Cryptocurrency news by Protos

Bitcoin has rallied 20% this month amid a global wave of bank failures.Bitcoin was born out of a similar banking crisis. In 2009, a staggering 140 US banks failed. Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto built Bitcoin to disintermediate third parties from digital cash transactions. Using the Bitcoin network, no one need trust any bank nor government to confirm payment.Listen to how Bitcoin remains a resilient contender as banks struggle to stay afloat. For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

South Korean authorities have announced an investigation into executives at Bithumb’s parent company following allegations that it listed certain cryptocurrencies in exchange for money.As reported by Chosun Biz, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office disclosed on Friday that a number of senior figures at Bithumb Holdings are under investigation. For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Crypto exchange Coinbase reportedly offered a $3 billion lifeline to Circle as its stablecoin USDC de-pegged as a result of Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse, according to a person familiar with the arrangement speaking to Fortune.For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Where is Powell? Where is Yellen? Stop this Crisis NOW,” cried a perturbed and angry David Sacks before market close on Friday March 10.Sacks, the VC famous for co-founding PayPal, his tech investments, and for buying and dumping $1 billion worth of Solana, was raising the alarm that Silicon Valley Bank had financial troubles and could risk a bank run.In his panicky tweets, Sacks argued that if SVB wasn’t saved, regional and small banks would also experience bank runs, causing financial chaos.For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The largest DeFi money market on Binance’s blockchain, Venus (XVS), finances a curious book. A string of events put it at risk of overexposure to assets from hacks and bridge exploits. Venus considers some $250 million worth of stolen BNB to be part of its so-called total value locked (TVL).Today, it claims to possess roughly $950 million of TVL within Binance’s Smart Chain ecosystem, inclusive of those illegitimate funds, while community members have accused Venus Protocol of hiding some of its liabilities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Crypto trading platform Coinbase has reportedly reached out to institutional clients about possible plans to set up a trading platform outside of the US. With crypto-friendly banks dwindling and regulatory scrutiny increasing, the potential move comes as no surprise. Listen to the full story to learn Coinbase's history of nefarious dealings and why everyone might not be all open arms.For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Parent of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy, PLBY Group, has disclosed a loss of $4.9 million on the Ethereum it held last year — citing a crypto winter as the cause.Playboy’s NFT collection, Rabbitars, launched in 2021 at the peak of the NFT craze. The price of Ether since Rabbitars was released has since plummeted over 60%.Find out what the decreasing NFT collection means for Playboy by listening to the clip above. For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the Shanghai update, users will be able to unstake their ETH and sell or migrate to a new liquid staking service.Prior to Shanghai, liquid staking services have only been competing for inflows. However, next month staking administrators will have to compete against other staking services just to retain their current depositors.Currently, ETH liquid staking tokens belonging to just two services — Lido (stETH) and Coinbase (cbETH) — are worth over $10 billion. But there are other services out there vying for dominance. Listen to the video for a review of Ethereum’s major liquid staking services.For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anxious traders looking to swap Circle’s stablecoin USDC should look out for scams.Indeed, scammers have been pretending to be a legit swap market called ‘circle swap,’ when, in reality, ether was being drained from victims’ wallets.Listen to how Tuesday’s attackers created a convincing mock-up using Circle’s name and a fake partnership in the hope of luring USDC holders in.For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Major crypto bank, Signature, experienced major liquidity issues this week following the loss of FTX, subsequently leading to a sharp drop in stock price and a bank-run situation. Among its depositors were real estate and law firms -- but another sector under threat of breaking its leg was New York's musical theater scene.According to insiders who spoke to Broadway News, Signature bank was a favorite of the Broadway industry. Signature reportedly propped up a significant number of shows, meaning its collapse would lead to dramatic consequences for broadway.For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Match Group CEO Bernard Kim says dating apps are a far more worthwhile way to spend your time than mobile games — but only after he spent $50,000 in just three months on mobile strategy game Clash of Clans.“I’ve personally spent $50,000 in three months in Clash of Clans, and I still look back at that with lots of shame,” Kim told an interviewer at a dating summit.For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New court filings reveal that FTX and Alameda Research executives received $3.2 billion in payments and loans before the crypto firms collapsed — but the sole female exec, Caroline Ellison, got just $6 million.Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was given $2.2 billion, former FTX director of engineering Nishad Singh got $587 million and founder Gary Wang received $246 million. Former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets Ryan Salame received $87 million and $25 million was given to former co-CEO of Alameda, Sam Trabucco.Ellison’s $6 million is less than a quarter of what her male counterpart received. Quotes in bold are our emphasis. For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For years, Bitcoin pruned nodes have reduced the file size of Bitcoin’s blockchain using a simple method. Now, there’s a new proposal.Bitcoin Core developer James O’Beirne has proposed a new way to run a Bitcoin pruned node. His proposal overhauls the conventional method for pruning Bitcoin’s blockchain.For more informed news, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google News or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has taken over two banks at which Circle held billions of dollars worth of backing for its stablecoin, USDC. By making depositors whole at these insolvent banks, the US government has essentially bailed out USDC’s $1 peg. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While your favorite public-facing VC was having a complete meltdown and talking about buying guns on Twitter, financial regulators and governing bodies met behind closed-doors to stop what was beginning to resemble a regional-level bank run.Their move became clear on Sunday when a joint decision was announced, ensuring that all depositors at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature were fully covered – regardless of $250,000 limits on FDIC insurance.The alteration seems to have driven the governmental bodies into an extremely morally hazardous minefield. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Real Vision was founded by Raoul Pal, Grant Williams, Daniel Horner, and Remi Tetot in 2014, it promised high-quality educational content on the worlds of finance and business.At that time, it was one of the few financial media outlets to hold in-depth interviews with significant personalities. Rarely had the public been able to see these finance and business gurus speak at such length and in such detail about their histories, methods, and secrets. Then something changed.In 2019, Grant Williams, who had produced some of Real Vision’s most spectacular interviews, left. And while the educational and historical content on Real Vision remained, gradually the Bitcoin and crypto-focused content started to ramp up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Altman’s OpenAI has released GPT-4, an upgrade of its third-generation artificial intelligence engine that will affect the entire crypto industry.Computer enthusiasts by trade, the crypto industry immediately heralded the launch of GPT-4. NFT fans immediately began experimenting with its art tools.However, others cautioned about threats to blockchains and protocols with limited security testing, such as decentralized finance protocols. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UK bank NatWest will limit payments to £1,000 a day and £5,000 a month, joining other prominent firms in restricting crypto purchases and transfers, The Block first reported.In NatWest’s announcement sent by email on Tuesday, it cited “increasing customer protection against crypto criminals” as the reason. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hedge fund boss Ken Griffin says the US government should have allowed Silicon Valley Bank to go under as a “lesson in moral hazard,” rather than stepping in with a rescue package, reports the Financial Times.The California-based bank was shuttered late last week when customers withdraw more than $40 billion — over a quarter of its total deposits — in a single day.But instead of allowing the lender to collapse, regulators came through with a bumper package that they claimed would cover all depositors in full. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Manhattan federal prosecutors have allegedly slid into the DMs of employees at Jane Street and Jump Trading to determine if market manipulation occurred in the collapse of Terra’s stablecoin, Bloomberg reports.According to an unnamed source familiar with the matter, Telegram messages by Jane Street and Jump are being combed in relation to a potential bailout of TerraUSD in May, which never took place. Instead, the entire Terra ecosystem collapsed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coinbase users in the UK have been informed that their names must be given to tax authority HMRC if they cashed out more than £5,000 in fiat during the 2021 tax year.This is not the first time Coinbase has warned its users of financial disclosures to HMRC. In January last year, an almost identical warning was posted for the 2019 and 2020 tax years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research may well have been one of the most important trading desks in all of crypto, but others such as HiveEx within the FTX cartel played important roles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The current market chaos in US banking, tech, and cryptocurrency is hard to summarize without using the common moniker FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) in a very literal sense.After the pandemic, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in the US. Inflation went up; interest rates continued to rise. This flew in the face of years of enjoying low-to-no interest rates, first introduced with the goal of ensuring a stable economy.However, cryptocurrency markets tumbled when FTX was identified as a fraudulent actor in November. Its main banking partner, Silvergate, served most prominent crypto firms — but when it began to experience a credit and liquidity crunch, depositors exited en masse and loan markets dried up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christopher Emms, the British blockchain pioneer who is wanted by the FBI for allegedly breaking US sanctions on North Korea has reportedly been hired to provide crypto commentary by Russian state broadcaster RT.Emms was accused of organizing a crypto conference in Pyongyang, North Korea in April 2019 at which he allegedly explained to his audience how blockchain could be used to evade US sanctions. Since settling in Moscow, one of Emms' first productions is a lecture on inflation wrapped with an invective against the West. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Within weeks, Ethereum’s Shanghai update will begin the process of unlocking 17.5 million staked ether worth $28 billion. Unavailable for withdrawal and unable to be sold currently, this supply will be slowly reintroduced to public markets and affect Ethereum’s price.Ethereum’s official website says Shanghai could go live during the first half of 2023. Some experts believe the upgrade could activate as early as US tax day: April 15. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The New York Attorney General has alleged that TerraDollar, Luna, KuCoin Earn, and ether are securities in a lawsuit filed against KuCoin. A New York-based detective was able to create a KuCoin account, fund it with ether, trade for tethers, Luna, and TerraDollars, and take advantage of KuCoin’s Earn product all while in New York.The NYAG alleges that these tokens, including ether, are securities under New York state’s Martin Act “because they represent investments of money in common enterprises with profits to be derived primarily from the efforts of others.” This standard is very similar to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s judicial Howey Test. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has filed an appeal against a judge’s approval of a bankruptcy plan for Voyager Digital that includes Binance US buying billions of dollars in assets. The document was submitted early this morning by the DoJ’s bankruptcy component overseeing New York (US Trustee, Region 2) to the District Court for the Southern District of New York. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The President of El Salvador has appointed pro-Tether Bitfinex investor, ICO promoter, and self-described Bitcoin Maximalist Max Keiser to a senior government position. According to an op-ed from local outlet El Faro, Keiser and his wife Stacy Herbert are displacing some responsibilities of El Salvador’s official Foreign Ministry.He purposefully cultivates an outlandish, splashy, and disordered personal brand. Late-night TV host Trevor Noah described him as “Bitcoin Willy Wonka.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A gun lobbying association has urged people to protest a proposal to exclude crypto from the definition of ‘money,’ which they claim effectively criminalizes buying guns with digital currency.Just last week, the state of South Dakota proposed legislation that would alter the definition of money within the Uniform Commercial Code, effectively excluding crypto from being considered ‘money.’In response, the non-profit gun rights organization Gun Owners of America has urged firearms owners to protest what it sees as a threat to the country's Second Amendment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While no formal announcement has been issued, it looks like rock ‘n’ roll cover band Mars Junction, featuring the 41-year-old Winklevoss twins on lead vocals and guitar, is on indefinite hiatus.The band, which began in mid-2021, has had a rough time of it since it last posted on Twitter in early November — the day before the complete collapse of FTX — advertising the opening of a merch shop.Merch sales have not been disclosed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout history, many online gambling and poker sites have been subject to fraud. Owners would cheat, overstate the odds of winning, operate like a Ponzi scheme, refuse to process withdrawals, or simply exit-scam altogether.The 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act banned transferring money to and from illegal gambling websites, making it impractical for an online gambling business to serve US residents. With USD transfers nearly impossible, demand for censorship-resistant cryptocurrencies increased, and USDT and other cryptocurrencies met the niche market demand. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Blockchain analysis conducted by Protos shows that bitcoin related to the Silk Road seizure are moving, and some may have been sent to Coinbase.A total of 49,000 bitcoin stored in a US Department of Justice wallet that were seized from darknet marketplace Silk Road have been moved to new addresses. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK’s financial watchdog today announced its second crackdown on crypto ATMs in less than a month.The joint operation with the Metropolitan Police will see regulators seize and confiscate unregistered crypto ATMs in East London. It follows an earlier crackdown in Leeds that was described by officials as a national first. To date, there are no crypto ATMs registered with the FCA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vitalik Buterin timed the market’s next leg-down perfectly, selling up to $700,000 worth of shitcoins right before chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell testified in front of the Senate Banking Committee and rattled the markets.Yesterday, Powell reminded everyone that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer than investors were expecting, and in addition, confirmed that it may also raise interest rates even higher than 5%. The current Federal Funds rate rests just above the 4.5% mark. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor’s launch of Ordinals continues to emanate shockwaves of unintended outcomes. His innovative, controversial use of Bitcoin’s Taproot and Segwit upgrades has not only created a new type of Bitcoin NFT but also a new class of blockchain rollup. This month, developers at Rollkit used Ordinals to introduce Bitcoin’s first sovereign rollup. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A group of anonymous hackers that recently attempted to extort nearly $2 million in bitcoin from a prominent Israeli university is linked to Iranian security services.In February, the collective calling itself DarkBit targeted the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. The group claimed to have stolen ‘all’ of the university’s data and threatened to put it up for sale within five days unless it received 80 bitcoins ($1.7 million) by way of ransom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a short segment on national television on Monday, North Macedonia's former prime minister and current minister of internal affairs, Oliver Spasovski, said that some recent bomb threats have been traced back to IP addresses in Russia and Iran, along with cryptocurrency payments made to VPN services.North Macedonia and other Balkan nations have been bombarded with daily hoax bomb threats since October, causing widespread disruptions to schools, hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, museums, sports venues, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big-time Brexit and Boris Johnson donor Christopher Harborne has been named in disclosures first reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that suggest Tether evaded blocks by US banks through falsifying documents.These claims, wholly denied by Tether, say shell companies, false documents, and shady intermediaries like Harborne were used to con banks into keeping accounts open and money flowing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ryan Breslow, the founder and former chief executive officer of Bolt, an online payment platform that last raised at a valuation of $11 billion, has faced a variety of challenges in the crypto ecosystem. These include handing a DAO over to a convicted fraudster and being accused of misrepresenting how Eco, a company he co-founded, made yield.This is a recap of his time before an investigation revealed the former CEO mislead customers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following our reporting last week on Heka Funds, Protos got in touch with Elysium Global Arbitrage Fund founder Fabio Frontini to find out more about how, despite great counterparty risk, it managed to make 100% returns for its clients. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By November 16, EOS and Block.One founder Brendan Blumer had spent over $90 million to buy 9.27% of Silvergate stock. Since then, the crypto-friendly bank has collapsed by over 80% — Blumer has personally lost at least $74 million.Silvergate was known to be a major bank for FTX and Alameda Research — FTX filed for bankruptcy five days before Blumer’s investment. Now, Silvergate is the latest ship to sink to the bottom of a rather cluttered crypto pool. Why did Blumer make such a blunder? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stablecoin giant Tether falsified documents that were provided to its banking partners, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. The company is also reportedly under investigation by the Department of Justice for bank fraud. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As of last month, up-and-coming NFT marketplace Blur began paying more royalties to creators who sell artwork on its platform than OpenSea, the NFT marketplace’s previous biggest hitter.There are currently more artists being paid royalties via Blur, and the platform is also surpassing OpenSea in trading volume. Blur made a staggering $424 million in sales last week while OpenSea made only $92 million. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Almost all stablecoins have seen their market caps dramatically reduced since the collapse of the Do Kwon-founded Ponzi scheme Terra/Luna in May and June of last year. Binance USD has been hit particularly hard — its market cap has crumbled from $22 billion to $10 billion over the last three months. What’s peculiar, however, is the upward momentum of the Justin Sun-controlled stablecoin TUSD which has seen its market cap balloon from $750 million in December to nearly $1.2 billion today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Investors are worried that Silvergate might file for bankruptcy protection soon. Long-time critic and short-seller Marc Cohodes predicts the bankruptcy filing could arrive before Monday and that its CEO Alan Lane should face federal charges.The publicly traded bank has delayed the release of its 2022 annual report. It admitted a “going concern” regarding its ability to survive financially. Silvergate has requested an extension of time from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in order to evaluate “internal controls over financial reporting.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thousands of Australians have likely seen their pension funds decimated after their crypto investments shed an estimated $600 million AUD ($403 million) in value.Affected are investors who decided to set up so-called DIY pension funds. These funds differ from traditional pension pots in that their members are also the trustees, making them responsible for managing their savings themselves.This allows investors to place their money in less traditional markets, including crypto. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Building society Nationwide is the latest banking entity to restrict customers’ ability to buy cryptocurrency in the UK, as it bans the use of a credit card to buy crypto and sets a $6,000 limit to any daily crypto purchases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Struggling Silvergate Capital, owner of crypto-friendly bank Silvergate, has warned investors that it expects to record further losses for 2022 that have significantly impacted its “ability to continue.” Its share price tumbled 30% following the news, from $13.60 to $9.50 at press time.Silvergate notified the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that it won’t be able to file its annual 10-K form on time for the fiscal year 2022. It cited the last-minute sale of additional investment securities to repay outstanding loans from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco as a reason for the delay, along with the sale of additional debt securities in January and February 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In July 2022, Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and for more than seven months, its customers have been fighting to get their money back. Soon, Binance could emerge as the winning suitor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Dutch National Police have disrupted the Deadbolt ransomware group, recovering the decryption keys of 90% of victims that contacted police, according to a report by Chainalysis.Since 2021, Deadbolt has preyed on small businesses and sometimes individuals, demanding smaller ransoms that can quickly add up. In 2022, Deadbolt successfully collected more than $2.3 million from about 5,000 victims. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.