Crypto scam revenue was slashed by almost half in 2022 due mainly to falling crypto asset prices, but two scam types managed to stay immune. Crypto scam revenue in 2022, which includes investment scams, NFT scams and romance scams, among others, amounted to $5.9 billion in the year — down 46% from 2021. The data came from a Feb. 16 crime report from Chainalysis, which attributed most of the decline in scam revenue to poor market conditions — as lower crypto prices generally result in lower scam performance. Chainalysis however pointed to two different scam types that managed to stay …

Bitcoin (BTC) price rallied over 12% on Feb. 15, marking the highest daily close in more than six months. Curiously, the movement happened while gold reached a 40-day low at $1,826, indicating some potential shift in investors' risk assessment for cryptocurrencies. A stronger than expected U.S. inflation report on Feb. 14 presented 5.6% growth year-over-year, followed by data showing resilient consumer demand caused traders to rethink Bitcoin's scarcity value. U.S. retail sales increased by 3% in January versus the previous month — the highest gain in almost two years. On-chain data indicates that the recent gains can be traced back …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has been a rapidly growing sector of the cryptocurrency industry, but it has also faced significant regulatory challenges. With regulators struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation, the lack of clarity around regulations tends to create uncertainty for DeFi projects. Cointelegraph spoke to Alastair Johnson about regulatory challenges facing the DeFi industry. Johnson is the CEO of an identity “super-wallet” called Nuggets that seeks to deliver verified self-sovereign decentralized identities to users. He said that one of the main regulatory challenges is DeFi platform anonymity, which makes it difficult to comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon, charging the for "orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud." In a Feb. 16 statement, the SEC said Kwon and Terraform offered and sold an "inter-connected suite of crypto asset securities, many in unregistered transactions" pointing to its algorithmic stablecoin, TerraClassicUSD (USTC) and its connected cryptocurrency Terra Luna Classic (LUNC). In a statement, SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, said: "We allege that Terraform and Do Kwon failed to provide the public with full, fair, and truthful disclosure as required for …

Blockchain security firm CertiK reported on Feb. 16 that it has spotted a flash loan attack on Avalanche-based stableswap platform Platypus DeFi. The blockchain security firm posted the news in a tweet, alongside the attacker contract address. #CertiKSkynetAlert We are seeing a #flashloan attack on @Platypusdefi resulting in a potential loss of ~$8.5M. Tx AVAX: 0x1266a937c2ccd970e5d7929021eed3ec593a95c68a99b4920c2efa226679b430 Stay Frosty! pic.twitter.com/AM2HOM5M2r — CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) February 16, 2023 According to the source, nearly $8.5 million has been already been moved. As a result, the Platypus USD stablecoin became depegged and dropped 52.2% to $0.478 at time of writing. . @Platypusdefi new stablecoin …

Judge Lewis Kaplan reportedly targeted Sam Bankman-Fried’s internet usage in a hearing aimed at reviewing the former FTX chief executive officer use of a virtual private network, or VPN. According to a Feb. 16 tweet from NPR correspondent David Gura, Judge Kaplan may have suggested that Bankman-Fried be denied access to any electronic device and the internet as a condition of his bail. Though SBF’s lawyers reportedly said there was no television in Joe Bankman’s and Barbara Fried’s California home — where the former FTX CEO has largely been confined since his arraignment in the United States in December — …

GBBC Digital Finance announced Feb. 16 that it has joined the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) as an affiliate member. The IOSCO is an international association that develops and promotes international standards for securities. IOSCO members include 35 national securities regulators and over 200 affiliated organizations. In addition, the IOSCO has an Affiliate Members Consultative Committee, which GBBC Digital Finance has joined as its 70th member. The committee provides input on IOSCO policy and standards. Committee members also form groups that hold annual trainings on securities-related issues. The IOSCO released a Crypto-Asset Roadmap in July. GBBC Digital Finance Chair …

An investigative report has suggested that major cryptocurrency exchange Binance was behind transferring roughly $400 million in funds from a Binance.US account to a trading firm managed by Changpeng Zhao. According to a Feb. 16 Reuters report, an investigation of Binance’s banking records and company messages showed more than $400 million was sent in a series of transactions starting in 2020 from an account controlled by Binance.US to trading firm Merit Peak. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly launched a probe into potential connections between Binance.US and the same trading firm in February 2022. Reuters reported that a …

Play to Earn retro games with Bitcoin payouts may soon be making their way to a bar, conference, or meetup near you, according to a Feb. 12 Twitter post by Zebedee founder Christian Moss. The software is tentatively called “Bit-tendo.” Bitcoin Pay to Play & Play to Earn in Super Mario 3 on the original NES! #bitcoin #retrogames #lightningnetwork powered by @zebedeeio and @lnbits 200 retweets and i'll integrate SONIC "Bit-tendo" will be a free retro game bitcoin infuser for bars, conferences, meet ups etc pic.twitter.com/4GBuXX9pN2 — Christian Moss (@MandelDuck) February 12, 2023 The Twitter post includes a video of …

According to a new twitter post on Feb. 16, e-commerce platform eBay's nonfungible tokens (NFT) marketplace KnownOrigin will launch creator smart contracts for its artists. With the new contract, artists will be able to split earnings and earn royalties as co-creators. As told by KnownOrigin, users have been testing its Creator Contract beta release for the past few weeks, with 84 contracts thus far deployed and 250 edition of NFTs minted. From Feb. 24 onwards, all approved creators on KnownOrigin will be able to deploy and mint work on their own contract for public release. Deployment will not require coding …

The COP has also created tools to prevent climate doomsday. Such economic tools as voluntary and compliance carbon markets, carbon credits, green bonds and other green assets tied to positive environmental impact play a crucial role in decarbonization global efforts. However, they are often inaccessible to small and medium-sized companies from developing countries. The main reasons are high upfront costs and complex structuring processes in line with global green standards. Positive and negative impacts on the environment have to be forecasted and described according to approved methodologies. This information is used for the future monitoring and reporting and is verified …

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKSAR Government) announced on Feb 16 that it had issued HK$800 million in tokenized green bonds, under the Government's Green Bond Program (GBP). The bonds were underwritten by four banks and priced at a yield of 4.05%. According to the announcement, the platform used Goldman Sachs' tokenization protocol GS DAP for the bond, which uses a private blockchain network to settle security tokens representing the beneficial interests of bonds in a T+1 payment-vs-payment (DvP) manner, and cash tokens representing claims on the HKMA's Hong Kong …