On Dec. 15, cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced that due to not meeting the "high level of standard we expect," four tokens, including Mithril (MITH) Tribe (TRIBE) Augur (REP) Bitcoin Standard Hashrate Token (BTCST), will be delisted from the exchange effective Dec. 22, 2022. Immediately after the announcement, Twitter accounts from decentralized social media protocol Mithril, whose tokens had a market cap of less than $10 million at the time of publication, posted the following statement: "Today, Binance has announced that it will delist MITH. As part of the MITH listing, Binance required a 200,000 BNB [$52.7 million at the time …

According to data provided to Cointelegraph on Dec. 15, network growth still appears to be strong for blockchain indexer The Graph (GRT). Launched two years ago, The Graph Network allows developers to easily search, index, use and publish data from public blockchains. From Nov. 2021 to Nov. 2022, the total number of developers on The Graph (both active and inactive) increased by 145% to 38,000. During the same period, average GRT query fees per month increased by 1,191% to 354,000, while total lifetime GRT queries on the decentralized network increased by 984% to 5.2 billion. Finally, total subgraphs, or proxies …

Cloud computing giant Microsoft is taking measures to increase stability of its cloud services by forcing new restrictions for activities like cryptocurrency mining. Microsoft has quietly banned crypto mining from its online services in order to better protect its customers and clouds, British technology news agency The Register reported on Dec. 15. The company introduced the new restrictions as part of its universal license terms of Microsoft Online Services. Microsoft updated its acceptable use policy on Dec. 1 to clarify that “mining cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval.” In the “Acceptable Use Policy” section, Microsoft said that it now …

The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) recently appointed chair has presented an unfriendly attitude toward cryptocurrencies in a cross-party Treasury select committee meeting. Ashley Alder, who will assume control of the FCA in February 2023, described cryptocurrency-related businesses as ‘deliberately evasive’ and suggested the sector facilitated money laundering during the meeting with Treasury members on Dec. 14. According to a report from Financial Times, the current chief executive of Hong Kong’s Securities & Futures Commission highlighted his belief that the cryptocurrency ecosystem created risk which called for further regulatory purview from government: “Our experience to date of [crypto] platforms, whether FTX …

On Dec. 14, Bitcoin (BTC) broke above $18,000 for the first time in 34 days, marking a 16.5% gain from the $15,500 low on Nov. 21. The move followed a 3% gain in the S&P 500 futures in 3 days, which reclaimed the critical 4,000 points support. While BTC price started the day in favor of bulls, investors anxiously awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve Committee's decision on interest rates, along with Fed chair Jerome Powell's remarks. The subsequent 0.50% hike and Powell’s explanation of why the Fed would stay the course of its current policy gave investors good reason to …

On Dec. 14, Bitcoin (BTC) price hit a 1-month high and saw a brief resurgence in bullish momentum, but the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) hawkish report and comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell sent BTC to an intraday low at $17,659. Stocks and Bitcoin started the day slightly up but quickly retracted on the FOMC report. To date, Bitcoin price remains closely correlated to equities and a majority of investors have concerns about the impact of further rate increases in the future. Rising interest rates and hawkish talk from Powell impact BTC price While the Consumer Price …

Digital payments platform PayPal has teamed up with Metamask’s parent company, ConsenSys, to allow Metamask users to purchase and transfer Ethereum (ETH) via PayPal's platform. According to the announcement on Dec. 14, the service will initially be rolled out to only select PayPal users within the United States, since the US is one of Metamask’s largest markets, user-wise. Our US users will now be able to fund their wallet with ETH via @PayPal! Rolling out in the next weeks in the US, excl. Hawaii, through our mobile app (make sure to update to v5.13.0)https://t.co/392JwFYF3m — MetaMask (@MetaMask) December 14, 2022 …

What do the cryptocurrency and porn industries have in common? As it turns out, both are frequent targets of the traditional financial system, which has been known to ban the accounts of both crypto traders and sex workers. On this week’s episode of the newly launched podcast The Agenda, Cointelegraph senior copy editor Jonathan DeYoung and head of markets Ray Salmond speak to Allie Rae, an adult content creator and CEO of WetSpace — a crypto-focused alternative to OnlyFans. Rae first exploded into the mainstream when she lost her job as an ICU nurse after her colleagues discovered her hobby …

"Not handled well," was how one user described the revelations brought forth by Cointelegraph on Dec. 14 with regard to a leak of 5.7 million Gemini customers' email addresses and partial phone numbers. Shortly after publication, multiple users reached out to Cointelegraph, alleging that the leak, which Gemini attributes to a "third-party incident," happened much earlier than first expected. Mysterious reports of users receiving targeted phishing emails began surfacing on the official r/Gemini Subreddit in the weeks prior. In one thread dating back to November, user DaveJonesBones claimed that he received a targeted phishing email from an address that was …

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini appears to have suffered a data breach on or before Dec. 13. According to documents obtained by Cointelegraph, hackers gained access to 5,701,649 lines of information pertaining to customers' account numbers, email addresses, and partial phone numbers. In the case of the latter, hackers apparently did not gain access to the full phone numbers as certain numeric digits were obfuscated. The leaked database did not include sensitive personal information such as names, addresses, and other know-your-customer information. In addition, some emails were repeated in the document; thus, the number of customers affected is likely lower than the …

The African continent has been tipped as an important market for crypto adoption due to its young population, lousy economic management by governments and lack of efficient financial infrastructure to connect the continent internally and globally. Adoption is becoming so widespread that celebrities do not want to get left out, with several big names in the entertainment and media space working with crypto brands. In the first episode of Cointelegraph’s new podcast Hashing It Out, hosted by Cointelegraph social media specialist Elisha Owusu Akyaw, Fonbnk co-founder Michael Kimani answers questions about what crypto adoption really looks like in the face …

The Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Bitfarms is facing compliance challenges over its listing on Nasdaq due to the ongoing cryptocurrency winter. Bitfarms received a warning notification from Nasdaq on Dec. 13 because the company’s share price has stayed below $1 for 30 consecutive working days. Announcing the news on Dec. 14, Bitfarms said that it has an initial period of 180 calendar days to regain compliance with the requirements from Nasdaq. In order to regain compliance, Bitfarms’ shares should close at $1 per share for a minimum period of 10 consecutive days at any time before June 12, 2023. …