Happen[in]crypto Trapped through the news of the past week to bring you up to speed on the most important events in the ecosystem. Stories range from the volume of Ethereum sinking, a massive Chinese data breach, the new crypto hub of the Central African Republic, the upcoming stablecoin of the Shiba Inu, and the Celsius swamp.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter and receive our weekly roundup straight to your inbox!
There’s no end to the cold crypto winter
The decline in asset prices shows no signs of a reversal as the market plunges under the weight of bearish sentiments. A report from Glassnode suggests that lower prices have seen bitcoin “tourists” and “speculative entities” exit their positions, while only long-term hodlers remain.
BTC was not the only cryptocurrency to suffer setbacks, as on-chain data shows that Ethereum had its own problems. ETH trading volume stood at $1.68 trillion in the second quarter of 2022, down 49% from 2021.
Assets are not the only regions affected by winter, as crypto exchanges have their own piece of the humble pie. Last week, Wold became the latest exchange to suspend withdrawals, trading and deposits, citing “volatile market conditions.” The exchange’s statement indicated that the possibility of a total restructuring remains, and has applied to the courts for an adjournment against the lawsuits.
As the market quake, Sam Bankman-Fried reiterated his desire to save struggling companies by expanding lines of credit. The CEO of FTX revealed that he still has “a few billions” after helping BlockFi and Voyager through his quantitative trading firm, Alameda Research.
Hackers continue
The crypto industry filed reports of hacker activity in the past week. British military’s Twitter and YouTube accounts were hacked, with criminals using the accounts to promote fake NFT projects. The accounts were recovered within 24 hours and extensive investigation is being done to arrest the culprits.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao raised concerns over the massive data leak of one billion Chinese residents along with sales information on the dark web. The hackers put the information at 10 BTC, and this could have implications for Binance as bad actors can get their hands on sensitive, private information.
Romance scandals are raging across America, with fraudsters losing nearly $200 million in the first six months of the year. The report states that scams involving fake crypto investments cost the average victim $10,000 in losses, with millennials being the most targeted demographic.
In a positive light, Brazilian police busted a criminal organization using crypto to launder proceeds from illegal gold mining operations, while researchers at the University of Chicago developed a strategy to predict crypto fraud until a week earlier. Algorithm created.
The state of crypto law around the world
Last week was reputed for crypto regulations, as legislative houses globally passed a series of unprecedented bills. The European Union had a tentative agreement that required complete details of all crypto transactions to be collected, which gave rise to diverse opinions. For Brian Armstrong, the new bill is seen as a welcome development that “could serve as a model for other countries to follow.”
In the US, the government has banned employees involved in regulations relating to the crypto industry from holding cryptocurrencies. The new rule was the brainchild of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), with the only exception being that employees at companies operating in the crypto space could hold $50,000 in mutual funds.
The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) launched a crypto hub last week. The hub comes with the Sango Project, an e-residency program and a citizenship program as the country’s president argues that “digital gold” will serve as the engine of the nation’s civilization.
Stablecoins and Litigation
Shiba Inu revealed that the ecosystem is nearing the launch of its native stablecoin SHI. Head developer Shiotoshi Kusama said the stablecoin meme is part of efforts to give real-world utility to stablecoins in addition to coin tags.
Aave, a leading crypto project, followed in the footsteps of the Shiba Inu by announcing the launch of GHO, a US dollar-based stablecoin to ease access to DeFi facilities. To prevent a recurrence of TeraUSD (UST) de-pegging, GHO will be overcollateralized and backed by multiple crypto assets.
While rival blockchain unveiled a series of developments, Solana faced a class-action lawsuit alleging that major players in the Solana ecosystem were illegally profiting from SOL. The claims filed by the aggrieved persons contend that SOL was sold without any registration details, which is in violation of the existing securities law.
celsius saga far more than
Troubled crypto platform Celsius has repaid $142 million worth of loans to MakerDAO and an additional $67 million to Ave and Compound as it tries to regain its footing after suspending withdrawals for customers. FTX and Nexo have been rumored to lend to the struggling firm, but the company seems to be floating alone over the edge.
Despite the company’s daring efforts, it has been plagued by reports of fraud and illegalities. Last week, a former company employee launched a lawsuit against the firm, alleging market manipulation, accounting failures and calling it “a classic Ponzi scheme.”