Bitcoin, Ether crack as FTX hacker continues to trade stolen cryptos

Major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum plunged by 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively on November 21 as the hacker who stole funds from bankrupt crypto exchange FTX continued to dump his Ether to trade it for Bitcoin. According to Peckshield, over the weekend, the hacker swapped thousands of Ether for Ren Bitcoin, a form of wrapped Bitcoin. Other major cryptocurrencies like Binance, Ripple, Cardano, Dogecoin, and Polygon were trading down 3.5 percent, 6 percent, 3.2 percent, 7 percent, and 3.5 percent respectively. Read full here

Court filings reveal that the new FTX CEO was paid $1,300/hour

According to court filings, John Ray, the seasoned professional hired to clean up the remains of defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, charges $1,300 per hour for his labour. Despite a freeze on company funds and a lack of accurate records regarding who is owed what, restructuring experts are attempting to continue paying senior employee salaries. Before the first hearing on November 22, legal documents submitted over the weekend at the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware offered more light on the insolvency procedures. The petition by Edgar Mosley, managing director at restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal, stated that the continuation of salary payments "is vital for the preservation of the resources and value" of the FTX estate. Read details here

The "FTX drainer" exchanges 20,000 Ether for Bitcoin

The "FTX Drainer," the person or entity responsible for the unusual withdrawals from the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, continues to exchange Ether for Bitcoin. The Ren BTC Gateway, a crypto bridge used to transmit transfer tokens from one network to another, has now moved $72 million in value across both blockchains. On November 21, the person or entity in issue exchanged 1,023 renBTC ($16.3 million) for 20,000 ETH ($22.4 million). This comes after 50,000 ETH were traded on Sunday for 3,517 renBTC. As of the time of publication, the hacker had bridged all 4,540 renBTC ($72.6 million) to Bitcoin, according to on-chain data monitored by blockchain security company PeckShield. A Bitcoin wallet holding some of the bridged funds was also traced by PeckShield; it presently contains 2,444 BTC ($39.4 million). Take a look

Currently, more than 50% of Bitcoin addresses are at a loss

For the first time since the start of the coronavirus-induced crash in March 2020, the majority of addresses holding Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency, are currently losing money. Data supplied by blockchain analytics company IntoTheBlock shows that 24.56 million of the total 47.85 million addresses have investments that are below the purchase price or a little over 51 percent of all addresses. About 45 percent of them are profitable, or have unrealized gains, while the remaining investors are basically at breakeven. Out-of-the-money addresses are those that purchased coins on average at a greater price than the current market price of bitcoin, which is $16,067, according to IntoTheBlock. Read more here

Crypto exchange tokens present "extreme risk," according to BOE's Cunliffe

When used as collateral by their issuers, exchange-issued crypto tokens like the bankrupt FTX Group's FTT might carry "severe" risks, according to Bank of England Deputy Governor Sir Jon Cunliffe. Cunliffe stated in a speech on November 21 that a company accepting its own unbacked crypto asset as collateral for loans and margin payments, as there are indications may have happened with FTX, creates extreme "wrong-way" risk, which is when the exposure to a counterparty increases along with the risk of the counterparty's default. Read more here

Crypto lender Nexo is sued after allegedly blocking $126 million in withdrawals

A group of investors is suing Nexo in the London High Court on the grounds that the cryptocurrency company prevented them from withdrawing more than £107 million ($126 million) in cryptocurrency. The three investors, Shane Morton and brothers Jason and Owen Morton, claim that Nexo froze their accounts when they attempted to transfer their assets off the platform. The Mortons assert that after being threatened with being prevented from withdrawing their cryptocurrency, they were forced into returning millions of dollars’ worth of Nexo's native token to the company at a reduced price. Read more here

FTX Japan plans to permit withdrawals by year-end

By the end of the year, the Japanese branch of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX plans to allow customer withdrawals once more. Withdrawals cannot be resumed right now, according to an unidentified exchange executive, because FTX Japan employs the same payment system as its parent firm, which is currently halted. The end of the year is the target date, he noted, and FTX Japan is planning for when withdrawals will be allowed. As of November 10, FTX Japan has deposits of about 19.6 billion yen ($138 million). The country's Financial Services Agency (FSA) ordered the exchange to halt operations on November 10 in response to Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire's abrupt slide and fall. Read more here

Singapore argues against Binance following FTX’s bankruptcy

The Monetary Authority of Singapore defended its position on Binance.com and the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX in response to concerns about the two companies' contrasting treatment after the regulator earlier informed the public about Binance.com. The MAS stated in a statement on November 21 that the "obvious distinction" between the two was that Binance.com was "actively courting" users in the city-state to the point of offering listings in Singapore dollars among other incentives, but FTX was not. The MAS stated once more that FTX isn't licensed in the nation and once more cautioned about the risks of doing business with unregulated entities in response to "questions and misconceptions" that it was possible to protect local users who dealt with FTX, such as by ring-fencing their assets or making sure that FTX backed its assets with reserves. Read more here

Crypto exchange Uniswap declares in new privacy policy that it gathers users' public on-chain data

In a recently published privacy policy, Uniswap Labs, the development team behind the decentralized exchange Uniswap, stated that it collects specific on-chain data from its users in order to enhance the product. Uniswap Labs stated, "We do aim to make data-driven decisions that enhance customer experience. That includes limited off-chain data like device type and browser version as well as publicly available on-chain data.” According to Uniswap Labs, it does not gather personal information such as first and last names, addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, or IP addresses. Read more here

Customers of Celsius have until January to submit claims in bankruptcy cases

The bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius has been granted permission by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to establish a deadline for its clients to file proofs of claim in the current bankruptcy proceedings. "Our move to fix the bar date, which is the deadline for all customers to submit a claim, was granted by the bankruptcy court. The deadline for the bar has been set until January 3, 2023,” according to a Celsius statement. According to Celsius, the company's claims representative Stretto will inform clients of the bar date and their next actions through email or postal mail, assuming they have a mailing address on file. Read more here

Due to "security concerns," Grayscale declines to provide verification of reserves

The asset management of the largest Bitcoin fund in the world, Grayscale, has announced that it will not disclose its proof of reserves to clients. In a statement, it was stated that because of security considerations, it does not make such on-chain wallet information and confirmation data publicly available through a cryptographic Proof-of-Reserve, or other advanced cryptographic accounting mechanism. In an effort to allay investor concerns regarding the security of their cash in the wake of FTX's collapse and the bankruptcy procedures that revealed that client monies were gone, several cryptocurrency exchanges have jumped to produce proof-of-reserve audits. Read more here