The cryptocurrency market has almost returned to levels before the damaging collapses of Terra/Luna and FTX in 2022. Bitcoin recently surpassed $39,000 for the first time since May 2022, fueled in part by growing expectations that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could finally approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the next few weeks, or even days.

At the time of publishing, Bitcoin is trading around $39,700 - a gain of just $800 to $40,500 would officially represent a full recovery.

2022: A Year So Bad, it Took 2 Years To Recover From...

In 2022, two big hits cut Bitcoin's price in half over just few months.

The first came from the Terra/Luna debacle, triggered by the collapse of TerraUSD, an algorithmic stablecoin that was supposed to maintain a $1 peg but ultimately lost all value. Prior to its failure, the high interest rates offered by Terra through its Anchor protocol had attracted billions of dollars in investments, including from major crypto lending firms like Celsius Network. As the 'stablecoin' hit a liquidity crisis Terraform Labs began rapidly selling its bitcoin reserves in a desperate attempt to maintain the peg. This massive dumping of bitcoin put significant downward pressure on prices, contributing to bitcoin falling from around $30,000 down to below $20,000.

The second big hit came just months later when crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy after questions arose over its financial health and potential commingling of customer funds. As one of the largest and seemingly most reputable exchanges, FTX's failure shook investor confidence and reignited worries of contagion across the crypto ecosystem. Bitcoin fell to under $16,000 amidst the fallout, its lowest level since late 2020.

Since then, the Market has Been Gradually Recovering...  

Some analysts believe bitcoin could soon surmount the key psychological barrier of $40,000 if momentum continues building ahead of a long-awaited bitcoin spot ETF approval.

Others caution bitcoin may retreat to around $35,000 if ETF approval doesn't happen soon, but still bounce past $40k when it eventually happens. 

But all are in agreement - the crypto winter is officially thawing.

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Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

There is one thing in crypto people can actually predict correctly - the next Bitcoin halving event. This changes the amount of Bitcoins miners receive as a reward for contributing computing power to keep the network running.

It effects the entire ecosystem because it decides the total amount of Bitcoin in circulation, halving instantly cuts the rate that number was growing in half. 

Initially, the reward for mining a block of transactions was 50 BTC. Then in 2012, this was 'halved' to 25 Bitcoins, again in 2016 it was halved to 12.5 BTC. Then most recently,  May 2020, halved again to 6.25.

Cutting their reward in half may sound drastic, but for some perspective, back when the reward was 50 Bitcoins per block mined, the most that was ever worth was $1000 when Bitcoin hit $20 in 2011. If Satoshi wasn't thinking long term, and these halving events were never programmed in, it would be like creating $300 million in new coins every day at today's price. 

Of course, prices would never have come close to what they are today if miners were constantly flooding the market with lots of easily earned coins.

Just like when a nation's government prints money, if they do too much, everyone's money becomes worth a bit less.  When politicians create more money because they want more money, not because the economy actually grew, we get inflation. Bigger, but only because it's been filled with worthless hot air. 

Some say Bitcoin has the solution to inflation built in to it...

These 2 rules make it different from any currency in human history:

First - no one has ability to create new Bitcoins.  Sure, it is a virtual item, and if your wallet isn't connected to the internet, you can mess with the code until the wallet believes it's holding 10 instead of 2 BTC.  Problem is, as soon as that wallet tries to use one of these counterfeit coins from nowhere, the transaction will fail.  A blockchain is literally a record of where every legitimate coin belongs, and no one is going to hack those records of the majority of miners (about 500,000 systems running thousands of different configurations). Yet even with this seemingly bulletproof security, there's still way too many people easily fooled in to opening the front door and letting thieves right in, but that's another story. 

So while no person can suddenly create a bunch of new Bitcoins, the code does this on its own at a rate for healthy growth, and since that rate isn't a secret, there's no surprises. Ironically, Bitcoin is constantly labeled volatile and unpredictable by the media, when it couldn't be more stable, and completely predictable. It's the humans trading it who seem to be constantly switching between buying as much as they can and selling it all off. 

New Bitcoin needs to be created to entice people to mine it, and just enough is created to accomplish that. Satoshi assumed as as time goes on, it would either be dead or growing in popularity, Satoshi set the rate of creating new comes to become LESS as and more people use it. This is a one of Bitcoin's major attractions to economists, bankers and investors, as it greatly raises the odds of Bitcoin having a positive long term outlook.

As time has gone on, the price tag on one of these halving events has a lot more people paying attention to them - the one set to happen next year will significantly reduce the annual amount of new Bitcoins by a whopping 164,250 coins - a dollar equivalent of dropping from $11.5 billion to $5.7 billion.

It's a delicate balance, and the next shake-up may throw some people off...

Mining experts from Blockware Solutions have crunched the numbers following the 2024 halving, examining the impact on different miners with a range of different hardware, and their report discovered a very a real risk for those running older, less efficient systems. 

The study even priced Bitcoin slightly higher than it is today, at $35,000, and used a network hashrate of 420 EH/s - the results show that a staggering 24% of Bitcoin's miners becoming unprofitable, spending more on electricity than they'd earn in Bitcoin - it's safe to assume they'll all just pull the plug. 

The survival of the fittest will be evident as only those miners equipped with the latest technology will thrive. Older rigs, with their diminishing efficiency, will need to be able to sell Bitcoin their Bitcoins at considerably higher prices, especially if electricity costs spike.

The Silver Lining For Bitcoin HODLers...

There's a popular belief that with fewer Bitcoins entering the market, demand might outstrip supply, potentially driving up prices. The low efficiency miners that would be eliminated are also typically the ones who immediately sell everything they earn, so removing their constant supply of new coins to the market could be good for anyone holding bitcoin.  

Blockware Solutions' comprehensive report also illustrates how cutting-edge equipment like the Antminer S19 and Antminer S19XP have a lower threshold for profitability and should continue to bring a profit for miners using them post 2024.

When you hear those estimates of "$1 million bitcoin" - this is what they're talking about, and why the dates they give are 15-30 years away.  Because with a steady, fairly reasonable growth rate, 20 years from now Bitcoin could be incredibly popular, and the supply of new coins so small, the only option buyers will have is to will continually raise the amount they're willing to pay.

The more difficult it becomes for someone to get Bitcoin, the tighter  HOLDers will grip on to what they have.

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Author: Mark Pippen
London Newsroom
GlobalCryptoPress | Breaking Crypto News

We're learning of this only because PayPal's required quarterly report has now been filed with the SEC, from there you'll have to go 16 pages in before it's even mentioned.

It's rare for a company spend over $300+ million on anything without letting the public/and press know about it - but when PayPal decided to load up on crypto they clearly also decided it would be smarter to stay quiet while doing it.

Why So Secretive?

My guess is; they didn't want prices to go higher... yet. 

They did their buying over a 3 month period, and if news got out that the worlds biggest online finance company was spending so much on crypto, other companies may follow. It doesn't help them if prices go up while they're still buying.

While the report does not give the number of Bitcoins PayPal holds, it does give their total USD value of $499 million. This is based on Bitcoin's total value at the end of March, so doing the math and assuming they were paying slightly under market value by doing large OTC trades, we're estimating PayPal holds somewhere around 17,500 BTC.

They also spent another $110 million on Ethereum, and another $19 million on all other cryptocurrencies.

So Far in 2023 PayPal's Added Another $339 Million In Crypto - Bringing Total Near $1B...

PayPal began 2023 already owning over $600 million worth of cryptocurrency, but after the last 3 months of aggressive buying, they're almost able to join the small group of companies and individuals holding over a billion worth of crypto.

However, breaking $1 billion total is now within reach, and can be done without PayPal having to buy more. 

We estimate Bitcoin trading around $35k and ETH holding over $2k would be enough to put PayPal's total into the 10-digits.

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

 

Ethereum's Shapella upgrade went live earlier in the week, along with this came a large amount of previously locked tokens becoming available for trading - all these coins potentially hitting the open market had some predicting a sell-off. 

Those Sell-Off Predictions Appear to Have Been Wrong...

Concerns about a potential sell-off from those who locked up their ETH coins for staking now gaining access to their ETH again, making them tradable.

These locked coins total 15% of the total ETH supply - if just half wanted to sell, it wouldn't have been pretty.

Instead, the Opposite - Ethereum is up 9.58%...

The upgrade has been followed by two days of price gains for ETH - up nearly 10% since the upgrade went live.

Many who said a full blown 'sell-off' was unlikely were still ready to see at least a small dip in Ethereum's price, and thinking a small dip would happen does make sense based on standard supply and demand expectations - instead, Ethereum's been on the rise since the upgrade happened 2 days ago.

The reason even we were predicting a small price decrease was that many people would be taking a loss - these people purchased in the Aug 2021 - April 2022 timeframe when sales were highest and so was ETH's $3000+ price.  We assumed these people would continue holding on to their tokens for now, they see it slowly coming back up to those prices and would rather avoid taking a loss. 

A Maturing Market?

In previous years it feels like just the fear of a potential sell off would then actually trigger that sell off, this feels like the market is maturing. As more people get familiar with cryptocurrency and its uses, they'll become more comfortable holding onto their tokens, even during periods of potential volatility.

Overall, another strong week for crypto!

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News 

According to court records that have just been made available to us, there has been nothing less than a  massive army of professionals working non-stop to clean up the mess at FTX. 

They've been tasked with examining every bit of FTX's business, due to the lack of record keeping during the reign of it's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. 

Of course, hiring a large amount people qualified to review complex financial data doesn't come cheap -but no one seems to have expected it would be this expensive either, as these firms have now billed FTX $38 million PLUS expenses...and that's just for January!

Breaking Down The Bill...

The bankruptcy administrators have retained the services of some of the biggest names in law and finance. Let's take a look at who's involved, and what they're each bringing to the table.  

Leading the pack is the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which was hired as counsel. Along with them, the administrators have also retained Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Landis Rath & Cobb as special counsel for the proceedings. Meanwhile, consultancy firm AlixPartners was brought in to conduct forensic analysis on DeFi products and tokens that were in FTX's possession.

On the financial front, Alvarez & Marsal and Perella Weinberg Partners were tasked with sorting through FTX's accounting records and determining which assets it could sell. According to court filings, Sullivan & Cromwell billed $16.8 million for January, while Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan billed $1.4 million, and Landis Rath & Cobb billed $663,995. Collectively, the three firms have over 180 lawyers assigned to the case and over 50 non-lawyer staff, such as paralegals.

What's more, court filings show that Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers and staff billed a total of 14,569 hours for January. The largest project that Sullivan & Cromwell worked on was discovery, followed by asset disposition and asset analysis and recovery.

Interestingly, the U.S. Department of Justice initially objected to FTX hiring Sullivan & Cromwell, citing potential conflicts of interest. Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX's founder, also objected to the bankruptcy administrators hiring the firm, claiming that the law firm's staff had pressured him into filing for bankruptcy in November. However, in late January, a Delaware bankruptcy court judge approved the firm to continue representing FTX.

In early February, Sullivan & Cromwell submitted a bill for $7.5 million for the first 19 days of bankruptcy work after FTX filed in November. The majority of billed time for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan was spent on Asset Analysis and Recovery as well as Avoidance Action – legalese for attempts to undo certain transactions that the debtor engaged in before bankruptcy. As for Landis Rath & Cobb, a significant amount of time was billed for hearings, litigation, and asset disposition.

But that's not all. AlixPartners billed $2.1 million for 2,454 hours of work. Investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners billed $450,000 (its monthly fee), and court documents show that it spent a significant amount of time on developing a restructuring strategy, as well as correspondence with third parties.

According to its billing breakdown, the bank spent a large amount of time working on the sale of FTX assets LedgerX and FTX Japan. In January, a bankruptcy judge gave the sale the green light to create liquidity to pay back creditors.

Last but not least, Alvarez & Marsal billed $12.3 million, the second-largest charge for the month, behind Sullivan & Cromwell. Some of the largest items it billed for were Avoidance Actions, at 3,370 hours, financial analysis, at 1,168 hours, and accounting at 1,106 hours.

In November, shortly after FTX declared bankruptcy, interim CEO John J. Ray III said that the exchange had a "complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information." Ray, who also oversaw the liquidation of Enron and Nortel Networks when they collapsed, called the FTX situation "unprecedented".

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News

The amount of 'saved Bitcoin' (coins being kept at a single wallet address for at least two years) has reached a new all-time high.

According to data compiled by the analytics firm Glassnode, these coins total over 49% percent of the total Bitcoin supply, which comes to 9.45 million BTC. Nearly half of all Bitcoin's are in the hands of long term investors.

Soon the majority of all BTC will have not moved in over 2 years - an extremely bullish indicator...

The previous record amount of saved Bitcoin was set between the end of 2020 and the start of 2021. This coincides with the start of the bull market that year - with the rising price being driven by a lack of people willing to sell their BTC.

So far, we're seeing a similar path ahead now, as Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency market appear to be beginning a price recovery cycle.

Since the beginning of this year, bitcoin has increased by almost 40%. and is hanging around $23,000 -reclaiming a price not seen since August 2022.

Last week it became official that the majority of Bitcoin holders have made a profit at current prices. 

Predictions for the year...

So far, are bullish, according to a majority of analysts.

However, you may not be feeling it yet - the first few months of 2023 are anticipated to be slow,  followed by a large increase in the price of BTC in the second half of the year.

Will Bitcoin repeat its traditional cycle of crashes, followed by setting a new all time high?  That would mean Bitcoin breaking the $70,000 ceiling. 
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Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

Following Bitcoin's price gains over the past week, the crypto world can once again claim that the majority of Bitcoin investments have made a profit for the investor - as 68% of Bitcoin addresses are now considered 'profitable' to it's owner, according to the latest data from research firm Glassnode.

The last time this happened was in the middle of last year, as can be seen in the graph that accompanies the firm's publication. At that time, the price of the cryptocurrency exceeded $40,000 and was in sharp decline.

Basically, it Means the Majority of BTC Holders Paid an Average Price Less than $22,000...

There's more positive statistic pointing towards Bitcoin's resilience.

Looking at 'dormant' coins (coins that have not moved for an extended period) 'lost' coins (coins believed to be in wallets no one has the key to) and long-term 'saved' coins (coins deliberately untouched by their owner, aka HODLing) are now at a 5-year high. 

These coins contribute to stability and a higher floor price, because they are considered unlikely to be sold anytime soon . 

Also, there are more people with at least 1 full bitcoin now than ever before. 

End of the Bear Market in Sight?

While a good week doesn't mean we're out of a bear market, it does look like the sell-off is done. Those buying BTC say their current goal is accumulating more, and as they began dominating the market it became clear, buyers are greatly outnumbering sellers, which naturally led to the price increase. This behavior indicates that most BTC owners believe that there's another bull run coming.

Currently the market is a mixed bag of indicators pointing in both directions, we see sentiment among traders moving away from fear, which is part of a bear market coming to a close, but that's still premature to claim.

While traders feel more confident now than they have for months, another price dip before things go bullish is still something most traders see as possible. The main reason for skepticism is the larger economic situation, as the uncertainty resulting from national debit, layoffs, and inflation are shared by crypto investors regardless of where they're from. 

Officially, this is still a bear market, and many believe it will stay that way until the overall economic situation improves - people are unlikely to make significant investments in crypto or anything else if they're not sure they will still have a job next month.

I Reached Out to 2 Pro-Analysts, Hoping for Some Insight on What Bitcoin's Next Move Could Be...

I've occasionally reach out to these guys for their opinions ever since I met them at Blockchain Expo Global in 2018. 

One works for a US based investment firm some of you have most likely heard of, the other works at an international exchange I think nearly everyone is familiar with. Note that they are sharing their professional opinions, on a personal and unofficial basis. So while we cannot include their full credentials here - they're the real deal.
 
There was Consensus From Both That the Smart Thing to do Right Now: Probably Nothing...

The US based analyst explained "this is one of those occasional times where no one can predict what comes next... until we see what comes next" he asks to let him clarify, and adds "basically, there's nothing we would consider a strong indicator that BTC will move in either direction right now- actually, some of the typically reliable indicators are disagreeing with each other Ironically, what seems like a lack of data is actually an accurate look at the market's current state - it's legitimately undecided right now."

The analyst currently working for an exchange added "While I know I'll be wrong sometimes, I still think that if my level of confidence is below like 70% it's probably best not to say something that people will act upon, I wouldn't move any of my own funds around for a prediction from someone whos only 60% behind it."

What Should You Be Paying Attention To Over the Next Week?

If things take a turn and prices head back down, look for Bitcoin dropping below $20,000 -  if it does,  it may continue to drop to around $16,000, a proven strong support level.

On the other hand, if Bitcoin continues to make gains and manages to cross $24,500 we could see the rise continue to around $27,000.

A Reminder of The Market You're In:

Bitcoin tanked from $1,000 to below $200 in 2015.

Bitcoin dropped below $3,200 after hitting $20,000 in December 2017.

Bitcoin dipped from $63,000 to $29,000 in 2021.

Bitcoin went from $68,000 to below $20,000 in 2022, this is today's bear market.

After each of these events the media declared the "end of Bitcoin".  Elderly professionals from the traditional finance and banking world would make sure to be seen in print and on TV saying "told you so" while warning everyone not to ever buy more Bitcoin.

What they don't say is that their grandson helps them anytime they need to send an email, and they literally couldn't buy Bitcoin if they wanted to (people under estimate how often this is the true reason an older person is anti-crypto)

EVERY. SINGLE.TIME. Those who stood firm in their belief in crypto's future were rewarded with prices hitting a new all-time high, every major crash as been followed by breaking previous records. 

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Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering on Tuesday. From what you hear in the press, you would reasonably assume there is a mountain of evidence against him - so is Sam crazy? 

Well, he may not be as crazy as it sounds. 

Why Risk More Years in Prison Instead of Negotiating? To Get ZERO Years in Prison...

Approximately 97% of cases are resolved with a plea deal. Sam, like most defendants, had the option to negotiate how long he would stay in prison, in exchange for pleading guilty. 

We don't know what that deal would have been, but with the charges against him, it's reasonable to think he could have reduced his time behind bars by 10+ years. Turning this down is not a decision someone takes lightly. 

If you choose to be among the 3% of people to go to trial, you must be confident that you can win.

Why Sam Believes the Jury Will find Him INNOCENT...

What Sam and his legal team believe they can prove to a jury revolves around the fact that there is no FTX'- there's two of them, completely separate companies, functioning independently. 

No country in the world charges people with crimes committed in foreign nations with foreign victims.  Bankman-Fried can only be charged with crimes he committed while in the US or against US citizens.

This also reminds me of when after his arrest in the Bahamas, he said he planned on fighting being extradited to the United States, then suddenly reversed this and fully cooperated to insure his trial would take place in the US.

Bankman-Fried's Defense is NOT that He Did Not Break The Law, But Rather that Any Alleged Wrongdoing Occurred Outside the US and Involved Foreign Victims...

Meaning that the alleged crimes were committed by a separate, foreign entity and involved funds belonging to users of FTX International. 

Structurally, the companies remained separate, there were no (known) shared accounts, no fiat or crypto spilling from one to the other. The company/exchange for US citizens had its own website at www.FTX.us - then there was FTX International at www.FTX.com.

If someone from the US attempted to sign up on the FTX international site, they would simply get an error message redirecting them to the US site.

With everything separate, it would have been easy for Sam to simply leave all funds related to FTX US alone, and this is exactly what Sam claims happened. 

So Far, There's No Evidence Saying Otherwise...

In every interview, Sam said that 'all funds in FTX US  were "never touched" and they could give users access to it right now if they wanted to.  This statement is included in the testimony he was planning to give Congress, under oath, but he was arrested the day before that was set to happen. 

But let's forget what Sam has to say, he's a proven liar on other related matters. -  what's been found since he lost control of the company? 

John J. Ray is the acting CEO of FTX appointed to oversee the company being dismantled in the bankruptcy process, and he is no fan of Bankman-Fried.

When testifying to Congress a couple weeks ago, he shared in his opening statements his belief that FTX US funds were involved, but later, during the portion where he takes questions from lawmakers, he was asked what they had found so far - and so far, nothing. 

In a previous report, an insider at the company shared that the new CEO believes they just need to dig deeper to find proof that Bankman-Fried did misuse FTX US funds - he just did a better job at hiding it compared to FTX International. It's reasonable to assume that, and the investigation isn't over - but Sam, the one person who would know, just pleaded innocent in court. 

Sam May Have Viewed US Funds as 'Off Limits' From The Start...

Ryan Miller, a member of FTX US's legal team used to work for the person in charge of regulating FTX, the current head of the SEC, Chairman Gary Gensler.  By the time this all happened, he had been with FTX for nearly a year, tasked with being the contact between the company and regulators. 

Sam's mom was a lawyer at one of the top firms in the US with clients like Exxon, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Universal Pictures, Sony and more. His father is considered one of the leading experts in tax law, tax shelters, and tax compliance, and teaches law at Stanford.

Between Miller, someone from the world of financial regulation, and his parents, who would surely advise him of the additional rules and risks attached to US investor funds, it's believable that Sam may have just considered this portion of his businesses off-limits. 

Did Sam Plead Innocent Because he Knows They Won't Find Records of Him Misusing US Funds?

This is the big question. 

Keep in mind, however, that Sam's original lawyers dropped him shortly after FTX's collapse due to his "incessant and disruptive tweeting" when he kept ignoring their advice to stop publicly speaking about the matter. 

Sam clearly believes he has a talent for persuading people, and maybe he once did, but the more he spoke publicly to audiences already suspicious of him, the more hated he became. I'm not sure if Sam ever really accepted that this tactic was a failure and he should have listened to his lawyers. 

So is Sam continuing to be a nightmare client for any legal team to represent? He may be pleading innocent because he believes he's so smart, he can just confuse a jury into thinking he's innocent. 

Or, does he know prosecutors will fail to find the evidence they need to prove the charges against him?

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

For those of us who have been around awhile, it takes more than another bear market to change our long term expectations for cryptocurrencies. 

I've been through three crashes - the first one really had me questioning things, the second time I was more willing to ride it out, 'hopeful but not certain' was my outlook on crypto's future. In both cases the crashes were followed by hitting new all time highs, and this pattern wasn't new, it's what Bitcoin historically had always done, and more recently, the top altcoins were included as well. 

So, this time around I feel like I'm just waiting... for our largest bull run yet. Not wondering if it's coming - waiting for it to get here.

Some of the Biggest Names in Investing and Wall Street are Quietly Preparing for a Crypto Boom...

Thankfully, it looks like I'm not the only one making this prediction. In fact, the biggest firms from the world of investing and Wall Street seem to be anticipating this too.

Keep in mind, the firms I'm about to mention don't throw millions at something because one or two executives believe it will pay off - before they invest, teams of analysts with specialists covering multiple aspects, and algorithms pumping out multiple models of possible outcomes, are involved.

Let's look at some of what is happening quietly behind the scenes right now - and ask yourself: does it seem like they see something coming?

Major Investment Firms:

Between just these 2 firms you're looking at over $2 TRILLION in assets under management, twice the size of the entire crypto market currently. 

● The world's largest global investment banking and investment management firm, Goldman Sachs, is quietly talking to multiple crypto startups that were hit hard by the bear market and investing to become part-owners of, or buying them out completely.

● The second largest global investment banking and investment management firm, Morgan Stanley, is currently creating their "digital-asset infrastructure," giving their 2 million+ clients access to the crypto market. While development started before the bear market hit, they say it never slowed down as they remain "focused on building."

When these firms enter a sector, countless smaller ones follow. 

Payment Processors:

The big 3 are all in.

● Visa is "propelling innovation to deliver even more access and value to the crypto ecosystem" and recently filed a series of trademark applications for crypto wallets, NFTs, and metaverse-related products.

● Mastercard is launching a program to enable mainstream banks to offer crypto trading to their customers.

● Even American Express, which in 2021 said they were "watching the space evolve" but had "no plans to announce" involvement in cryptocurrencies, began preparing for something, specifics still unknown, but real enough to have them file eight trademark applications for tech processing crypto and NFT transactions.

In addition to this, both Visa and Mastercard will expand their current role of providing cards that allow people to spend crypto anywhere that accepts their credit cards.  This has become a standard offering from most major exchanges now, and accounts for over $1 billion in transactions for Visa alone. 

Start-Ups:

When it comes to startups, those that truly serve a purpose are not struggling to find funding. Here are some of the projects that held investment rounds over just the last month - all hit their targets:

● Aztec Network, an Ethereum security layer geared towards privacy, successful raised $100 million in a  round led by prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from A Capital, King River, and Variant, and others.

● Singapore-based crypto firm Amber Group closed a $300 million Series C led by Fenbushi Capital US. Nillion, a decentralized file storage network, raised $20 million in its latest funding round led by Distributed Global.



● Fleek, a developer platform for crypto companies, secured $25 million led by Polychain Capital, along with Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and Protocol Labs.

● Tax and accounting software for digital assets, Bitwave, closed a $15 million Series A co-led by Hack VC and Blockchain Capital.

● Blocknative, a company building web3 infrastructure, also secured $15 million in its Series A led by Blockchain Capital and a few other investors.

There's only one reason any firm would be investing in new companies that could still be years away from seeing profits - again, the long term outlook.

The Path from Here, to There...

The road from bear to bull market is surprisingly short and straight - plus, following the collapse of FTX, a come-back for crypto also means washing off  some of the mud currently splattered on crypto's public image.  But all of this is doable, here's how it will go;

Crypto regulations are coming, discussing if you're for or against this is officially a waste of time - we're getting them.

However, the industry has gotten smarter over the last few years and regulations no longer mean a 'crack down' on crypto. 

As politicians began considering passing finance laws specific to crypto assets, the crypto industry became major Washington DC influencers, and almost overnight began supporting pro-crypto politicians campaigns at such large amounts that crypto is outspending the industries that have typically spent the most for decades, the defense industry and pharmaceutical companies.

Until recently we were truly were at risk of tech-illiterate politicians passing poorly-written regulations that could bring everything to a halt, that no longer longer seems possible. This level of involvement has given the industry a place at the table with lawmakers.

If you're outside of the US thinking this doesn't involve you, I wouldn't count on that.  Some regulations will address the situation FTX is in, requiring exchanges to prove the assets they hold and auditing their total value regularly.  It wouldn't surprise me if US companies and investors could only do business with foreign firms that follow similar guidelines - setting a standard that will quickly become global.

Over the span of just a few days:  Crypto's current public image gets fixed as politicians pat themselves on the back for 'fixing crypto' with 'new investor protections'.  The largest investment firms have citied the lack of these regulations as the only reason they haven't yet gotten involved - so now the floodgates open. 

I believe the next bull market doesn't just set new all-time highs for the top cryptocurrencies, but does it at record speed as well - Bitcoin gaining $10,000 per week for 5 weeks would get us past it's previous high, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's how it went.

Remember - there's never been so many people and companies aware of what a Bitcoin bull run can do, and it will be a lot harder to justify sitting it out.

In Closing...

There's nothing fun about a bear market, except looking forward to it ending. Based on current indicators, it seems we may have a lot to look forward to!

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Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

KaJ Labs announced that it will award $35 million in grants to the Jot Art (JOT) Metaverse Project. The Jot Art team, led by project supervisor, Raj Kumar, have raised an additional $20 million from Psalms Capital, & ACP.

Jot Art is Lithosphere’s metaverse and the infusion will aid in launching the cross-chain metaverse for the Jot Art play-to-earn (P2E) “Finesse” game. The game series has two chapters, “Shadow Warriors” and “The Kingdom,” that takes place in the same metaverse.

The multi-player platform features high-adventure gameplay with mixed RPG elements. Players upgrade abilities with items from enemies and the environment. The “Finesse” RPG game is now live. Players can access and play the “Finesse: Shadow Warrior Preview Season” via Android and WebGL (browser).

Jot Art will also release a “Finesse” Samurai Genesis NFT Warriors collection with 100,000 unique characters and collectibles, each with different rarity levels on October 1st at 00:00 UTC. Warriors from the Samurai Genesis collection can be used for NFT staking and NFT wrapping. Characters are evenly divided between male and female and into five rarity categories: original, rare, super rare, very super rare and mythic. Only 25,000 characters of the Genesis collection will be available for minting on 2 public chains in the first batch.

A select group of whitelisted addresses will be able to mint one character for free, with minting fees ranging from $25 and up. 

Jot Art and Lithosphere are no strangers to the creation of P2E games or NFTs. KaJ Labs has been active in the mobile gaming industry for many years through Jot Art and the transition to Lithosphere’s unique blockchain allows for greater creativity and innovation. The financial infusion enables the “Finesse” metaverse to grow, evolve, and expand in multiple directions for the future of entertainment.

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About KaJ Labs
KaJ Labs is a decentralized research organization focusing on AI and blockchain technology. We’re driven to create innovative products that work for the greater good around the globe.

Website: https://kajlabs.org

About Lithosphere
Lithosphere is the next-generation network for cross-chain applications powered by AI and Deep Learning.

Website: https://lithosphere.network

About Psalms Capital
Psalms capital is a research company & advisor of innovative blockchain projects.

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Last week we covered news that the US Treasury Department had sanctioned Ethereum's controversial transaction mixer, Tornado Cash, for allegedly enabling money laundering.

This was only the second time the US government has taken such an action against a crypto mixing site.

However, a deep analysis of blockchain transaction data is showing the platform was mostly used for completely legal activities...

In fact, just over 30% of the funds sent to that protocol were used for money laundering, at least according to one blockchain analytics firm. 

Slowmist, which included their findings in a report on blockchain security, using the first 6 months of 2022, they found Tornado Cash received total deposits of 955,277 ETH (worth $1.7 Billion at current prices), with 300,160 ETH being related to potential illegal activity. 

This means that there's no (known) legal issues with approximately 70% of the operations of the platform.

If you read the US Treasury Department's press release announcing the sanction against Tornado Cash, you would have the impression that the site was built for, and only used for illegal purposes.  They described it as “A virtual currency mixer that launders the proceeds of cybercrimes, including those committed against victims in the United States."

For some perspective: If true, the study shows Tornado Cash may equally as popular with criminals as printed US Currency...

If we go by the estimates of Harvard University Professor of Economics Kenneth Rogoff - up to 34% of printed money is currently being used to facilitate illegal transactions.

But if I had to guess what primary factor was in the US government deciding to officially act against Tornado Cash, it would be the news that North Korean hackers, aka the 'Lazarus Group' were also using the mixer to launder crypto the have been obtaining through various, always illegal methods. 

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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News

As a user myself, Hotbit is a fairly good exchange... when it's up.

But I would by lying if I said this wasn't getting annoying. For the second time now it appears users will be locked out for a potential extended period of time, possibly lasting weeks, or months.

Last time (see our coverage here) hackers gained access to their servers, but not access to withdraw any user funds.  It seems like this angered them, so they decided to destroy everything they did have access to - which was basically the entire exchange system.  They were down for weeks.

This time time it wasn't a security breach, but a much wilder explanation:

"The reason is that a former Hotbit management employee who left Hotbit in April this year was involved in a project last year(which was against Hotbit's internal principles and of which Hotbit was unknown) that law enforcement authorities now think is suspected of violating criminal laws. So, a number of Hotbit senior managers have been subpoenaed by law enforcement since the end of July and are assisting in the investigation. Furthermore, law enforcement has frozen some funds of Hotbit, which has prevented Hotbit from running normally.

Hotbit and the rest employees of Hotbit's management are not involved in the project and have no knowledge of the illegal information involved in the project. However, we are still actively cooperating with the law enforcement authorities in their investigations and are continuously communicating with them through our lawyers and applying for the release of the frozen assets. The assets of all users are safe on Hotbit."

As far as when users can access their funds, Hotbit clearly does not know, only saying "Hotbit will resume normal service as soon as the assets are unfrozen" whenever that may be. 

Funds are safe...

Last time I was ready to hear it was all another exit scam and that my funds were gone for good, then the site came back and everything was still in my wallet. So, with fingers crossed, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt this time. 

According to Hotbit "All user’s assets and data on Hotbit are secure and correct" and they shared this link for more details on how user funds will be handled.  

There is mention of a 'compensation plan' for users, but no details on what that would be based on. 

Those with staked assets and investment product deposits will supposedly continue to earn like normal during this downtime. 

Users with concerns are invited to contact them here.

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Author: Adam Lee
Asia News Desk / Breaking Crypto News

Sherrod Brown, chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, has asked Apple and Google CEOs Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai to explain why bitcoin (BTC) scams are so prevalent on their platforms.

Brown is requesting information regarding the processes that Google and Apple employ to approve the programs that they provide in their app stores, as many have turned out to be bogus apps meant to steal cryptocurrency from users. Brown further notes that once a scam has been identified, users who downloaded it do not receive notifications of illicit activities.

There have also been several instances of Google search results including 'sponsored results' that were actually decoy phishing sites; this is something we first heard about years ago and continue to hear about every few months.

Brown cites a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report that warns about the growth of fake mobile applications. Scammers have used this method to steal $42 million worth of cryptocurrencies over the past few months. The letter, posted on the official US Senate website reads:

“According to the FBI, in one case, cybercriminals defrauded at least two dozen investors by creating a mobile app that used the name and logo of a real trading platform. Investors downloaded the app and deposited cryptocurrencies into wallets. Ultimately, the app was fake and the victims of the scam were unable to withdraw funds from their accounts.”

In Apple's case, where their App Store is literally the only way to install any app to the iPad or iPhone, they defend this monopoly saying it's actually beneficial to the consumer, because they can screen and deny any potentially malicious apps.

Experts recommend always downloading crypto-related software from official websites. Take the time to read user ratings and comments when on Google Play or the App Store, especially for products with a low download volume.

The executives have until August 10 to respond, but it is unclear what consequences corporations may face if they do not comply with Senate inquiries.

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Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

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