The first week of the new year will be remembered by crypto fans for the continued flat of bitcoin, a series of layoffs in crypto companies, disturbing news about the popular crypto exchange Huobi, and the first hearing in the case of the bankrupt FTX empire. Cryptons, already accustomed to the harsh conditions of crypto winter, continued to joke and post memes, and the funniest, most relevant and New Year’s got into our weekly digest.
bitcoin
The first cryptocurrency this week continued to move sideways above $16,500. Experienced analysts vanquished bitcoin for a deeper fall – to $12,000. Traders were waiting for volatility, but in vain – there were no strong movements in the market for seven days.
On January 3, the crypto community celebrated the fourteenth anniversary of the launch of the main Bitcoin network. On this day, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block, which marked the beginning of a new era in financial technology. Grateful cryptans send bitcoins to Satoshi’s wallet address that day, and a decent amount has already accumulated there – 68.56 BTC (more than $1.1 million).
By the end of the week, cryptanalysts cheered up – favorable macroeconomic factors (including data on unemployment in the US) led to the conclusion that the first cryptocurrency is forming a bottom at $16,800.
Crypto winter
While the cryptans were eating Olivier and enjoying the weekend, cryptocurrency companies were busy cutting costs. Cryptocurrency OTC platform Genesis Trading has laid off 30% of its staff, citing the challenges faced by the cryptocurrency market in 2022.
And with the popular exchange Huobi, which is one of the five largest trading platforms, something incomprehensible happened – first, rumors spread on the Internet about a wave of layoffs, then cryptans started talking about the fact that the remaining employees of the exchange would receive salaries in stablecoins instead of fiat. Dissenters, they say, promised to fire.
The disturbing news caused understandable panic – some even advised clients to quickly withdraw all assets before the exchange sucked. Despite optimistic tweets from marketplace chief Justin Sun (referred to as Justin Scam on crypto-Twitter), $60.9 million of the $94.2 million net outflow this week was withdrawn in a mere 24 hours.
This week was not without pressure from regulators. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicted six individuals and two companies associated with an investment scheme called CoinDeal. The statement features a full set – an accusation of fraud, a promise of mountains of gold to investors, and a bet on new and expensive blockchain technology. The CoinDeal scheme has raised more than $45 million from the sale of unregistered securities to thousands of investors around the world, the SEC said.
The results of 2022 will be summed up in the next three months, and it is already clear that they will be disappointing. But there is one company that can boast of successfully finishing the worst year ever. Analyst firm Arcane Research found that Binance accounted for 92% of the bitcoin spot market and 61% of the bitcoin derivatives market this year.
FTX case
There was very little news about FTX this week, but the most important this week was the first court session. Sam Bankman-Fried, from whom everyone was waiting for a guilty plea, outplayed the charge and said that he did not plead guilty.
That is, literally – neither in fraud, nor in deceiving investors, nor in interference in the political life of the country. Absolutely innocent. Pure as an angel. The federal prosecutor, in response, fumed and said that the volumes of evidence at his disposal would be enough to drown “Curly Sam” and all his lawyers. The court will begin its work in ten months, on October 2, and will last for four weeks.
And if you donât remember how the FTX saga developed, then here is an accessible scheme for you:
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