Cryptocurrency trading company FalconX has disclosed that it suffered losses in the collapse of FTX. According to the company, its assets locked on FTX represent only 18% of its “unencumbered cash equivalents.” However, the company added that this ratio fell well within their counterparty exposure limits. FalconX insisted that despite its exposure to the now insolvent FTX, its finances remain strong as it continues to facilitate “billions of dollars” in daily trade volume for its clients. The company also claims its monthly volume has grown by “80%+ month-over-month.” It’s disappointing to see the continued impact of FTX’s fallout on the …

Cryptocurrency trading firm Amber Group is putting its expansion plans on hold despite the FTX contagion having “no disruption” to its daily operations, according to a senior executive. Amber has scrapped plans to expand in Europe and the United States as a consequence of exposure to the now-defunct exchange FTX and will focus on institutional clients in Asia, according to managing partner Annabelle Huang. Huang also said that Amber has been forced to deprioritize its new metaverse project due the FTX contagion, the Financial Times reported on Dec. 9. Apart from ditching its expansion plans, the firm has reportedly been …

What does stagflation mean for Bitcoin? As stagflation goes alongside high inflation and economic downturn, BTC can be seen as a hedge against inflation and simultaneously as a risky asset whose price could fall during an economic decline. BTC may be seen through the same lens as gold, which traditionally functioned as a hedge against inflation. Indeed, BTC could naturally be an excellent hedge against inflation. First, BTC is a decentralized global means of payment beyond the control of central authorities. Governments have no control over it, making it almost immune to potential corruption and monetary policy. In addition, BTC …

Gaming retailer GameStop says it will no longer focus any efforts on cryptocurrencies, after amounting $94.7 million in net losses in the third quarter and laying off staff from its digital assets department. On a Dec. 7 earnings call GameStop CEO, Matt Furlong, said it “proactively minimized exposure to cryptocurrency” over the year and “does not currently hold a material balance of any token,” adding: “Although we continue to believe there is long-term potential for digital assets in the gaming world, we have not and will not risk meaningful stockholder capital in this space.” Earlier this year the company said …

The crypto markets have been in decline since the start of the second quarter of 2022. Each time it seemed like the apparent crypto winter would experience a minor thaw, another notable collapse happened: Celsius, Three Arrows Capital, and more recently, FTX. Approaching the end of 2022, it appears that the same negative sentiments are likely to remain. While some analysts say that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) derivatives are currently flashing positive signals for the market due to their high volatility, that same volatility is impacting the sentiment of other areas, including regulation, mining, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto …

According to statistics sourced from data aggregator YCharts, seven digital currency funds issued by asset manager Grayscale Investments are currently at a discount of 34% to 69% to their net asset value, or NAV. Holdings tracked in the analysis include the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust; Ethereum Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust, Litecoin Trust, ZCash Trust, Horizen Trust, Stellar Lumens Trust, and Livepeer Trust. All of the funds track the performance of their namesake cryptocurrencies, with the Grayscale Stellar Lumens Trust having the lowest discount to NAV at 34% and the Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust having the highest discount to NAV at 69%. …

American fintech company ZELF has introduced an anonymous Visa debit card to be accepted at any of Visa’s 80 million locations worldwide. ZELF’s latest initiative will allow users to open up a U.S. dollar checking account with only their name, email, and phone number, sparing them from having to provide documentation such as a social security number and proof of address. According to the fintech company, prospective clients can open a checking account and have an anonymous virtual debit card, which works with Apple and Google Pay, within 30 seconds. ZELF is LIVE on @ProductHunt with the ultimate in payment …

While it’s undeniable that companies were significantly affected by the FTX debacle, retail investors like Jaime Zulueta – who recently just got married – also bore the burden of trusting a trading platform that ended up collapsing to oblivion. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Zulueta told the story of how he and his wife dealt with the challenge of losing some of their investments right after their wedding. According to the crypto investor, he first found out about the exchange because it was popular in Taiwan, his partner’s home country. “Prior to using the platform I also read the numerous media articles …

Binance US has announced that it has expanded its “zero fee price model” to Ether (ETH) effective immediately. According to the announcement, users are now able to freely trade four Ether spot market pairs: ETH/USD, ETH/USDT, ETH/USDC and ETH/BUSD. Just in time for the holidays, the best #crypto platform for low fees just got even better.#BinanceUS is pleased to offer zero-fees when you buy #Ethereum or trade ETH/USD, ETH/USDT, ETH/BUSD & ETH/USDC, for all users with no trading volume requirements. — Binance.US (@BinanceUS) December 7, 2022 Effective immediately, the US exchange has also eliminated gas fees on all Ethereum transactions …

Crypto asset provider Zodia Custody has launched a new service to help protect its clients from exchange insolvency. According to the company, its new service, Interchange, will provide an alternative to the pre-funding and margin models of exchanges. The service is set to allow users to keep their assets with Zodia Custody while mirroring holdings in exchanges, thereby protecting clients’ digital assets in the event that an exchange becomes insolvent. Based in London, Zodia Custody is backed by financial institutions Standard Chartered and Northern Trust. Introducing our new service: Zodia Interchange in collaboration with @zodiamarkets. You can now actively trade …

The negative effects caused by the FTX debacle have put the crypto space in an unfavorable light. However, institutional investors continued to show interest in the industry even at the height of the FTX controversy. According to crypto exchange Bitstamp, compared to their data in October, institutional registrations within its digital asset trading platform is up by 57% in November, when the topic of the FTX collapse frequented news headlines. The exchange also told Cointelegraph that its total revenue is up by 45% in the same period, with revenue coming from institutions up by 34% and from retail traders up …

News involving crypto and fraud is ubiquitous in the white-collar crime sphere and, perhaps more worryingly, these fraudulent activities in the crypto sector are not limited to a single type of crime. Diverse and distinct yet with one common thread, these crimes involve real money and crypto investors are the victims. Many people have placed their life savings into crypto and, on a larger scale, private equities, pension schemes and even nation-states are principal investors and losers. There are con artists who will try and entice their targets to invest in a get-rich scheme that turns out to be a …