Celsius Affiliates' Unrecorded Transactions Present Challenges in Claim Assessment

Cryptocurrency lending company Celsius failed to accurately record transactions between its affiliates, leaving it difficult to fully determine intercompany claims, according to court documents filed on Thursday. The documents were filed in response to a court order requesting information on potential claims against its affiliates, following the company's bankruptcy filing in July 2022. Coindesk reported that the claim held by Celsius Network LLC against Celsius Network Limited was valued at approximately $9.1 billion based on books and records, but this figure did not account for the "shortfalls in record keeping" that occurred in the three months before the bankruptcy filing.  More here.

Stablecoin Scandal: SEC Files Lawsuit Against Do Kwon and Terraform Labs for $40 Billion Losses

Terraform Labs Pte founder Do Kwon is once again at the center of a high-profile cryptocurrency scandal, with the Securities & Exchange Commission filing a lawsuit against him and his company, alleging that they engaged in fraudulent activities that led to losses of at least $40 billion. The allegations state that Kwon and his team transferred over 10,000 Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) from their failing project into a so-called "cold wallet" and then moved the assets to a Swiss bank, according to a Bloomberg report. The funds were then converted to cash, with over $100 million in fiat currency withdrawn from the bank since June 2022. The case has shed light on the murky world of stablecoins, which are digital currencies designed to maintain a fixed value, often pegged to the US dollar or another fiat currency. Details here.

Regulatory Action Against BUSD Stablecoin Not Applicable to Other Cryptocurrencies, Says Bernstein Report

A research report by Bernstein suggests that the recent regulatory action taken against the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin and its issuer Paxos is specific to BUSD and cannot be applied to other stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC). Some in the industry were concerned that stablecoins and custody rules were under attack, but USDC's issuer, Circle, has stated that it has not received any notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The proposed custody rule change is favorable for bank custodians, which is good news for crypto custodians such as Anchorage, who have bank charters. According to a Coindesk report, Bernstein notes that regulatory murmurs from Hong Kong are net positive, and there is an expected easing of norms. More here .

Bank of Japan to Launch Digital Yen Pilot Program in April

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has announced that it will launch a pilot program in April to test its central bank digital currency, the digital yen. According to BoJ Executive Director Shinichi Uchida, the program aims to achieve two goals: "first, to test the technical feasibility... and second, to utilize the skills and insights of private businesses in terms of technology and operation for designing a CBDC ecosystem in the possible event of social implementation." Uchida also noted that the pilot program will not involve actual transactions between retailers and consumers, but rather will focus on "experiments." Additionally, a CBDC Forum will be established to allow private businesses engaged in retail payments or related technologies to participate. Full report here. 

Former NBA Player Paul Pierce Settles with SEC over Unlawful Promotion of Crypto Asset

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged former NBA player, Paul Pierce, for touting EMAX tokens on social media without disclosing the payment he received for the promotion and for allegedly making false and misleading statements about the crypto asset. The SEC on Friday announced that Pierce has agreed to settle the charges and will pay $1.409 million in penalties, disgorgement, and interest. According to the SEC, Pierce failed to disclose that he was paid over $244,000 worth of EMAX tokens to promote the tokens on Twitter. The agency stated that Pierce tweeted misleading statements related to EMAX, including sharing a screenshot of an account showing large holdings and profits without disclosing that his personal holdings were much lower. More here.

FTX Scandal Widens as Nishad Singh Discusses Plea Deal with Manhattan Prosecutors

Nishad Singh, a former member of the inner circle of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX, is reportedly in talks to plead guilty to criminal charges related to alleged multiyear fraud at FTX. Quoting sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that Singh has been in discussions with Manhattan prosecutors about an agreement that may involve cooperating with authorities, which could further isolate Bankman-Fried, who is awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to an eight-count indictment. The Manhattan federal prosecutors' office declined to comment, as did Singh’s lawyer, Andrew D. Goldstein. Two of Bankman-Fried's former top associates, Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison, pleaded guilty last year to charges related to their roles at FTX and Alameda Research and are working with prosecutors.  More here.

Bank of Russia To Launch Pilot Project For Digital Ruble

Olga Skorobogatova, the First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank, announced on the sidelines of the Cybersecurity in Finance forum that the Bank of Russia is set to begin a pilot project on real transactions with the digital ruble starting Apr. 1 this year, with the participation of 13 banks. Skorobogatova clarified that the pilot project would involve real transactions with real customers, but for a limited number of transactions and for a limited number of clients. She also added that ordinary customers would not be able to participate in the testing phase, and the regulator will use the completion of the project to determine how to scale the use of the digital ruble. Read More

Hong Kong Government Raises Over $100 Million Through Sale of Digital Green Bonds

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China has raised over $100 million through the sale of digital green bonds, marking the first time a government has issued a tokenized green bond. The announcement was made by the Hong Kong government on Thursday, as part of its efforts to expand the use of blockchain technology in the financial sector. To sell the bonds, the Hong Kong government appointed several major banks, including Bank of China, Credit Agricole, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC, to act as joint global coordinators, joint lead managers, and joint book runners. The Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU) of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) used a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based platform developed by Goldman Sachs for the bond's clearing and settlement system. Read More.

Investors Turn To BTC As A Safe Haven Asset Amid Economic Instability

The world’s largest digital currency Bitcoin has broken the $25,000 mark, reaching a new high for 2023 last week, a stark contrast to November when the cryptocurrency saw a significant drop to a 2022 low of $15,742 following the FTX crisis. However, its value began to increase again in January and continued to do so over the course of the month. According to Coinmarketcap, the last time BTC's value was around $25,000 was in mid-June as it made its way down to a range of $19,000 to $21,000 where it remained stagnant for several months. Industry veterans believe that the proliferation of businesses and merchants embracing BTC as a viable payment option is a crucial factor in the surging valuation of cryptocurrency. More here.

Meme Coins Baby Doge and Floki Inu Battle for Top Spot in Crypto Market

Meme coins, such as Baby Doge Coin and Floki Inu, are having a neck-and-neck battle in 2023. In the crypto market, including meme coins, assets have been performing well with double-digit gains. Baby Doge Coin and Floki have been showing impressive performance in the past 30 days, surprising many investors. Currently, Baby Doge Coin is trading at $0.000000003308, with a 0.3% increase in value over the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Floki is trading at $0.00005224, with a 7.3% increase in value during the same period. A comparison of the past 30 days shows that Floki Inu has performed better than BabyDoge in terms of price performance. Read More

Bitcoin Surges Past $25,000 Amid Regulatory Crackdowns in the U.S.

Bitcoin's price surged to its highest level in over eight months, breaking through the $25,000 mark last week. This comes in the wake of increased regulatory pressure on the cryptocurrency industry in the United States. Paxos, for example, is under scrutiny for its BUSD issuance, while the Securities and Exchange Commission has been cracking down on Kraken's crypto staking plans. The positive price action of Bitcoin led to double-digit gains for major tokens like ETH, ADA, and MATIC. CloutContracts emerged as the biggest gainer, with its native token CCS rallying almost 17-fold in just a week. Other significant gainers included FLOKI, BOTTO, VELA, and TRU. The stock prices of publicly traded crypto companies were also on the rise last week. MicroStrategy saw a 22% increase in its stock price, while Coinbase rose 17% following renewed interest from Cathie Wood's Ark Invest, which acquired an additional $6.7 million worth of Coinbase shares. Silvergate also saw its stock price surge 28.5% to $22 mid-week, although its price action was more volatile than the others.