Crypto Weekly 2/5/2024
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.7T): +1% / -3%
- BTC ($42,565): +2% / 0%
- ETH ($2,296): +2% / 0%
- SOL ($95): 0% / -6%
- UNI ($6.01): +2% / -18%
- MATIC ($0.77): -1% / -19%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($96B): 0% / +5%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($27B): +3% / +10%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 49% / 16%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Customers and creditors of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX will likely get their money back in full. The bankruptcy team has also dropped an effort to restart or sell the FTX crypto exchange. Link. Link.
- The SEC filed a motion to dismiss its case against DEBT Box after being criticized for making misleading statements about the company trying to move assets overseas in order to escape the regulator's jurisdiction. The motion is to dismiss without prejudice, meaning they can refile its case. Link.
- The total number of monthly active crypto developers fell 25% year-over-year in 2023 according to a report by Electric Capital. 63% of all monthly active developers have been in crypto for at least one year. Link. Report.
- Senator Elizabeth Warren renewed a push to advance her Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, which would extend KYC rules to miners, validators, and wallet providers. Link.
- Polygon Labs laid off 60 employees, or about 19% of its staff. Link. Blog Post.
- Tether reported nearly $3 billion in profits in Q4 2023, including $1 billion from interest on US Treasuries and $1.85 billion from appreciation in its reserves of bitcoin and previous metals. Link. Blog Post.
- Solana DEX aggregator Jupiter registered nearly $1.4 billion in daily trading volume after its token launch and airdrop. Link.
- Celsius will begin distributing $3 billion to its customers via Paypal and Coinbase. The company has already settled fraud allegations with US authorities for $4.7 billion, and former CEO Alex Mashinsky is set to stand trial later this year for allegedly manipulating the price of Celsius’s CEL token. Link. Official Announcement.
- Crypto derivatives exchange OPNX announced it was shutting down this month. The exchange was founded by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, co-founders of bankrupt crypto lender Three Arrows Capital. Link. Link.
- Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis settled with the SEC over its defunct Gemini Earn program, agreeing to a $21 million fine. The SEC sued Genesis and Gemini, the exchange founded by the Winklevoss Twins, in 2023 for illegally selling securities through Gemini Earn. There is an ongoing lawsuit between Gemini, Genesis and Digital Currency Group over the program’s insolvency. Link.
- Blackrock’s exposure to Bitcoin mining stocks has increased ten-fold from $76 million to $775 million over the last 12 months. Link.
- Binance uncovered a security breach where highly sensitive security data including details related to password and multi-factor authentication implementation was published on Github. The data has been taken down and there is no evidence to date of malicious use of the information. Link.
- Hackers stole $112 million of XRP from a crypto wallet of Ripple’s co-founder, Chris Larsen. The funds were laundered through several crypto exchanges, including Binance and Kraken. Link.
- A grand jury indicted three Americans linked to stealing $400 million from FTX during the exchange’s collapse in November 2022. Link.