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☆ Coinbase CEO points to rumors that the SEC could ban this popular crypto income-generating technique for US retail investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Coinbase's Brian Armstrong flagged rumors that the SEC may want to ban crypto staking for retail investors. Staking is a popular way for customers to earn yield in exchange for locking up their crypto assets. The SEC has repeatedly stated that most digital tokens could be regulated as securities. For the unititated, staking gives a crypto holder financial rewards for locking up their assets and confirming transactions on a blockchain's network. It allows users to participate directly in running open crypto networks," Armstrong tweeted.

☆ Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is sounding the alarm on a potential 'staking' crackdown. Here's what it says about crypto
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"We're hearing rumors that the SEC would like to get rid of crypto staking in the U.S. for retail customers," he said in his tweet . Staking is not just a yield-generating opportunity for crypto investors, it's also essential to the way proof-of-stake protocols like Ethereum operate. If there was some kind of chokehold on staking or staking services, the outcome for Ethereum could be "disastrous," according to Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer. That opportunity is widely seen as a catalyst for mainstream adoption of crypto and a revenue opportunity for exchanges like Coinbase. Armstrong's latest comments came a day before Kraken, one of Coinbase's main exchange competitors, agreed to shutter its crypto staking operations to settle charges with the SEC, according to CoinDesk.

☆ DCG sells shares in Grayscale crypto trusts in push to raise funds - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Representations of the Ripple, Bitcoin, Etherum and Litecoin virtual currencies are seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture, February 14, 2018. The reported move comes as DCG is trying to raise funds to support its collapsed lending units under Genesis. DCG has also moved to sell smaller blocks of shares in its Litecoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust and Digital Large Cap Fund, the report added. DCG and Grayscale did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. DCG, owned by Barry Silbert, owns a portfolio of crypto companies in addition to Genesis, including crypto news and events site CoinDesk and New York-based Grayscale, a major digital asset manager.

☆ Sorry crypto world, but SEC isn’t backing down on ‘regulation by enforcement’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Alison Frankel | Thomson Reuters | Alison Frankel Has Covered High-Stakes Commercial Litigation As A Columnist For Reuters Since A Dartmouth College Graduate | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Right now, Wahi argued, crypto users are simply left guessing about their exposure to SEC enforcement — and that's not sustainable. That strategy, Hodl Law asserted, didn't give token-holders fair notice about whether their coins are securities. Otherwise, Hodl Law said, Ethereum users have no idea if the SEC will swoop in with an enforcement action. The SEC also said that it's not obliged to warn crypto users about its interpretation of securities laws. It also, however, provides the first robust explanation of an argument I expect to see more often in SEC crypto cases: SEC enforcement, according to Wahi, is precluded by the Supreme Court’s recently articulated major questions doctrine.

Ishan Wahi, 32, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, after initially pleading not guilty last year. "I knew that Sameer Ramani and Nikhil Wahi would use that information to make trading decisions," Ishan Wahi said during Tuesday's hearing in federal court in Manhattan. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors stipulated that sentencing guidelines called for Ishan Wahi to be imprisoned for between 36 and 47 months. In pleading guilty to the criminal charges on Tuesday, Ishan Wahi said he did not believe any of the relevant tokens were securities. Noah Solowiejczyk, a prosecutor, said the question of whether or not the tokens are securities was not an element of prosecutors' case.

☆ DCG sells shares in Grayscale as it seeks to raise funds - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Digital Currency Group (DCG) is selling shares in several of its cryptocurrency funds at a high discount, and has started offloading its holdings in investment vehicles run by subsidiary Grayscale, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The reported move comes as DCG is trying to raise funds to support its collapsed lending units under Genesis. DCG has also moved to sell smaller blocks of shares in its Litecoin Trust, Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust and Digital Large Cap Fund, the report added. DCG and Grayscale did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik and Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen SorengOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Here are 3 obstacles facing crypto in 2023 as the market looks to move on from the FTX disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Crypto markets have erased losses since FTX's fallout last year, but new potential headwinds are looming. Insider asked four crypto execs about the biggest roadblocks facing the industry in 2023. For now, crypto markets are continuing to claw back losses since FTX's liquidity crisis, with the industry regaining a $1 trillion market cap. "I'm cautiously optimistic about the crypto markets this year," Timothy Shan, COO at decentralized exchange Dexalot, said. Regulation, inflation, and more crypto contagionAfter the fallout of major players, the biggest question on everyone's mind seems to be how regulation will unfold this year.

☆ Digital Currency Group is reportedly selling shares from its most prized crypto funds at a steep discount as the digital asset giant navigates financial woes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The news comes as the crypto conglomerate's lending unit, Genesis, filed for bankruptcy protection last month. The company told Insider that offloading assets "is simply part of our ongoing portfolio rebalancing." Grayscale operates a bitcoin trust and an ethereum trust charging shareholders 2% and 2.5% in fees a year, respectively. Shareholders have cumulatively paid roughly $1.2 billion for its bitcoin trust and $387 million for its ether trust since 2017, per Morningstar Research. The firm is reportedly selling shares around $8, despite each share's claim to $16 worth of ethereum.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBitcoin dips post-jobs report, and Core Scientific to hand over rigs to pay debt: CNBC Crypto WorldCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, Andrew Thurman, head of content at Nansen, discusses the analytics firm's research on liquid staking and what to expect from the Ethereum network's next upgrade.

☆ Russia's Sberbank to launch DeFi platform in coming months - Interfax
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Russia's largest lender Sberbank (SBER.MM) plans to launch a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform within the next few months, the Interfax news agency reported. Sberbank says it wants to make the Russian decentralised finance system the best in the world, and is currently beta testing its own platform. Traditional financial institutions are looking at how to get into the space and integrate DeFi technology with their existing regulated operations. Sberbank will launch open testing in March of its platform and aims to start commercial operations by the end of April, the Interfax news agency quoted Konstantin Klimenko, head of products at Sberbank's blockchain laboratory, as saying. Sberbank's DeFi platform will be based on the Ethereum blockchain, the second-largest crypto currency by market capitalisation after bitcoin, Klimenko said on Friday.

☆ Best Online Stock Trading Platforms of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +20 min

Luckily, the past few years has seen a profusion of online stock trading platforms. We spent hours comparing more than a dozen stock trading platforms looking for the most intuitive tools, in-depth research and access to guidance and other educational content. We considered all of this when making our picks for the Best Stock Trading Platforms of 2023. How we pickedTo pick Buy Side from WSJ’s best stock trading platforms, we reviewed offerings from more than a dozen companies. Morgan Stanley is the corporate parent of E*Trade, one of the stock trading platforms considered for this story.

☆ Crypto's core technology has a legitimacy problem. The founder of VC firm Dao5 is seeking to shore up its cred by working with university researchers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tekin Salimi, the founder of the VC firm Dao5, sources many of his deals through academic research. Salimi's venture capital firm, Dao5, counts several university professors among its advisors and has backed several startups founded by academics. His budding interest in crypto eventually brought him to Silicon Valley, where he joined the crypto VC firm Polychain Capital in 2018. When he left Polychain to launch Dao5 last year, Salimi sought to build academic research into the firm's deal-sourcing process. Dao5 cut ties with Kwon after the collapse, and he never had any financial involvement in the firm, Salimi said.

☆ Crypto hacks stole record $3.8 billion in 2022, led by North Korea groups - report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Josh Smith | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The report by Chainalysis found hacking activity that "ebbed and flowed" throughout the year, with "huge spikes" in March and October. October was the biggest single month ever for cryptocurrency hacking, with $775.7 million stolen in 32 separate attacks, the report said. "It isn’t a stretch to say that cryptocurrency hacking is a sizable chunk of the nation’s economy," Chainalysis said. Targets in "decentralized finance" or DeFi, a thriving segment in the cryptocurrency sector, accounted for more than 82% of the cryptocurrency stolen in 2022, the report said. Last year saw a record amount of crypto transactions related to illicit activity overall, reaching $20.1 billion, Chainalysis said in January.

☆ The meme token named after Elon Musk's dog has soared 200% this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A crypto token named after Elon Musk's dog has soared 200% this year. Floki is another Shiba Inu-themed token, and was created after Musk posted a picture of his Shiba Inu puppy in 2022. The Tesla CEO has been associated with the dog breed since touting dogecoin and Shiba Inu coin on his Twitter. By then, Musk had cemented his association with the Japanese dog breed, after touting Dogecoin and Shiba Inu to his Twitter followers. Musk has periodically posted pictures of his dog Floki on Twitter, though he's given no clear indication that he's involved with the Floki crypto project.

☆ Cathie Wood sees bitcoin rising above $500,000 and lauds its resiliency after FTX collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ark Invest chief investment officer Cathie Wood is still bullish on the cryptocurrency, however, and continues betting its price will eventually reach $500,000, she told CNBC's "Squawk Box" Wednesday morning. Wood is also a big investor in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, known by its ticker GBTC, through the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) . Last year, Grayscale sued the Securities and Exchange Commission over its decision to block the conversion of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to an exchange-traded fund. "The SEC has dragged its feet in terms of a bitcoin ETF, while approving a bitcoin futures ETF – it just doesn't make any sense to us," Wood added. Wood just posted her best month ever as her beaten-down favorite stocks staged a big comeback in the new year.

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☆ Britain's first crypto regulations to set 'robust' standards
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File PhotoLONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Britain's finance ministry plans "robust" regulations for crypto assets, following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX last year, which left millions of people nursing billions of dollars in losses. Crypto is currently unregulated globally, with firms only having to carry out checks to prevent money laundering. "These proposals will place responsibility on crypto trading venues for defining the detailed content requirements for admission and disclosure documents - ensuring crypto exchanges have fair and robust standards," the ministry said. Regulators are focusing on prising open "crypto conglomerates" which combine activities like trading, lending and custody under one roof, but with traditional regulatory safeguards between them absent. The European Union is already finalising its first set of crypto rules.

☆ Bitcoin and other cryptos slump as the Fed gets ready to raise interest rates again
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Crypto markets are slipping as the two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve kicks off. A blockchain exec broke down how crypto markets are thinking about this week's expected rate hike. Ethereum is flat ahead of the central bank meeting, trading at $1,585. Recent economic data points indicate that high inflation is easing, giving the central bank room to pull back on monetary tightening. "Any movement ahead of the Fed meeting is mere correlation," Jeremy Epstein, CMO of smart contract platform Radix, told Insider.

☆ Ponzi probe finds bankrupt crypto lender Celsius wasn't doing business the way it told customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Celsius misled customers when it advertised its business model, a court-appointed examiner said. The crypto lender filed for bankruptcy in June as the market collapsed. Examiner Shoba Pillay said the lender was making the market for its CEL coin by buying it. Pillay said Celsius spent $558 million buying its own Celsius token on the market in a bid to prop up its flagging assets. "In effect, Celsius bought every CEL token in the market at least one time and in some instances, twice," Pillay wrote.

☆ Bitcoin is headed for its best start to the year since 2013 as risk appetite grows ahead of expected smaller Fed rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The rally comes ahead of expected smaller rate hikes from the Federal Reserve next week. The rally seems driven by the belief that the Federal Reserve will ease back further on aggressive rate hikes following signs of cooling inflation. "More measured rate hikes globally tilting to stability will reduce the headwinds as BTC edges towards fresh heights. Matrixport's Thielen said supporting the rally is a "clear signal" that US institutions are buying up bitcoin right now. "Institutions are not only buying bitcoin spot; rather, we are also seeing consistently high premiums for perpetual futures," Thielen said.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailFTX's Big Tech connections revealed, and what soulbound NFTs mean for web3 users: CNBC Crypto WorldCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, Calanthia Mei of Masa Finance explains the company's new soulbound NFT protocol on Ethereum.

☆ (OFFICIAL) FBI says N. Korea-related hacker group behind U.S. crypto firm heist
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

On Jan. 13, North Korean cyber actors used a privacy protocol called Railgun to launder over $60 million worth of ethereum stolen during the theft in June, the FBI said in a statement. A portion of the stolen ethereum was subsequently sent to several virtual asset providers and converted to bitcoin, the FBI said. The FBI said North Korea's theft and laundering of virtual currency is used to support its ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. Reuters in June reported that North Korean hackers were most likely behind the attack on Harmony, citing three digital investigative firms. Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FBI says N. Korea-related hacker groups behind U.S. crypto firm heist
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Two hacker groups associated with North Korea, the Lazarus Group and APT38, were responsible for the theft last June of $100 million from U.S. crypto firm Harmony's Horizon bridge, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday. The FBI said North Korea's theft and laundering of virtual currency is used to support its ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. Reuters in June reported that North Korean hackers were most likely behind the attack on Harmony, citing three digital investigative firms. Harmony develops blockchains for decentralized finance - peer-to-peer sites that offer loans and other services without traditional gatekeepers such as banks - and non-fungible tokens. Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brian Mosoff of Ether Capital discusses his outlook for Ethereum, competing layer ones, and staking
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Talia Kaplan | Mai Tejapaibul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBrian Mosoff of Ether Capital discusses his outlook for Ethereum, competing layer ones, and stakingCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, Brian Mosoff of Ether Capital discusses the outlook for Ethereum in 2023.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBitcoin briefly crosses $23,000, and feds seize $700 million in SBF assets: CNBC Crypto WorldCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, Brian Mosoff of Ether Capital discusses the outlook for Ethereum in 2023.

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