PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($16,760): -1% / -64%
- ETH ($1,184): -5% / -68%
- XRP ($0.35): -6% / -58%
- UNI ($5.34): -8% / -69%
- Crypto Market Cap ($808B): -6% / -64%
- BTC Dominance: 40%
- ETH Dominance:** 18%
STABLECOIN MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Tether ($66B): +1% / -16%
- USDC ($45B): +5% / +6%
NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was arrested in the Bahamas, one day before he was set to testify before Congress about the failed exchange. SBF faces extradition to the US and is currently being held without bail after being indicted on 8 counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Link. Link. Link. Link.
- According to crypto analytics firm Chainalysis, FTX's collapse was not the most impactful event for crypto investors this year. Terra's collapse caused $20.5 billion in realized losses and contributed to the demise of Three Arrows Capital and Celsius, which caused $33 billion in losses. FTX's collapse has resulted in $9 billion in realized losses so far. Link.
- The US Attorney who filed charges against SBF said it would bring charges against other individuals allegedly involved in the FTX collapse. The SEC and CFTC have also filed charges against SBF. Link. Link.
- Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed a new anti-money laundering bill that would require crypto wallet providers, miners, and validators to register as money service businesses and comply with KYC requirements. Link. Link.
- The UN is sending the dollar-backed stablecoin USDC to refugees in Ukraine. Recipients can convert the stablecoin into dollars, euros, or local currency at any of the 4,500 MoneyGram locations in the country. Link.
- Donald Trump’s sold out NFT collection is currently #1 on OpenSea for secondary volumes. The 45,000 NFTs sold for $99 each on Polygon and offered perks such as dinner and zoom calls with Trump. Link.
- Leading crypto exchange Binance saw $6 billion in net withdrawals earlier this week, after it was reported that the US Justice Department is considering filing criminal charges related to sanctions violations and money laundering against the exchange. Link. Link. Link.
- Metamask users can now use their PayPal accounts to buy Ethereum in the Metamask mobile app. Link. Blog Post.
- A judge ordered that the CFTC had to serve at least one identifiable token holder of Ooki DAO before it ruled on the legality of serving an entire decentralized autonomous organization via a Help chat bot. Link.
- FTX Digital Chairman Ryan Salame tipped off Bahamian authorities on November 9 about the unauthorized transfer of assets from FTX Digital to Alameda Research to cover losses. The exchange filed for bankruptcy on November 11. Link. Link. Link. Bahamian Letter.
- Canada bans margin and leveraged trading on crypto assets. Link.
- Bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) estimated its assets to be worth around $1 billion in July, relative to over $3 billion in liabilities. Link. Link.
- Following the collapse of FTX, Binance has increased its market share to 53% of crypto trading volumes and 67% of derivatives trading, its highest ever. Link.
- Coinbase is waiving fees for customers who want to switch from USDT to a “trusted” stablecoin like USDC. Coinbase co-founded USDC with Circle in 2017. Link. Blog Post.
- Apple is preparing to allow alternative app stores on iOS, in part to comply with the EU’s upcoming Digital Markets Act. This could be a boon for applications that use NFTs, which currently struggle to comply with paying Apple’s 30% fee on on-chain purchases. Link. Link. Link.
- The Flow blockchain saw $7.7 million of NFT trading volume in November, down from $15.6 million in October and $39 million in September. Flow’s most popular project, NBA Top Shot, had $2.1 million of trading volume in November, down from $2.7 million in October and $4.7 million in September. The price of Flow has fallen 98% since its peak in April 2021. Link.
- Coinbase received 12,320 law enforcement requests for the year through September 30, a 66% increase. 43% of the requests came from the US. 95% of requests were related to criminal enforcement matters. Link. Transparency Report.
- Coinbase customers can now recover unsupported ERC-20 tokens that were accidentally sent to the exchange. Link. Link. Asset Recovery Tool.
- Congress asked the US Treasury Department to delay implementing crypto tax provisions passed in last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act until there is clarity on the definition of a “broker” for tax reporting purposes. Link.
- FTX employees used QuickBooks to handle their accounting. The exchange also reportedly co-mingled assets between FTX US and FTX Global. Link. Link.
- Microsoft is banning customers from using its Azure cloud services to mine cryptocurrencies. Link.
- Mazars Group, which had previously published Binance’s “Proof of Reserves” report, announced it was halting work with the exchange and removed the reports from its website. Link. Link. Link.
- Blockchain infrastructure provider Blocknative raised $15 million to build a standalone block building and transaction relayer. Link.
- Privacy layer Aztec Network raised $100 million in a Series B round led by a16z. The platform shields users’ identities when interacting with DeFi protocols like Aave, Lido and Element Finance. Link.
- The SEC responded to Grayscale’s lawsuit over its continued rejection of its BTC spot ETF application by claiming spot ETFs are inherently different from futures ETFs. Link.
- Karl Greenwood, the co-founder of OneCoin, plead guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. OneCoin was a pyramid scheme that scammed millions of people for $4 billion. Greenwood’s co-conspirator Ruja Ignatova aka the Cryptoqueen, is still a fugitive. Link.
- Compound DAO is facing a class action lawsuit for selling unregistered securities from plaintiffs who held only $100 in COMP tokens. Link. Lawsuit.
- Chinese police arrested 63 people on allegations of laundering $1.7 billion for domestic and foreign criminal groups using crypto. Link.
- FTX filed a new motion to sell 4 independently operated subsidiaries: Embed Technologies, LedgerX, FTX Japan, and FTX Europe. Link.
- Unstoppable Domains, the provider behind crypto domains like .crypto, will integrate with Etherscan and Polygonscan in early 2023. Link.
- Binance refused to refund a 200,000 BNB deposit made by crypto project Mithril in 2018, after it delisted the project’s token from its exchange. Mithril’s website is offline and the project has not tweeted in 2 years. The deposit was worth roughly $1 million at the time. Link. Tweet.