Cathie Wood, veteran investor and CEO of ARK Invest, remains bullish on the cryptocurrency industry and centralized exchanges (CEX) despite the bear market and the crypto crisis. Wood’s investment management firm ARK continues accumulating the stock of the major United States cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase. On Jan. 5, ARK purchased 144,463 Coinbase (COIN) shares for allocation by its financial technology-focused fund, ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), according to a trade notification seen by Cointelegraph. At the time of writing, the purchase is worth $4.8 million, with COIN closing at $33.5 on Thursday. On the same day, ARK also bought 27,813 COIN …

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 …

Huobi cryptocurrency exchange has confirmed plans to lay off 20% of its employees as part of the ongoing restructuring following Justin Sun’s acquisition of the firm. “The planned layoff ratio is about 20%, but it is not implemented now,” a spokesperson for Huobi said in a statement to Cointelegraph on Jan. 6. The representative emphasized that the allegations on Huobi firing as many as 40% employees is a rumor. Huobi has established a new organizational structure after the new shareholders have taken over, the spokesperson said, adding that the firm has adjusted the business departments. “With the current state of …

Crypto wallet MetaMask is ending support for services of Wyre crypto payment platform amid reports of Wyre planning to shut down operations soon. MetaMask took to Twitter on Jan. 5 to announce that it has removed Wyre from its mobile aggregator, which allows users to buy crypto directly through its digital wallet. “We're currently working on extension removal and appreciate your patience,” MetaMask said, asking users not to use Wyre on the mobile aggregator. According to the announcement, MetaMask still supports a wide number of other payment gateways, including Transak, MoonPay, and Sardine. The services are available on Apple Pay, …

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 …

2022 was a big year for crypto venture capital despite multiple high-profile meltdowns and the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) tsunami that followed. However, the funds may not flow as easily this year, a crypto researcher warns. The number of deals and amount invested by venture firms into Web3 and crypto startups was a little over $30 billion in 2022, according to Galaxy Research Head of Firmwide Research, Alex Thorn, described it as a “monster year” that was only just eclipsed by the $31 billion in VC investments in 2021. However, in a Jan. 5 report, Thorn stated that macroeconomic …

A group of FTX customers has filed a limited objection to FTX’s plan to sell four independently-operated subsidiaries, arguing that they should be privy to the sales process to ensure customer interests are represented. It has also shared concerns that "misappropriated customer funds” may have been used to acquire, or keep these firms running. The limited objection was filed on Dec. 4 by an ad hoc committee of non-U.S. customers, which comprises 18 members who collectively have claims against FTX in excess of $1.9 billion. In its filing, the committee argued that previous public statements by FTX, the Securities and …

The Metaverse and Virtual Reality (VR) go hand in hand in the public’s imagination and platforms including Somnium Space, Crypto Voxels, and Meta’s Horizon Worlds already support the technology. But despite describing itself as a “decentralized virtual reality platform” on its website, the browser-based 3D metaverse platform Decentraland still lacks VR. Sean Ong, founder of extended reality specialists XR Dev Studio, sits on a team that has developed an “alpha” version of the VR platform. He explained that while “VR has always been part of Decentraland’s vision,” the Decentraland Foundation has been prioritizing the implementation of core features ahead of …

Derivatives marketplace CME Group is planning to launch reference rates and real-time indices for three metaverse crypto assets, allowing investors to track pricing data more reliably using a methodology commonly used in traditional finance. Beginning Jan. 30, CME Group and CF Benchmarks will launch reference rates for Axie Infinity (AXS), Chiliz (CHZ) and Decentraland (MANA), the company announced on Jan. 5. The reference rates and indices are not tradeable products but instead can be used by investors to “price sector-specific portfolios, develop structured products … And manage price risk around various Metaverse-based projects,” said Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group’s head of …

According to a Jan. 5 report published by Chinese blockchain security firm LianAn Technology, decentralized finance, or DeFi, exploits across blockchains worldwide totaled $3.64 billion in 2022. This represented a rise of 47.4% compared to the loss of $2.44 billion in 2021. The incidents increased in quantity despite a steep 80% loss in DeFi total value locked during the year. Out of the 2022 amount, funds lost during cross-chain bridge hacks amounted to $1.89 billion across 12 incidents — the highest in the category. Overall, attacks on the Ethereum, BNB, and Solana chains accounted for the majority of exploits. Out …

Crypto lending platform Genesis Global Trading has reportedly cut 30% of its workforce in the second round of layouts in six months. According to a Jan. 5 Wall Street Journal report, Genesis reduced its staff by 30% following the platform suffering losses from loans to Alameda Research and Three Arrows Capital. An update to its clients on Jan. 4 said the firm planned to reduce costs as part of its business plans. "As we continue to navigate unprecedented industry challenges, Genesis has made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount globally," a spokesperson told Cointelegraph. "These measures are part of …

Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founders Zhu Su and Kyle Davies were subpoenaed on Twitter on Jan. 5, after the liquidators granted permission from Singapore authorities following a United States bankruptcy court order. As reported by Cointelegraph, liquidators' lawyers have repeatedly failed to engage with the founders in recent months. “A communication protocol was agreed between the liquidators and founders but has not yielded satisfactory cooperation,” according to a hearing presentation. The subpoena requests Su and Davies to "furnish all documents available to you regardless of whether this information is possessed directly by you, your agents, representatives, employees, or investigators; or …