Istanbul Blockchain Week opened its doors on Nov. 14 to bring the crypto and blockchain ecosystem together in İstanbul, Turkey. Cointelegraph attended the event with a Cointelegraph Turkey booth and an İstanbul-based editor to experience the impact of the FTX collapse firsthand — the result was unexpected. As an international hub housing more than 15 million people, İstanbul was shaken by a bombing attack in Taksim, the city center, on Nov. 13 evening. Yet, the following day, Istanbul Blockchain Week (IBW) opened its doors to more than 2,000 international attendees and over 100 speakers after consulting with local security authorities. …

The independent examiner in crypto lender Celsius’ bankruptcy case has alleged that the company failed to set up “sufficient” accounting and operational controls in its handling of customer funds. In an interim report released on Nov. 19, examiner Shoba Pillay made a number of stark observations in her court-appointed investigation into the bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform. One of the main revelations in Pillay’s report was that Celsius’ “Custody” program was launched “without sufficient accounting and operational controls or technical infrastructure,” which allowed shortfalls in Custody wallets to be funded from its other holdings. “[...] no effort was made to segregate …

On-chain sleuth ZachXBT has shared his findings on what he sees as the three most common misconceptions about the FTX hack — taking to Twitter to correct a "ton of misinformation" about the event and the possible culprits. In a lengthy Nov. 20 post on Twitter, the self-proclaimed “on-chain sleuth” debunked speculation that Bahamian officials were behind the FTX hack, that exchanges knew the hacker's true identity, and that the culprit is trading memecoins. 1/ I have seen a ton of misinformation being spread on Twitter and in the news about the FTX event so let me debunk the three …

On Nov. 11, while the rest of the country was celebrating Veteran’s Day, Sam Bankman-Fried announced that FTX — one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by volume — had filed for bankruptcy. Lawmakers and pundits quickly latched onto the rapid disintegration of FTX to call for more regulation of the crypto industry. “The most recent news further underscores these concerns [about consumer harm] and highlights why prudent regulation of cryptocurrencies is indeed needed,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. It remains unclear what exactly transpired at FTX. Reports indicating that between $1 billion and $2 billion of customer …

The FTX collapse continues to stoke fears of a contagion in the cryptocurrency space as investors wait to hear about businesses that may face the heat. One of the marquee names to come under the circle of suspicion is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which has seen its discount to Bitcoin’s (BTC) price reach record levels of about 50%. Traders hate uncertainty and shy away from investing during these periods. That could be one of the reasons for a lack of buying interest in Bitcoin even after the sharp fall in its price. The Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model, which had seen …

FTX — the three letters on everyone’s lips in recent days. For those active in the crypto space, it has been a shattering blow as a tumultuous year for crypto nears an end. The repercussions are severe, with over a million people and businesses owed money following the collapse of the crypto exchange, according to bankruptcy filings. With investigations into the collapse ongoing, it will certainly push forward regulatory changes, either via lawmakers or through federal agencies. While regulators may feel relieved that the scandal didn’t occur under their supervision, it highlights that there simply hasn’t been enough action taken …

The leading institutional Web3 summit will kick off in Miami soon — and has attracted high-profile speakers from across TradFi and Web3. MiamiWeb3 — which is being held at the InterContinental Hotel from Nov. 28 to 30 — will provide a platform to discuss key trends in this fast-moving sector, as well as policy and where the industry is heading next. The city's mayor, Francis Suarez, will be among the attendees — alongside Senator Cynthia Lummis, who has made a name for herself as one of the staunchest cryptocurrency supporters in Congress. She has also played an instrumental role in …

The collapse of FTX has shown that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. In a year filled with jaw-dropping unveilings, none compare to the bewildering fall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange. While many were stunned, there were a few tell-tale signs that may have indicated not everything was peachy-perfect over at FTX headquarters. These issues began to compound and, on Oct. 5, I published a detailed commentary about my decision to begin pulling funds out of FTX and short FTT. Im taking all of my capital out of @FTX_Official and going short $FTT FTX has been swinging and missing all year …

“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information,” new FTX CEO John Ray III said in a legal filing on Thursday. “From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented.” Ray, who oversaw Enron’s bankruptcy in 2001, stepped in as CEO shortly after founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned (and reportedly tried to flee to Argentina, although he denies it). He is absolutely …

2022 was a tough year for crypto, and November was especially hard on investors and traders alike. While it was incredibly painful for many, FTX’s blowup and the ensuing contagion that threatens to pull other centralized crypto exchanges down with it could be positive over the long run. Allow me to explain. What people learned, albeit in the hardest way possible, is that exchanges were running fractional reserve-like banks to fund their own speculative, leveraged investments in exchange for providing users with a “guaranteed” yield. Somewhere, across the crypto Twitterverse, the phrase “If you don’t know where the yield comes …

Bitcoin (BTC) price has tested the $16,000 resistance multiple times since the 25% crash that occurred between Nov. 7 and Nov. 9, and some critics will justify their bearish bias by incorrectly assuming that the failure of FTX exchange should trigger a much broader correction. It's kind of annoying me that Bitcoin is still selling for $16k-ish, even in the wake of all of this FTX news. I mean I assume the volume is low, but what on earth will it take to properly crush this zombie "currency" back to its rightful value of nearly zero? — Daniel Knowles (@dlknowles) …

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. The FTX collapse has created a sense of uncertainty among large and retail investors alike, who are not very sure whether they should keep their funds on centralized exchanges or not. The dilemma has led to a major uptick among DeFi protocols and decentralized exchanges. DeFi protocols and decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms gained some momentum in the aftermath of the FTX implosion. A new report from Delphi Digital suggests DEX platforms gained 24% volume …