Crypto Weekly Roundup: SBF’s Plot To Control BTC Prices And More

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The FTX drama has reached a new level with former CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, claiming that Sam Bankman-Fried had plotted to manipulate Bitcoin prices to keep them under $20,000. Let’s find out more. 

Bitcoin

In the background of the Israel-Palestine war, crypto is acting as a contrary asset and is finally seeing a small bounce after several days of downward price action.

Asset management behemoth Fidelity recently published a report highlighting the superiority of Bitcoin over all other digital assets.

Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, has made explosive claims that Sam Bankman-Fried plotted to manipulate Bitcoin prices and keep it under the $20,000 mark. 

Paul Tudor Jones, a legend in investing circles, said on Tuesday that in the midst of the alarming US fiscal position, he favored having Bitcoin and gold in his portfolio.

Ethereum

Ethereum staking protocol Lido Finance has revealed that its protocol witnessed 20 slashing events thanks to a series of infrastructure and signer configuration issues.

Altcoins

Do Kwon-founded Terraform Labs has once again blamed market maker Citadel Securities for its role in an alleged international effort to cause the depegging of its TerraUSD stablecoin.  

The real estate-backed USDR stablecoin lost its peg on the 11th of October, falling to $0.53 per coin after the USDR treasury was drained of all its liquid assets. 

Technology

Uniswap, the world’s largest decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX), has introduced a closed beta version of its mobile application for Android users.

Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of Polygon Labs, has proposed a new zero-knowledge L2 solution to support the growth of ApeCoin and the ApeCoin community. 

Business

Luxury sports car maker Ferrari will now accept cryptocurrency as payment for its cars purchased in the United States and will extend the option to its European customers. 

Ethereum and multi-chain wallet developer MetaMask has unveiled its latest integration with major payment processor Stripe, allowing users to deposit fiat currency and receive cryptocurrency.

Crypto broker Genesis has announced that it is halting customer withdrawals, adding more uncertainty to an already tumultuous digital currency landscape. 

Circle, the issuer of the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC, is expanding its presence in the Philippines through a strategic partnership with Coins.ph, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange and digital wallet provider in the country.

Bitmain, a prominent Bitcoin application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) manufacturer, has reportedly suspended salary payments for its employees starting in September.

Leading crypto developer platform Gitcoin has revealed that it lost roughly $460,000 worth of GTC tokens due to a transfer error that sent the funds to an unrecoverable contract address.

Web3

Leading Web3 gaming platform Immutable has announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in a bid to boost the Web3 gaming ecosystem. 

Security

DeFi protocol Platypus Finance has fallen victim to yet another flash loan exploit, resulting in the loss of $2.23 million across three separate attacks that occurred on October 12, 2023

Web3 social platform Stars Arena has revealed that it has managed to recover nearly all the stolen crypto lost during a hack that took place on the 7th of October. 

Huobi Global’s cryptocurrency exchange, HTX, has successfully recovered the funds stolen by a hacker in late September and has even issued a 250 Ether (ETH) bounty to the individual responsible.

In a newly released report titled “State of Cross-chain Crime,” blockchain analytics and risk management firm Elliptic disclosed that the value of illicit crypto laundered through cross-chain criminal activities has surged to a record-breaking $7 billion.

CBDC 

Zhou Xiaochuan, a former governor of China’s central bank, has urged China to pay close attention to security and prevent abuse as it develops its CBDC. 

Mastercard recently participated in a pilot program with the Re­serve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Digital Fiat Currency Re­search Centre (DFCRC) to explore interoperable CBDCs. 

Regulation

The U.S. SEC does not plan to appeal the decision in the Grayscale case, boosting the chances of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust turning into an ETF. 

A Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner has slammed Voyager Digital, calling the company no better than a house of cards.

Israeli law enforcement has taken an urgent step in its fight against ‘terrorist’ financing, freezing cryptocurrency accounts associated with the Palestinian militant organization Hamas.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) got busy as soon as the new crypto marketing regime came into force by issuing 146 alerts on the first day.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.