Donald Trump introduces digital trading cards NFTs for $99

Former US president Donald Trump announced on Thursday via Truth Social, the social media platform he launched last year, the release of a collection of 45,000 fictitious non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The website for the collection says that the Trump Digital Trading Cards include pictures of the president in a design resembling vintage baseball cards. The $99 tokens, which were created on Polygon, may be bought using ether (ETH) or fiat money. Each time a collector buys one of the digital trading cards, they are instantly placed into "sweepstakes" to win one of several opportunities to meet Trump, such as a zoom call, a dinner in Miami, or a cocktail hour at Mar-a-Lago. Read details here

CFTC Says FTX Used A Korean Account To Conceal Alameda Liabilities

A lawsuit by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) states that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried instructed his company executives to transfer Alameda Research's sizable obligations to the exchange to a Korean account in order to conceal its liability with the company. The CFTC, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) all filed several fraud allegations against Bankman-Fried on Tuesday in connection with the failure of FTX and Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried was refused bail and is currently being held in a jail in the Bahamas for an extradition hearing. Take a look

Terra Collapse Caused Far Greater Losses To Investors Compared To FTX

The collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX has not been the biggest concern for investors this year, with the de-pegging of Terra’s token and the collapse a few weeks later of Celsius and Three Arrows Capital driving much bigger realized losses for investors. Investors lost $20.5 billion in the case of UST and a whopping $33.0 billion in the case of Celsius and 3AC, versus just $9.0 billion for FTX, according to a Chainalysis report. In May this year, Terra's UST lost its peg and eventually collapsed. The implosion of Three Arrows Capital in July and the bankruptcy petition by Celsius were both caused by a chain reaction that started with UST’s collapse. Continue reading.

Banks In New York Must Take Regulatory Nod Before Getting Involved In Cryptos

Banks registered in New York State must request regulatory approval 90 days prior to engaging in crypto assets, even if it is through a third party, according to the New York Department of Financial Services. According to the guidelines released on Thursday, banks will be required to provide the Department of Financial Services with business plans and operating models that include information about the clients they want to serve. Superintendent Adrienne Harris stated in a statement that “Today’s guidance is critical to ensuring that consumers’ hard-earned money is protected, that New York regulated banking organizations remain resilient and competitive, and that the expectations are clear for those that wish to submit proposals for virtual currency-related activity." Read details here

Key FTX Creditor Committee Seats Given to Wintermute and Venture Cap Octopus

Crypto trading platform Wintermute Asia PTE. has been granted membership on the FTX creditors' committee, giving it the opportunity to influence decisions regarding the closure of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, alongside organizations from the Caribbean, Hong Kong, and the United States. The Department of Justice has designated the venture capital firm Octopus, the Gibraltar-based Wincent Investment Fund, and several individual investors to represent the potentially millions of people, who owe money due to the failure of the Bahamas-based firm, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried is currently incarcerated in the Bahamas.

Crypto Exchange Coinbase Comes Up With Recovery Tool For Lost ERC-20 Tokens

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) has come up with a tool that will enable users to recover more than 4,000 unsupported ERC-20 tokens that have been sent to its ledger. Any cryptocurrency built on the Ethereum blockchain is referred to as an ERC-20 token. Will Robinson, vice president of engineering at Coinbase, told TechCrunch that it has been a pain point for clients that send ERC-20 tokens to a Coinbase receive address. These assets, when sent unintentionally, were essentially stuck up until this point. Customers will be able to use the service over the next few weeks, except for those in Japan and Coinbase Prime users. Read more here

Web3 privacy company Aztec Network raises $100 million led by a16z

With the help of the web3 investment company a16z, the privacy-focused web3 company Aztec Network obtained $100 million in Series B funding. With the help of Aztec, the Ethereum blockchain will be completely encrypted, increasing privacy and reducing computing redundancy. The company will use the new funding to create encrypted architecture that will enable people to use blockchains properly without disclosing personal information. The co-founders added that Aztec plans to expand from its existing 40-person staff. According to a blog post on the company website, A Capital, King River, Variant, SV Angel, Hash Key, Fenbushi, and AVG are additional investors in the round. Originally founded by Zac Williamson and Joe Andrews, Aztec Network was established in 2017. Read details here

Bitcoin, Ether fail to recover Fed-related losses

The decline in cryptocurrency prices that began yesterday after the Fed raised interest rates by 50 basis points has mainly persisted. Stocks in the cryptocurrency sector too tumbled, but Silvergate defied the trend. According to TradingView statistics, Bitcoin slumped 4% to trade around $17,400 on Thursday. At $1,271, Ether is down 5% over the past 24 hours with the majority of the losses coinciding with the Fed news. BNB cryptocurrency from Binance fell 3.5%, continuing a downward trend. Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, two memecoins with a canine motif, both had significant losses of 5.2% and 3.5%, respectively. According to Nasdaq data, Coinbase was down 5.5%. Due to the continued market unrest and worries about spillover effects from the collapse of FTX, the exchange’s share prices are at an all-time low. Additionally, MicroStrategy sank 5.7% and Jack Dorsey's Block dropped 6.9% to trade at about $66.30. Against the negative trend, Silvergate's stock price increased 1.8% to close at $19.06. The price of Grayscale's GBTC remains close to 50% below its net asset value.