Cryptocurrency has faced more than its fair share of catastrophes, nearly all of which seemed as though they might end or at least seriously impede the continued growth of the sector. Yet despite the many “teachable moments,” the social layer of crypto refuses to learn its lesson and continues to place its trust in the hands of individuals rather than fully utilize the technologies it claims to support. Since the early days of the industry, crypto has faced major blows at the hands of centralized actors — Mt. Gox, which handled 70% of global Bitcoin transactions, lost track of 25,000 …

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase won’t escape from the profitability challenges it will face from the crypto market downturn, despite having a strong brand and credibility in the crypto market, according to investment analysts. Credit rating firm Moody’s released a note on Coinbase on Jan. 19 discussing its downgrade of Coinbase’s senior debt and corporate family rating (CFR) — a rating assigned to reflect the opinion of a company’s ability to honor its financial obligations. Coinbase’s CFR and senior debt were re-graded to B2 and B1 from Ba3 and Ba2 respectively, indicating the firm is “non-investment grade” and “speculative and subject to …

Law firm Sullivan & Cromwell have contradicted themselves when they claim that shuttered crypto exchange FTX.US is insolvent, according to former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (also known as “SBF”) in a January 17 blog post that was shared on Twitter. FTX US is solvent, as it always as been.https://t.co/XjcyYFsoU0 pic.twitter.com/kn9Wm9wxjl — SBF (@SBF_FTX) January 18, 2023 The law firm was hired by FTX Group to handle the bankruptcy proceedings of several of its subsidiaries, including FTX International, Alameda Research, and FTX.US. However, Sam Bankman-Fried has stated on several occasions that he believes FTX.US is solvent and should not have declared bankruptcy. …

Unregulated crypto exchanges will continue to fall like dominoes post-FTX, with plenty more “meltdowns” to come, warns Shark Tank star and investor Kevin O’Leary. O’Leary, a former spokesperson and proponent for the now-bankrupt FTX exchange, told Kitco anchor David Lin in a Jan. 17 interview that the collapse was just one in a long line of “unregulated exchanges” likely to fail: “If you’re asking me if there’s going to be another meltdown to zero? Absolutely. 100% it’ll happen, and it’ll keep happening over, and over and over again.” Unregulated exchanges are those that aren't subject to regular auditing, aren’t registered …

Just a month after warning of a "significant deficit" in its treasury, the CEO of decentralized exchange (DEX) SushiSwap has shared several planned updates to the platform which it says is intended to "10x" its market share in 2023. Sushi CEO Jared Grey laid out the plans for the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform in a Jan. 16 Medium post saying it will focus on its product stack in line with prior plans to make Sushi more sustainable. "Sushi commands ~2% of the AMM market & 0% of the aggregation market. By executing our vision, we intend to 10x our market …

With investor confidence seemingly at an all-time low thanks to the recent slew of insolvencies, a new saga seems to be now unfolding in real time. This one involves crypto exchange Gemini’s Winklevoss twins and Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG) — the parent firm behind crypto market maker and lender Genesis. On Jan. 2, Cameron Winklevoss posted an open letter to Barry Silbert reminding him of the fact that it had been “47 days since Genesis halted withdrawals” while also providing a blunt, seemingly confrontational assessment of DCG’s existing business practices: “For the past six weeks, we …

Investor sentiment has always been a critical driver in the crypto space. Both positive and negative sentiment influence ongoing trends — be they price movements, product launches or regulations. In 2022, sentiment worldwide suffered as major crypto firms and ecosystems collapsed, further straining investors amid an unforgiving bear market. While many showed resilience as Terraform Labs, Celsius and Voyager, among others, closed down, Sam Bankman-Fried’s alleged misappropriation of FTX customers’ funds drove even the most die-hard crypto investors to question the integrity of those running the show. A series of scams, crashes, bankruptcy filings and court cases have forced investors …

The business model that cryptocurrency exchanges currently use relies on ignorance and fear. It relies on their customers not knowing much about decentralized finance (DeFi) and their fear of what could happen if they get things wrong with their crypto investments. Cryptocurrencies seem like an obscure and risky investment to most, and unsurprisingly, concerns about losing assets in market crashes, losing wallets or security keys through carelessness, or being scammed by unscrupulous operators are prevalent. These concerns are reasonable considering the volatility of the market and the prevalence of sharks, crooks, bluffers and shysters who operate in the industry. In …

There’s no denying that the crypto market has been gripped by immense bearish pressure over the past year, as made evident by the fact that the total capitalization of this sector has continued to hover below the $900 billion mark for most of the year after having scaled up to an all-time high of $3 trillion in 2021. These conditions have been characterized by many companies facing insolvency, as well as many of the world’s top exchanges laying off their staff in recent months. Moreover, the recent FTX debacle has set in motion a contagion effect that has continued to …

Mt. Gox creditors will have more time to decide on which repayment method they want to be paid in and register their payee information at the defunct crypto exchange. In an announcement dated Jan. 6, Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi stated that the previously announced deadline for repayment selection which was on Jan. 10, has now been moved to Mar. 10 citing the “progress by rehabilitation creditors” in the selection and registration as a reason for the change in deadline. The announcement also urged creditors to complete the necessary steps before the new deadline. The update wrote that the rehabilitation …

Speculation on Twitter that crypto exchange Huobi has laid off staff and shuttered internal communications have prompted the community to advise users to withdraw funds, despite an advisor to the exchange denying the rumors. In a Jan. 5 tweet, Huobi advisor Justin Sun addressed rumors of purported insolvency saying the business development of the exchange was “good” and the “security of users' assets will always be fully protected.” Sun also seemingly brushed off speculation around disgruntled staff saying Huobi will “fully respect the legal demands of local employees.” Earlier, on Jan. 3, crypto journalist Colin Wu reported Sun changed Huobi …

Crypto token wash trading on centralized exchanges will be the cause of the next crypto “implosion,” according to billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner and crypto investor Mark Cuban. In an interview with The Street on Jan. 5, the billionaire investor opined that 2023 will not be short of crypto scandals following the numerous fiascos that rocked 2022. Cuban, who has backed several crypto and Web3 startups, said he believes the next biggest thing to impact the industry will be "the discovery and removal of wash trades on central exchanges.” “There are supposedly tens of millions of dollars in trades and liquidity …