Anton Shkurenko, whose co-founder Anatoly Legkodymov was arrested in the law enforcement operation along with several other Bitzlato executives, said that police had seized the platform’s hot wallet, which contained about 35% of user funds in all cryptocurrencies at the time. Source
This week on The Market Report, the resident experts at Cointelegraph discuss Bitcoin’s (BTC) impressive January rally and whether there are any indicators that suggest it could continue in February. We start off this week’s show with the latest news in the markets: Best January since 2013? 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week After sealing its highest weekly close in almost six months, BTC/USD remains over 40% up year-to-date, with the monthly close just 48 hours away — can the gains hold? Throughout, concerns have called for an imminent…
Ether is bound for another volatile year in 2023, according to Finder.com’s latest Ethereum Price Predictions Report. Finder’s panel of 56 fintech and cryptocurrency specialists think ETH will go as high as US$2,474 and as low as $984 in 2023 before ending the year at $2,184. Ethereum is currently priced at $1,588. Digital Capital Management managing director Ben Ritchie thinks Ether will be worth $2,500 by the end of 2023 but says it could go as low as $900 throughout the year. “Ethereum continues to dominate the market as the…
Several United States senators have reportedly penned a letter requesting answers from Silvergate Capital — the parent company of Silvergate Bank — related to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. According to a Jan. 31 Bloomberg report, U.S. Senators including Elizabeth Warren, Roger Marshall and John Kennedy said Silvergate had not fully answered questions in response to a December letter about its alleged role in handling FTX user funds. Silvergate reportedly cited restrictions on disclosing “confidential supervisory information” — a rationale the senators said was unacceptable. “Both Congress and the…
New York State’s Department of Financial Services is reportedly investigating cryptocurrency exchange Gemini over claims the firm made in regards to assets under its Earn lending program. According to a Jan. 30 report from Axios, the “New York State agency that regulates Gemini” — the Department of Financial Services handles firms falling under the states’ BitLicense regime, including the crypto exchange — was investigating following reports many users believed assets in their Earn accounts had been protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC. The government agency previously issued…
On Jan. 30, European cryptocurrency investment firm CoinShares published its “Digital Asset Fund Flows Report,” which revealed that digital asset investments experienced a surge in inflows last week, reaching $117 million, the highest since July 2022. CoinShares reported that the sector’s total assets under management rose to $28 billion, a 43% increase from its November 2022 lows. The improvement in investment product volumes was evident, with $1.3 billion traded during the week, a 17% increase compared to the year-to-date average. Meanwhile, weekly volumes in the digital asset market have risen…
Around $900 million is estimated to be frozen on the platform as a result. Gemini itself blamed the halt on a similar freeze at the now bankrupt crypto lender Genesis, a unit of the blockchain conglomerate Digital Currency Group (which also owns CryptoX), on which the exchange had invested its Earn customers’ funds. Source ClaimsCryptoExchangeFDICGeminiInvestigatingRegulatorReportYork CryptoX Portal
Gemini reportedly claimed repeatedly that its the assets of customers using its Earn product were safe thanks to being backed by the FDIC Source
USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle has released an accountant-verified report of its treasury reserve holdings backing more than $44.5 billion worth of tokens currently in circulation. Circle’s December 2022 reserve report, which was reviewed by GrantThornton accountancy group, breaks down the current make-up of the stablecoin issuer’s reserve vault. According to Circle, 44,553,543,212 USDC is currently backed by $44,693,963,701 U.S. dollars held in custody accounts. It is worth noting that a significant portion of the latter amount is invested in a variety of U.S. Treasury bonds. As per Circle’s VP…
Australia’s financial regulator reportedly raised concerns over FTX’s local Australian subsidiary as much as eight months before the exchange met its untimely end in November. According to documents obtained by Guardian Australia, officers of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) were concerned about the way in which FTX Australia was operating as it was able to obtain a license in the country through a company takeover. As per a previous report from Cointelegraph, FTX acquired its Australian financial services license (AFSL) by taking over financial institution IFS Markets in…