Bitcoin Wallets Surpass Million Mark: The Unstoppable Growth Amid Crypto Market Turbulence

Bitcoin continues to inspire confidence among long-term holders, despite the recent downturn in broader markets affecting its price.
> This week marked a significant achievement as the count of individual wallets with at least one bitcoin surpassed a million, according to blockchain data analysis platform Glassnode.
> Since February of the previous year, there has been a surge of 20% in wallets holding more than a single bitcoin.
> The same data also indicates that between November and January, despite the crash of prominent cryptocurrency exchange FTX and a precipitous drop in bitcoin prices from over $22,000 to just under $16,000 momentarily, the number of bitcoin wallets holding a single token still saw an increase of 79,000. Continue here.

SEC Targets Coinbase: Unpacking the Impending Regulatory Actions

According to a research report published by Berenberg on Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to launch regulatory action against Coinbase (COIN) soon, a move that might resemble previous actions against competing cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bittrex and Kraken.
> Berenberg started its analysis of the stock with a hold rating and set a price target of $55.
> Following this, Coinbase shares saw a 6% rise to close at $60.77 on Monday.
> Berenberg's report suggests that a significant portion of Coinbase’s revenue could be under threat. Around 37% of the company's first-quarter net revenue of $736 million was derived from transaction fees and spreads related to trading cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin, as well as staking service fees. Details here.

The BlockFi Bankruptcy Saga: Unveiling the Tensions with Creditors

Tensions escalated between the BlockFi Creditors Committee and the beleaguered digital asset lender's management, as revealed in a court document released late on Monday.
> The creditors rebuffed BlockFi's assertion that it fell victim to FTX and Alameda, characterizing this as a "misleading narrative."
> They attributed the firm's downfall to mismanagement and the actions of its restructuring agents.
> The committee of creditors highlighted that in the aftermath of the FTX debacle, which triggered a massive downturn in cryptocurrency markets, BlockFi converted approximately $240 million in digital assets into traditional currency.
> This move reportedly led to substantial monetary losses and potential tax complications for its clients. Full report here.

Understanding Coinbase's Legal Hurdles: The SEC's Stance on Cryptocurrency Laws

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has urged a judge to reject a demand by Coinbase Global Inc. to mandate a response to the cryptocurrency-focused rule-making petition that the company filed last year, which questioned the application of securities laws to digital currencies.
> Last month, Coinbase, the leading crypto exchange in the U.S., sued for the directive, asserting that the SEC has not been sufficiently prompt or fair in its response.
> Furthermore, the exchange is pushing for a formal notice-and-comment procedure to enable public input.
> In a court document submitted on Monday, the SEC refuted Coinbase's claim that the agency had already made its decision as "unfounded.” Continue here.

Jump Trading's Billion-Dollar Move: The Behind-the-Scenes of TerraUSD Collapse

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) legal documents have substantiated that Jump Trading, a crypto trading entity, played a pivotal role in rescuing the struggling algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), spearheaded by Do Kwon, a year prior to its eventual downfall.
> Jump Trading, based in Chicago, bolstered the price of the algorithmic stablecoin back to the $1 mark by procuring over 62 million tokens, after the stablecoin had deviated from its peg in May 2021, the court records disclosed.
> Subsequently, Kwon, who serves as Terra's CEO and is a co-founder of Terraform Labs, hailed the resurgence as evidence of the self-correcting capabilities of the stablecoin algorithm and its capacity to uphold a dollar peg through an intricate interplay with its counterpart cryptocurrency Luna, facilitated by code. Details here.

Unmasking Crypto Crimes: Insights from U.S. Secret Service

During an in-depth "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit, the U.S. Secret Service, in conjunction with a California-based criminal task force, shared their approaches to cracking down on crypto-related crimes.
> The session touched on a variety of subjects including "pig slaughtering" fraud schemes, the Secret Service’s collection of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and the most effective methods to keep financial transactions clandestine.
> The San Francisco Field Office of the Secret Service and the Bay Area Regional Enforcement Allied Computer Team spent two hours on the r/CryptoCurrency subreddit answering questions on Monday, aiming to raise awareness among crypto users. Continue here.

Ledger Wallet Update Sparks Controversy: Crypto Community Reacts

Crypto wallet producer, Ledger, has drawn flak for introducing an update enabling its devices to transmit encoded fragments of users' seed phrases to others.
> The Paris-based firm has asserted that this move aims to facilitate the recovery of seed phrases, akin to passwords, for users.
> However, detractors have voiced concerns about potential security risks associated with the update.
> Hardware wallets, also known as cold wallets, are tangible devices that maintain the offline storage of crypto private keys.
> Given their offline nature, they're often deemed safer than their 'hot wallet' counterparts, which involve storing keys on internet-connected computers or mobile devices. Details here.

Celsius Initiates Massive Ether Withdrawal from Lido Finance Amid Bankruptcy

Celsius, the beleaguered company, is in the process of pulling out vast sums of Ether, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, from Lido Finance.
> These actions were set in motion just a few hours after the financially distressed company shifted almost $800 million in staked Ether (stETH) tokens.
> This move coincided with Lido Finance's recent system enhancement that permitted such transactions. Upon withdrawal, Celsius will receive the base ETH in return for the stETH tokens.
> Data from the blockchain reveals that Celsius has set in motion the withdrawal process for approximately 240,000 stETH, which, at the time of this report, equates to a value of around $437.7 million. Continue here.

Crypto Watch: Bitcoin and Ether Slide, LDO Climbs

Tuesday saw Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market value, continue on a minor downtrend, dipping just under the $27,000 mark.
> This movement is closely watched by investors in light of the ongoing debt ceiling discussions in Washington.
> Data from CoinDesk revealed that BTC was trading at around $26,950, reflecting a modest 1.3% drop for the day. In the last 24 hours, the price of BTC has fluctuated between $26,800 and $27,400.
> Ether, ranking second in terms of market capitalization, experienced a slight decrease of 0.2% on Tuesday, trading near the $1,820 mark.
> In other cryptocurrency news, LDO, the governance token for the liquid staking platform, Lido, carried its strong performance from Monday into Tuesday, climbing a further 3%.
> Meanwhile, MATIC, the native token for Layer 2 blockchain Polygon, saw a drop of 2.8%, trading around $0.82.