Examiner discovers "extremely Ponzi-like" money-using practices and customer manipulation at Celsius

On January 31, court-appointed examiner Shoba Pillay delivered her final report on a few parts of Celsiuss activities. Without the 31 appendices, the documents 470 pages were ordered on September 29.  Pillay is a partner at the law firm Jenner s statements made in public, whether fresh deposits were utilized to settle accounts with former clients, the state of the companys mining operation, and tax collection.  “Celsius promoted itself as an altruistic organization,” Pillay stated. Though, “Behind the scenes, Celsius conducted its business in a starkly different manner than how it marketed itself to its customers in every key respect.”  Whenever the Celsius initial coin offering in March 2018 fell short of raising the anticipated $50 million, raising only $32 million instead, Pillay discovered that the deceit had already started. The absence was not disclosed to the Celsius community. Founder Alex Mashinsky did not keep his commitment to purchase any unregistered tokens either. Additionally, Pillay provided evidence of Mashinskys personal and professional influence over the native CEL tokens pricing. That endeavor fell short, in part because of accounting errors. The result is:  “Celsius did not earn sufficient yield on its crypto asset deployments to fully fund its CEL buybacks. As a result, it began

2023-02-01Deep Dive

LBRY case: SEC resolves on security claim; community hails it as a major victory for cryptocurrency

The sale of LBRY Credits (LBC) tokens in the second hand market does not count as the sale of a security, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has publicly acknowledged. The agreement was reached on January 30 during an appellate level in the LBRY v. SEC case.  Attorney John Deaton resolved a significant point of contention at the appeal hearing, which many viewed as a victory for the whole cryptocurrency industry against the SECs overreaching regulation via compliance. On November 7, 2022, the SEC was given summary judgment in its favor. The verdict, which covered a six-year period, classified each purchase of the LBC token as an investment without going into details about the transactions. The SEC hoped to make progress in its mission to legitimize the secondary market and bring it under its jurisdiction. The SEC has requested the district court judge in New Hampshire to uphold the broad, confusing order forbidding its sale.  Deaton sought clarification for LBC secondary trading activity because he thought the ban was vague and overbroad as an amicus curiae representing tech journalist Naomi Brockwell. An amicus curia is a person or group that is not a party to a lawsuit but is allowed

2023-02-01Deep Dive

Concerns about  poor management cause the market cap of Binance stablecoin BUSD to plummet sharply.

In the turbulent cryptocurrency market, stablecoins assist in providing tokens tied to the US dollar. Stablecoins market capitalization typically declines during uptrends as buyers move to more risky assets, whereas during bear markets, investors seek refuge in stablecoins with minimal fluctuation, boosting their market capitalization. Over $131 billion was invested in stablecoins like Tether, USDT, and BUSD as of January 26.  Because stablecoins are so important to the future of cryptocurrency, a reputable analytics firm, Moodys, plans to create a rating system can help lessen the skepticism and anxiety that traders have about stablecoins. One of the most popular stablecoins, BUSD, has seen a significant drop in adoption in recent weeks as a result of such anxiety and a shortage of stablecoin openness.  Lets look at what influences the BUSD stablecoin.  The market cap of BUSD is severely damaged.   On September 30, 2022, the BUSD market cap saw a significant increase, however those profits were the result of Binances choice to forcibly convert USDC owners on the exchange to the exchanges own stablecoin. Since then, those gains have vanished. At that time, the automatic transfers reduced USDCs market value by $3 billion.  Due to issues with the administration of the dollar-pegged tokens, which were

2023-02-01Deep Dive

Shanghai's hard fork is scheduled for March 2023 by Ethereum developers.

The 151st Ethereum Core Developers Meeting took place on December 8, and discussions there revealed that core programmer have established a possible timeframe of March 2023 for Ethereums Shanghai hard fork. Additionally, programmers plan to roll out the Ethereum Improvement Protocol (EIP) 4844 update, which would bring proto-danksharding to the network, in May or June 2023.  Despite the completion of the eagerly awaited proof-of-stake Merge upgrade on September 15, staked Ether (stETH) is currently locked. Nearly 3.5 million stETH ($4.48 billion) of the token, which was developed by the decentralized financial protocol Lido, are currently in use. Users of stETH can only access their funds following the Shanghai upgrade, including with any applicable staking incentives for confirming transaction processing. According to the Ethereum Foundation, this organizational strategy was used to “simplify and optimize attention on a successful transition to proof-of-stake” throughout the upgrades.  The EIP-4844 upgrade is designed to include a new data-blob-transaction prototype that was originally created by developers on February 21, 2022, following the hard fork. Optimistic Rollups, a layer-2 technology, allows Ethereum processing and network data to be moved off-chain, increasing scalability by 10x to 100x. The capability of rollups is expected to increase by up to 100x with

2023-02-01Deep Dive

To launch on February 1 is the Zhejiang testnet for Ethereum staking withdrawal.

The “Zhejiang” public withdrawing testnet will go live on February 1 at 3:00 PM UTC, in accordance with a post made on January 31 by Ethereum Foundation developer Parithosh Jayanthi. At epoch 1350, the Shanghai and Capella testnets will also be activated, six days after Zhejiang. Jayanthi pointed out:  “This is also a great opportunity for all tools to test out how they want to collect, display and use the withdrawal information. You can attempt to convert 0x00 credentials to 0x01 and set a withdrawal address. You can test partial withdrawals and full withdrawals by exiting your validator.”  Whenever the Shanghai update is completely operational, customers will be able to withdraw their invested Ether payouts. Users have had the option to stake their ETH on the proof-of-stake network ever since the Ethereum Merge update was successful in September of last year. In contrast, money is still restricted till a fresh patch.  After the Merge upgrade, Zhejiang will be the initial public testnet to open, according to a fellow Ethereum engineer named Barnabas Busa. The complete withdrawal source code has indeed been made available on the Ethereum website despite the fact that its currently in development. Zhejiang will be the initial public testnet to

2023-02-01Deep Dive

Through New Features, Coinbase Wallet Improves Transparency and Security

The Wallet app is getting an update from Coinbase to improve security and usability. The bitcoin exchange unveiled a number of brand-new features for users of its Wallet on Monday. that seek to improve blockchain transparency and security. These consist of spam token management, token approval alerts, a blocklist of flagged dApps, and transactions preview. It instantly hides objects which have been maliciously successfully deployed. Token authorization alerts aim to clearly inform the user whether a dApp is trying to take their cryptocurrencies or NFTs. While transactional previews will help Wallet users fully appreciate how their Wallet balances would change after dealing with a smart contract before committing.  Lack Transparency and Are Frequently Aggressive  In a blog post, Coinbase Product Manager Ayoola John provided an explanation of the modifications justifications, claiming that because crypto transactions “are frequently scary and lack transparency,” consumers are vulnerable to “phishing attempts, fraudulent airdrops, and other sorts of scams.”  Additionally, Coinbase has improved its revoking capability to allow users to disconnect from dApps straight from the Wallet app while also enabling users with multiple Web3 identities and different crypto wallets. Last but not least, the browser extension for the Wallet app now permits storing up to 15 different

2023-01-31Deep Dive

The Partnership Between Chainlink (LINK) and Avalanche (AVAX) Can Revolutionize DeFi

A key player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) market, Chainlink (LINK) is renowned for its capacity to facilitate data exchange between both the and outside of smart contracts. Avalanche (AVAX), which emphasizes scalability and affordable user fees, is also making progress in the DeFi industry. These two technologies recently collaborated to build a decentralized proof of reserves (PoR) architecture for oracles in order to boost the openness of their services. This partnership represents a significant advancement in the use of DeFi in the blockchain sector.  By delivering precise information on the actual collateral of securities backed by off-chain or cross-chain reserves to smart contracts, Chainlinks proof of reserve functionality seeks to increase transparency and security for investors. Since PoR is run by a decentralized network of oracles, audits are carried out instantly and independently. This aids in shielding user assets from off-chain custodians fraudulent operations and unanticipated fractional banking practices. Chainlink PoR makes it possible for automatic on-chain audits rather than depending solely on paper collateral offered by custodians. Additionally, this function enhances the visibility of asset collateral inside the crypto world.  How can DeFi be helped by this technology during Avalanche?  Users of Avalanches decentralized applications have benefited greatly as a result

2023-01-31Deep Dive

BlockFi is granted permission by the bankruptcy court to sell mining assets.

The cryptocurrency lending platform BlockFi declared for bankruptcy protection under chapter 11 on November 28, 2022, as a result of the FTX breakout. This business received permission from the District of New Jerseys US Bankruptcy Court on Monday to arrange an auction for its cryptocurrency mining equipment. BlockFi attorney Francis Petrie told US bankruptcy judge Michael Kaplan on Monday mostly during court proceeding that the business has indeed earned some preliminary deals for different assets and anticipates more. The business wants to submit bids as quickly as possible to concentrate wholly on current market trends.  In a statement earlier this month, the company stated that they had contacted 106 prospective purchasers about purchasing all or a portion of the business.  BlockFis petition states that it hopes to receive buyer offers by February 20 and end the auction a week afterwards. The business will next submit the petition of sale to the court by March 1 for any agreement it comes to. According to Bloomberg, BlockFis attorney Francis Petrie stated during a hearing on Monday that the company has had “significant interest in the market for bidding purposes.”  BlockFi stated in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in November that it entitled to compensation to

2023-01-31Deep Dive

Gemini’s stablecoin loses USD peg amid OKX delisting

According to data, the Gemini-backed stablecoin Gemini Dollar (GUSD) has lost parity with the US Dollar, sliding by 0.84% to $0.9851 in the previous 24 hours.  According to available statistics, the stablecoin suffered dramatic price changes during the last week, reminiscent of its run at the end of last year.  According to research, the number of active addresses holding GUSD has decreased to a 2020 low. GUSD supply has also declined to roughly $607 million from a three-month high of nearly $880 million.  OKX delists GUSD  According to a Jan. 31 announcement, crypto exchange OKX said it would delist the stablecoin on Feb. 1 at 8:00 a.m. UTC.  The stablecoin was delisted by the exchange based on user criticism and its delisting policy. OKX also stated that it “constantly monitors the performance of all listed projects and regularly examines their listing qualifications.”  Gemini troubles  Meanwhile, the stablecoin issuer is under heightened investigation after the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) stated it was examining the exchange over statements pertaining to FDIC coverage.  Some Gemini consumers claimed they were mislead into thinking the exchanges Earn product was also insured by the FDIC.  Furthermore, the exchange has been embroiled in a public feud with the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Genesis over

2023-01-31Deep Dive

Circle Holds $44.5 billion in USD and is heavily collateralized.

Circulating tokens valued more than $44.5 billion are backed by the treasury reserves held by USD Coin issuer Circle, according to an accountant-verified report.  The Grant Thornton accounting department examined Circles December 2022 reserve report, which details the current composition of the stablecoin issuers reserve vault. According to Circle, $44,693,963,701 in U.S. dollars are currently holding back $44,553,543,212 USDC in custody accounts.  It is noteworthy that a sizeable chunk of the latter sum is held in a variety of US treasury bonds. The overall amount of U.S. dollar-denominated assets, which includes a mix of cash and treasury securities, is what Timothy Singh, vice president of accounting at Circle, defines as the fair statement of financial position in the USDC reserve." />  The reserve fund of Circle is authorized to operate as a governmental money market fund. 14 distinct U.S. government bills totaling more than $23.5 billion are included in Circles 100% ownership of the equity interests in the fund. A further $33 million is owed to the fund, offset by “timing and settlement disparities,” and the finance also has $48.9 million in cash on hand.  Additional $10.5 billion in cash is recorded in a different reserve assets category, together with two more U.S. treasury

2023-01-31Deep Dive
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