan of Layer 2 Ethereum protocols,” Pinnock elaborated.

“What’s great about that technology is the gas price for transactions is significantly less than the cost of a credit card swipe, which has great low environmental impact.”

“We’re also able to get the scalability we need for transactions,” he added.

“In terms of how blockchain will be used in Avalon, digital ownership is going to be a key here.”

“So all of our assets inside of Avalon will be certified through the blockchain.”

Meanwhile, the Avalon team is optimistic in crypto’s function, offering a decentralized metaverse that, if done correctly, will not be a “walled garden.”

“This is going to be the most invasive technologies ever built by society, it’s incredibly important that this technology is actually decentralized,” said Pinnock.

“How do we do that? That’s a really tough problem to solve.”

Potential

Jeffrey Butler has been in the video game industry since 1999, having worked at Sony Online Entertainment for almost a decade with contributions to titles like Everquest.

Butler believes technology like Unreal Engine 5 will allow the team to develop the massively multiplayer universe they want accurately.

However, Avalon is going to be more than just a digital realm.

It will also be gamified, allowing users to transfer assets from one world to another via crypto and NFT.

“For us, gamification is incredibly important,” said Butler.

“I grew up modding Warcraft III a lot, I was actually not the creator, but I was an original Dota modder and made my own Dota spinoff as well as a ton of other games.”

“And what I believe made Warcraft III’s modding community so successful was that there was a game to build around, there was a framework. And so we are going to build our own framework.”

Image source: Venture Beat

Alameda payments sent SBF a huge chunk of cash

Madelyn Stewart on March 27, 2023

Alameda– On Wednesday, disgraced crypto exchange platform FTX’s new management released a surprising announcement regarding its founder’s payments.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and ex-boss behind the company’s collapse, reportedly took in $2.2 billion in payments and loans from Alameda Research.

The figure is jaw-dropping and, compared to other executives, comes off as striking.

Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s payout was a lowly $6 million.

According to the new management’s documents, a total of $3.2 billion was handed out to ex-FTX staff, most of which came from the company’s sister trading firm.

Alameda

When FTX collapsed in late 2022, Alameda Research was at the heart of the drama.

The quantitative trading firm was also founded by Sam Bankman-Fried.

According to newly appointed FTX CEO John J. Ray III, who assumed control after SBF ran, Alameda had the ability to use FTX customer assets for its own purposes without oversight.

Meanwhile, FTX was previously one of the pinnacles of the Web3 age.

It was a digital asset exchange that allowed customers to buy, sell, and bet on the future prices of several cryptocurrencies.

Based in the Bahamas which was more accepting of crypto, FTX had over 134 companies under its banner before it collapsed.

SBF founded Alameda in 2019, but he claims he left his leadership role from the trading firm in 2021, leaving the day-to-day operations in the hands of others.

According to prosecutors, FTX’s sudden bankruptcy can be attributed to management making dangerously risky bets with customer cash courtesy of Alameda Research.

The payouts

The documents were released this week by FTX’s new management, revealing that SBF received most of the $3.2 billion in payouts.

While he enjoyed the largest piece of the pie, Nishad Singh, the former FTX director of engineering, received $587 million.

Meanwhile, co-founder Gary Wang got $246 million.

Ryan Salame, the former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO received $87 million while former co-head of Alameda Research Sam Trabucco got $25 million.

According to the announcement, they didn’t include the massive amount of more than $240 million that was used to acquire luxury property in the Bahamas.

Furthermore, it should be mentioned that Trabucco stepped down from his post as Alameda CEO in August.

Since then, he hasn’t been heard from in public.

Authorities have yet to announce charges against Sam Trabucco while the rest of SBF’s inner circle were already charged.

Ellison

Following Trabucco’s resignation, Caroline Ellison was promoted to being the lone CEO of Alameda Research in October 2021.

They were previously co-CEOs of the platform.

Ellison had an on-off romantic relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried.

While her role in the company’s collapse was widely covered, her past brought her further spotlight as her now-deleted Tumblr blog brought a rather unique perspective of what transpired in the Bahamas penthouse.

The penthouse was home to 10 roommates, including Ellison and SBF, where they made high-level decisions.

However, decisions were not the only things happening around the house as the group was described as being a “polycule,” or a network of people in a polyamorous relationship.

In November, Ellison’s blog, which was active from 2014 to 2022, showed information that linked perfectly with her biography.

The blog’s contents indicated that she had a strong fascination with race science and polyamory.

It also provided more insight on the author’s view of the crypto space, who, in one post, wrote:

“I didn’t get into this as a crypto true believer. It’s mostly scams and memes when you get down to it.”

The charges and the company today

Sam Bankman-Fried currently faces 12 criminal charges in the United States, with some being handed down in a superseding indictment in February.

The charges also include conspiracy to commit fraud on FTX customers in connection with the purchase and sales of derivatives.

In January, SBF pleaded not guilty to the original charges.

Since then, he has been waiting for a trial in October.

Meanwhile, Ellison, Wang, and Singh admitted to fraud, and they have been cooperating with investigators.

As of now, billions of dollars in FTX client cash is still missing, with a massive amount believed to have been stolen.

Image source: Salon.com

Dogecoin suffers major losses in overnight plummet

Anna Evans on March 27, 2023

Image source: Marca

Dogecoin (DOGE), the cryptocurrency industry’s top meme coin by market capitalization, plunged more than 9% overnight.

Liquidations

The meme coin is now trading around $0.088 after its latest decline.

In addition, the Bears have controlled the token over the past week.

To further elaborate, Dogecoin has been down nearly 16% over the past seven days.

After Ethereum and Bitcoin, DOGE has generated the third-highest liquidations in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Coinglass reports a total of $6.34 million in DOGE settlements.

Most of the liquidation took place on the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, and about half of the liquidation ($3.79 million) was cleared in the past 12 hours.

Losses

The cumulative losses have yet to impact gains made in late November following speculation that Elon Musk would integrate Dogecoin into Twitter.

During a recent presentation, Musk shared user metrics for the site with new updates like encrypted messaging and long-form tweets.

However, the last box next to “Payments” is left blank, fueling speculation that Musk has big plans to launch a cryptocurrency, especially Dogecoin.

Despite speculation, there is no indication that he will go ahead with the plans.

Other drops

While Dogecoin suffered the most significant losses among the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies, it wasn’t the only one to lose points.

Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin and Ethereum are down -0.7% and -1.5%, respectively.

Bitcoin is currently trading for $17,028.75, while Ethereum is selling for $1,252.90.

Ethereum led liquidations during the same period, posting $12.57 million in leveraged positions.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin traders lost $9.25 million in the latest bearish momentum.

Other notes

In the crypto space, people are focused on Tuesday’s meeting with the House Financial Services Committee.

Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX and Alameda Research is expected to testify and explain how his cryptocurrency exchange collapsed in November.

“I still do not have access to much of my data – professional or personal,” he said in a Twitter conversation with House Chairwoman Maxine Waters.

“So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like.”

“But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th.”

The Federal Reserve also meets this Wednesday.

The market expects the central bank to raise rates by 50 basis points.

Previous rate hikes were 75 basis points, suggesting the Fed is on track to slow its attack on inflation given recent data points.

Reference:

Dogecoin plummets 9% as crypto markets flash red

Stablecoins see migrations after SVB collapse

Greg Jackson on March 27, 2023

Stablecoin – The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week worried the tech and crypto industry, and the latter was especially shaken following the 2022 FTX collapse.

Circle announced that it had been exposed to Silicon Valley Bank, and over the weekend, USDC was briefly depegged.

Fearing for the worst, investors turned to several alternatives.

The news

Over the weekend, USDC holders were anxious following the SVB collapse, but holders of other stablecoins endured a more fruitful movement.

They witnessed a surge in the market capitalizations of their projects.

On Friday, the company behind USDC, Circle, the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market cap, dropped its dollar peg to $0.87.

The sudden decline can be attributed to the company disclosing it held around $3.3 billion in cash reserves in Silicon Valley Bank.

Circle quickly reassured holders that they only had minimal exposure, saying the total amount of its cash in SVB was less than 10% of the $42.1 billion cash reserves underpinning USDC’s value.

On Monday, US and British regulators intervened, helping public confidence in Circle recover.

The stablecoin is currently trading for a fraction of a cent from its peg.

However, while USDC recovered, competitors had already taken advantage of Circle’s wobble.

Tether

Tether has often been one of the most controversial stablecoin developers, but its token, the USDT, saw a slight increase over the weekend.

In 2021, Alex Mahinsky, the then-CEO of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius told Financial Times that Tether was minting USDT against top cryptocurrency Bitcoin and Ethereum collateral for a couple of major customers.

However, Tether was hit with a massive $41 million fine by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2021.

The CFTC is an independent watchdog for the US government, regulating derivatives.

The company had lied about its cash reserves, and it didn’t have sufficient USDT for a large period between 2016 and early 2019.

Since then, Tether has improved its transparency.

In August 2022, it hired BDO Italia to create regular attestation reports for USDT reserves.

When Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, Tether CEO Paulo Ardoino reassured followers the company wasn’t exposed.

Gains

On Friday, USDT had a market cap of $71.9 billion.

However, by Monday night, the figure spiked to almost $75 billion.

However, the market cap fell back, but not before it recorded an overall increase of 1.6%.

Dai

DAI’s stablecoin supply is maintained and regulated by the Maker, one of the DeFi’s longest-standing projects.

It is also backed by cryptocurrencies, particularly USDC.

However, other Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies can also be used for minting it, such as Ethereum and Wrapped Bitcoin or WBTC.

Because of the decentralized nature of its collateral and the fact that the protocol monitoring the stablecoin isn’t watched by a single company, DAI is often dubbed a decentralized stablecoin.

DAI is currently the fourth largest stablecoin on the market, boasting a market cap of $6.2 billion.

Gains

Throughout Friday, DAI held a market cap of $4.9 billion.

However, the figure increased by Monday morning, going up by 28.6%.

Its updated market cap now stands at $6.3 billion.

People seeking to jettison USDC were probably referred to DAI as a destination.

When people burned USDC, DAI’s supply experienced a strong upward market trend.

However, on Saturday, DAI was depegged and sank to a low of $0.88, paralleling USDC.

TrueUSD

TrueUSD was introduced in 2018 as an Ethereum-based stablecoin, billing itself as the first regulated stablecoin to be fully backed by the US dollar.

According to Chainlink’s proof-of-reserve monitoring tool, TUSD is backed 1:1 by nothing but cash.

In February, the SEC prepared a lawsuit against Paxos, which was behind Binance’s dollar-pegged BUSD stablecoin.

Binance minted $180 million in TUSD as an alternative, which accounts for the 114.5% increase in TUSD’s market cap in the past month.

However, TrueUSD was exposed to Silvergate.

Minting and redemptions were paused for several Signature Bank users.

However, according to a Monday tweet, the rest of TrueUSD’s banking network operated without a hitch.

Gains

Throughout Friday, TUSD’s market cap stood at around $1.3 billion.

It saw an increase in market cap of 53.8%, and for the past two days, it sat above the $2 billion market cap.

Liquity USD

Liquity functions similar to DAI, operating under similar mechanics but with the addition of interest-free loans.

Liquity charges a small one-time fee upfront instead of variable interest rates with its loans.

LUSD is its dollar-pegged native token, and users receive loans paid out in LUSD with Ethereum as the collateral.

After the crypto banking crisis worries and Circle’s depegging subsided, Liquity CEO Michael Svoboda promoted his stablecoin by retweeting LUSD fans.

Gains

On Friday, LUSD held an incredible market cap of $230 million.

Over the weekend, it blew up by 10.4%, trading today at $256.2 million.

Image source: Bitpay

FTX recoups frozen funds, but not all of it

Larry Jansen on March 27, 2023

Image source:

FTX was a cryptocurrency exchange platform that allowed futures trading for several digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

The trading platform also provided access to other financial products, including leveraged tokens and options.

Professional traders and institutional investors liked FTX because of its strong liquidity and quick execution times.

The platform had trouble getting back on its feet after collapsing late last year.

However, following the November crash, FTX was able to recoup some of the liquid assets.

The news

On Wednesday, FTX successfully recovered more than $5 billion in cash, liquid assets, cryptocurrencies, and securities investments.

However, according to a lawyer for the corporation, the degree of consumer losses has yet to be assessed.

Before seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2022, FTX had a $32 billion market value.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the company’s founder, was accused of orchestrating an “epic” fraud that defrauded clients, investors, and lenders of billions of dollars after the collapse.

Recovery

Andy Dietderich, a lawyer representing FTX, disclosed that they had retrieved some assets during the hearing on Wednesday.

“We have located over $5 billion of cash, liquid cryptocurrencies, and liquid securities,” Dietderich told US bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey.

Additionally, he stated that the company intended to sell non-strategic investments with a book value of $4.6 billion.

The attorney claimed that the actual customer deficiency is still unclear and that the legal team is still striving to establish proper internal records.

The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission believes the missing funds fall over the $8 billion line.

The $5 billion in assets collected, according to Andy Dietderich, did not include those taken by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, where SBF resided and FTX had its headquarters.

The FTX lawyer assessed the value of the confiscated assets at $170 million, compared to the Bahamian authorities’ estimate of $3.5 billion.

The company’s proprietary and illiquid FTT token, which has very erratic pricing, made up the assets.

Affiliates sales

Following Dorsey’s approval of their request for protocols to examine affiliates’ sales during the hearing on Wednesday, FTX may raise further funds in the upcoming months to benefit customers.

The affiliates are separate entities from the FTX group, each with management and customer accounts.

They include the following:

Embed
FTX Europe
FTX Japan
LedgerX

FTX stated that it had no plans to sell any businesses but has received unsolicited proposals.

They consequently intend to organize auctions the following month.

Opposition and approval

Before the scope of the FTX fraud is fully determined, the government’s US Trustee Program opposed selling the affiliates.

FTX requested Dorsey’s permission to keep the 9 million FTX customer names secret to maintain the firm’s value.

The corporation claimed that privacy was necessary to prevent competitors from stealing users.

Additionally, it complies with privacy rules while preventing identity theft.

FTX requested that the names remain a secret for six months, but Dorsey only permitted the secrecy to last three.

He explained his choice:

“The difficulty here is that I don’t know who’s a customer and who’s not.”

On January 20, John Dorsey scheduled a hearing to talk about how the business will distinguish its clients.

Additionally, he stated that if the identities are made public, he wants the corporation to come back in three months with more details about the possibility of identity theft.

Media firms and the US Trustee Program countered that disclosure of creditor information is required by US bankruptcy law to uphold fairness and transparency.

Other notes

A lawyer said the company would end a 19-year, $135 million sponsorship deal with the Miami Heat of the NBA and sell its affiliates.

A seven-year, over $89 million deal with the well-known computer game League of Legends will also come to an end.

SBF

Sam Bankman-Fried was charged in federal court in Manhattan last month with two charges of wire fraud and six counts of conspiracy.

He is accused of stealing client money to settle accounts with hedge fund Alameda Research.

The platform founder also misled stock investors regarding the financial health of the business.

Bankman-Fried pled not guilty despite the overwhelming evidence.

Sam Bankman-Fried admits he made mistakes in the company’s risk management procedures, but he doesn’t see himself as criminally liable.

Reference:

FTX recovers $5bn but extent of losses still unknown

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