BlockFi Goes Bankrupt And More

President Vladimir Putin and the Russian central bank are discovering the many benefits of cryptocurrency and blockchain-based payment systems in light of the many sanctions weighing down the country’s economy. Let’s find out more. 

Bitcoin

The European Central Bank (ECB) published a report criticizing Bitcoin and stating that it was n the road to irrelevance. 

Binance transferred $2 billion worth of BTC as a part of its proof-of-reserve audit, causing panic that it was the next exchange to go the FTX route. 

Ethereum

Russian banking giant Sber, formerly Sberbank, has announced that it is integrating MetaMask and Ethereum on its proprietary blockchain. 

The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, has changed his stance and refused to acknowledge Ethereum as a commodity. 

DeFi

BNB-based DeFi protocol, Ankr has confirmed that hackers exploited an unlimited minting bug, resulting in losses worth millions of dollars.

MakerDAO has announced that it has passed a governance vote which will remove Alameda Research-linked renBTC from its stablecoin collateral vaults. 

Altcoins

Apecoin staking website Apestake.io has added the United States to its list of geoblocked locations. Users from the U.S. will not be able to access the platform directly. 

Technology

Messaging app Telegram has announced plans to build a decentralized exchange and non-custodial wallets in the wake of the FTX collapse.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has criticized the number of sanctions imposed upon the country by the west and has called for a global payment system independent from external interference. 

Business

Ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has given the odd interview post the FTX crash, in which he has always maintained that he didn’t set out to commit fraud.

The second largest crypto exchange in the U.S., Kraken, has announced that it is laying off around 30% of its staff, which is approximately 1100 employees. 

California-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfront has announced that it will close for business and will focus instead on the LINE blockchain ecosystem.

Binance has again opened up the Japanese market to its services by acquiring Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC).

Billionaire crypto entrepreneur Tiantian Kullander died in his sleep Sunday at the age of 30. The company he co-founded was reportedly raising around US$100 million.

Beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange FTX and affiliated companies have announced the resumption of employee salary payments and benefits after weeks of uncertainty. 

Crypto lender BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States on Monday, just days after suspending withdrawals amid the fallout from FTX.

Regulation

A leaked EU proposal to restrict privacy-enhancing coins could be a serious worry for this crypto niche.

Brazil’s lower house of Congress has passed a bill granting limited legal status to crypto payments and establishing a regulatory framework for the industry. 

The Texas Securities Board has summoned Sam Bankman-Fried to a hearing to investigate whether FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried violated any Texas securities laws.

NFT

Uniswap finally launched its NFT aggregator platform, where users will be able to conduct NFT trading from across multiple marketplaces.

Coinbase pointed fingers at Apple, claiming its app store policies forced the crypto firm to remove NFT transfers from the Wallet app on iOS.

Web3

Luxury car manufacturer Porsche has become the latest brand to enter the Web3 space by launching its own NFT collection. 

Cybersecurity company Kaspersky recently published a report which indicated that cyberattacks could increase on the metaverse in 2023.

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.