It has been a week of ups and downs in the cryptocurrency market, with a lot of uncertainty for 2023, full of controversies, conspiracy theories, and of course also positive and interesting news and releases. Below, we present the most relevant news of the week in the crypto ecosystem.
Sam Bankman-Fried is arrested in the Bahamas!
One of the topics that has given the most talk in 2022, the bankruptcy of FTX and the case of Sam Bankman-Fried, seems to be getting closer to the end, and it is that on December 12 the authorities of the Bahamas announced the arrest of the former CEO of FTX, following a US petition for criminal charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The Bahamas Attorney General’s office confirmed the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried by the Royal Bahamas Police after charges were filed by the Attorney General for the Southern District of New York, for which he is expected to be request his extradition to the North American country. Following his arrest, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said his country and the United States are seeking to hold to account all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public’s trust and broken the law.
Later, Sam Bankman-Fried, was taken to court in the Bahamas, and was remanded to Fox Hill Prison, where he will remain incarcerated until his next hearing on February 8, 2023. His lawyers pleaded for a judge to allow him to be released under a $250,000 bail, but the attempt was in vain, as the proposal was rejected.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the platform has more than a million creditors worldwide, and among the top 50 they accumulate a debt of more than 3 billion dollars.
Did they finally find Do Kwon?
It seems that there will be divine justice, and two bigwigs of the crypto ecosystem will be arrested before the end of the year, since the South Korean authorities have reported that the whereabouts of the controversial creator and head of the Terra (LUNA) project, Do Kwon, would be known.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office has reported that Do Kwon is in Serbia, and they have already contacted the authorities of that country to begin the search and seek to finalize his arrest.
Do Kwon, who is currently 31 years old, was charged with fraud and capital markets law violations after the tokens imploded in May. Later, in September, Interpol issued an international warrant known as a red notice to force his arrest. Let’s remember that a red notice is a request by Interpol to law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.
The following month, South Korean prosecutors said he had traveled via Dubai to an unknown country after leaving Singapore, where his company Terraform was based.
Now, everything indicates that Do Kwon is in the Balkan country, and although South Korea and Serbia do not have an extradition treaty, in the past both have accepted requests under the European Convention on Extradition.
Gemini customers are exposed to a massive Phishing attack!
Last Wednesday, the American cryptocurrency exchange Gemini reported that some of its clients had been victims of phishing campaigns , the cause of which is attributed to an incident at an external provider. This incident led to the leaking of customer email addresses and phone numbers.
As reported by the Chinese media outlet Wu Blockchain, about 5.7 million users were affected. In the same way, the physical addresses of the victims were leaked, and many suffered from them, in addition to phishing, physical threats. The company, however, has not made any effort to compensate those affected.
Strong capital flight on Binance! It stabilized?
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on Wednesday that the situation on the platform had stabilized, in an attempt to assuage investor fears after the company was forced to halt crypto asset withdrawals due to the exchange. of cryptocurrencies experienced strong capital outflows
Zhao said that net withdrawals in the amount of about $1.2 billion were made last Tuesday. However, he later reported that everything was stabilized, and that the deposits began to arrive again.
The report from him came after Binance temporarily halted withdrawals from the USDC stablecoin, while it conducted a “token swap.” Zhao said that Binance had seen an increase in USDC withdrawals. The pause in withdrawals was due to the fact that some currency swaps needed to be routed through an unspecified bank in New York that was not open. Binance resumed withdrawals after around eight hours of inactivity.
Satoshi Nakamoto’s New Identity Theory?
Satoshi Nakamoto is a convict? A new theory about the identity of this character has been generated, and it is that thanks to a cryptographic signature with a message in the first Bitcoin transaction, it is stated that Paul Le Roux is Satoshi Nakamoto.
Paul Le Roux is a programmer and inmate who has confessed to involvement in arms trafficking to Iran, selling pills to North Korea, and murdering multiple people.
The message, when decrypted, is said to mention the following: “This transaction was made by Paul Leroux to Hal Finney on January 12, 2009.” What do you think about this new theory?
Donald Trump launches his own collection of NFTs!
The former president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, announced the launch of his new collection of NFTs, through his social network Truth Social. In total, said collection is made up of 45,000 NFTs. The tycoon foreshadowed, in that ad, the rate of sale.
The interesting thing is that it didn’t even take 24 hours after its launch for it to be sold out. The series of digital collectibles sold out in record time and some of the pieces are now being offered at exorbitant prices.
These digital trading cards feature the former President of the United States dressed as a superhero, astronaut, Nascar driver, and more. And you, would you buy a Donald Trump NFT?
FTX would sell its subsidiaries! And…Ledger?
A month has passed since the appointment of the company’s new CEO, John Ray III, who has already launched the restructuring plan. FTX Trading and its affiliated debtors may be thinking of auctioning off LedgerX and its European and Japanese digital asset subsidiaries.
The bankrupt company is seeking approval of the offer for all common shares of Embed Financial Technologies. As if that were not enough, the entire stake in LedgerX, through Ledger Holdings, is up for sale.
In addition, FTX Japan, FTX Singapore and FTX Europe would also be on the auction list.
Bitcoin is currently above $16,700, after a week of ups and downs. It seems that at some point the resistance of $17,100 was broken; however, the strong downward pressure at the end of the week caused Bitcoin to return below that level. If it continues to respect this price level, we could see Bitcoin fall to $12,600. However, this false bullish breach creates even more uncertainty about the short-term future of the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
BTC/USDT 1D (TradingView chart).
For its part, Ethereum is trading above $1,180. Although it has made quite similar movements to Bitcoin, it seems that Ethereum shows us a clearer bearish pattern, since the resistance breach mentioned in Bitcoin has not been breached with the same strength in this case. If it continues to fall, it could go down to $1,000.
ETH/USDT 1D (TradingView chart).
We close the year with a lot of news; some good, some bad and others that generate quite a bit of controversy. Yes, we are having a year full of a lot of learning, great projects have failed and some others are beginning to consolidate, which begins to create the structure and foundation of what the crypto asset market will be in the future. Big things are coming in 2022 for this great market, and this is just beginning. Without more to add, we wish you an amazing week.
