The downfall of FTX and a number of other CeFi platforms in 2022 has reinforced a Bitcoin maximalist narrative, according to which most of the crypto ecosystem will eventually collapse due to its centralization. Jeff Booth, Bitcoin proponent and author of "The Price of Tomorrow", believes centralized crypto platforms such as FTX and Celsius have ended up replicating the traditional financial system with all its inherent flaws. "All of crypto is trying to rebuild a financial system that we already have based on manipulation and centralization," said Booth, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Even Defi platforms, which seek to …

After weeks of negotiations on a potential buyout of Zipmex, venture capital fund V Ventures has reportedly reached a deal to acquire the embattled cryptocurrency exchange. V Ventures, a subsidiary of Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) public company, is looking to purchase a 90% stake in Zipmex crypto exchange, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 2. The VC fund is about to acquire Zipmex for about $100 million in digital assets and cash, anonymous sources familiar with the matter claimed. Citing a court hearing on Friday in Singapore, the report says that Zipmex was offered $30 million in cash and the rest in …

With the new announcement that Cardano is on its way to release an algorithmic stablecoin in 2023, various community members expressed concerns, comparing the project to Terra USD (UST), which caused great losses within the crypto space in 2022. According to its developers, the stablecoin project Djed will be pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed by Cardano (ADA). Apart from this, it will be using another token as its reserve coin. The project highlighted that it will be overcollateralized and will have on-chain proof-of-reserves. Despite the assurances given by the team, various community members expressed concerns, with some bringing …

Cryptocurrency miners in Russia appear to be unbothered by the ongoing crisis of crypto mining as the local demand for mining hardware has reportedly been on the surge in Q4 2022. Some crypto mining hardware distributors in Russia have faced a significant spike in demand for mining-designed application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips, the local news agency Kommersant reported on Dec. 1. Local dealer Chilkoot reported its ASIC sales in November and October exceeded its entire sales made in Q3. Over the past nine months, the distributor reportedly sold 65% more hardware than in 2021. “We are working with legal entities, …

Central bank governors from around the globe are currently in Thailand to discuss the role of central banks amid evolving financial technology. The conference is jointly hosted by the Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). A panel discussion on digitalized monetary systems saw Eddie Yue, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Changyong Rhee, governor of the Bank of Korea, Adrian Orr, governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Cecilia Skingsley from Bank for International Settlements discuss the rise of digital assets and central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and the risks associated …

As one of the main growing sub-sectors in the crypto industry, decentralized finance (DeFi) has faced a challenging year amid market dynamics, cyberattacks and regulatory uncertainty. Its future demands more transparency and clarity in the regulatory landscape, according to a panel discussion at the International Workshop on P2P Financial Systems 2022 on Dec. 1. Moderated by Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief Kristina Cornèr with Gaspard Pedruzzi, CEO of APWine; Daniel Perez, co-founder of Mero; Hugo Philion, CEO of Flare, and Niall Roche, CTO-in-residence at the University College London School of Management as panelists, the discussion focused on the DeFi future among a disruptive …

An interview between the Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried ‘SBF’ and George Stephanopoulos aired on Good Morning America on Dec. 1. In the interview, SBF was insistent that FTX was not a “Ponzi scheme” but was “a real business.” The former CEO also denied any knowledge of FTX customer deposits being used to pay Alameda Research’s creditors, as reportedly claimed by Alameda’s CEO Caroline Ellison. According to him, he had no knowledge of “any improper use of customer funds”. Bankman-Fried also admitted to not spending any time and effort trying to manage risk on FTX. He shared: "There is something …

According to a new proposal dated Dec. 1, directed acrylic graph network Fantom seeks to implement an affiliate program for its decentralized application, or dApp, developers with network gas fees. To fund this venture, the Fantom community has proposed slashing the protocol's current FTM token burn rate from 20% to 5%. In supporting the proposal, Fantom developers wrote: "We take what works in web2 and restructure it to fit the network's priorities, which means taking the ad monetisation model and extending it to gas monetisation for performing dApps that manage to attract a steady stream of users." The development team …

As a crypto CEO, I know how often our sector is misunderstood and criticized. Sometimes, the criticism is deserved because we have not always done our part to shine a light on the utility and use cases powering positive change. But other times, it’s based on the assumption that all players in this industry are the same, which is just not true. Recently, skepticism reached new heights with the epic crash of FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world — and perhaps the largest-ever example of the need for regulatory oversight. Given the positioning of FTX, it …

According to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 1, crypto ATM operator Bitcoin Depot said it "remains on track to complete its previously announced business combination with GSR II Meteora Acquisition Corp." The merger with the special purpose acquisition vehicle, or SPAC, is scheduled to occur in the first quarter of 2023, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Bitcoin Depot estimates that the deal will infuse the company with up to $170 million in cash proceeds net of debt repayment. In its earnings report for year-to-date financials that ended Sept. 30, released the same …

Italy is planning to tighten regulations on digital currencies by expanding its tax laws to include cryptocurrency trading in 2023, according to budget documentation released on Dec. 1. Included in its 2023 budget are plans to impose a 26% levy on profits larger than 2000 euros ( $2,062.3) made on cryptocurrency trading, according to Bloomberg. Prior to this proposal, digital currencies had lower tax rates because they were previously considered “foreign currency." In the proposed bill, taxpayers will have the option to declare the value of their digital asset holdings as of Jan. 1, and pay a 14% tax. This …

Bitcoin (BTC) has been stuck below the $18,600 resistance for the past 19 days and while bears successfully breached the $16,000 support on Nov. 21, the 8% range is pretty narrow for an asset class with 60% annualized volatility. This gives investors good reason to doubt that BTC price will hold its current gains leading into the $430 million BTC options expiry on Dec. 2. Investors are still unsure about whether $15,500 was the Bitcoin bottom and the consequences of the FTX and Alameda Research demise continue to emerge. The latest contagion victim was Auros Global, an algorithmic trading and …