The cryptocurrency industry will see increased consolidation in 2023 as healthier companies acquire more crypto and blockchain companies, according to a senior executive at Ripple. Sendi Young, Ripple’s managing director for Europe, took to Twitter on Jan. 9 to share a set of industry predictions for 2023, expressing confidence about crypto in the near future. According to Young’s forecast, the coming year will bring many acquisitions in the blockchain and crypto industry, which will help such companies and startups fill the gaps in their capabilities. The acquisitions will further strengthen the industry in the aftermath of casualties like the FTX …

Turkish automotive company Togg announced a partnership with Metaco, a digital asset custody orchestration technology provider, to secure its open mobility ecosystem built on Avalanche. Togg’s Mobility-as-a-Service platform (MaaS), a.k.a, Mobility Ecosystem, aims to deliver smart contract-powered use cases — including tokenization of mobility services, assessment of CO2 footprint and nonfungible token (NFT) ownership — for users in Türkiye and Europe. The partnership with Metaco will see the use of its digital asset custody and orchestration platform, Harmonize, to safeguard the custody and governance of Togg’s digital assets. Sharing insights on the initiative, Togg CEO M. Gürcan Karakas stated: “Blockchain-enabled …

As the investigation into FTX continues, the crypto exchange’s former engineering chief Nishad Singh followed former FTX and Alameda Research executives Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison by reportedly meeting with federal prosecutors to cut a deal. Singh attended a proffer session sometime last week at the United States Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York for prosecutors to determine if he has valuable information to offer in the lawsuit against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a Jan. 10 Bloomberg report. Prosecutors are interested in Singh’s insight regarding FTX’s political donations as one of the charges Bankman-Fried faces …

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is set to be “deposed” next month as part of a defense against a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that he promoted an alleged “ponzi-scheme” in the form of now-bankrupted crypto lender Voyager Digital. A deposition in legal terms generally refers to answering a line of questioning under oath during the pre-trial discovery stage of a potential court case. In a Jan. 9 court order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid denied Cuban's request to split the deposition into two occasions, and outlined that his full deposition will be taken on Feb. 2 in Dallas, Texas. …

Blockchain security firm SlowMist has highlighted five common phishing techniques crypto scammers used on victims in 2022, including malicious browser bookmarks, phony sales orders and trojan malware spread on messaging app Discord. It comes after the security firm recorded a total of 303 blockchain security incidents in the year, with 31.6% of these incidents caused by phishing, rug pull or other scams, according to a Jan. 9 SlowMist blockchain security report. Malicious browser bookmarks One of the phishing strategies makes use of bookmark managers, a feature in most modern browsers. SlowMist said scammers have been exploiting these to ultimately gain …

As many as 117 parties have expressed interest in buying up one or more of FTX’s independently operated subsidiaries including FTX Japan, FTX Europe, LedgerX and Embed. In a Jan. 8 court filing made by Kevin Cofsky, a partner at Perella Weinberg, the investment bank representing FTX US and affiliated firms. Cofsky stated: “Approximately 117 parties, including various financial and strategic counterparties globally, have expressed interest to the Debtors in a potential purchase of one or more of the Businesses.” He added that the debtors have entered into 59 confidentiality agreements with potential counterparties who have expressed interest in any …

A New York-based law firm says it has begun an investigation into whether Bitcoin miner Core Scientific and its leadership potentially engaged in “securities fraud and other unlawful business practices" which led to its stock price falling on several occasions. According to securities class action firm Pomerantz LLP, the investigation was prompted by a report from Culper Research in 2022, which alleged that Core Scientific had "wildly oversold" its mining and hosting businesses in 2021 and also waived a 180-day lockup period of over 282 million shares, making them "free to be dumped" in Mar. 2022. This report suggested that …

Crypto lending firm BlockFi has announced it will disclose information on its assets and liabilities as well as payments received prior to its bankruptcy filing in November. In a Jan. 9 Twitter thread, BlockFi said it had filed a presentation for its stakeholders detailing plans for future court filings and a rundown of the bankruptcy proceedings. According to the lending firm, the company reached out to 106 potential buyers shortly after its first bankruptcy hearing in November and will ask for the court’s approval regarding the bidding process on Jan. 30. BlockFi expects to file both its Schedules of Assets …

Shares of publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) miners surged on Jan. 9 as traders piled into equity markets amid growing bets that the United States Federal Reserve would soon be able to relax its aggressive fight against inflation. Bitcoin miners Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Hut8 (HUT), Bitfarms (BITF), Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) and others posted double-digit percentage gains in intraday trading. The rally coincided with a broad uptick in equity markets, with the large-cap S&P 500 Index rising 1% and the technology-focused Nasdaq gaining 2% before paring gains. Markets rallied ahead of an eagerly awaited U.S. consumer price index report later this …

Bankrupt crypto brokerage Voyager Digital filed documents in United States court Jan. 8 in response to objections raised to the Binance US proposal to buy out its debt. Voyager announced it had approved the offer Dec. 19. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), four states, the U.S. Trustee and Alameda Research filed objections to it. Voyager stated in one document that objections to the Binance US offer “fail to put forward any factual or legal support” in their arguments, while Binance US offered creditors higher recovery rates than other proposals and expeditious recovery. Voyager’s decision to accept the Binance.US plan …

Local media reported Jan. 9 that cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Korea is preparing to purchase its shares from Huobi Global and change its name. About 72% of shares in Huobi Korea are owned by Huobi Global cofounder Leon Li. Huobi Korean chairman Cho Kook-bong would take over Li’s share in the Korean company. Cho is also the owner of a major crypto mining operation in the country, according to local outlet News1. Huobi has experienced a number of issues in recent days. It reportedly planned laid off 20% of its workforce Jan. 6, after a $6 million outflow that week.

Digital asset manager Osprey Funds has reportedly laid off most of its staff since the summer, underscoring the ongoing operational challenges posed by crypto’s enduring bear market. Yahoo Finance reported on Jan. 9 that Osprey Funds is currently operating with fewer than ten employees after laying off 15 staff members since the summer. CEO Greg Kling told the publication that the layoffs were consistent with the market downturn and that Osprey was not at risk of closing operations. Osprey offers accredited investors access to crypto-focused investment products, including an over-the-counter Bitcoin (BTC) trust that can be purchased inside brokerage accounts. …