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📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (23/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ Chinese City Public Servants to Receive Digital RMB Salaries from May 🇨🇳
According to the notice issued by authorities governing the Chinese city of Changshu, all civil servants in its jurisdiction will be paid their full salaries in digital RMB or digital yuan from May 2023. This includes public service personnel, public institution personnel and personnel of state-owned units at all levels in the city. This was also reportedly confirmed by a staff member of a local hospital.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/chinese-city-public-servants-to-receive-digital-rmb-salaries-from-may
2️⃣ Trust Wallet Fixes Vulnerability After $170,000 In User Losses, Plans Reimbursements ❗️
Popular crypto wallet Trust Wallet has reportedly patched a security vulnerability that resulted in nearly $170,000 in losses for some users. The bug, which was first identified through its bug bounty program, reportedly affected new wallet addresses generated “between November 14 and 23, 2022” through its browser extension.
Addressing user losses, Trust Wallet stated,
“We want to assure users that we will reimburse eligible losses from hacks due to the vulnerability and have created a reimbursement process for the affected users. And we urged affected users [to] move the remaining ~$88,000 USD balance on all the vulnerable addresses as soon as possible."
https://www.theblock.co/post/227730/trust-wallet-vulnerability-fix
3️⃣ Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs Claims 'Landmark Legal Victory' Over Copycat NFTs ⚖️
A U.S. court in California has passed a partial summary judgment in BAYC creator Yuga Labs’ trademark infringement case against Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen. The court ruled that Yuga Labs is entitled to an injunction and damages from Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen over their copycat RR/BAYC NFT collection.
The court also determined that the domain names registered and utilised by the defendants – rrbayc.com and apemarket.com – have the potential to create confusion. Yuga Labs has called the judgement a "landmark legal victory” for the “entire Web3 industry to hold scammers and counterfeiters accountable."
https://decrypt.co/137577/bored-ape-creator-yuga-labs-claims-landmark-legal-victory-over-copycat-nfts
4️⃣ SBF’s Lawyers Unable to Tap His Parent’s Phones to Meet Bail Conditions 🔎
According to an April 19 court filing in the Southern District of New York, Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) lawyers have successfully implemented all of the bail conditions set by the court except for the condition which involves monitoring the usage of SBF’s parents' cell phones.
The filing reads,
“We learned recently that the monitoring software installed on the new cellphones we purchased for Mr Bankman-Fried’s parents cannot, in fact, automatically photograph the device’s user every five minutes as required by the Order.”
The lawyers have asked for extra time to “conduct further tests on the monitoring software to confirm its capabilities.”
https://cointelegraph.com/news/sbf-s-lawyers-unable-to-tap-his-parent-s-phones-to-meet-bail-conditions
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (21/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ Fugitive Crypto Exchange Founder Özer Extradited to Turkey 🧐
Faruk Fatih Özer, the fugitive founder of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, has finally been extradited to Turkey after being arrested in Albania in August last year. Özer was detained by police upon arrival in Istanbul and is currently facing charges of fraud and running a criminal organisation.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/fugitive-crypto-exchange-founder-ozer-extradited-to-turkiye/2877114
2️⃣ Tornado Cash Developer Alexey Pertsev Freed Pending Trial ❗️
Alexey Pertsev, the Tornado Cash developer arrested by Dutch authorities over 9 months ago, is reportedly being released from prison under surveillance. Pertsev has an ankle monitor and has been instructed to stay home while he waits for his trial. He will officially be back home by April 26, which coincidentally happens to be his birthday.
Pertsev’s wife has stated to the media,
“I believe that now we will be able to fully prepare the defense and prove that Alex did not do anything that he is accused of, and I am very sorry for the wasted time that he spent in prison. It had a powerful effect on him and on me; it cardinally changed our lives. But the main thing is that he will be free soon.”
https://www.theblock.co/post/227329/alexey-pertsev-tornado-cash-developer-free-pending-trial
3️⃣ The European Parliament Adopts Crypto-Focused MiCA Legislation 🇪🇺
On Thursday, the European Parliament successfully voted on two major legislations pertaining to crypto- the ‘Markets in Crypto-Assets’ (MiCA) law and the ‘Transfer of Funds’ regulation. While MiCA saw lawmakers vote 517-38 in favour of the crypto licensing regime, the Transfer of Funds regulation saw a vote of 529-29 in favour.
MiCA, which provides the EU with a comprehensive crypto regulation framework, will now need approval from the European Council before becoming effective regulation. The Transfer of Funds regulation will require crypto operators to identify their customers as part of its anti-money laundering mandate.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-european-parliament-adopts-crypto-focused-mica-legislation
4️⃣ DEX Aggregator 1inch to Launch on Ethereum Rollup zkSync Era 🚀
DEX aggregator 1inch is reportedly launching a version of its platform onto Matter Labs’ recently released Ethereum scaling network zkSync Era.
Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski, stated,
“DeFi has been a driving force behind zkSync Era’s explosive growth that has seen over $200 million in TVL driven to the protocol in just three short weeks, and we expect the deployment of 1inch to contribute to even greater adoption and usage of zkSync Era.”
https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/04/20/1inch-aggregator-of-decentralized-crypto-exchanges-to-launch-on-ethereum-rollup-zksync-era
5️⃣ Terraform Labs Co-Founder Do Kwon Faces Montenegro Indictment ⚖️
According to a Bloomberg Law report, prosecutors in Montenegro have submitted an indictment proposal for Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon. He has been charged with forgery after attempting to use a fake Costa Rican passport to travel to Dubai. Terraform’s former CFO Han Chang-jun is also reportedly facing similar charges. Following the issuance of the indictments, the prosecutors have requested an extension of the detention period for the two former Terraform executives.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/crypto/montenegro-prosecutors-file-indictment-for-do-kwon-vijesti
Hey Guys,
If you follow the Coin Bureau closely, chances are it’s because you don’t have the time to keep up with the crypto market and do the research required to know what all the crypto and macro news means for the crypto market.
Obviously, YouTube isn’t the only place that you can go to find this information, and I would go as far as to say that it’s not the ideal place to go. If you want to be successful in crypto, you must be the first to know when something happens.
The best place for this kind of fast moving information is Twitter, and today I give you a long list of accounts that I and the Coin Bureau team follow to keep up with the crypto market. This is a video you can’t miss!
Enjoy!
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (19/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ Hacker Steals $10 Million in Crypto from “OG Investors” and No One Knows How 🥶
According to a tweet by Taylor Monahan, the former CEO and founder of Ethereum wallet manager MyCrypto, over $10 million worth of crypto assets (including 5,000 ETH) from across 11 blockchains have been stolen from sophisticated “crypto native” users since December 2022. This includes users who had securely stored their private keys in hardware wallets.
While the exact mode of attack remains unknown, the security team behind MetaMask stated,
“The on-chain behaviour heavily suggests a private key compromise. What current investigations are showing is that it seems that this specific attack vector is pointing towards these users’ secret recovery phrases being compromised somewhere down the line, likely due to unintentionally insecure storage of said phrase.”
https://decrypt.co/137167/hacker-stolen-10-million-ethereum-no-one-knows-how
2️⃣ Trump Drops Second Series of Digital Trading Card Collection 🤔
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly releasing a "Series 2" of his NFT collection Trump Digital Trading Cards. According to the announcement, Series 2 will feature 47,000 NFTs on the Polygon blockchain, with each NFT having a mint price of $99. This number also hints at Trump’s ambition to return to the White House as the 47th president.
According to the official website, collectors who purchase 47 tokens can claim a dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and collectors who purchase 100 tokens will be entitled to the dinner as well as a unique Trump-themed artwork.
https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/04/18/trump-drops-second-series-of-digital-trading-card-collection
3️⃣ Bitcoin Financial Services Company ‘Unchained’ Raises $60 Million 💰
Texas-based Unchained Capital has reportedly raised $60 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Valor Equity Partners and saw participation from other investors such as NYDIG, Trammell Venture Partners, Ecliptic Capital and Highland Capital Partners.
Unchained Capital, which is a company focused on providing Bitcoin-only financial services, has stated that it will use the funds to expand its client base and product offering further. Joe Kelly, the CEO of Unchained, stated,
“Using this fresh capital investment to expand our reach and suite of services, we hope to enable new entrants to Bitcoin to leapfrog centralised custodians into our safer collaborative custody model.”
https://www.theblock.co/post/226848/bitcoin-services-unchained-funding
4️⃣ FTX Crypto Exchange Restart Plan Draws Possible Bid from Tribe Capital 🔎
According to a Bloomberg report, defunct crypto exchange FTX's plan to restart operations has drawn a bid from venture capital firm Tribe Capital. The VC firm is reportedly considering leading a $250 million fundraise, with a $100 million commitment from itself and its limited partners.
FTX’s new CEO John J. Ray III has stated that he plans to decide in the second quarter whether such a restart is feasible. According to FTX attorney Andrew G. Dietderich, the company is still in the early stages of assessing the idea which requires a significant amount of cash, which may come from third-party investors.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-18/ftx-crypto-exchange-restart-plan-draws-interest-from-tribe-capital-vc
5️⃣ Intel Ends Its Bitcoin Mining Chip Series ❌
Chipmaker Intel Corp has reportedly decided to discontinue its Blockscale Bitcoin mining chip line. The company has stated that it expects to stop taking orders for the series by October 20 this year and end shipping by April 20, 2024.
A company spokesperson stated,
"As we prioritise our investments in IDM 2.0, we have end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC [application specific integrated circuit] while we continue to support our Blockscale customers."
https://www.reuters.com/technology/intel-ends-its-bitcoin-mining-chip-series-2023-04-18/
Hey Guys,
Some of you might remember US President Joe Biden signing an executive order about cryptocurrency last September. This executive order called on US regulators to analyse cryptocurrency, and we’ve seen multiple reports issued since.
Recently, the Treasury Department published a report about the risks associated with DeFi and referred to this crypto niche as national security risk. This got me wondering what exactly this report said. Not surprisingly, it makes some crazy claims.
The Treasury Department literally thinks that DeFi is everything except simple wallet to wallet crypto transfers. Even then, it believes there are risks to this ‘disintermediation’. What the regulator recommends is terrifying to say this least.
This a video you cannot miss.
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (18/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ SEC Sues Bittrex Crypto Exchange and Former CEO ⚖️
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against crypto exchange Bittrex accusing it of illegally operating a securities exchange, broker-dealer and clearinghouse simultaneously. It also named Bittrex’s overseas platform, Bittrex Global GmbH and former chief executive William Shihara in the lawsuit.
Specifically, Bittrex Global is being named in the lawsuit due to the SEC’s accusations of it operating “a single shared order book along with Bittrex.” The SEC has pressed four charges of Exchange Act violations and has argued in its complaint that the OMG, DASH, ALGO, TKN, NGC and IHT tokens traded on Bittrex are securities.
Bittrex has responded by stating that regulators had repeatedly failed to respond to the company’s numerous requests over the past five years about which assets regulators believed were illegally offered on its platform.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-sues-bittrex-crypto-exchange-and-former-ceo-91545544
2️⃣ Israel’s Central Bank Says CBDC Could Be Issued If Stablecoin Use Increases 🇮🇱
Yesterday, the Bank of Israel’s Steering Committee on the Potential Issuance of a Digital Shekel outlined possible scenarios for the development and deployment of its CBDC- a digital shekel called “SHAKED.”
The scenarios outlined in the 21-page report include the rollout of a U.S. or EU CBDC, a decline in cash usage, the significant use of stablecoins, competition in the domestic payment system, and significant technological developments in payments systems that may potentially sway the central bank's decision to issue one.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/israel-s-central-bank-says-cbdc-could-be-issued-if-stablecoin-use-increases
3️⃣ Nike Unveils First Digital Sneaker Collection on .Swoosh 👟
Global sportswear brand Nike has announced that it will be releasing its “first digital-creation collection” on .Swoosh, the blockchain-powered platform Nike announced late last year. The “digital-creation collection” features virtual sneakers called “Our Force 1” (OF1) which are in fact a tribute to the iconic Nike Air Force 1 sneaker from 41 years ago.
Nike has stated that every single member of its .Swoosh platform will be able to purchase the virtual sneakers for $19.82 through its marketplace on May 10th. Users will reportedly have a choice of two digital boxes – the "Classic Remix" and the "New Wave" box – with each box type corresponding to different possible designs, including a design co-created by four Nike fans in January.
https://www.theblock.co/post/226760/nike-crypto-digital-sneakers
4️⃣ EU Lawmakers Call for 'Human-centric, Safe and Trustworthy' AI Development ✍🏼
EU Parliament member Dragoș Tudorache and 11 other EU lawmakers have reportedly written an open letter requesting the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and United States President Joe Biden to convene a summit on AI and to agree on a set of governing principles for the safe development, control and deployment of the tech. Specifically, the lawmakers emphasise the framework must "steer development of very powerful artificial intelligence in a direction that is human-centric, safe, and trustworthy."
Tudorache tweeted,
“AI is moving very fast and we need to move too. The call from the Future of Life Institute to pause the development of very powerful AI for half a year, although unnecessarily alarmist, is another signal we need to focus serious political attention on this issue.”
https://decrypt.co/136964/eu-lawmakers-call-human-centric-safe-trustworthy-ai-development
5️⃣ MicroStrategy’s Saylor Integrates Bitcoin Lightning Address Into Corporate Email 🚀
Hey Guys,
It has been one hell of a week, and I’m here as always to break it down for you in today’s weekly crypto review. First there’s the amazing price action we’ve seen from BTC, ETH and now most altcoins.
On top of that, we have Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade which successfully brought unstaking to the largest proof of stake cryptocurrency. This seems to have set the stage for another monster rally, but ETH still faces some downside risks from stablecoin and DeFi scrutiny.
Last but not least I point out a new paradigm emerging in the markets. It seems that bad news is bad news again. By that I mean, negative economic numbers are driving markets more than the Fed's policy is - something which I explain in the video.
Finally, we finish off with some cycle analysis of BTC, ETH & ADA by Ben Cowen.
Enjoy!
🚨Rally Report🚨
ROCKET POOL
The price of RPL has rallied by 13% in the past 24 hours.
WHY?!
🎉 Investors are bullish due to Rocket Pool’s upcoming Atlas upgrade which is scheduled for tomorrow.
🔎 The Atlas upgrade will allow Rocket Pool users to skim or exit their nodes. It also lowers the threshold for node operators by allowing them to stake just 8 ETH and some $RPL collateral instead of the current 16 ETH requirement.
🤔 Rocket Pool expects the upgrade to instantly 3x the protocol’s capacity and onboard more node operators due to the higher earning capacity of its new 8 ETH minipools.
If you want to buy or trade RPL, we have an exclusive $40K Bonus & 20% trading fee discount for life on Bitget! 👇
https://www.coinbureau.com/deals/trading/bitget-crypto-exchange/
Hey Guys,
Ever since central banks started raising rates, everyone has been wondering which sector will be the first to buckle under the weight of more expensive debts. It’s starting to become clear that commercial real estate is the most at risk, and this could be a big deal.
Although the amount of commercial real estate debt isn’t that big relative to other debt piles, most of this debt is adjustable rate, and is also non-recourse (more about that in the video). More importantly, banks and pension funds are very exposed.
What’s scary is that it seems commercial real estate will get rekt even if interest rates come down. That’s because some kinds of commercial real estate such as office buildings are down for the count. Someone will have to eat those losses….
This is a video you can’t miss!
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (15/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ Bitcoin Thief Once Worth $3.4 Billion Gets Year in Prison 🤔
James Zhong, the man whole stole 50,000 BTC from the Silk Road marketplace, has reportedly been sentenced to one year and one day in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Prior to his capture last year, Zhong had spent almost $16 million of the stolen assets on real estate investments, luxury hotels, nightclubs and Lamborghinis. He had successfully concealed the stolen Bitcoin for almost nine years before being arrested.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-14/bitcoin-thief-once-worth-3-4-billion-gets-a-year-in-prison
2️⃣ Chia Network Submits Registration to U.S. SEC For Proposed IPO ⚖️
Blockchain and smart-contract platform Chia Network has reportedly submitted a confidential draft registration to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering (IPO). The size and price range for the offering are yet to be determined. The price of Chia's native token XCH has reacted positively to the news by rising more than 10% shortly afterwards.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/14/chia-network-submits-registration-to-us-sec-for-proposed-ipo
3️⃣ Hacker Robs Crypto Exchange Bitrue of $23M in Ethereum, SHIB, and Other Assets 👮♂️
Singapore-based crypto exchange Bitrue has reportedly lost roughly $23 million in tokens after a hacker exploited one of its hot wallets yesterday. The exchange stated that the assets withdrawn by the attackers were ETH, QNT, GALA, SHIB, HOT and MATIC.
Data from blockchain security firm PeckShield reveals that the attacker swapped some QNT, SHIB, GALA, and MATIC for roughly 8,540 ETH before withdrawing to their Ethereum address which currently holds $3.2 million in SHIB and HOT.
https://decrypt.co/136751/hacker-robs-bitrue-23m-ethereum-shib-assets
4️⃣ SEC Poised to Increase Its Scrutiny of DeFi Exchanges 🔎
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly reopened a proposal from last year that seeks to regulate DeFi by expanding the definition of the word “exchange” under the agency’s rules. This will allow the regulator to capture supervision over a broader range of trading activity in the U.S.
However, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has published a dissenting opinion to the regulator’s move, which states,
“No longer does this commission think creatively about regulatory alternatives that advance the commission’s mission while preserving space for potentially disruptive innovation. No longer does the commission worry that regulatory bullheadedness often produces absurd consequences. Rather today’s commission aggressively expands its regulatory reach to solve problems that do not exist.”
https://www.theblock.co/post/226344/sec-poised-to-increase-scrutiny-of-defi
5️⃣ MetaMask Third-Party Provider Hacked, Exposing Email Addresses ❗️
According to an announcement by ConsenSys, the email addresses of some MetaMask users may have been exposed to a malicious party after they gained access to a third party’s computer system that was used to process customer service requests. ConsenSys stated that the incident affected users who submitted a customer support ticket to MetaMask between August 1, 2021 and February 10, 2023.
While these customer support tickets do not ask for information other than what was necessary to help the user, they did include a “free text-field,” which some users may have used to submit personally identifying information. ConsenSys stated that this may have included “economic or financial information, name, surname, date of birth, phone number, and postal address.”
https://cointelegraph.com/news/metamask-third-party-provider-was-hacked-exposing-email-addresses
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (14/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ US Court Issues Summons to Tron's Justin Sun, Threatens Default Judgment If No Response ⚖️
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has reportedly issued a summons to Tron founder Justin Sun, rapper Soulja Boy and YouTube music star Austin Mahone in connection with a civil complaint filed by the U.S. SEC over tokens issued by Tron and the filesharing company BitTorrent. The court has also stated that it will enter a “judgment by default” if Sun fails to respond to the summons within 21 days by contacting attorney for the SEC Adam Gottlieb.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-court-issues-summons-to-tron-s-justin-sun-threatens-default-judgment-if-no-response
2️⃣ Uniswap Launches iOS Mobile Wallet in Select Countries ❗️
DeFi exchange Uniswap has finally launched its iOS mobile wallet in Apple’s App Store. The app is now available to users in the U.S. and a few other select countries. The app will reportedly allow user to trade digital assets, as well as track wallet activity and NFT data across the Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism networks.
https://www.theblock.co/post/226208/uniswap-wallet
3️⃣ Mastercard Drops Free NFTs, Launches Web3 Music Accelerator 🚀
During the annual NFT NYC conference, credit card company Mastercard announced that it was dropping free Music Pass NFTs that will allow holders to access resources to boost their music careers.
Specifically, holders will be able to access the “Mastercard Artist Accelerator program”- an accelerator that provides artists with AI technology and educational tools including access to advice from Web3 mentors such as artist Latashá and Ledger Chief Experience Officer Ian Rodgers.
https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/04/13/mastercard-drops-free-nfts-launches-web3-music-accelerator
4️⃣ Twitter Partners With eToro To Let Users Trade Stocks, Crypto 🤝
Social media platform Twitter has reportedly partnered with social trading platform eToro to allow Twitter users to trade crypto and other assets. Specifically, users who search for "$Cashtags" such as $ETH or $BTC can access the real-time prices for cryptocurrencies, stocks and other assets, and will be shown a link that will direct them to the eToro platform to invest in the assets.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/13/twitter-to-let-users-access-stocks-crypto-via-etoro-in-finance-push.html
5️⃣ Solana’s Crypto-Ready ‘Saga’ Smartphone Goes on Sale May 8 📱
Saga, the crypto-forward smartphone by Solana Labs, is reportedly going on sale on May 8th. The device reportedly costs $1,000 and will feature 512 GB of storage, two versatile back camera lenses, a 6.67-inch OLED display and a fingerprint scanner. It will also ship with the latest Android operating system installed. The company also stated that pre-ordered devices have begun shipping now.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/13/solanas-crypto-ready-saga-smartphone-goes-on-sale-may-8
6️⃣ San Francisco Authorities Make Arrest In Stabbing Of Cash App Creator Bob Lee 👮♂️
A tech executive named Nima Momeni has reportedly been arrested in connection with the April 4 stabbing of Cash App creator Bob Lee. While the police have refused to comment on the motivation behind the stabbing, they stated that “the evidence shows that [Momeni and Lee] knew each other.” Investigations are still on-going with Momeni currently in custody following the execution of search and arrest warrants in San Francisco and Emeryville.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/san-francisco-authorities-make-arrest-in-stabbing-of-cash-app-creator-bob-lee
The partnership will reportedly see both companies collaborating on content, merchandise, retail distribution, real-life activations and immersive metaverse experiences, with an initial focus on the Beanz NFTs and Line Friends characters. In celebration of the partnership, a billboard above the Line Friends store in New York's Times Square will show an animation of some of the NFT characters during NFT.NYC this week.
https://decrypt.co/126031/azuki-nft-creator-chiru-labs-reveals-collaboration-line-friends
🚨Rally Report🚨
NEAR PROTOCOL
The price of NEAR has rallied by 7% in the past 24 hours.
WHY?!
📈 The NEAR Foundation published its quarterly transparency report yesterday. The report outlines the Foundation’s progress towards its OKRs as well a variety of exciting updates on the recently announced Blockchain Operating System (BOS), and NEAR Foundation’s Web2.5 strategy.
🤔 This has likely sparked bullish sentiments among investors.
If you want to buy or trade NEAR, we have an exclusive 60% trading fee discount for one month, a bonus of up to $8,000 and $20 FREE on Bitget! 👇
https://www.coinbureau.com/deals/trading/bitget-crypto-exchange/
Hey Guys,
The crypto market has been an interesting beast lately. Prices have continued to impress while crypto regulations have continued to disappoint. This precarious state of crypto is something crypto VC firm a16z assessed in their recent crypto report.
The biggest takeaway is that we’re still very early in crypto’s adoption, and this could very well explain the paradox we’ve been seeing. Even so, the fact of the matter is that crypto won’t truly rally until reasonable regulations are passed.
Once this happens, a16z has some bold predictions about which crypto projects and categories could stand to benefit the most. As always, I add some extra context to help you make sense of what they’re seeing, and what they think will happen.
Enjoy!
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (22/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ Ontario Teachers Fund Steers Clear of Crypto After $95M FTX Loss 🥲
According to a Financial Times report, the $190 billion Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in Canada has declared that it will not rush into another crypto investment after losing $95 million in the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX.
CEO Jo Taylor has stated that the Pension fund is “still working through what exactly happened” as it really took time and did a lot of due diligence on FTX. He also added that they “weren’t necessarily shown all the information [they] needed to know to make a balanced decision.”
https://www.ft.com/content/29c67711-377c-4435-9c90-280852374e93
2️⃣ Gemini to Open a Crypto Derivatives Platform Outside the U.S. 🚀
U.S.-based crypto exchange Gemini is reportedly planning to open an offshore derivatives platform called the ‘Gemini Foundation’ for its non-U.S. users. The platform's first derivatives contract will be a BTC perpetual contract denominated in Gemini dollars (GUSD), followed by a perpetual ether (ETH) contract also linked to GUSD.
The platform will be available in countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Argentina, Bahamas, Bermuda, Brazil, El Salvador, Israel, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/21/gemini-to-open-a-crypto-derivatives-platform-outside-the-us
3️⃣ Spreading Misinformation About Changpeng Zhao 'Was The Norm' For SBF, Says Binance CSO 🔎
Yesterday, Binance’s Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann posted a tweet thread that claims former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried spread “fake rumours” about Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao using Twitter and other media.
Hillman’s tweet reads,
“Sam was CONSTANTLY spreading fake rumours about [CZ] because shading him as an ‘evil Chinese’ was critical to his scam. You can't pretend to be Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader.”
Hillman also added that Sam denigrating CZ was the norm for them and had “nothing to do with deciding to sell the worthless FTT on the company's books.”
https://cointelegraph.com/news/spreading-misinformation-about-changpeng-zhao-was-the-norm-for-sbf-says-binance-cso
4️⃣ DRW, Nascent, And Susquehanna All Deny Investment In 3AC's OPNX ❌
Trading firms Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and DRW, as well as venture-capital firm Nascent have reportedly denied being an investor in 3AC’s OPNX after the exchange said on Twitter it invested alongside others.
While all three firms have denied participating in an OPNX fundraising round, they have previously invested in CoinFlex- the exchange that 3AC founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies had partnered with in order to get this new OPNX exchange going.
In response to the public denial, OPNX tweeted,
"It's ugly for firms to seek financial gain while simultaneously denying association due to fear of social media backlash. Should any party waver in their dedication to transparency and industry advancement, we express our disappointment at their misrepresentation and prefer not to have them as investors in future.”
https://www.theblock.co/post/227651/drw-3ac-investment-vc-venture-capital-opnx
5️⃣ Solana Now Measures Network Carbon Emissions Data in Real Time 📊
The Solana Foundation has reportedly partnered with data platform Trycarbonara to launch a real-time tracking dashboard that measures carbon emissions on the Solana blockchain. It stated that it hopes to set a new standard for measuring emissions in blockchain by publishing this data.
The dashboard reportedly monitors key environmental metrics such as the network’s energy consumption, carbon footprint, and network power intensity, among other data. It updates the dashboard every two weeks by pulling real-time data from software installed on Solana validator nodes.
https://decrypt.co/137441/solana-now-measures-network-carbon-emissions-data-in-real-time
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (20/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ A16z Says It's Working on an Optimism-Based Rollup Client Called Magi 🔎
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has unveiled a new Layer 2 rollup client called Magi. Notably, a16z had generated quite a bit of hype on Twitter prior to the reveal by posting a series of cryptic tweets featuring images of orange balls. Magi is being built on the OP Stack and is written in the programming language Rust. According to the firm, Magi will “help improve the client diversity and resilience of the entire OP Stack ecosystem.”
A16z engineer Noah Citron tweeted,
“Magi acts as the consensus client (often called a rollup client in the context of the OP Stack) in the traditional execution/consensus split of Ethereum. It feeds new blocks to the execution client in order to advance the chain. Magi performs the same core functionality as the reference implementation (op-node) and works alongside an execution node (such as op-geth) to sync to any OP Stack chain, including Optimism and Base."
https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/04/19/a16z-says-its-working-on-an-optimism-based-rollup-called-magi
2️⃣ Coinbase Gets Bermuda License, Could Launch Offshore Derivatives Exchange Next Week ❗️
Crypto exchange Coinbase is reportedly planning to launch an offshore derivative exchange after it recently obtained a Class F License from the Bermuda Monetary Authority. The license allows Coinbase to operate as both a digital asset exchange and a digital asset derivatives exchange provider. It also permits Coinbase to conduct a range of activities including token sales and issuance.
https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/04/19/coinbase-gets-bermuda-license-plans-to-launch-offshore-exchange-in-coming-weeks/
3️⃣ Sotheby's to Auction CryptoPunk, Other NFTs Owned by Bankrupt Three Arrows Capital 🖼
Yesterday, auction house Sotheby's announced that is preparing a "multi-part sales series" for an NFT art collection called "Grails.” Notably, Grails is made up of an expansive collection of NFTs seized from bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. This includes NFTs such as the zombie-styled CryptoPunk #6649, Ringers #879 by Dmitri Cherniak, Autoglyph #187 by Larva Labs and Fidenza #216 by Tyler Hobbs.
https://decrypt.co/137285/sothebys-auction-cryptopunk-other-nfts-owned-three-arrows-capital
4️⃣ Bank Of Russia to Set Up Entities for Crypto Mining and Cross-Border Settlement 🇷🇺
The Bank of Russia is reportedly working on a bill that will introduce an “experimental legal regime” for cryptocurrencies to be used exclusively in export-import deals. It is also planning to allow a limited number of entities to mine cryptocurrencies for use in foreign trade and international payments. However, the country’s central bank has stated that it still maintains its domestic policy regarding crypto. Crypto is banned domestically for trading and payments.
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-04-19-2023/card/russia-plans-to-harvest-crypto-for-foreign-trade-u2veg563MV7qK9u3fDBo
5️⃣ Crypto Exchange Deribit Launches Zero-Fee Spot Trading 🚀
Deribit, the world's largest crypto options exchange by open interest and trading volumes, has announced the launch of a new spot trading feature on the platform. The platform is set to go live on April 24 and will offer three pairs – BTC/USDC, ETH/USDC and ETH/BTC. Notably, Deribit has stated that all spot trades on the platform will have zero maker and taker fees.
Luuk Strijers, the chief commercial officer at Deribit, stated
"With this latest addition, our platform now boasts a comprehensive suite of both derivatives and spot trading solutions, catering to the diverse needs of traders in the digital asset space. Our spot trading feature serves as an exceptional tool for exchanging collateral like BTC and ETH, with the added benefit of zero costs, further enhancing the overall trading experience for our clients."
https://www.ft.com/content/4a1e8167-890f-4117-954f-b1fff4055299
Michael Saylor, bitcoin maxi and co-founder of MicroStrategy, has reportedly integrated Bitcoin’s Lightning Network into his corporate email address. Specifically, Saylor used the “Lightning Address protocol” which allows developers to replace a standard Lightning invoice, or payment request, with an internet identifier such as an email address. This means anyone can “saylor@microstrategy.com” to send BTC to Saylor.
https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/04/18/microstrategys-saylor-integrates-bitcoin-lightning-address-into-corporate-email
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (17/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ Shaquille O'Neal Finally Served FTX Lawsuit: Lawyers ❗️
On late Sunday evening, the law firm representing the FTX collapse victims tweeted that it finally succeeded in serving NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal with the notice to appear in a class action lawsuit. This marks the end of the law firm’s multi-month chase in attempting to serve the superstar with the lawsuit.
The tweet by the Moskowitz law firm reads,
“Plaintiffs in the billion $ FTX class action case just served [SHAQ] outside his house. His home video cameras recorded our service and we made it very clear that he is not to destroy or erase any of these security tapes because they must be preserved for our lawsuit.”
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/04/17/shaquille-oneal-finally-served-ftx-lawsuit-lawyers
2️⃣ Rep. Davidson to Introduce Legislation to Fire SEC Boss Gensler for Crypto Overreach ⚖️
United States Representative Warren Davidson is reportedly planning to introduce legislation that would remove the role of “Chairman” within the Securities and Exchange Commission and replace it with the role of “Executive Director.” He stated that this will prevent regulatory overreach by the agency by making the Executive Director liable to “report to the Board (where authority resides)." If introduced and passed, it would mean that Gary Gensler will lose his role as Chairman of SEC.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/rep-davidson-to-introduce-legislation-to-fire-sec-boss-gensler-for-crypto-overreach
3️⃣ 1 million Ether Has Been Withdrawn Since Ethereum's Shanghai Hard Fork 🔓
According to data from token.unlocks, over 1 million ETH worth $2.1 billion has been withdrawn from Ethereum’s Beacon Chain so far. Currently, the total amount of ether pending withdrawal has fallen below $2 billion after topping $3 billion yesterday, with approximately 877,880 ETH ($1.84 billion) currently queued for withdrawal. Notably, Ether’s price has pushed past $2,100 for the first time in 11 months.
https://www.theblock.co/post/226591/1-million-ether-shanghai-ethereum
4️⃣ Hundred Finance Loses $7 Million In Optimism Hack ❌
Multichain lending protocol Hundred Finance has reportedly lost over $7.4 million after suffering a significant security breach on the Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Optimism. Although details regarding the nature of the security breach are yet to be confirmed, blockchain security firm CertiK stated it was a flash loan attack. The protocol stated that it has contacted the hacker and was working with various security teams on the incident.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/hundred-finance-loses-7-million-in-optimism-hack
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (16/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ Shaquille O'Neal Hides in Plain Sight as Lawyers Try (And Fail) To Serve Him in FTX Lawsuit 🏀
The law firm representing victims affected by the FTX collapse has reportedly failed multiple times over the past five months to serve NBA champion, Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq (as he is colloquially known) is one of over a dozen celebrities and sports teams named in a class action suit against FTX promoters, which alleges he promoted a “fraudulent scheme.”
Notably, Shaq is the only one among the “FTX celebrities” who is yet to be served. The law firm has now made a public plea to Shaq asking him to show “courtesy and honour” by actually acknowledging their legal complaint after several unsuccessful attempts.
https://www.theblock.co/post/226496/shaquille-oneal-crypto-ftx-lawsuit
2️⃣ Arbitrum Proposal to Return 700M ARB Fails, Whale Calls It A "Power Play" ❗️
AIP 1.05 has reportedly failed by an overwhelming majority, with 118 million ARB voting against the proposal and 21 million ARB voting for the proposal. AIP 1.05 was a controversial Arbitrum Improvement Proposal that sought to return the 700 million ARB governance tokens in the possession of the Arbitrum Foundation back to the Arbitrum DAO Treasury.
Several whales including "0x0eB5," olimpio.eth, 0xBbE9, galxe.arb, chainlinkgod.eth, and blockworksres.eth, voted against the proposal with millions of ARB tokens. On the governance forum, olimpio.eth stated,
"There is a balance that we need to try to accomplish between advocating for decentralisation and preventing progress in the ecosystem. I believe that decentralisation on its ideal form is nowhere to be seen in this industry yet."
https://cointelegraph.com/news/arbitrum-proposal-to-return-700m-arb-fails-whale-calls-it-a-power-play
3️⃣ U.S. House Committee Publishes Draft Stablecoin Bill ⚖️
The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has reportedly published a draft version of a potential landmark bill that seeks to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins. Notably, the bill contains a definition for payment stablecoin issuers and proposes a moratorium on stablecoins backed by other cryptocurrencies and requests to study a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/04/15/us-house-committee-publishes-draft-stablecoin-bill
4️⃣ $598M in Ethereum Still Waiting on Updated Withdrawal Credentials: Nansen 💰
According to data drawn from Nansen analytics, 18.5% of Ethereum network validators don’t have the correct validator credentials. This means that 106,219 validators holding 284,286 ETH ($596 million) on the network are unable to withdraw their staked assets unless they update their credentials.
While these credentials are being automatically updated via a network scan, it adds extra wait time for anyone relying on these nodes. According to an analyst at investment firm Galaxy, it could “take about 100 hours for the network to run through and update the withdrawal credentials for the entire validator set of Ethereum.”
https://decrypt.co/136839/ethereum-still-waiting-updated-withdrawal-credentials-nansen
🚨Rally Report🚨
OKB
The price of OKB has rallied by 16% in the past 24 hours.
WHY?!
🔈 Crypto exchange OKX announced that it will be supporting the SUI token sale through its token sales platform OKX Jumpstart on April 23.
📈 Interested purchasers will need to hold OKB tokens from April 20-22 in order to get the SUI tokens. This has made users accumulate the token and thereby increase its price.
If you want to buy or trade OKB, we have a 40% trading fee discount for you on OKX 👇
https://www.coinbureau.com/deals/trading/okx/
🚨Rally Report🚨
ARBITRUM
The price of ARB has rallied by 21% in the past 24 hours.
WHY?!
📈 The immediate rally seems to be due to the price of ARB breaking out of a descending triangle pattern.
🔎 Data from Messari reveals that Arbitrum outperformed its top Ethereum L2 rival, Optimism, on almost all the key metrics throughout most of 2022 and 2023. Specifically, Arbitrum outperformed Optimism by $4 million in revenue and $3 million in profits in the first quarter of 2023.
If you want to buy or trade ARB, we have an exclusive 60% trading fee discount for one month, a bonus of up to $8,000 and $20 FREE on Bitget! 👇
https://www.coinbureau.com/deals/trading/bitget-crypto-exchange/
Hey Guys,
You might have seen a few recent headlines about a report by Citi Bank which said that crypto’s ‘killer use case’ could drive trillions of dollars of value. The killer use case in question is tokenisation, but it turns out that the report wasn’t all that pro crypto.
Believe it or not, but the folks at Citi Bank seem to believe that most assets will be tokenised on blockchains controlled by governments, and that most people will voluntarily adopt CBDCs. These predictions couldn’t be further from the present truth.
For what it’s worth, Citi Bank does have a few things to say about actual crypto stuff like decentralised social media, NFTs, and decentralised digital identity. The thing is that they don’t talk much about these, and at the end of the video I explain why that might be.
Enjoy!
📣📣 COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (13/04/23)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
1️⃣ DeFi Protocols Aave, Yearn Finance Likely Impacted in Exploit: PeckShield 🥶
According to a tweet by security firm Peckshield, DeFi protocols Aave and Yearn Finance were likely impacted in an exploit this morning. Peckshield has estimated the size of the exploit to be around $10 million, with data from LookOnChain showing that the exploiter received a mix of stablecoins, including DAI, USDC, BUSD, TUSD and USDT.
Aave posted a tweet shortly after the report, stating,
"We are aware of this transaction, and it did not have an impact on Aave V2 and Aave V3. We are now confirming whether there is any impact on Aave V1, the oldest version of the protocol which has been frozen. We're monitoring the situation closely to ensure no further concerns."
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/13/defi-protocols-aave-yearn-finance-likely-impacted-in-exploit-peckshield
2️⃣ Ethereum’s Shapella Hard Fork Executed on Mainnet 🚀
Yesterday, the long-awaited Shapella (Shanghai+Capella) hard fork officially finalised on the Ethereum mainnet at epoch number 194,048. This means that ETH stakers can finally withdraw their staked ETH from the beacon chain. According to Ethereum block explorer beaconchai.in, the network saw a total of 12,859 Ether unlocked in 4,333 withdrawals within the first hour of the hard fork.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-s-shapella-hard-fork-executed-on-mainnet
3️⃣ FTX Is Considering Using Creditor Money to Restart Crypto Exchange 🤔
At an April 12 hearing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, lawyers representing FTX revealed that the crypto firm had recovered roughly $7.3 billion in liquid assets. The lawyers also stated that the firm is considering restarting operations using the recovered funds which are marked to repay customers. The company is reportedly intending to win final court approval for the plan sometime in the second quarter of next year, which means that we could see a reboot of the exchange as early as April 2024 if the plan goes through.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-12/ftx-considering-using-creditor-money-to-restart-crypto-exchange
4️⃣ Euler Finance Lets Users Redeem Recovered Funds Following $200M Theft 🤩
Yesterday at 02:00 UTC, DeFi platform Euler Finance opened up redemptions for recovered funds to its users. The move comes shortly after hackers returned a majority of the stolen funds from the $200 million flash loan exploit which happened a month ago.
Euler has reportedly created a smart contract containing funds for all exploited addresses. In order for redemptions to be processed, users’ addresses need to pass the Merkle proof of validity and “an acceptance token that is individually computed for each account, and confirms that the account holder agrees with the terms and conditions.”
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/12/euler-finance-lets-users-redeem-recovered-funds-following-200m-theft
5️⃣ Paxos Set to End Support for Canadian Customers Next Month ❌
Crypto financial services provider Paxos has announced that it will be exiting the Canadian market with sources familiar with the matter stating that this is due to “regulatory reasons”. Notably, the news comes shortly after decentralised derivatives exchange dYdX made a similar exit announcement last week. As for the timeline of its exit, Paxos has stated that unfunded Paxos account will be disabled on May 9th 2023, while all other accounts will be disabled on June 2nd 2023.
https://www.theblock.co/post/226005/paxos-canada
6️⃣ Azuki NFT Creator Chiru Labs Reveals Collab with Line Friends 🤝
Azuki NFT creator Chiru Labs has partnered with IPX, the firm behind the popular Line Friends characters that originally began as stickers for the LINE messaging app.