Gemini
Gemini and Genesis’ legal troubles stand to shake up industry further
With investor confidence seemingly at an all-time low thanks to the recent slew of insolvencies, a new saga seems to be now unfolding in real time. This one involves crypto exchange Gemini’s Winklevoss twins and Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG) — the parent firm behind crypto market maker and lender Genesis. On Jan. 2, Cameron Winklevoss posted an open letter to Barry Silbert reminding him of the fact that it had been “47 days since Genesis halted withdrawals” while also providing a blunt, seemingly confrontational assessment of DCG’s existing business practices: “For the past six weeks, we have done everything we can to engage with you in a good faith and collaborative manner in order to reach a consensual resolution for you to pay back the $900 million that you owe.” Th...
Total crypto market cap closes in on $1T right as Bitcoin price moves toward $20K
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization reached its highest level in over two months on Jan. 13 after breaking above the $900 billion mark on Jan. 12. While the 15.5% year-to-date gain sounds promising, the level is still 50% below the $1.88 trillion crypto market cap seen before the Terra-Luna ecosystem collapsed in April 2022. Crypto markets total capitalization, USD. Source: TradingView “Hopeful skepticism” is probably the best description of most investors’ sentiment at the moment, especially after the recent struggles of recapturing a $1 trillion market capitalization in early November. That rally to $1 trillion was followed by a 27.6% correction in three days and it invalidated any bullish momentum that traders might have expected. Bitcoin (BTC) has gained 15.7% year-to-...
Digital Currency Group under investigation by U.S. authorities: Report
Crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group, or DCG, are under investigation by the United States Department of Justice’s Eastern District of New York (EDNY) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a Bloomberg report. The authorities are digging into internal transfers between DCG and its subsidiary crypto lending firm Genesis Global Capital, noted the report citing people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors have already requested interviews and documents from both the companies, while the SEC is running an early-stage similar inquiry. As of yet, no indictment has been brought against DCG, nor have both U.S. authorities provided any information about the case. According to a spokesperson for DCG, the company was unaware of the investigation. “DCG h...
Crypto billionaires lost $116B since March: Report
The bear market and the wave of bankruptcies in the crypto industry drained $116 billion from the pockets of founders and investors in the past nine months, according to recent estimates by Forbes. The loss represents the combined personal equity of 17 people in the space, with over 15 losing more than half of their fortunes since March. As a result, 10 names were removed from the crypto billionaires list. One of the major losses was attributed to Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. In March, his 70% stake in the crypto exchange was valued at $65 billion, but it is now worth $4.5 billion. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has a net worth estimated at $1.5 billion, down from $6 billion in March. The fortune of Ripple’s co-founder Chris Larsen was reduced from $4.3 billion to...
Gemini allegedly suffered data breach; 5.7 million emails leaked
Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini appears to have suffered a data breach on or before Dec. 13. According to documents obtained by Cointelegraph, hackers gained access to 5,701,649 lines of information pertaining to customers’ account numbers, email addresses and partial phone numbers. In the case of the latter, hackers apparently did not gain access to the full phone numbers, as certain numeric digits were obfuscated. The leaked database did not include sensitive personal information such as names, addresses and other Know Your Customer information. In addition, some emails were repeated in the document; thus, the number of customers affected is likely lower than the total rows of information. Gemini currently has 13 million active users. Security breaches in the Web3 industry, even if mild i...
Crypto lender Genesis allegedly owes $900M to Gemini’s clients: Report
Crypto lender Genesis and its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) allegedly owe $900 million to Gemini’s clients, according to a Financial Times report disclosed on Dec. 3, citing people familiar with the matter. The issue derives from the FTX dramatic collapse in November. Crypto exchange Gemini operates a product called Gemini Earn in partnership with Genesis, offering investors the opportunity to earn 8% in interest by lending out their crypto, including Bitcoin and stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies. On Nov. 16, Genesis announced it had temporarily suspended withdrawals citing “unprecedented market turmoil,” days after disclosing around $175 million worth of funds stuck in an FTX trading account. Genesis is reportedly facing difficulties raising money for its...
US crypto exchanges lead Bitcoin exodus: Over $1.5B in BTC withdrawn in one week
Bitcoin (BTC) has flooded out of exchanges in the past week as users become wary of security and regulatory scrutiny. Data from on-chain monitoring resource Coinglass shows United States exchanges in particular seeing heavy BTC balance reductions. U.S. exchanges lead BTC exodus In the wake of the FTX scandal, efforts to draw attention to the risk involved in custodial BTC storage stepped up on social media. Users appeared to heed the warning, withdrawing over $3 billion in cryptocurrency in the week immediately following the solvency debacle and ordering record numbers of hardware wallets. The aftermath of FTX is only just beginning, meanwhile, and as regulators plan investigative action and more attention to crypto as a whole, investors angst continues to grow. The data shows the trend is...
Fidelity to beef up crypto unit by another 25% with 100 new hires
$4.5 trillion asset management firm Fidelity Investments is reportedly set to hire another 100 people to bolster the firm’s growing digital assets division — a stark contrast to the recent squeezing out of crypto-talent. A Fidelity representative told Bloomberg on Oct. 22 that the firm has begun a new round of hiring which will bring the Fidelity Digital Asset’s headcount to around 500 by the end of the first quarter of 2023. A search on Fidelity’s job board currently shows 74 live results for digital asset-related positions, which cover areas relating to blockchain technology, business analysis, customer service, finance and accounting, product development, and corporate services including compliance. Almost all of the current listings are based in the United States — wi...
OpenSea lays off 20% of its staff, citing ‘crypto winter’
Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea announced mass layoffs on Thursday, joining other crypto companies in reducing headcount during one of the most volatile periods in the industry’s history. Co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer took to Twitter Thursday afternoon to disclose that his company was laying off up to 20% of its staff. In a long message conveyed to employees, Finzer blamed “an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability” for the layoffs. Today is a hard day for OpenSea, as we’re letting go of ~20% of our team. Here’s the note I shared with our team earlier this morning: pic.twitter.com/E5k6gIegH7 — Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) July 14, 2022 “[W]e need to prepare the company for the possibility of a prolonged downtu...
Data transfer network Plaid integrates 4 major crypto exchanges
United States data transfer network Plaid has added four major cryptocurrency exchanges to its platform, giving users the ability to connect their digital asset portfolios to other applications more easily. Crypto platforms Binance.US, Gemini, Robinhood and SoFi are now supported by the Plaid network, the company announced Thursday. Support for additional platforms, such as Blockchain.com and BitGo, is scheduled to commence later this year. We now support leading digital asset exchanges on the Plaid network, including @BinanceUS, @Gemini, @Robinhood & @SoFi with plans to support additional crypto providers like @Blockchain and @BitGo later this year. https://t.co/I1QlXmL8hQ — Plaid (@Plaid) July 14, 2022 The integrations are intended to help crypto users “bridge data portability ...
June roundup: Who’s hiring and who’s firing in the crypto space
Amid the recent volatility in the crypto market affecting investments and stock prices, many firms made significant staff cuts in the last month while others continued hiring. In June, major crypto exchange Gemini was among the first to reportedly cut 10% of its employees amid the bear market, saying conditions were “likely to persist for some time.” Coinbase and Crypto.com followed, announcing plans to reduce staff by 18% and 5%, respectively. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cited the so-called crypto winter as part of the reason for the cuts, but also stated the firm had been growing “too quickly.” Market conditions largely have not changed following many decisions to downsize, and other firms have been forced to make cuts. Crypto lending firm BlockFi announced it would be reducing staff by...
FINRA may hire employees terminated from crypto firms: Report
The United States Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, reportedly plans to “bulk up” its capability to monitor crypto — a move that could include scooping up employees recently terminated from crypto companies. According to a Tuesday Reuters report, FINRA president and CEO Robert Cook encouraged crypto workers who expect to be on the chopping block to reach out to the financial regulator as part of its efforts to increase resources related to the space. Major crypto exchanges in the United States including Coinbase and Gemini have announced plans to cut staff amid extreme market volatility, likely resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs. “We are already having to be engaged in the space and we think that as a result it’s appropriate for us to bulk up our c...
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