Jo Johnson, the brother of former United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson, has reportedly stepped down from his role as an adviser to Binance, according to a report by the U.K.’s Telegraph. According to the report, Jo Johnson had been advising Binance during the exchange's efforts to expand into the United Kingdom. The former British prime minister’s brother, also known as Lord Johnson of Marylebone, reportedly took up a role on the U.K. advisory board of one of Binance's subsidiaries, Bitfinity, in September. The Telegraph reports that he resigned last week after Binance's proof of reserves raised red flags for …

According to an end-of-year letter to investors published on Dec. 10, Grayscale Investments' CEO Michael Sonnenshein said that the firm may consider "a tender offer for a portion of the outstanding shares of GBTC [Grayscale Bitcoin Trust]" if the latter's exchange-traded fund conversion process is ultimately unsuccessful. Sonnenshein stated that "such tender offer would be for no more than 20% of the outstanding shares of GBTC" and would require both regulatory "relief" from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as shareholder approval to approve such offer. Grayscale and its subsidiary over-the-counter traded fund GBTC is currently embroiled in …

How can companies prepare for a Web3 world? Organizations may create competitive DAOs, use tokenized assets, and actively share the value they create with their user networks to survive in the Web3 world. After the rising market for NFT artwork and collectibles in 2021 and the metaverse land grab in 2022, Web3 presents opportunities for innovative business models, products, and established organizations. Although traditional organizational structures vary from company to company, positions are best filled by individuals who can best serve the interests of shareholders. By swiftly and effectively establishing roles and permissions using NFTs that reflect individuals’ rights and …

Major cryptocurrency investment firm CoinShares has debuted trading on Nasdaq Stockholm, the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. CoinShares officially announced on Dec. 19, the first day of trading on Nasdaq Stockholm’s main market, with CoinShares’ stock starting trading on the exchange under the ticker CS. The latest trading debut marks a change of listing venue for CoinShares’ stocks. Previously, CS shares were traded on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market, an alternative stock exchange for small and medium-sized companies in Europe. CoinShares first went public by listing its shares on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in March …

According to a new press release published on Dec. 19, cryptocurrency exchange Binance.US will acquire assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital for $1.022 billion. After a review of strategic options, the firm said that Binance.US represented the "highest and best bid for its assets." The $1.022 billion bid is comprised of the fair market value of Voyager's cryptocurrency portfolio at a to-be-determined date in the future, along with an additional consideration equal to $20 million of incremental value. "The Company's claims against Three Arrows Capital remain with the bankruptcy estate, and any future recovery on these and other non-released …

Tel Aviv's Magistrate Court has reportedly issued a ruling allowing Israel's government to seize all the crypto in more than 150 digital wallets it blacklisted over alleged links to funding terrorist groups. According to Dec. 18 local Israeli media reports, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has revealed the court's Dec. 15 ruling has already allowed authorities to seize a further $33,500 from digital wallets linked to the Islamist militant group Hamas. Prior to the court ruling, Israeli authorities had only been legally allowed to seize digital assets with direct links to terrorist activity but not additional funds in the same …

United States Banking Committee chairman Sherrod Brown has suggested that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should perhaps consider a ban on cryptocurrencies. Brown’s comments were made in a Dec. 18 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” although the Senator quickly added that a ban would be difficult to enforce. “We want them to do what they need to do at the same time, maybe banning it, although banning it is very difficult because it would go offshore, and who knows how that would work.” Earlier, in response to a host's question about Senator …

After the collapse of Terraform Labs’ cryptocurrency, Terra (LUNA), and its stablecoin, Terra (UST), the notion of “algorithmic stabilization” has fallen to a low point in popularity, both in the cryptocurrency world and among mainstream observers. This emotional response, however, is strongly at odds with reality. In fact, algorithmic stabilization of digital assets is a highly valuable and important class of mechanism whose appropriate deployment will be critical if the crypto sphere is to meet its long-term goal of improving the mainstream financial system. Blockchains, and other similar data structures for secure decentralized computing networks, are not only about money. …

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has received official criminal charges after the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, which is more than just a moral victory for the exchange’s roughly 1 million individual investors. While not locked in yet, things appear to be on track for these investors to take a more favorable tax position as SBF’s fate continues to unravel. What kinds of losses can FTX investors claim on their taxes? Earlier this fall, it appeared that assets lost in the FTX collapse would be considered a capital loss under the United States tax code for the tax year 2022. This …

This year saw an influx of trademark applications filed by various companies looking to get in on the Web3 action. By November, a total number of 4999 US trademark applications had been filed for cryptocurrencies and digital related goods/services — this according to USPTO licensed trademark attorney, Mike Kondoudis. According to the USPTO licensed trademark attorney, the future of the Web3 ecosystem looks "bright" and that "mainstream adoption is inevitable." Learn more about the impact of Web3 trademark applications filed on the future of the Web3 ecosystem in Cointelegraph’s interview with Mike Kondoudis below. Cointelegraph covered a wide range of …

Crypto markets threw a nice head fake this week by rallying into resistance on a “positive” Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, before retracing the majority of those gains right after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell took on a surprisingly hawkish tone during his post-rate-hike presser. The Fed hiked interest rates by 0.50%, which was well within the expectation of most market participants, but the eyebrow-raiser was the Federal Open Market Committee consensus that rates would need to reach the 5%–5.5%+ range in order to hopefully achieve the Fed’s 2% inflation target. This basically threw cold water on traders’ lusty dreams …

Officials with the United States Financial Stability Oversight Council, or FSOC, have recommended U.S. lawmakers pass legislation aimed at addressing regulatory gaps for crypto-related activities. In its annual report released on Dec. 16, the FSOC recommended members of Congress pass legislation granting “explicit rulemaking authority for federal financial regulators over the spot market for crypto-assets,” noting that tokens previously identified as securities would be exempt. The council also noted the lack of a comprehensive regulatory framework — specifically addressing stablecoins and visibility and supervision of crypto firms — in the United States. The FSOC cited the recent downfall of crypto …