News

Shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust are once again trading at a record low relative to the fund’s net asset value. Each share is now 36.7% less valuable than the underlying Bitcoin that’s backing it.  Per Grayscale’s website, the total value of its 643,572 BTC under management is roughly $12.4 billion.  This puts its holdings per share at about $17.9. Meanwhile, its actual share value is currently just $11.46, Since shares of GBTC can’t be liquidated as easily as with…

Per an Oct 14 court filing, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) has commenced an investigation into the crypto exchange FTX. The probe aims to address possible securities violations and extends to the US division FTX.US and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Joseph Rotunda, the regulator’s Director of Enforcement, submitted the complaint to the bankruptcy court in charge of FTX’s acquisition of Voyager Digital’s assets. Illegal Access to FTX’s Yield Program Joseph Rotunda has accused the crypto exchange of breaching state policy…

Get the weekly summary of crypto market analysis, news, and forecasts! This Week’s Summary The Crypto Market ends the week at a total market capitalization of $918 billion. Bitcoin has decreased by nearly 2% this week. Ethereum lost almost 3% over the past seven days. XRP is down by nearly 6% this past week. Almost all altcoins are trading in the red, with few exceptions. The DeFi sector increased the total value protocols (TVL) to around $26 billion. Crypto Trends…

The attacker responsible for the Oct 11 Mango Market exploit has gone public with his identity. Although the exploit drained the DeFi platform of about $100M, the culprit claims it was a legal operation.  Eisenberg Claims His Actions Were Above Board A Twitter user called Avraham Eisenberg has outed himself as the Mango Market hacker. Early on Saturday, New York resident Eisenberg, who is a digital art dealer, shared a thread admitting his involvement in the massive exploit. His tweet…

With many crypto industry firms struggling through the bear market, the world’s largest digital asset exchange has offered to lend a hand. Binance Pool has announced a $500 million lending project to help support struggling crypto miners, helping keep the ecosystem afloat. According to Binance’s official announcement on Thursday, Binance’s pool will support both crypto miners and “digital infrastructure providers.”  Loans to such firms will be available for an 18 to a 24-month term, with interest rates ranging from 5%…

According to new data, over half of the blocks on the Ethereum network now reportedly comply with the US Treasury OFAC’s standards. This comes roughly a month after the platform’s monumental merge update. Phasing Out Tornado Cash The Office of Foreign Assets Control is the intelligence and enforcement agency of the US  Treasury Department. Indeed, the OFAC administers and enforces US  financial sanctions. A prime example of this is the recent, highly-publicized ban on crypto mixer Tornado Cash.  According to…

In an official release on Thursday, stablecoin firm Tether revealed that it has completely eliminated commercial paper holdings from its reserves. This a major move for Tether as the platform has drawn several questions regarding the stability of the USDT token given the state of its reserves.  US Treasury Bills Displace Commercial Paper According to the publication, in place of commercial paper, Tether now holds US Treasury bills. The company described this accomplishment as another step toward greater transparency. Tether…

While the total value locked in decentralized finance has fallen massively this year, the hacks and thefts across the space are not slowing down.  According to Chainalysis, this October has already become the “biggest month in the biggest year” for crypto hacks. Overwhelming Hacks As the blockchain intelligence firm tweeted on Wednesday, four significant DeFi hacks occurred on Tuesday alone. Across the month, 11 hacks have occurred in total, resulting in $718 million dollars being stolen. Yet the month is…

Crypto advocacy group Coin Center has slammed the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) with a lawsuit. The think tank cites the Treasury’s blacklist of privacy protocol Tornado Cash as the reason for the suit. According to the filing, Coin Center claims the ban was harmful to US-based users and stood in the way of private transactions on the Ethereum network.  Coin Center Shares Privacy Concerns On October 12, Coin Center filed a lawsuit against the Treasury…