Crypto exchange Coinbase will be closing down most of its operations in Japan as part of its efforts to survive in the bear market. The move is part of the company’s restructuring plan and follows the recent layoff announcement that it was reducing its employees by 20%. In an interview with BNN Bloomberg, Coinbase executive Nana Murugesan said that most of the operations in Japan will be closed. “We’ve decided to wind down the majority of our operations in Japan, which led to eliminating most of the roles in our Japan entity,” said Murugesan. While the executive did not dive …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is starting 2023 with more layoffs, letting go of another 20% of its employees in a second major wave of layoffs. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong officially announced on Jan. 10 that Coinbase will cut 950 jobs as part of the company’s measures to reduce the firm’s operating costs by around 25% amid the ongoing crypto winter. Armstrong emphasized that Coinbase is “well capitalized,” and crypto “isn't going anywhere,” but the firm has to proceed with layoffs in order to keep the “appropriate operational efficiency.” “In fact, I believe recent events will ultimately end up benefiting Coinbase …

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has pled not guilty to all criminal charges he’s facing, including wire fraud, securities fraud and violations of campaign finance laws. In total, the entrepreneur faces eight criminal counts, which could result in 115 years in prison should he be convicted. Meanwhile, Daniel Friedberg, the controversial lawyer who served as top compliance chief at FTX, has reportedly cooperated with prosecutors and provided them with his knowledge of SBF’s use of customer funds to finance his illegal business scheme. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has formed the FTX Task …

There’s no denying that the crypto market has been gripped by immense bearish pressure over the past year, as made evident by the fact that the total capitalization of this sector has continued to hover below the $900 billion mark for most of the year after having scaled up to an all-time high of $3 trillion in 2021. These conditions have been characterized by many companies facing insolvency, as well as many of the world’s top exchanges laying off their staff in recent months. Moreover, the recent FTX debacle has set in motion a contagion effect that has continued to …

Cathie Wood, veteran investor and CEO of ARK Invest, remains bullish on the cryptocurrency industry and centralized exchanges (CEX) despite the bear market and the crypto crisis. Wood’s investment management firm ARK continues accumulating the stock of the major United States cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase. On Jan. 5, ARK purchased 144,463 Coinbase (COIN) shares for allocation by its financial technology-focused fund, ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), according to a trade notification seen by Cointelegraph. At the time of writing, the purchase is worth $4.8 million, with COIN closing at $33.5 on Thursday. On the same day, ARK also bought 27,813 COIN …

Cryptocurrency exchanges are introducing various ways to buy Bitcoin (BTC) using the Apple Pay payment method. This comes as a good move for Bitcoin adoption since the Apple Pay digital wallet accounts for more than 507 million mobile wallet downloads and a dominating market share of 43.5% in the United States mobile payments market. This ability to now integrate and buy Bitcoin with Apple Pay paves new crypto opportunities for iPhone users. This article explains how to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using Apple Pay. What is Apple Pay digital wallet? Apple Pay, introduced in 2014, is a mobile payment …

New York regulators announced on Jan. 4 that cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will pay a $50-million fine and invest a further $50 million in its compliance program, following a settlement with the New York State Department of Financial Services. The fine was issued after regulators found the company had allowed customers to open accounts without conducting sufficient background checks, potentially violating anti-money-laundering laws. The company's failure to properly identify customers and monitor their activity for suspicious activity was initially identified during a routine examination in 2020, but regulator's determined that the company's problems persisted, leading to a formal investigation in 2021. …

During a year plagued by crises such as the collapse of FTX and Celsius, data shows that crypto exchange Binance has emerged as the clear “winner” of 2022 according to Arcane Research. A Jan. 3 report from Arcane highlighted that Binance saw its market dominance soar throughout 2022. As of Dec. 28 last year it had captured 92% of the Bitcoin (BTC) spot market and 61% of the BTC derivatives market by volume: “There are no other evident ‘winners’ of 2022 other than Binance when it comes to the crypto market structure and market dominance. No matter how you look …

Futures and options let traders put down only a tiny portion of a trade’s value and bet that prices will go up or down to a certain point within a certain period. It can make traders' profits bigger because they can borrow more money to add to their positions, but it can also boost their losses much if the market moves against them. Even though the market for crypto derivatives is growing, the instruments and infrastructure that support it are not as developed as those in traditional financial markets. Next year will be the year that crypto derivatives reach a …

Is USD Coin safe? Despite the fact that the USD Coin is subject to regulatory oversight, investors must weigh the pros and cons of investing in stablecoins before committing any funds. Comparing USDC with USDT, USDC is subject to regulations as it is audited from time to time, and Circle is fully transparent about its operations. However, investing in the cryptocurrency market, even in stablecoins, has its own cons. For instance, the price of the USD Coin will never appreciate as it is pegged to the U.S. dollar. This disadvantage is offset by the provision that USDC can be lent …

The bear market and the wave of bankruptcies in the crypto industry drained $116 billion from the pockets of founders and investors in the past nine months, according to recent estimates by Forbes. The loss represents the combined personal equity of 17 people in the space, with over 15 losing more than half of their fortunes since March. As a result, 10 names were removed from the crypto billionaires list. One of the major losses was attributed to Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao. In March, his 70% stake in the crypto exchange was valued at $65 billion, but it is …

Crypto exchange Coinbase was granted permission by the Central Bank of Ireland to act as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), according to an announcement on Dec. 21. The company's operations in the country will be overseen by Cormac Dinan, a former employee of Crypto.com, Deloitte and Citigroup. Under the VASP registration, Coinbase Ireland will be subject to the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010. Two Coinbase entities are covered by the VASP registration: Coinbase Europe Limited and Coinbase Custody International Limited. The first provides crypto trading services to European customers, while Coinbase Custody International provides crypto …