As the year comes to an end, investors will be keenly watching for a Santa Claus rally on Wall Street as many believe that if the rally does not happen, the next year may either remain flat or turn negative. Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro at asset management giant Fidelity Investments, tweeted on Dec. 19 that the United States equities markets may remain “sideways” and choppy in 2023. He expects “one or more retests of the 2022 low, but not necessarily much worse than that.” The cryptocurrency market has been largely correlated with the S&P 500 in 2022. Unless …

Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplace Paxful has removed Ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native token, from its marketplace, citing a number of concerns around the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Paxful CEO Ray Youssef announced the move in a message to some 11.6 million users of the platform, which he subsequently shared on Twitter. We finally kicked #ethereum off our marketplace. 11.6m humans safer. Integrity over revenue Who is next ? pic.twitter.com/JTJXa5RYJ8 — Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) December 21, 2022 Youssef highlighted three major concerns around the Ethereum ecosystem which led to the marketplace removing ETH, citing Paxful’s intent to maintain its integrity and …

With the FTX exchange being highlighted all over the world of finance, trust in the crypto space seems to dwindle. However, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead believes that there are two areas in crypto that truly work. According to the executive, narratives that question blockchain and call it a failure because of the FTX collapse are wrong. The Pantera CEO argued that there are several things in crypto that work, such as regulated exchanges and decentralized exchanges. “If you can’t trust FTX who can you trust?!” The two-pronged answer is: Regulated exchanges work great e.g. @coinbase, @Bitstamp DeFi works great, …

With more regulators eyeing the crypto space as the FTX debacle continues, the $1.5 billion merger of online investing platform Superhero with the Australian crypto exchange Swyftx was shelved. In an email to its customers, Superhero highlighted that it will not be proceeding with its merger with the crypto exchange. According to the company, this is because of heightened regulatory scrutiny within Australia and globally. They wrote: “As a result of the current environment, we have decided that the best thing for our Superhero customers is to unwind the merger and move forward as a separate, unrelated company.” The firm …

Decentralized exchange Uniswap has partnered with fintech company Moonpay to allow users to buy cryptocurrency on its web app using debit cards, credit cards, and bank transfers. The bank transfer option is being rolled out for users within most U.S. states, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Single European Payments Arena, also known as SEPA. In the announcement made on Dec. 20, Uniswap shared that its users will now be able to convert fiat to cryptocurrency on the Ethereum mainnet, Polygon, Optimism, and Artibrum in a matter of minutes. 1/ Go direct to DeFi Starting today, you can now purchase crypto …

Cryptocurrency trading firm Auros Global, which reportedly suffered a $20 million dollar exposure in the FTX collapse, has released a statement saying it plans to resume regular operations after implementing a restructuring plan. Statement from Auros regarding recent references in the media – pic.twitter.com/9RFHhYjHqz — Auros (@Auros_global) December 20, 2022 Following the collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency trading firm shared that it “found itself in a position where immediate liquidity was insufficient to satisfy recalls from lenders.” However, its top management remained confident that they would be able to weather the storm caused by the FTX contagion. In the issued …

Sasha Ivanov, founder and CEO of the Waves blockchain platform, is planning to launch a new stablecoin amid the ongoing crisis of the Waves-backed stablecoin, Neutrino USD (USDN). Ivanov took to Twitter on Dec. 20 to announce the USDN situation resolution plan alongside a new stablecoin project. “I will launch a new stablecoin,” Waves founder wrote, adding that there is going to be a “USDN situation resolution plan set in motion before.” He stressed that nothing new will be launched or announced until the USDC plan resolution is set in motion. Without specifying the details on the nature of the …

Busan, the blockchain city of South Korea, has moved a step closer to forming a local crypto exchange, but it has dropped most of the global centralized exchange partners. The drastic decision comes in the wake of the recent colossal failure of centralized exchanges. The city announced the steering committee comprising 18 local blockchain experts but none of the five exchanges that had agreed earlier this year to assist the city in establishing its first official digital asset exchange. The five exchanges included Binance, Crypto.com, Gate.io, Huobi Global and FTX. The steering committee is a municipal advisory body tasked with …

Bankrupt crypto lending platform BlockFi has filed a motion requesting authority from the United States Bankruptcy Court to allow its users to withdraw digital assets currently locked up in BlockFi Wallets. In a motion filed on Dec .19 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of New Jersey, the lender asked the court for authority to honor client withdrawals from wallet accounts as of the platform’s pause on Nov. 10. As part of our presentation in Court, we also expressed our intention to request approval from the Court to restore withdrawal activities for BlockFi Wallet accounts. — BlockFi (@BlockFi) …

Gate US, the United States arm of the fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Gate.io says it has received operating licenses in “several” states, bringing it closer to launching serviin the country. Founder and president of Gate.io and its U.S. entity, Dr. Lin Han, announced in a Dec. 19 statement that Gate US is now registered as a money services business with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) — the country’s money laundering and financial crimes watchdog. He added the exchange “obtained some money transmission licenses or similar to operate, and is currently working to obtain more." Gate US …

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 …

Binance has acquired Indonesian crypto asset trader Tokocrypto, according to local reports on Dec. 19. The purchase was confirmed in a tweet by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), who characterized the deal as having “just injected more cash and increased our shareholding a bit.” Changes are expected at the exchange. Tokocrypto founder Pang Xue Kai will reportedly step down as CEO, to be replaced by Yudhono Rawis as interim chief. Pang Xue Kai will remain on the company’s board of commissioners. CNBC quotes Pang Xue Kai as saying: "This decision was made after careful consideration and we decided that the …