The stunning collapses of Celsius and FTX destroyed many lives — early adopters who had the foresight to understand the unique value propositions of Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto were left with practically nothing when both platforms halted withdrawals, shuttered their doors and eventually filed for bankruptcy. While there’s still hope that creditors will be made partially whole again, the road to recouping financial losses is expected to be long. While they’re waiting, creditors are banding together to sue these firms for various alleged infractions. This week’s Crypto Biz delves into recent lawsuits targeting Celsius co-founder Alex Mashinsky and several venture …

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKSAR Government) announced on Feb 16 that it had issued HK$800 million in tokenized green bonds, under the Government's Green Bond Program (GBP). The bonds were underwritten by four banks and priced at a yield of 4.05%. According to the announcement, the platform used Goldman Sachs' tokenization protocol GS DAP for the bond, which uses a private blockchain network to settle security tokens representing the beneficial interests of bonds in a T+1 payment-vs-payment (DvP) manner, and cash tokens representing claims on the HKMA's Hong Kong …

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Journal reported that financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald is helping Tether oversee a $39 billion bond portfolio comprised of United States Treasury securities. The report indicated that some firms on Wall Street are willing to support crypto service providers despite ongoing regularity concerns facing the industry. Founded in 1945, Cantor Fitzgerald specializes in investment banking services, including institutional equity and fixed-income sales. The company claims to employ over 12,000 people. Beyond helping to “manage” a portion of Tether’s portfolio, Cantor Fitzgerald’s specific involvement with the stablecoin issuer wasn’t spelled out in the Journal’s …

El Salvador has passed landmark legislation providing the legal framework for a Bitcoin-backed bond — known as the “Volcano Bond” — which will be used to pay down sovereign debt and fund the construction of its proposed “Bitcoin City”. The bill passed on Jan. 11 with 62 votes for and 16 against, and is set to become law after it is ratified by President Bukele. #Plenaria90✍ Con 62 votos a favor, creamos la Ley de Emisión de Activos Digitales. pic.twitter.com/g1poXwLoH3 — Asamblea Legislativa (@AsambleaSV) January 11, 2023 The National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador announced the passage of the bill …

2022 appears to have been a torrid year for investors, and not just those in crypto, with United States (U.S.) bonds experiencing their worst year in centuries and U.S. stocks pulling back nearly 20% since the year began. As of Nov. 30, a Financial Times report noted that a traditional portfolio consisting of 60% stocks and 40% bonds will have seen its worst performance since 1932 when the U.S. was in the midst of the Great Depression. Meanwhile, tech stocks, which some theorize have a correlation with cryptocurrency prices, haven’t had a great year either. An index tracking the performance …

A handful of government-backed financial institutions have been exploring tokenization use cases to revolutionize traditional financial systems. For instance, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Volcanic bond project has been in the works for over a year and aims to raise $1 billion from investors with tokenized bonds to build a Bitcoin city. The Central Bank of Russia has also expressed interest in tokenized off-chain assets. In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Finance, together with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), recently announced the testing of a blockchain-backed platform for digital bond trading. Cointelegraph Research’s 2021 Security Token Report found that most securities …

Amid the crypto market downturn, El Salvador finally makes a decisive step to the realization of its ambitious “Bitcoin bonds” project. The Minister of the Economy Maria Luisa Hayem Brevé introduced a bill confirming the government’s plan to raise $1 billion and invest them into the construction of a “Bitcoin city.” A 33-page digital securities bill, dated Nov. 17, urges lawmakers to create a legal framework using the digital asses in public issuances by El Salvador. They should also consider all the requirements for this procedure and the obligations of issuers and asset providers. The “volcano bonds” or “Bitcoin bonds” …

Swiss investment bank UBS AG introduced its hybrid digital bond on Nov. 3, claiming to be the world's first publicly traded and settled on both blockchain-based and traditional exchanges. According to the bank, the digital bond has the same instrument structure, legal status and rating as a traditional UBS AG senior unsecured note. In its statement, the bank said: "Through this bond, UBS enables investors, regardless of whether they have the blockchain infrastructure, to invest in a digital bond. This removes a hurdle on the way to adopt new disruptive technology that can make issuing bonds faster, more efficient and …

The Israeli Ministry of Finance, together with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), digital assets custody provider Fireblock and the United States software solutions developer VMware, will conduct the testing of a blockchain-backed platform for digital bonds trading. These bonds will be issued by the Ministry of Finance. The news broke out in the local media on Oct. 19. Coming under the name “Eden,” the new project is intended to reduce costs and optimize the procedure of national bonds issuance. As the Accountant General, Yali Rothenberg told the public: “I believe that blockchain-based technologies are here to stay, and over …

El Salvador, the first nation to make Bitcoin (BTC) a legal tender in September last year, is currently focused on building a Bitcoin City. There have been several delays and disruptions in the plans since its announcement last year owing to the bear market-led investment drought and geo-political tensions. Cointelegraph reporter Joseph Hall got in touch with Héctor Enrique Celarié Landaverde, the deputy ambassador of El Salvador to the kingdom of the Netherlands, to get some insights into the country’s progress with its much-hyped project. Landaverde told Cointelegraph that the government is following a “first come first serve” basis, where …

MakerDAO, the governing body of the Maker Protocol has seen its revenue plummet in the third quarter of 2022, caused by a fall in loan demand and few liquidations, while expenses have remained high. According to an Oct. 13 tweet by Johnny_TVL, a Messari analyst and co-author of “The State of Maker Q3 2022,” the decentralized autonomous organization saw its revenue plunge to just over $4 million in Q3, down 86% from the previous quarter. One of the results of this has been MakerDAO’s first quarter of net income loss since 2020. The Messari senior research analyst has pointed to …

Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings Limited has unwound its exposure to commercial paper, addressing a long-standing item of contention among detractors who’ve criticized the quality of its reserves. In addition to removing commercial paper from its reserves, Tether announced on Oct. 13 that it had replaced those investments with United States Treasury Bills. “Reducing commercial papers to zero demonstrates Tether’s commitment to backing its tokens with the most secure reserves in the market,” the company said. While Tether has long been subjected to public scrutiny about its reserves, for the past year detractors have focused on the composition of its assets. …