Analysis Crypto by Thebittimes.Com

After selling nearly 700,000 GBTC shares over the past month, ARK’s Next Generation Internet ETF still holds 4.3 million GBTC shares worth $131.8 million. Cathie Wood’s investment firm ARK Invest has sold 700,000 shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) over the past month , even as Bitcoin (BTC) hit 17- month highs over excitement for a possible spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) sold 36,168 GBTC shares on Nov. 22, offloading a total of 697,768 GBTC since Oct. 23, according to ARK’s daily trading data seen by Cointelegraph. ARKW offloaded roughly $1 million in GBTC as Grayscale’s trust traded around $30 on Nov. 22, closing at $30.50, per Google Finance data. United States markets closed on Nov. 23 for Thanksgiving. GBTC daily price on Nov. 22. Source: Google Finance ARK started selling Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares on Oct. 23, 2023, as Bitcoin was reaching $34,000. Before that, ARK’s previous reported GBTC transaction was in ...

Google's parent company Alphabet was the worst performer on the day, falling 9.5% in a massive $180 billion wipeout. More than $280 billion has been wiped from the “magnificent seven” tech stocks following the release of several earnings reports on Oct. 25, triggering fears of a looming tech recession. The so-called “magnificent seven” refers to the top seven blue-chip tech firms including Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia, and Tesla — who combine to make up a quarter of the value of the S&P 500 index. Google parent company Alphabet saw its share price fall over 9%, wiping $180 billion from its market cap and was noted as Google’s worst-performing day since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. Google’s (Alphabet Inc Class A) share price over the last five days. Source: Google Finance The share prices of Amazon, Nvidia, and Meta fell 5.5%, 4.3%, and 4.2% respectively, according to Y Charts. Apple and Tesla’s fall in share prices were less severe at 1.35% and...

The total assets held in PayPal USD custody “meet or exceed the token balance,” with total tokens outstanding amounting to $44.4 million as of Aug. 31, Paxos report states. Stablecoin issuer Paxos has published the first transparency report for the Ethereum-based stablecoin PayPal USD (PYUSD), stating that the coin is fully backed by assets. According to the report, the total assets held in PayPal USD custody “meet or exceed the token balance,” with total tokens outstanding amounting to $44.4 million as of Aug. 31, 2023. The total notional position value amounted to $44.5 million. The biggest share of PYUSD assets is backed by the U.S. Treasury reverse repurchase agreements held in custody by Paxos for the benefit of PYUSD holders. According to the data, as much as $43 million — or nearly 97% of total assets in PYUSD custody — are held in Treasury reverse repurchase agreements. Data from Paxos’ PYUSD transparency report. Source: Paxos A reverse repurchase agreement is a contractua...

Fireblocks said the vulnerabilities affecting Coinbase, Binance, and Zengo have since been fixed and has reached out to more than 12 others still at risk. Over 15 widely-used crypto wallet providers and projects have gaping vulnerabilities that could potentially see millions of crypto wallets drained, according to digital asset infrastructure firm Fireblocks. In an Aug. 9 press release, Fireblocks said the series of vulnerabilities, dubbed BitForge, are affecting wallets using multi-party computation (MPC) technology, which allows for multiple parties to control and manage crypto currency holdings. 1/ The Fireblocks research team has uncovered BitForge, a set of vulnerabilities in some of the most widely adopted MPC protocols, that allow an attacker to retrieve a private key from a single device. Read on → https://t.co/xo2r9zgCvj pic.twitter.com/7q1nEeVBwO — Fireblocks (@FireblocksHQ) August 9, 2023 The identified issues were disclosed as “zero day” vulnerabilities — meaning ...

Conor Grogan tracked down $322,000 worth of dormant ETC and returned it to its owner, who was unaware the money ever existed. It’s not every day that one discovers they've suddenly become $322,000 richer — but for one lucky crypto investor, this is exactly what happened in the waning hours of July 5. In a recent Twitter thread, Conor Grogan, the head of product at Coinbase explained how he uncovered hundreds of thousands worth of dormant crypto and even managed to contact its unaware owner. I found $322k for a stranger who previously lost their life savings in a hack pic.twitter.com/K1gUqEkAPh — Conor (@jconorgrogan) July 5, 2023 When the Ethereum blockchain forked in 2016, Ethereum Classic (ETC) was created. Any investor who held the now-standard Ether (ETH) on-chain was airdropped an identical amount of ETC. Many never touched these new funds, said Grogan. “Forgetting you have funds on chain (or not keeping track of airdrops) is common,” Grogan said, sharing how he’d recov...

Shibburn said that Twitter’s developer portal indicates a violation of Twitter rules and policies by its app. The Shiba Inu (SHIB) burn tracker Twitter account , Shibburn, which is well-engaged with the crypto community, has been unexpectedly suspended. This suspension has garnered attention because the account holders had reached out to influential individuals like Elon Musk and Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, in their plea for assistance and a resolution. The Shibburn account has gained significant traction among the crypto community for its engagement and updates related to SHIB, especially about its burn rates. Shibburn said that Twitter’s developer portal indicates a violation of rules and policies by its app. It also mentioned that an email providing additional information was supposed to be sent to them, but they have not received it yet. Moreover, they have encountered challenges while trying to submit a support ticket, as no form appears. Dear @TwitterSupport, @TwitterD...

Brian Armstrong and CZ have seen respective net worth losses of 11.8% and 5.1% since the SEC sued Coinbase and Binance. The net worths of Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) have suffered heavy blows due to recent lawsuits by the United States securities regulator. Armstrong’s net worth was slashed by $289 million and Zhao’s by $1.33 billion within a span of 30 hours after the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance on June 5 and then Coinbase on June 6, according to data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes. Zhao — the richest man in the crypto industry and the 54th richest person overall — had his net worth fall 5.1% to $26 billion this week. The SEC’s lawsuit against Binance has contributed to Zhao falling two spots in Bloomberg's Billionaire Index. Source: Bloomberg While the Binance CEO’s net worth has rebounded by over 106% this year, he is still down over 73% from his highest net worth of $96.9 billion in January 2022. ...

As part of the collaboration, Bitpanda will incorporate Coinbase Exchange into its roster of authorized liquidity providers. Vienna-based cryptocurrency investment company Bitpanda has finalized a licensing agreement with Coinbase, making Coinbase a liquidity provider for Bitpanda Technology Solutions. We’re excited to announce that Bitpanda Technology Solutions is collaborating with another industry leader. With Bitpanda Tech, @coinbase will offer a regulated trading infrastructure to their clients like banks and financial institutions outside of the US. pic.twitter.com/leyHChQ3IU — Bitpanda (@Bitpanda_global) May 25, 2023 According to the announcement, the collaboration between both entities will enable “Coinbase to offer one of the most scalable Investing-as-a-Service infrastructures to their institutional clients, such as banks and financial institutions outside of the United States.” This strategic partners hip will allow Coinbase to provide its institutional clients outsid...

Several Chinese banks have been seeking to offer services to crypto firms in Hong Kong, despite a ban on crypto on the Chinese mainland. Crypto firms setting up in Hong Kong ahead of a new licensing regime for crypto exchanges in June have reportedly found some unexpected allies in the region — Chinese state-owned banks. According to a March 27 report from Bloomberg, Chinese banks including Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, the Bank of Communications Co., and Bank of China Ltd. have either started offering banking services to crypto firms in Hong Kong or made inquiries with crypto firms, according to "people with knowledge of the matter." One source claims that a Chinese bank sales representative even visited a crypto firm's main office to pitch banking services. This is all despite an ongoing crypto ban in China. Cointelegraph reached out to Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, the Bank of Communications Co., and Bank of China Ltd for further comment, but did not receive a...

Fiscal policy shapes economies through government spending, taxation and borrowing. Fiscal policy is a tool used by governments to regulate economic activities in their country. It involves the use of government spending, taxation and borrowing to influence economic growth, stabilize inflation and maintain a stable economy. This article will explain what fiscal policy is, how it works, and why it is important. What is fiscal policy? Fiscal policy is a tool used by governments to regulate economic activities in their country. It is one of the two main categories of economic policy, along with monetary policy. The main goal of fiscal policy is to control the economy through government spending and taxation. How does fiscal policy work? The government has a number of ways to affect the economy through fiscal policy. One of the primary methods used is government spending. The government may boost economic activity and create jobs by raising spending, which will add more money to the econo...

FTX and FTX US together have billions in deficits in their exchange wallets and fiat accounts, uncovered in a "huge effort" according to the exchange's CEO. Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has revealed a "massive shortfall" in its digital asset and fiat currency holdings with billions worth of customer funds missing from both the exchange and its United States-based arm, FTX US.  On Mar. 2 the exchange released a presentation showing FTX had $2.2 billion in exchange wallets and fiat accounts of which $694 million consisted of the most liquid "Category A Assets" that include cash, stablecoins, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) priced at the latest spot prices. Only $191 million of total assets were located in the wallets of the accounts associated with FTX US, in addition to $28 million of customer receivables and $155 million of related party receivables. The balances of FTX's wallets and accounts at the time of its bankruptcy showing an $8.6 bi...

After a torrid 2022 that saw it sell off its flagship mining facility, Argo Blockchain's woes are worsening after a recent class action suit. Investors of crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain have filed a class action lawsuit accusing the miner of making untrue statements and omitting key information during its initial public offering (IPO) in 2021. A newly filed lawsuit on Jan. 26 is aimed at Argo and several of its executives and board members. It claims the firm failed to disclose how susceptible it was to capital constraints, electricity costs and network difficulties. "The Offering Documents were negligently prepared and, as a result, contained untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading," the lawsuit read. As a result, the investors claim the Business was “less sustainable” than they had been led to believe which led to an overstatement of the miner’s financial prospects. The complaint noted...

Former Polygon VP of growth Arjun Kalsy believes that Polygon's integration of zero-knowledge roll-up technology would boost the network's adoption. Ethereum scaling solution, Polygon, has witnessed a lot of adoption through partnerships with major brands like Starbucks and Addidas, which has increased the network's popularity among cryptocurrency users. The former vice president of growth, Arjun Kalsy, breaks down how Polygon has attracted partnerships with major brands and how the project is driving mass crypto adoption.  Arjun Kalsy, before leaving Polygon late last year, led a team tasked with onboarding companies to promote the adoption of the Polygon network. According to Kalsy, talking to brands looking to pivot from Web2 to Web3 or adding elements of the decentralized world to their platforms was always enjoyable. The onboarding process involved several technical meetings where the Polygon network and its capabilities were scrutinized by these major brands, who ...

The toolkit will allow for creators of sidechains to choose their own consensus mechanism and other application-specific features, whilst inheriting the security of the main chain. Input Output Global (IOG) — the team behind the Cardano ecosystem — will release a software toolkit in late Jan. 2023 that will enable developers to deploy custom-built sidechains on Cardano aimed at improving the ecosystem. The news was announced by IOHK — a blockchain engineering company founded by Charles Hoskinson and now known as IOG — on Jan.12, which also attached the official technical documentation for the sidechain toolkit. ️ The #Cardano sidechain toolkit was previewed at #IOScotFest, and we’re happy to share the first iteration is out now. Here’s the lowdown on this exciting new project! https://t.co/Ny9tQuJh5K — Input Output (@InputOutputHK) January 12, 2023 IOG Developers have already used the toolkit to construct an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible side chain public testnet a...

Crypto broker Genesis allegedly owes $900 million to clients of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini alone. Cryptocurrency broker Genesis Global allegedly owes its creditors more than $3 billion, according to a new report published by the Financial Times on Jan. 12. Its parent, Digital Currency Group (DCG), which also owns Grayscale Investments and its series of digital asset trusts, seeks to sell part of its venture capital holdings to offset the shortfall. According to people familiar with the matter, DCG's venture arm has more than 200 crypto-related projects "such as exchanges, banks, and custodians in at least 35 countries" with a total valuation of around $500 million. Cointelegraph previously reported on Nov.16, 2022, that Genesis Global halted withdrawals citing "unprecedented market turmoil." At the time, the company reportedly had $175 million worth of funds stuck on FTX and had already received a $ 140 million equity infusion to cover losses.  This is a...

The rapidly evolving cryptocurrency ecosystem is entering a new phase in 2023, with incoming regulations in the U.S. and European Union. Bitcoin (BTC) had a bumpy ride throughout 2022, along with the rest of the digital asset market. The cryptocurrency began the year exchanging hands around $46,700 and is currently trading over 64% down at $16,560 at the time of writing. Consequently, the coin’s market capitalization took a tumble from around $900 billion on Jan. 1, 2022 to end the year at around $320 billion. Bitcoin Price Trend in 2022 While Bitcoin’s drop in price could be attributed to the extraordinary circumstances that the entire cryptocurrency market has been through this year, it is important to reevaluate the 2022 price predictions made by various market entities. One of the most popular predictions was that of analyst PlanB’s Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model.  The S2F model predicted BTC to be at nearly $110,000 as of December 2022. The cryptocurrency finished the year ...

The California DFPI warned in July that it would be cracking down on crypto interest account providers in the state. The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has ordered crypto lending platform MyConstant to cease offering a number of its crypto-related products over alleged state securities law violations. The DFPI stated in a press release on Dec. 21 that it has ordered MyConstant to “desist and refrain” from offering its peer-to-peer loan brokering service and interest-bearing crypto asset accounts, which it says are in violation of the California Securities Law and California Consumer Financial Protection Law. The DPFI alleged that MyConstant’s offering and selling of its peer-to-peer lending service called “Loan Matching Service” violates one of the state’s financial codes. It also alleged that MyConstant engaged in “unlicensed loan brokering,” as the platform induced lenders to lend without proper licenses. The regulators also had a problem with t...

At the midpoint, the guidance represents a growth of 1.1% from its revenue in 2021. According to a new letter to shareholders posted on Dec. 21, Aroosh Thillainathan, CEO of German Bitcoin (BTC) Mining company Northern Data, said that the firm expects to generate upwards of $202M to $206M in revenue from crypto Mining operations this year. At the midpoint range, this represents a growth of 1.11% from Northern Data's total sales of $202M for the 2021 fiscal year, when the firm grew its revenue ten-fold from 2020. Thillainathan added: "Northern Data is not carrying financial debt and therefore has access to the unique opportunity to consolidate and expand our current position in BTC mining while scaling cloud solutions and colocation services in parallel. We see significant opportunities in the HPC [high-performance computing] markets we are targeting." The blockchain CEO also stated that investors should expect guidance of $43M to $80M in adjusted earnings before inte...

The firms work with prominent crypto exchanges such as Binance, KuCoin, Crypto.com, Gate.io, OKX and FTX. As the FTX collapse highlighted the need for more transparency from centralized crypto exchanges, working with auditors has been the move by top crypto trading platforms to assure users that their assets are fine. However, two of the most prominent auditors have suddenly dropped their crypto auditing services, leaving exchanges hanging at a very crucial time.  At the moment, the official website of the French auditing firm Mazars Group shows that its section, called Mazars Veritas, which is dedicated to crypto audits is now offline. The firm worked with several of the most prominent crypto Exchanges including Binance, KuCoin and Crypto.com. While there’s been no official announcement from Mazars at the time of writing, Binance confirmed that the auditing firm has indicated that it’s temporarily pausing its work with all its crypto clients globally. Speaking to Cointelegraph, ...

Weekly-realized losses peaked at $20.5 billion when Terra Luna (LUNC) imploded and reached $33 billion when 3AC and Celsius collapsed, according to Chainalysis. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has attempted to put the FTX collapse into perspective — comparing peak weekly-realized losses in the wake of the exchange’s collapse compared to previous major crypto collapses in 2022. The Dec. 14 report found the depegging of Terra USD (UST) in May saw weekly-realized losses peak at $20.5 billion, while the subsequent collapse of Three Arrows Capital and Celsius in June saw weekly-realized losses peak at $33 billion.  In comparison, weekly realized losses during the FTX saga peaked at $9 billion in the week starting Nov. 7, and have been reducing weekly since.  1/ Our data suggests that FTX’s demise hasn’t been crypto investors’ biggest issue this year. Both the depegging of Terra’s UST token & the collapse weeks later of Celsius & Three Arrows Capital (3AC) drove much bigger re...