Troubled cryptocurrency firm Nexo is planning to sue the Bulgarian government in the aftermath of massive raids at the company’s offices in Sofia. Nexo has complained about the actions of the law enforcement authorities in response to the investigation against the firm, the Bulgarian News Agency reported on Jan. 13. The company is reportedly preparing to file a lawsuit against the authorities to seek compensation for damages caused by the abrupt police interruption. One report suggested that investigators did not provide a search warrant for hours, while inspectors had never identified themselves. Nexo believes that the raids conducted in its …

The beginning of 2022 saw both the crypto market cap and the non-fungible token (NFT) market reaching incredibly healthy status. Crypto reached a strong $2.5 trillion in value, and NFTs peaked after 2021’s exponential growth. As in previous crypto bull markets, new projects gained significant attention, which drove aggressive speculative investment; the Terra ecosystem being a prime example. Moreover, both retail and venture capitalists were heavily investing in what was fast becoming an overcrowded space. All this activity was taking place against a backdrop of a wider macroeconomic environment that felt unendingly strong, and with easy access to borrowing at …

The Singapore-based troubled crypto lender is looking at a possible liquidation as the firm's creditors have rejected the proposed restructuring plan and are seeking liquidation of the platform’s assets. The group of creditors rejected a restructuring plan offer that allowed the current directors to look over the operations of the firm during the restructuring phase. However, a Jan. 12 hearing rejected an application to remove the interim judicial managers, reported Bloomberg. The creditors believe restructuring plans are of no help, and it is in their best interest to wind down and liquidate the remaining assets of the firm. Algorand Foundation, …

As the crypto space continues to expand into the mainstream, bridging the gap between digital currencies and fiat currency is a priority for many legacy financial institutions. Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi announced its partnership with Solaris, a European financial services provider, to launch a crypto-to-fiat debit card. The program, which Visa has approved, allows Huobi users to use their digital assets at the point of sale globally. Users residing in the European Economic Area (EEA) will have access to the card beginning in the second quarter of 2023. The EEA comprises all 27 European Union member states, as well as Iceland, …

Input Output Global (IOG) — the team behind the Cardano ecosystem — will release a software toolkit in late Jan. 2023 that will enable developers to deploy custom-built sidechains on Cardano aimed at improving the ecosystem. The news was announced by IOHK — a blockchain engineering company founded by Charles Hoskinson and now known as IOG — on Jan.12, which also attached the official technical documentation for the sidechain toolkit. ⛓️ The #Cardano sidechain toolkit was previewed at #IOScotFest, and we’re happy to share the first iteration is out now. Here’s the lowdown on this exciting new project! https://t.co/Ny9tQuJh5K — …

Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, has hit out at the regulator charging the exchange over issuing unregistered securities, calling the allegations "super lame" and a "manufactured parking ticket." In a series of tweets on Jan. 12, Winklevoss shared his disappointment over the earlier charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding Gemini's "Earn" program claiming the regulator was "optimizing for political points." He called the SEC's action "totally counterproductive" and said Gemini had been discussing the Earn program with the regulator "for more than 17 months." 2/ As a matter of background, the Earn program was …

The past year was a challenge across the globe. Financial markets plunged deep into the red, affecting millions, if not billions, of people worldwide. Inflation rose. For crypto, it has arguably been the worst year since Bitcoin’s (BTC) inception. It has been more of an ice age than a crypto winter , and bad actors and weak project s have dominated headlines — including FTX, Voyager, Celsius, Terra, Hodlnaut , and this week, Nexo . In 2023, the purge could continue with projects that — like Tezos, Lisk and EOS — do not develop any new technology, nor do they …

The crypto community has voiced their opinions on Sam Bankman-Fried’s latest “pre-mortem overview” of the collapse of FTX, published on Jan. 12 as a letter on substack. https://t.co/XVd0BPHxEU — SBF (@SBF_FTX) January 12, 2023 As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried denied allegations made against him in his lengthy letter, dubbed as a "pre-mortem overview",. In the letter, SBF maintained that FTX US had been "fully solvent" at the time the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with approximately $350 million in cash available. Bankman-Fried further stated that FTX International had a substantial amount of assets, …

Bitcoin (BTC) price has gained 15% in the past 13 days, and during this timeframe, traders’ bearish bets in BTC futures were liquidated in excess of $530 million compared to bulls. After rallying to $19,000 on Jan. 12, Bitcoin reached its highest price since the FTX exchange collapse on Nov. 8. The move was largely fueled by the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) expectation for December, which matched consensus at 6.5% year-over-year — highlighting that the inflationary pressure likely peaked at 9% in June. Furthermore, on Jan. 11, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich said $5 billion in cash and liquid …

Economists at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) took a look at the risks inherent in the crypto ecosystem and came up with a seemingly novel solution. “Develop an alternative,” they advised in a bulletin released Jan. 12. What they had in mind was central bank digital currency (CBDC). The authors of the bulletin, headed by BIS senior economist Matteo Aquilina, said they sought lessons from the crypto winter that descended in 2022. The recent failures in crypto asset markets underscore the need to address the risks presented by crypto before those markets become “systemic,” they said. Both centralized and …

Cryptocurrency broker Genesis Global allegedly owes its creditors more than $3 billion, according to a new report published by the Financial Times on Jan. 12. Its parent, Digital Currency Group (DCG), which also owns Grayscale Investments and its series of digital asset trusts, seeks to sell part of its venture capital holdings to offset the shortfall. According to people familiar with the matter, DCG's venture arm has more than 200 crypto-related projects "such as exchanges, banks, and custodians in at least 35 countries" with a total valuation of around $500 million. Cointelegraph previously reported on Nov.16, 2022, that Genesis Global …

In the fourth episode of Hashing It Out podcast series, Cointelegraph’s Elisha Owusu Akyaw discusses the evolution of decentralized finance (DeFi) with DeFi Dad, a DeFi educator and investor at Fourth Revolution Capital (4RC). DeFi Dad got into the cryptocurrency industry in 2017; however, things really took off for him after the bull market top in early 2018. Despite the downturn that followed, he decided to double down on crypto with a specific focus on decentralized finance. His love for DeFi translated into somewhat of an addiction, which led to the creation of a series of educational videos to onboard …