https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/20/sec-suffers-blow-in-lawsuit-against-binance-us-after-judge-denied-request-to-probe-exchanges-software-report/

A US federal magistrate judge is reportedly choosing not to grant the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permission to inspect the technological infrastructure of Binance’s American affiliate, a setback for the regulator.

A new report from Bloomberg indicates the SEC asked Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui on Monday for permission to search through Binance.US’s software, but Faruqui shot down the idea, saying he was not inclined to permit the inspection “at this time.”

The judge told the regulator to come back with more specific requests, according to Bloomberg.

The SEC reportedly wanted to inspect the software to potentially establish more links between Binance.US and Binance’s global firm, which is the largest exchange by trading volume in the world.

The SEC first sued Binance, the exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao and Binance.US in June, alleging that the firms were violating securities laws. Just a day later, the regulatory agency also filed a lawsuit against Coinbase, the top crypto exchange in the US, for similar reasons.

Later that month, Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland accused Binance of lying to Congress after lawmakers questioned company officials about its business practices. The senators asked the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the exchange.

Binance.US halted US dollar deposits and withdrawals a few days after the SEC charges were announced.

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The post SEC Suffers Blow in Lawsuit Against Binance.US After Judge Denied Request To Probe Exchange’s Software: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/19/us-lawmakers-to-review-bill-on-preventing-creation-of-cbdc-this-week/

US lawmakers are reviewing a bill this week that would prevent the Federal Reserve from carrying out experiments related to the use of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Congressman Alex X. Mooney (R-WV) introduced the “Digital Dollar Pilot Prevention Act” in May.

The potential law, labeled H.R. 3712, aims to close a loophole that would allow the Federal Reserve to run a pilot program designed to test the feasibility of issuing a CBDC.

Last Friday, Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, announced a markup on H.R. 3712 and a handful of other bills.

Said Mooney when he announced the potential legislation,

“Congress cannot give an inch when it comes to CBDCs. CBDCs would threaten the liberties of law-abiding Americans and are being used by authoritarian countries right now to crack down on dissent.

That’s why closing this pilot program loophole is so important – to prevent the Federal Reserve from bypassing the will of Congress. I am proud to introduce this legislation to do exactly that.”

Meanwhile, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is reintroducing the “CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act.” Emmer says that the new bill attempts to prohibit the Fed from issuing a retail CBDC “while protecting innovation and any future development of true digital cash.”

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https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/14/cryptoqueen-associate-receives-20-years-in-prison-ordered-to-surrender-300000000/

One of the co-founders of the $4 billion OneCoin crypto pyramid scheme has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Karl Sebastian Greenwood co-founded the infamous fraud with Ruja Ignatova, widely known as the “Cryptoqueen.”

Greenwood and Ignatova started OneCoin in 2014 and operated the company as a multi-level marketing (MLM) network. They falsely claimed the project maintained a private blockchain, and the fraud reportedly lured in more than 3.5 million victims.

Greenwood, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Sweden, was also ordered to pay more than $300 million worth of forfeiture, according to a new press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Ignatova, the leader of the scam, has been a fugitive since 2017 and was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list in 2022. A February report from BIRD, a Bulgarian investigative journalism outlet, indicated she may have been murdered at the order of known drug lord Hristoforos ‘Taki’ Amanatidis.

BIRD cited documents found at the home of a former top Bulgarian police officer, Lyubomir Ivanov, after he was murdered last year. However, the report’s information is not authenticated and the details about Ignatova’s death remain the subject of speculation.

The FBI says it will pay out a $100,000 reward for information leading to Ignatova’s arrest.

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The post ‘Cryptoqueen’ Associate Receives 20 Years in Prison, Ordered To Surrender $300,000,000 appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/13/former-celsius-ceo-alex-mashinsky-asks-court-to-dismiss-ftcs-fraud-charges/

The former chief executive of bankrupt crypto lending company Celsius has asked a US court to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) charges against him.

Alex Mashinsky and Celsius’ former chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon were arrested in July.

The former executives were slapped with a variety of criminal and civil charges from the FTC, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The FTC specifically accused the former CEO of “tricking consumers into transferring cryptocurrency onto the platform by falsely promising that deposits would be safe and always available.”

Mashinsky and Cohen-Pavon are also accused of manipulating the price of Celsius’ native token, CEL, which in turn caused traders to purchase it at an inflated price, a move that financially benefited the defendants.

Celsius, which promised high yields to customers for depositing their coins, froze customer withdrawals in June of 2022, citing extreme market conditions. It filed for bankruptcy the following month.

Argue Mashinsky’s lawyers in a recent memorandum supporting his motion to dismiss the FTC charges,

“The allegations do not support a claim that Mashinsky made knowingly made a misstatement to fraudulently obtain customer information from a financial institution, as required to state a claim under the [the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act].”

A recently unsealed court order indicates several bank accounts and a Texas home belonging to Mashinksy have been seized by the DOJ.

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https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/13/phisher-who-stole-24200000-worth-of-crypto-from-whale-moves-funds-to-tornado-cash-peckshield/

A crypto security firm says that a phisher who stole $24.2 million worth of staked Ethereum (ETH) is actively moving their stolen assets onto the crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

The blockchain security platform PeckShield says the stolen trove of crypto consisted of Lido Staked Ether (stETH) and Rocket Pool ETH (rETH), both liquid staking tokens.

PeckShield notes the phisher first sent 701 ETH worth approximately $1.15 million to Tornado Cash. They then swapped 28,000 of the stablecoin DAI for 17.3 ETH and transferred 1,100 ETH worth approximately $1.78 million to Tornado Cash.

Later, the phisher transferred 2,000 ETH worth approximately $3.1 million to a new address, of which 600 ETH worth around $968,000 was sent to Tornado Cash.

Phishing attacks are a type of social engineering that often involve attempts to deceive victims via fraudulent messages that pretend to be sent from a trusted source. Ransomware attacks often rely on phishing emails to spread.

The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted Tornado Cash in August 2022 because the crypto mixer was deemed a security threat, partially because it reportedly may have aided illicit groups like North Korean hackers Lazarus in laundering stolen funds.

Last month, a US court denied a challenge to the sanctions brought by six Tornado Cash users, upholding the ban on the Ethereum-based crypto mixer.

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https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/12/crypto-spot-trading-volume-drops-to-475000000000-reminiscent-of-2019-bear-market-analytics-firm/

Crypto spot trading volume on exchanges dipped significantly in August amid the sector’s recent bearish price action, according to the blockchain data firm CCData.

The firm notes in a recent monthly report that spot trading volume on centralized exchanges in August dropped for the second consecutive month, decreasing by 7.78% to $475 billion.

The figure represents the lowest monthly total since the sector was in the middle of a bear market in March 2019.

CCData also notes daily volumes on centralized exchanges plunged to $5.90 billion on August 26th, the lowest total since February 2019.

Explains the data firm,

“The fluctuations throughout the month can be attributed to SpaceX’s sale of its BTC holdings and Grayscale’s landmark victory over the SEC, which failed to reflect in the spot accumulation of crypto assets.”

Derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges also took a hit last month, decreasing by 12.3% to $1.62 trillion, the lowest level of volume since December 2022 and the second-lowest total since December 2020, according to CCData.

Says the firm,

“The derivatives market now represents 77.3% of the entire crypto market (vs. 78.2% in July). This is the third consecutive decline in derivatives market share, with the volatility in the market leading to a large drop in open interest last month.”

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The post Crypto Spot Trading Volume Drops to $475,000,000,000, Reminiscent of 2019 Bear Market: Analytics Firm appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/05/london-stock-exchange-operator-in-talks-with-government-to-launch-new-blockchain-powered-trading-venue-report/

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) is developing a new blockchain-powered trading venue, according to a new report.

Murray Roos, a group head of capital markets at LSEG, tells the Financial Times that his company is “definitely not building anything around crypto assets.”

Rather, Roos says they plan to use blockchain technology to make traditional asset trading more efficient.

“The idea is to use digital technology to make a process that is slicker, smoother, cheaper and more transparent… and to have it regulated.”

LSEG operates the London Stock Exchange, one of the oldest exchanges in the world. It’s currently the ninth-largest global stock exchange, with its listed companies clocking a combined market capitalization of around $3.26 trillion, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Roos says LSEG aims to become the first large stock exchange to have a blockchain-powered ecosystem that covers every needed function for financial assets. The exchange is reportedly talking to regulators in the United Kingdom (UK) and other jurisdictions in an effort to roll out the blockchain-powered trading venue sometime in 2024.

“The ultimate goal is a global platform that allows participants in all jurisdictions to be able to interact with people in other jurisdictions completely abiding by rules, laws and regulations, potentially multiple jurisdictions simultaneously, which is something that hasn’t been possible in an analog world.”   

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The post London Stock Exchange Operator in Talks With Government To Launch New Blockchain-Powered Trading Venue: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/02/colorado-enables-crypto-payments-via-paypal-for-drivers-license-and-vehicle-registration-renewals/

Colorado residents can now renew their driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations using cryptocurrency.

The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) now accepts cryptocurrency through PayPal for online payments, according to a new press release.

The DMV says it will charge a service fee of $1 plus 1.83% of the total transaction cost for paying with digital assets.

PayPal currently supports Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). The payments giant also recently launched its own stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which aims to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar.

The DMV isn’t the only Colorado state agency to open its arms up to crypto.

Last year, the state’s Department of Revenue (CDOR) became the first in the nation to accept digital assets for tax payments.

State residents can use crypto to cover individual income tax, business income tax, sales and use tax, withholding tax, severance tax and excise fuel tax. The CDOR also uses PayPal and charges an additional $1.00 plus 1.83% of the payment amount.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in an interview last year that the state government doesn’t plan to hold any crypto even though it’s accepting digital assets as a form of payment.

“We cannot be in the business of having exposure to a market where securities, including cryptocurrencies, fluctuate.

Our expenses are in dollars still. You never know what the future brings, but all of our expenses are in dollars, our budget got approved by the legislature in dollars, so when we talk about accepting crypto for payments, they would be converted back into dollars for our purposes.”

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The post Colorado Enables Crypto Payments via PayPal for Driver’s License and Vehicle Registration Renewals appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/09/02/retail-trading-giant-robinhood-repurchases-605000000-worth-of-shares-the-feds-seized-from-sam-bankman-fried/

Retail trading giant Robinhood has bought back more than $605 million worth of shares of its own company that the US government seized from disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

On Wednesday, Robinhood entered into a share purchase agreement with the United States Marshal Service (USMS) to scoop up 55,273,469 shares of the company’s Class A common stock, priced at $10.96 per share.

The deal closed on Thursday.

The share price was determined “based on the arithmetic average of the per share volume-weighted average price of the company’s Class A common stock over each of the five consecutive trading days preceding August 13,” according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The shares were initially acquired by Emergent Fidelity Technologies, Bankman-Fried’s holding company, but the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seized the stock in January.

The DOJ said at the time that the seized assets were involved in money laundering and wire fraud criminal violations and were not properties of FTX’s bankruptcy estate. The crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy in November.

Bankman-Fried is currently awaiting trial and has been charged with defrauding investors and mishandling billions of dollars worth of customer funds related to FTX’s collapse last year. If convicted, he faces decades behind bars.

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https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/30/secs-hester-peirce-blasts-agencys-first-nft-lawsuit-says-enforcement-action-raises-many-difficult-questions/

Two commissioners at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are blasting their own agency for recently charging a company with securities violations in relation to the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The SEC announced formal charges earlier this week against the Los Angeles-based entertainment company Impact Theory for allegedly offering NFTs as an “unregistered offering of crypto asset securities.”

The regulator says the company raised approximately $30 million after encouraging its followers to purchase NFTs from a collection known as the “Founder’s Keys.”

SEC Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda, however, dissented against the enforcement action, noting that the NFTs weren’t shares of Impact Theory and didn’t generate any type of dividend for the purchasers.

“The handful of company and purchaser statements cited by the order are not the kinds of promises that form an investment contract. We do not routinely bring enforcement actions against people that sell watches, paintings, or collectibles along with vague promises to build the brand and thus increase the resale value of those tangible items.”

Peirce and Uyeda say the enforcement action raises “difficult questions” that should have been answered when NFTs first began to proliferate a couple of years ago.

“Is a securities law regime best suited to ensure that NFT purchasers obtain the information they need before buying an NFT? What type of information do these purchasers want? Might other regulatory frameworks be more appropriate?”

The commissioners are curious whether the SEC now views previous NFT offerings as securities offerings, and, if so, what companies that issued NFTs can do to come into compliance.

Peirce and Uyeda also raise questions about the fact that the SEC settlement requires Impact Theory to destroy the “Founder’s Keys” NFTs in its possession.

“What precedent does this set for future cases in which the NFTs at issue represent unique pieces of digital art or music?”

Impact Theory has agreed to cease-and-desist NFT sales and pay out more than $6.1 million in fees and penalties. The entertainment company neither admits nor denies the SEC’s charges.

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The post SEC’s Hester Peirce Blasts Agency’s First NFT Lawsuit, Says Enforcement Action Raises Many Difficult Questions appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/26/scammer-nabs-55000-in-crypto-by-duping-the-u-s-drug-enforcement-agency-report/

A scammer has reportedly duped the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) into sending them $55,000 worth of crypto.

According to a new report from Forbes, the DEA sent a test transfer of $45.36 worth of Tether (USDT) to the U.S. Marshals Service after seizing more than $500,000 worth of the stablecoin in May from two Binance accounts suspected of laundering drug money.

A scammer, however, reportedly noticed the test transaction and created a crypto wallet with the same first five and last four characters as the U.S. Marshals’ address. The bad actor then airdropped a token into the DEA wallet, and the DEA sent that scam wallet more than $55,000 worth of USDT, mistakenly believing the look-alike address belonged to the Marshals.

The DEA and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have monitored the stolen funds, which have been converted to Ethereum (ETH) and transferred to a different wallet, according to Forbes. The FBI has already filed a warrant and is spearheading the investigation.

Digital asset scams, which tend to pull in the most money among all crypto crimes, saw a 77% decline in revenue over the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to a recent report from the blockchain data platform Chainalysis.

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The post Scammer Nabs $55,000 in Crypto by Duping the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/26/bitcoin-dips-as-u-s-fed-chair-jerome-powell-says-they-are-prepared-to-raise-rates-further-if-appropriate/

Bitcoin (BTC) dipped below $26,000 for part of the day on Friday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the possibility that the Fed might have to hike interest rates again.

Powell spoke at a Fed-sponsored economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday morning.

He stated that it’s the “Fed’s job” to bring inflation down to the central bank’s target of 2%.

“We have tightened policy significantly over the past year. Although inflation has moved down from its peak – a welcome development – it remains too high. We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate, and intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we are confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward our objective.”

Powell notes that personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation peaked at 7% in June 2022 and gradually declined to 3.3% as of July, which the Fed chair says is “roughly in line with global trends.”

Still, Powell says the significant decline in that PCE inflation metric isn’t necessarily telling the full story.

“Headline inflation is what households and businesses experience most directly, so this decline is very good news. But food and energy prices are influenced by global factors that remain volatile and can provide a misleading signal of where inflation is headed. In my remaining comments, I will focus on core PCE inflation, which omits the food and energy components.

On a 12-month basis, core PCE inflation peaked at 5.4% in February 2022 and declined gradually to 4.3% in July. The lower monthly readings for core inflation in June and July were welcome, but two months of good data are only the beginning of what it will take to build confidence that inflation is moving down sustainably toward our goal.”

BTC has since jumped back above $26,000 and is trading at $26,078 at time of writing. The top-ranked crypto asset by market cap is down 0.39% in the past 24 hours.

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The post Bitcoin Dips As U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says They Are ‘Prepared To Raise Rates Further if Appropriate’ appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/23/coinbase-invests-in-usdc-issuer-circle-says-crypto-exchange-is-committed-to-long-term-success-of-stablecoins/

Top US crypto exchange by trading volume Coinbase is investing in the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin issuer Circle.

Coinbase and Circle co-created USDC in 2018 and have jointly managed the asset, which aims to maintain a peg to the US dollar, through the Centre Consortium.

In a new announcement, however, Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire say that Circle will now bring all of USDC’s governance and operations responsibilities in-house.

Explain the CEOs,

“The new structure will streamline the operations and governance, and enhance the direct accountability of Circle as the issuer, including holding all the smart contract keys, complying with regulations on the governance of reserves and enabling USDC on new blockchains.”

Coinbase will also purchase an equity stake in Circle, according to Armstrong and Allaire.

“Coinbase and Circle will continue to generate revenue from USDC reserves interest income. Under the parties’ new arrangement, this revenue will continue to be shared based on the amount of USDC held on each of our platforms, and additionally, we will now equally share in interest income generated from the broader distribution and usage of USDC.”

Additionally, the CEOs note that USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, plans to launch on six new blockchains between September and October, though they did not specify which ones.

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https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/22/sec-granted-permission-to-go-after-do-kwons-close-associate-in-korea/

A judge has granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permission to work with international authorities to question one of the co-founders of Terraform Labs.

Court records indicate that District Judge Jed S. Rakoff approved the SEC’s request to ask for help from authorities in South Korea in regard to acquiring testimony from Daniel Shin, who co-founded Terraform Labs with Do Kwon.

The SEC alleges that Terraform Labs and Kwon “repeatedly misled and deceived investors” by telling them that Chai used the Terra blockchain to settle transactions that would accrue value to Terra’s native token, LUNA.

In February, the SEC alleged that Kwon transferred 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth $250,000,000 at the time, from Terraform Labs and the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) into a Swiss bank account as LUNA and its algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD UST were imploding.

Swiss authorities reportedly froze $26 million worth of those assets last month, according to the Korean outlet Digital Asset. The Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum froze the crypto after Swiss authorities received requests from the New York Attorney’s Office and the SEC.

Kwon was sentenced to four months in prison in Montenegro in June for using a forged Costa Rican passport, though those relatively minor charges are likely just the beginning of the outspoken Terra founder’s problems.

Authorities in the United States and South Korea want to extradite the disgraced crypto executive, who’s facing multiple charges arising from the $40 billion crash of the Terra ecosystem.

Dan Sunghan, the director of the financial crime investigation bureau at the Seoul Southern District Prosecution Service, recently told Bloomberg that Kwon could serve more than four decades behind bars.

South Korean authorities reportedly charged Shin with fraud in April.

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The post SEC Granted Permission To Go After Do Kwon’s Close Associate in Korea appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/19/north-korean-hackers-have-looted-2000000000-worth-of-crypto-in-the-past-five-years-blockchain-data-firm/

Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs finds that North Korean hackers have looted more than $2 billion worth of crypto in the past five years.

In a new blog post, the data firm notes that the staggering total was built up across 30 different attacks on crypto projects.

The majority of North Korean exploits in recent years have focused on decentralized finance (DeFi), with cross-chain bridges a particular point of focus.

North Korean hackers have stolen $200 million worth of crypto year to date, which is roughly one-quarter of the total amount taken last year, according to TRM. This year’s number shows that North Korean exploiters account for 20% of the total amount of crypto looted in 2023.

TRM also notes that North Korean hackers have improved their on-chain laundering methodologies over time.

“North Korea’s early exploits – which tend to involve the direct use of cryptocurrency exchanges – now feature highly complex, multi-stage money laundering processes in response to more aggressive OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) sanctions, law enforcement focus, and improved tracing capabilities.”

The crypto analytics firm says chain-hopping is a technique hackers have been using to cover their tracks in the past few years.

Chain-hopping is a form of money laundering where one type of crypto asset is converted to another type and funds are moved across multiple chains, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

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The post North Korean Hackers Have Looted $2,000,000,000 Worth of Crypto in the Past Five Years: Blockchain Data Firm appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/19/coinbases-new-ethereum-layer-2-briefly-surpasses-optimism-and-arbitrum-in-daily-transactions-on-chain-data/

Coinbase’s new Ethereum (ETH) layer-2 scaling solution briefly surpassed Optimism (OP) and Arbitrum (ARB) this week in terms of daily transactions.

According to data provided by each scaling solution’s respective block explorers, Base hit 617,330 transactions on August 13th, compared to 438,559 for Optimism and 544,575 for Arbitrum on the same day.

Both Optimism and Arbitrum have since surpassed Base in terms of daily transaction counts.

Base’s all-time high level of daily transactions actually occurred three days earlier on August 10th, when it hit 757,294.

The new layer-2 project officially launched earlier this month and is powered by Optimism. Coinbase has previously said it hopes Base helps onboard over a billion people into the crypto economy.

The exchange has noted there are no plans to launch a network token associated with Base. The project is designed to be compatible with Ethereum, Ethereum layer-2s and alternative layer-1 blockchains.

Optimism’s native token, OP, is trading at $1.38 at time of writing. The 42nd-ranked crypto asset by market cap is down nearly 1.5% in the past 24 hours and more than 13% in the past seven days.

Arbitrum’s native token, ARB, is trading around $0.987 at time of writing. The 39th-ranked crypto asset by market cap is down nearly 5.75% in the past day and nearly 18% in the past week.

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The post Coinbase’s New Ethereum Layer-2 Briefly Surpasses Optimism and Arbitrum in Daily Transactions: On-Chain Data appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/18/top-stablecoin-tether-usdt-ends-support-for-kusama-ksm-bitcoin-cash-bch-slp-and-omni-layer-omni-chains/

Tether, the firm behind the largest stablecoin by market cap, has officially ended support for three different blockchains.

On Thursday, the stablecoin issuer stopped minting USDT on Kusama (KSM), Bitcoin Cash’s (BCH) Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP), and Omni Layer (OMNI).

Tether says community interest is important in terms of its decision to bring USDT to specific blockchains.

“We carefully evaluate the effort required, encompassing security, customer support, compliance, and regulatory oversight, to ensure the security, usability, and sustainability of the chosen blockchain. If a blockchain lacks significant traction over an extended period and shows no signs of recovery in usage indicators, maintaining support becomes inefficient and may jeopardize security and oversight.”

Kusama is the canary test network for the interoperability blockchain Polkadot (DOT). Bitcoin Cash is a Bitcoin (BTC) hard fork, and the SLP is a token system for its network.

Omni Layer launched in 2013 as one of the original sidechain protocols for Bitcoin that attempted to bring more functionality to the king crypto, and was the first chain that Tether minted USDT on.

Tether’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino says dropping Omni was particularly hard for the stablecoin issuer.

“This decision pains our hearts, especially in regards to the Omni Layer, Tether USDT’s initial transport layer back in 2014.

Over the years, the Omni Layer faced challenges due to the lack of popular tokens and the availability of USDT on other blockchains. This led many exchanges to favor alternative transport layers, leading to a decline in USDT usage on Bitcoin using the Omni Layer.

As a principled organization, we must remain consistent and transparent, and adhere to open processes, even if it entails difficult choices.”

BCH is down more than 14% in the past 24 hours, and KSM is down more than 7%.

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The post Top Stablecoin Tether (USDT) Ends Support for Kusama (KSM), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) SLP and Omni Layer (OMNI) Chains appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/18/u-s-securities-and-exchange-commission-inches-closer-to-appealing-the-xrp-decision-in-ripple-lawsuit/

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is getting closer to filing an appeal on their recent partial defeat in their lawsuit against Ripple.

James K. Filan, a defense lawyer and crypto legal expert, notes that District Judge Analisa Torres has set a briefing schedule for “the SEC’s request to file a motion for leave to file an interlocutory appeal.”

“This does not mean an interlocutory appeal has been authorized. It just means the SEC is allowed to request it.” 

Torres says in her order that the SEC should file their motion by August 18th, Ripple should file its opposition papers by September 1st, and the SEC should file its reply, if it has one, by September 8th.

XRP plummeted after the judge’s order was submitted, dropping from trading around $0.571 to roughly $0.499 at time of writing, a decrease of more than 12%, following the general trend of the wider crypto markets.

The SEC sued Ripple in late 2020, alleging the San Francisco payments company was selling XRP as an unregistered security.

Last month, Torres ruled that Ripple’s automated, open-market sales of XRP, referred to as programmatic sales, did not constitute security offerings, contrary to what the SEC alleged.

The judge did, however, side with the SEC’s claim that Ripple’s sale of XRP directly to institutional buyers constituted a securities offering.

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The post U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Inches Closer to Appealing the XRP Decision in Ripple Lawsuit appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/17/xrp-rival-stellar-lumens-xlm-acquires-stake-in-cash-transfer-giant-moneygram-via-foundation/

The foundation behind XRP rival Stellar (XLM) is acquiring a minority stake in the payments giant MoneyGram International (MGI).

In a new blog post, the chief executive of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), Denelle Dixon, says the Foundation is using cash from its treasury in a go-private transaction with the private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, MoneyGram’s parent company.

“It is the first investment of its kind made from SDF’s treasury. Our investment also includes a seat on its Board of Directors of which I am proud to represent SDF among a diverse group of leaders in payments, financial services, and technology on the board who are excited to lend their expertise to strengthen and guide MGI’s digital strategy.”

SDF kicked off a commercial partnership with MoneyGram in 2021. In 2022, they collaboratively launched a new service called MoneyGram Access in key remittance markets, including the Philippines, US, Canada and Kenya. The service aimed to bridge fiat money and cryptocurrencies using Stellar and the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC).

Dixon says SDF’s investment is about MoneyGram “becoming a digital-forward leader in fintech.”

“This investment positions SDF to contribute to MGI’s journey, particularly in areas such as expanding its digital business, exploring blockchain technology, and contributing to the many other ways this financial technology company enables consumers and businesses to move and manage money in nearly every country around the world.”

XLM is trading for $0.127 at time of writing. The 24th-ranked crypto asset by market cap is down more than 2% in the past 24 hours.

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The post XRP Rival Stellar Lumens (XLM) Acquires Stake in Cash Transfer Giant MoneyGram Via Foundation appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/16/satoshi-era-bitcoin-btc-wallet-abruptly-wakes-up-after-sitting-dormant-for-nearly-13-years/

A long-dormant Bitcoin (BTC) whale has unloaded $29.75 million worth of the top crypto asset after sitting on it for nearly 13 years.

The blockchain-tracking platform Whale Alert first spotted the transaction, noting the ancient address sent all 1,005 BTC it owned to another unknown wallet.

The whale first received 1,000 Bitcoin all the way back in November 2010, when BTC was trading at $0.225, according to BitInfoCharts. The address then received another 5 BTC in April 2011, when Bitcoin was trading at $1.31. All in all, the whale’s Bitcoin holdings rose in value by a staggering 12,848,100% by the time of the transfer on Monday.

On numerous occasions in the past 12+ years, the wallet did receive minuscule amounts of Bitcoin, an indication of possible dusting attacks, which involve hackers and scammers sending trace amounts of a cryptocurrency (dust) to a large number of personal wallets in an attempt to break the wallet holders’ privacy.

Other actors such as academic researchers and law enforcement could also carry out dusting attacks for non-malicious reasons.

Transactions from long-dormant wallets typically drum up media interest because they generate chatter speculating that the BTC could be owned by Bitcoin’s secretive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Blockchain analysts estimate Nakamoto mined one million BTC, starting with the first 50 BTC reward for the genesis block on January 3rd, 2009. The last publicly verifiable online sighting of Satoshi was in December 2010.

In addition to the long-dormant wallet, Bitcoin whales took part in a number of other large transactions on Monday, including:

• 2,566 BTC worth nearly $75.5 million transferred from an unknown wallet to Coinbase
• 2,567 BTC worth more than $75.5 million transferred from a separate unknown wallet to Coinbase
• 10,798 BTC worth more than $317.7 million transferred from Gemini to an unknown wallet
• 3,201 BTC worth more than $94.5 million transferred from an unknown wallet to Coinbase

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The post Satoshi-Era Bitcoin (BTC) Wallet Abruptly Wakes Up After Sitting Dormant for Nearly 13 Years appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/12/youve-got-to-be-kidding-me-cameron-winklevoss-responds-to-barry-silberts-motion-to-dismiss-gemini-lawsuit/

The legal drama between the Winklevoss twins and Digital Currency Group (DCG) CEO Barry Silbert is continuing as Cameron Winklevoss responds to Silbert’s latest move.

Silbert and DCG, the parent company of Genesis, filed a motion earlier this week asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit arising from the debt the crypto exchange Gemini says is owed to users of their Earn program.

Cameron Winklevoss, who co-founded Gemini with his twin brother Tyler, says Silbert and DCG’s motion “is filled with carefully crafted statements that are incredibly revealing.”

“For example, they claim they ‘had virtually nothing to do with the Gemini Earn program.’ This is a direct admission that they did in fact have something to do with the Gemini Earn program. Lol.

They also claim that they ‘owed no duty to Gemini to correct the allegedly false misstatements of [Genesis].’ You’ve got to be kidding me. When a company you own says you wrote a $1.1 billion dollar check that you know you didn’t write, yes, you have a duty to correct this. Sorry, but this doesn’t even pass the giggle test.”

Gemini Earn enabled customers to loan their crypto assets to institutional borrowers to earn interest, but the Winklevoss twins say that when Genesis became insolvent, it defaulted on $1.2 billion worth of assets that belong to 232,000 Earn users.

Gemini filed the suit last month claiming that Silbert and DCG fraudulently created financial reports to trick their creditors and maintain the illusion that everything was in order.

Genesis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January.

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The post ‘You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me’: Cameron Winklevoss Responds to Barry Silbert’s Motion To Dismiss Gemini Lawsuit appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/11/argentinas-data-privacy-agency-investigating-controversial-crypto-project-worldcoin-wld/

Argentina’s data privacy government agency is following in France and the United Kingdom’s footsteps by investigating the eye-scanning crypto project Worldcoin (WLD).

The Agency of Access to Public Information (AAIP) says in a new press release it’s looking into how the Worldcoin Foundation collects, stores and uses personal data in Argentina.

The agency’s new investigation comes on the heels of France’s privacy watchdog, the CNIL, announcing late last month that it planned to probe the hot-button project over the legality of its biometric data collection.

The UK’s data regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), also said in a statement in late July that it would be “making inquiries” into the launch of Worldcoin in the UK.

The project, which was co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, utilizes iris scanners to verify users’ identities.

According to the project’s website, Worldcoin consists of a “privacy-preserving” World ID and a digital WLD token that is received by users “simply for being human.” The project plans on deploying 1,500 of its iris-scanning orbs to 35 cities worldwide this summer and fall to meet the “global demand for ID.”

The WLD token was first launched last month. The 156th-ranked crypto asset by market cap is trading at $1.69 at time of writing and is down 7% in the past 24 hours.

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The post Argentina’s Data Privacy Agency Investigating Controversial Crypto Project Worldcoin (WLD) appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/10/fed-reveals-new-rules-for-how-us-banks-can-interact-with-stablecoins-and-crypto-assets/

The U.S. Federal Reserve says its state member banks need to ask for permission before interacting with stablecoins.

The Fed published a regulation letter on Wednesday outlining its new rules on “tokens denominated in national currencies and issued using distributed ledger technology,” otherwise known as stablecoins.

“A state member bank seeking to engage in activities permitted for national banks under OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) Interpretive Letter 1174, including issuing, holding, or transacting in dollar tokens to facilitate payments, is required to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of Federal Reserve supervisors, that the bank has controls in place to conduct the activity in a safe and sound manner.

To verify this requirement has been met, a state member bank should receive a written notification of supervisory nonobjection from the Federal Reserve before engaging in the proposed activities.”

The regulation letter also notes that even state member banks that just want to test stablecoins should reach out to the Fed before doing so.

To receive “supervisory nonobjection” to interact with stablecoins, banks will need to demonstrate they’ve established “appropriate risk management practices” to address operational, cybersecurity, liquidity, illicit finance and consumer compliance risks.

More than one-third of the commercial banks in the US are Fed members, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

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https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/08/big-players-gear-up-to-unload-bags-of-ethereum-gaming-altcoin-that-rose-316-in-less-than-a-week-on-chain-data/

An Ethereum (ETH) gaming altcoin exploded in price over the past week before retracing after a series of whales sent their stacks to crypto exchanges.

Yield Guild Games (YGG), a blockchain-based play-to-earn gaming decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), saw its native token rally from trading at around $0.18 one week ago to a high of nearly $0.75 on Monday, an increase of 317%.

YGG, however, has since crashed by nearly 50% from that high and is trading around $0.376 at time of writing.

Blockchain tracker Lookonchain notes that a series of whale transactions in previous days preceded YGG’s massive volatility on Monday.

Wintermute, an algorithmic digital asset trading firm, moved around 13.6 million YGG to Binance and Kraken between Thursday and Monday, according to Etherscan and blockchain intelligence firm Arkham.

The digital asset venture capital firm Youbi Capital also transferred around 5 million YGG onto Binance on Sunday and Monday, Lookonchain and Etherscan report.

Sfermion, a multi-strategy investment firm, claimed 1.2M YGG and deposited it to Binance through the institutional crypto trading platform FalconX.

Since the YGG troves were deposited to crypto exchanges, they could be potentially sold on the open market.

Yield Guild Games lets users stake its native YGG tokens into “vaults” to purchase in-game currency, invest in virtual non-fungible tokens (NFTs), earn other altcoins, pay service fees and participate in the group’s governance.

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The post Big Players Gear Up To Unload Bags of Ethereum Gaming Altcoin That Rose 316% in Less Than a Week: On-Chain Data appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/08/coinbase-reports-53000000000-drop-in-retail-and-institutional-crypto-trading-volume/

Top US crypto exchange Coinbase witnessed a staggering $53 billion drop across retail and institutional trading volume in the second quarter of 2023.

In a new shareholder letter, the company notes it processed $14 billion in consumer trading volume and $78 billion in institutional volume, for a total of $92 billion.

The figure represents a decrease of 36.5% from the previous quarter as Coinbase recorded $145 billion in total volume in Q1 with retail traders accounting for $21 billion and institutions contributing $124 billion.

It’s also down from the $217 billion in total trading volume Coinbase processed in the second quarter of 2022, a decrease of more than 57%.

Coinbase saw diminished trading volumes this quarter amid recent regulatory woes in the US.

In June, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued the exchange, alleging it was selling unregistered securities. The regulator specifically referred to Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL) and Polygon (MATIC) as “crypto asset securities.”

Coinbase has asked a judge to toss the lawsuit, accusing the SEC of violating due process.

Despite the waning trading volumes, Coinbase says Q2 represented a “strong quarter of execution,” citing employee layoffs as a positive development for the company.

“One year ago in Q2 2022, we started reducing our expense base to operate more efficiently. One year later, we’re proud to say that our quarterly recurring operating expenses have dropped nearly 50% Y/Y (defined as technology & development, general & administrative, and sales & marketing). This includes a 30%+ Y/Y reduction in headcount which, while painful, has paved the way for a more efficient environment where our teams are exhibiting stronger execution, and yielding results. In Q2, we again generated positive Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization) and increased our USD Resources for the first time since late 2021, all while continuing to grow our product suite.”

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The post Coinbase Reports $53,000,000,000 Drop in Retail and Institutional Crypto Trading Volume appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/05/not-just-robert-kennedy-jr-us-presidential-candidate-francis-suarez-enables-crypto-campaign-contributions/

Robert Kennedy Jr. is no longer the only US presidential hopeful who’s welcoming crypto contributions to his campaign.

Francis Suarez, the sitting mayor of Miami and a Republican presidential candidate, announced on Friday that he’s accepting crypto donations.

The Suarez campaign website says it’s processing contributions via the crypto payments provider BitPay, which supports Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dogecoin (DOGE), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Polygon (MATIC), Apecoin (APE), as well as the US dollar-pegged stablecoins Dai (DAI), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), Pax Dollar (USDP) and USD Coin (USDC), and the euro-pegged stablecoin Euro Coin (EUROC).

Says Suarez of the choice to accept crypto,

“Cryptocurrency is the future and it’s here to stay – America’s next president must lean into this generational opportunity, not shy away.”

The politician has been known for his pro-crypto positions as the mayor of Miami. The South Florida city launched its own decentralized altcoin, MiamiCoin (MIA), in August 2021, and Suarez started accepting Bitcoin paychecks later that year.

MIA is down more than 99.5% from its all-time high of $0.0552, which it set in September 2021, according to CoinGecko.

Kennedy announced he was accepting BTC donations while delivering a speech at the Bitcoin 2023 Conference in Miami in May. The environmental lawyer is challenging incumbent President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.

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The post Not Just Robert Kennedy Jr: US Presidential Candidate Francis Suarez Enables Crypto Campaign Contributions appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/05/us-ethereum-futures-etf-has-a-75-chance-of-approval-in-2023-after-recent-flood-of-applications-analysts-estimate/

A pair of Bloomberg exchange-traded fund (ETF) analysts think there’s a 75% chance an Ethereum (ETH) futures ETF gets approved in the US this year.

James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas say the odds of approval spiked amid a flood of Ethereum futures ETF application submissions to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“The odds of Ethereum futures ETFs hitting exchanges this year have risen dramatically to 75%, in our view, after a spurt of 12 applications to the SEC in recent days. The SEC appears to be changing its posture toward crypto, based on reports of its back-channel messaging to ETF issuers. Also, we believe the SEC would have a hard time in court defending the denial of Ethereum futures ETFs after approving standard and leveraged Bitcoin futures ETFs.”

Balchunas predicts the SEC will approve an Ethereum futures ETF in October, two years after the approval of the first Bitcoin (BTC) futures ETF.

No US Bitcoin spot ETF applications have been greenlit thus far, though the crypto world eagerly awaits the SEC’s decision on a June application from BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.

A spot Bitcoin ETF would give investors exposure to the crypto asset through a brokerage firm, much like commodities such as gold.

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https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/04/bitfinex-heist-ilya-lichtenstein-admits-he-was-behind-colossal-2016-crypto-exchange-hack/

The notorious “Crypto Couple” Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan pled guilty on Thursday to money laundering conspiracies relating to the massive 2016 hack on the crypto exchange Bitfinex.

Lichtenstein also copped to executing the hack himself, clearing up years of mystery regarding how the couple first came into possession of the stolen Bitcoin (BTC) from Bitfinex.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says Lichtenstein used “a number of advanced hacking tools and techniques” to crack Bitfinex’s network and fraudulently authorize more than 2,000 transactions. In total, he transferred 119,754 BTC, worth a staggering $3.5 billion at time of writing, to a wallet under his control.

After securing the stolen Bitcoin, the DOJ says that Lichtenstein and Morgan used a series of complex strategies to try and obfuscate their digital paper trail.

According to the DOJ, the couple sent the crypto to darknet markets and mixers, utilized fake identities, tapped US-based business accounts to legitimize their banking activity and exchanged some of the stolen BTC for gold coins, which Morgan buried.

Lichtenstein pled guilty on Thursday to conspiracy to commit money laundering, and Morgan pled guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. He’s facing up to 20 years in prison, and she’s facing up to 10.

Morgan is a former Forbes columnist and chief executive of a copywriting firm. She’s also an idiosyncratic YouTube rapper known as “Razzlekhan.”

Lichtenstein, who also goes by the name “Dutch,” describes himself on LinkedIn as a “technology entrepreneur, coder and investor.”

A television limited series about the couple titled “Razzlekhan: The Infamous Crocodile of Wall Street” is reportedly in development at Hulu.

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The post Bitfinex Heist: Ilya Lichtenstein Admits He Was Behind Colossal 2016 Crypto Exchange Hack appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/02/ftx-ceo-says-embattled-exchange-ready-for-bankruptcy-plan-that-will-extinguish-ftt-token-claims/

The bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has submitted a draft reorganization plan to the courts to pay back creditors.

The draft plan, filed with a US bankruptcy court on Monday, calls for scrapping claims based on holdings of the disgraced company’s native token, FTT.

The draft says the FTT-based claims against the exchange should be dropped due to the “equity-like characteristics” of its native token. It also calls for canceling any other equity interests.

FTX plans to pay back other debtors and customers in cash. The company’s CEO, John J. Ray III, says in a press release that the submitted plan is designed to elicit creditor feedback.

“Our goal is to achieve a consensual plan and emergence from bankruptcy. We are committed to working through these matters in the third quarter of 2023 and to filing an amended plan and a disclosure statement in the fourth quarter of 2023.”

FTX first shut down in November after FTT collapsed and it was forced to halt customer withdrawals.

Ray, who also oversaw the liquidation of the infamous American energy company Enron, took over for disgraced former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried after the exchange declared bankruptcy.

The recently submitted draft reorganization plan also confirmed rumors that Ray is considering restarting FTX’s operations. The document states the company “may decide,” with the help of third-party investors, to restart the exchange in a foreign jurisdiction as an offshore platform not available to US customers.

Bankman-Fried faces a slew of charges for allegedly defrauding customers and mishandling billions of dollars worth of their funds, as well as making illegal political donations. If convicted, he could face more than 100 years in prison.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) also said in a court filing last week that it is unsatisfied with Bankman-Fried’s current bail terms, accusing the disgraced crypto entrepreneur of tampering with witnesses and obstructing investigations.

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The post FTX CEO Says Embattled Exchange Ready for Bankruptcy Plan That Will Extinguish FTT Token Claims appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/08/02/irs-says-staking-rewards-can-now-be-taxed-as-income-once-tokens-are-received/

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says that US crypto traders staking rewards will now have to treat those earnings as part of their taxable income that year.

Staking involves investors locking up their crypto assets into the blockchain in order to validate transactions and obtain rewards.

Explains the IRS,

“If a cash-method taxpayer stakes cryptocurrency native to a proof-of-stake blockchain and receives additional units of cryptocurrency as rewards when validation occurs, the fair market value of the validation rewards received are included in the taxpayer’s gross income in the taxable year in which the taxpayer gains dominion and control over the validation rewards. The fair market value is determined as of the date and time the taxpayer gains dominion and control over the validation rewards.”

The IRS also notes that if a taxpayer stakes crypto through an exchange, they also have to include those rewards in their gross income for the taxable year.

Jesse Powell, the co-founder of the crypto exchange Kraken, says on Twitter that the ruling is “disappointing.”

“Disappointing ruling that fails to account for the inflation component, and the consequences of not staking. ‘Rewards’ are a split you work to claim.

* If nobody stakes, the chain is dead and value of all coins goes to 0
* if you don’t stake, your % ownership and % vote go down” 

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The post IRS Says Staking Rewards Can Now Be Taxed As Income Once Tokens Are Received appeared first on The Daily Hodl.