crypto blog
FTX former lead engineer in talks with federal prosecutors in Bankman-Fried case
As the investigation into FTX continues, the crypto exchange’s former engineering chief, Nishad Singh, followed former FTX and Alameda Research executives Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison by reportedly meeting with federal prosecutors to cut a deal. Singh attended a proffer session during the week of Jan. 2 at the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Individuals may be granted limited immunity to share their knowledge with prosecutors at such meetings. Prosecutors likely sought to determine if Singh has valuable information to offer in the lawsuit against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a Jan. 10 Bloomberg report. Bankman-Fried also faces campaign finance violations and prosecutors are interested in Singh’s knowledge about FTX’s political do...
Bitcoin community not happy with Peter Zeihan’s criticisms on Joe Rogan podcast
Bitcoin (BTC) community members took to social media in response to the claims of Peter Zeihan, a recent guest on the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast. In a recent JRE episode, Zeihan, an American geopolitical analyst and author, claimed that crypto was always a “hot dumpster fire” and that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. The analyst claimed that the number one digital asset by market capitalization is now being priced “more appropriately.” Additionally, Zeihan argued that Bitcoin, which is trading at around $17,000 at the time of writing, will go down by $17,000 more, saying that its appropriate price is within the negatives. He added: “The craziest thing about Bitcoin is that there will never be more than X number of units of Bitcoin. By default, it means it can’t be us...
Cointelegraph’s Accelerator Program launches and is seeking Web3 startups
The Web3 space is growing rapidly, and new startups are emerging daily. Overall investment into Web3 projects skyrocketed to $30 billion in 2021 and $36 billion in 2022, even amid the market crisis. While many projects have good ideas and a strong value proposition to bring to the space, this is a challenging field riddled with competition and a lack of trust from the broader audience. Cointelegraph has established itself as a leader in the digital asset, Metaverse and emerging technologies media business since 2013, and is now looking to help other rising stars reach their full potential. Cointelegraph is delighted to introduce its Accelerator Program — a startup booster leveraging Cointelegraph’s capabilities as a strong media and strategic partner for promising Web3 companies. Paul Soln...
Flare Launches Layer 1 Oracle Network
Dubai, UAE, 10th January, 2023, Chainwire Flare, the blockchain for building applications that use data from other chains and the internet, has successfully completed its long-awaited token airdrop at 11:59 pm UTC on January 9th. The airdrop saw 4.279B Flare (FLR) tokens distributed to millions of recipients, including users on Binance, OKX, Kraken, Bithumb, UpBit, Kucoin, BitBank, & more, in one of the largest scale distributions in crypto history. The airdrop is a significant milestone for Flare as developers can now start to take advantage of Flare’s EVM and native data acquisition protocols, the State Connector and Flare Time Series Oracle. These native protocols, secured by the network, provide decentralized access to high-integrity data from other blockchains and the internet, en...
CFTC files suit against Avraham Eisenberg for market manipulation in Mango exploit
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed suit against self-described digital artist Avraham Eisenberg on Jan. 9, charging him with two counts of market manipulation in connection with an exploit of decentralized finance platform Mango Markets. Eisenberg was arrested on related charges on Dec. 27 and is currently in custody. The CFTC claimed in its suit that Eisenberg “engaged in a manipulative and deceptive scheme to artificially inflate the price of swaps offered by Mango Markets […] culminating in the misappropriation of over $100 million from the platform” in October. According to the filing, Eisenberg “purchased over 400 million MNGO-USDC Swaps on Mango Markets with a position size of approximately $19 million.” Cast your vote now! Eisenberg then bought “larg...
Bitcoin derivatives data suggests a BTC price pump above $18K won’t be easy
Traders might rejoice now that Bitcoin price ventured above $17,400, but 27 long days have passed since Bitcoin (BTC) last breached the $17,250 resistance. On December 13, after a two-week-long lateral movement, Bitcoin posted a 6.5% rally toward $18,000 and even though the current movement still lacks strength, traders believe that a retest of the $18,250 resistance remains possible. Bitcoin 12-hour price index, USD. Source: TradingView To start the week, the S&P 500 index rose to its highest level in 26 days on Jan. 9. Weak economic data had previously fueled investors’ expectation of slower interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Jan. 12 Consumer Price Index (CPI) report could lend some credence to this expectation. On Jan. 6, German retail sales data sho...
NY law firm investigates potential ‘securities fraud’ at Core Scientific
A New York-based law firm says it has begun an investigation into whether Bitcoin miner Core Scientific and its leadership potentially engaged in “securities fraud and other unlawful business practices” which led to its stock price falling on several occasions. According to securities class action firm Pomerantz LLP, the investigation was prompted by a report from Culper Research in 2022, which alleged that Core Scientific had “wildly oversold” its mining and hosting businesses in 2021 and also waived a 180-day lockup period of over 282 million shares, making them “free to be dumped” in Mar. 2022. This report suggested that insiders at Core Scientific had “abandoned any pretense of care for minority shareholders,” noting ...
Layer-1 EVM oracle platform Flare launches to boost interoperable DApps
Flare, a new layer-1 Ethereum Virtual Machine blockchain platform, has gone live with the launch of two core protocols aimed at powering decentralized interoperability applications. The platform serves as an oracle network that allows developers to build applications that are aimed at being interoperable with different blockchains and internet platforms and services. Flare features two protocols that power its application-building suite. Its State Connector protocol enables information and data to be used securely and at scale from various blockchains and internet sources with the use of smart contracts. The functionality is touted to offer powerful data to the network and facilitate the development of cross-chain solutions. Meanwhile, the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO) sources and provid...
Crypto layoffs mount as exchanges continue to be ravaged by the prevailing bear market
There’s no denying that the crypto market has been gripped by immense bearish pressure over the past year, as made evident by the fact that the total capitalization of this sector has continued to hover below the $900 billion mark for most of the year after having scaled up to an all-time high of $3 trillion in 2021. These conditions have been characterized by many companies facing insolvency, as well as many of the world’s top exchanges laying off their staff in recent months. Moreover, the recent FTX debacle has set in motion a contagion effect that has continued to have a major effect on several crypto platforms, dissuading newer investors from entering the space in the process. Since Q2 2022, a host of prominent crypto entities (including many digital asset trading and lending platform...
Belgian MP receives Bitcoin salary for a year: Here’s what he learned
At the end of January 2022, member of the Belgian parliament Christophe De Beukelaer became the first European politician to convert his salary to Bitcoin (BTC). Celebrating the anniversary of this experiment, Cointelegraph reached out to a lawmaker to know more about his experience. Back in 2022, Beukelaer, who represents Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) party, cited the example of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and how American politicians are working to make their native states or cities Bitcoin hubs to justify his decision. The Brussels MP’s monthly salary of 5,500 euros ($6,140) was to be converted to Bitcoin using the Bit4You crypto trading platform. Related: Belgium says BTC, ETH and other decentralized coins are not securities “I did this political act of paying in Bitcoin to...
Crypto asset manager Osprey Funds lays off most of its staff: Report
Digital asset manager Osprey Funds has reportedly laid off most of its staff since the summer, underscoring the ongoing operational challenges posed by crypto’s enduring bear market. Yahoo Finance reported on Jan. 9 that Osprey Funds is currently operating with fewer than ten employees after laying off 15 staff members since the summer. CEO Greg Kling told the publication that the layoffs were consistent with the market downturn and that Osprey was not at risk of closing operations. Osprey offers accredited investors access to crypto-focused investment products, including an over-the-counter Bitcoin (BTC) trust that can be purchased inside brokerage accounts. Crypto layoffs are in fashion. The community doesn’t stay quiet. https://t.co/XJrxRXqvR9 — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph...
Why is Ethereum (ETH) price up today?
Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), rose to three-week highs, rallying in lockstep with the broader cryptocurrency market, as well as stocks. ETH price rises to three-week highs On Jan. 9, ETH’s price rose 2.85% to cross above $1,325 for the first time in three weeks, a key level that could pave the token’s path toward $1,350 next if its previous price performance is any indication. The crypto market’s capitalization gained 2.66%, or $21.18 billion, in the same period. ETH/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView Cooling inflation boosts Ethereum price Investors are rushing into riskier markets on signs of cooling inflation. Notably, on Jan. 6, the U.S. Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls report showed a slowdown in wage increases, w...
