Bitcoin

FTX customers in Japan will soon be able to withdraw their funds that are currently frozen due to the bankruptcy process. Two FTX-owned crypto exchanges, FTX Japan and Liquid, are developing a system to allow withdrawals by mid-February. FTX’s Japanese Customers Can Withdraw Funds Soon Two FTX-owned cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan — FTX Japan and Liquid — jointly announced Thursday that their users will be able to withdraw funds by mid-February. The two crypto exchanges announced: For the assets entrusted to us by our customers at FTX Japan and Liquid Japan, we are proceeding with system development so that withdrawals will be possible from the Liquid Japan website. To withdraw funds, FTX Japan’s customers will need to open an account with Liquid and transfer their assets to the Liquid platform. The exchanges plan to allow withdrawals by mid-February, according to the joint announcement. Japanese exchange Liquid was acquired by FTX earlier this year. The deal included Quoine

Non-fungible token (NFT) sales over the last seven days are ending the year 13.97% lower than the week prior. During the last week, statistics show that $147,054,554 in NFT sales were recorded across 334,668 NFT buyers. NFT Sales Continue to Slip: 13.97% Decrease in Last Seven Days NFT sales are down this week, 13.97% lower than last week according to cryptoslam.io metrics . 2022 hasn’t been a good year for NFTs as sales and NFT values have slid dramatically over the last 12 months. Out of the $147.05 million in NFT sales this past week, NFTs that derived from Ethereum ( ETH ) represented $113.86 million of the aggregate sold in seven days. However, ETH-based NFT sales slipped by 20.4% during the past week. Solana NFT sales jumped 91.36% higher this week as the chain saw $23.64 million in seven-day sales. While Solana’s increase was large, Waves-based NFT sales increased by 302.59% but only sold $7,609 worth of NFTs. Theta’s NFT sales jumped by 132.29% over the last week but only s

Bitcoin miners have had a challenging year as the network’s mining difficulty reached an all-time high and the spot market price of bitcoin dropped below the cost of production. Currently, with electricity costs at $0.07 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), only 18 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin mining rigs are able to turn a profit at current prices. Current SHA256 ASIC Models Unprofitable at $0.12 per kWh, Only Two Devices Profitable at $0.10 per kWh On December 31, 2022, statistics show that bitcoin’s hash rate is hovering above the 300 exahash per second (EH/s) range after reaching a low on December 30 at 235 EH/s. Additionally, data from macromicro.me indicates that the current cost of production ($16,577) is nearly equal to bitcoin’s current spot market value ($16,572). Macromicro.me calculates the cost of production by “observing consumption of electricity and daily issuance of bitcoin, as provided by Cambridge University.” The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Con

According to Mark Moss, the CEO of Market Disruptor, significant regulation is coming to the cryptocurrency industry following the aftermath of FTX’s collapse. He believes that future cryptocurrency bull runs probably won’t happen. However, Moss says that bitcoin will continue to see demand as it is “solving a problem that has plagued humanity from Day One.” Market Disruptor CEO Predicts Regulatory Shift in Wake of FTX Collapse, Sees Most Cryptocurrency Assets Regulated as Securities in Future On Dec. 29, 2022, Mark Moss, the CEO of Market Disruptor, spoke with Michelle Makori, the lead anchor of Kitco News and the company’s editor-in-chief, about the cryptocurrency industry and bitcoin ( BTC ). Moss believes that the recent FTX collapse has accelerated regulation, and he thinks that most cryptocurrency assets will be regulated as securities in the future. As an example, the recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) charges against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried defi

Trials of the digital yuan have produced disappointing results, according to a report quoting the former head of research at the Chinese central bank. The new form of national fiat has brought no benefits to the banks and should expand beyond being employed only as a substitute for cash, the banker believes. Common People Used to Cash and Cards, Ex-PBOC Executive Notes Usage of China’s central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) has been “low, highly inactive,” according to Xie Ping, former director-general of research at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Ping made this observation at a conference devoted to digital finance. “The cumulative circulation of the digital yuan in the two years of the trial has been only 100 billion yuan” ($14 billion), he detailed, quoted by the financial news outlet Caixin and Reuters. In his view, the application of the digital yuan needed to be widened. “The results are not ideal,” Xie concluded during the forum which was organized by the Tsinghua Unive

Tokio Marine, the biggest property/casualty insurance group in Japan, is taking its services and operations into the metaverse. The group, which has more than 39,000 employees all over the world, will allow its users to review and purchase insurance products on a metaverse platform, using real employees as clerks in the virtual world. Tokio Marine to Offer Insurance in Metaverse While gaming, social, and tech companies have been the first in embracing the metaverse as a concept, other companies are now also entering available metaverse platforms. Tokio Marine, the biggest property and casualty insurance group in Japan, has announced that it will start offering insurance services in the metaverse. The company will offer insurance and other kinds of policies in the digital world in January, employing real clerks that will be represented as avatars. Interested users will be able to interact with the clerks and inquire about the details of each one of the products offered, as well as s

BMW, the luxury car manufacturer, has partnered with Coinweb, a decentralized blockchain layer 2-based company, to introduce blockchain-based tools to its operations. The company will develop blockchain-based automation for vehicle financing processes, and also a rewards program for customers of the automotive company adapted to compliance processes in Thailand. BMW to Introduce Blockchain to Its Operations More companies are introducing blockchain processes as part of their operations due to the ostensible reliability of the tech and how it can help save on costs. On Dec. 29, BMW, the German car manufacturer, announced a partnership with Coinweb, a layer 2 (L2) blockchain interoperability protocol, to introduce blockchain-based processes to its operations. This alliance contemplates two different tasks. The first includes the development of a smart contracts platform with the objective of streamlining different processes that need to be completed for the financing of BMW-branded

Fidelity Investments, a major financial services firm with $10 trillion in assets under administration, has filed several trademark applications for a wide range of cryptocurrency, non-fungible token (NFT), and metaverse products and services. Fidelity’s Crypto and Metaverse Trademark Applications Fidelity Investments filed three trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last week for a wide range of cryptocurrency, non-fungible token (NFT), and metaverse products and services. Fidelity has $9.6 trillion in assets under administration as of Sept. 30; the financial services firm serves about 40 million individual investors. Mike Kondoudis, a USPTO-licensed trademark attorney, tweeted Monday: Fidelity has plans for the metaverse! The company has filed 3 trademark applications covering NFTs + NFT marketplaces, metaverse investment services, virtual real estate investing, cryptocurrency trading, and more. The financial services giant’s tradem

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas has revealed that it seized digital assets worth more than $3.5 billion from the collapsed crypto exchange FTX. The regulator explained that the cryptocurrencies were transferred to its wallets “for safekeeping” and “are being held by the Commission on a temporary basis.” Bahamas Regulator Seizes FTX’s Cryptocurrencies The Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) said Thursday that it has obtained a court order to transfer the digital assets owned by, or under the custody or control of, FTX Digital Markets Ltd. (FTXDM) to its secure wallets. FTX Digital Markets is the Bahamian subsidiary of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Trading Ltd., which owned and operated the crypto trading platform FTX.com. The regulator wrote that on Nov. 12: The Commission … took the action of directing the transfer of all digital assets under the custody or control of FTXDM or its principals, valued at more than US$3.5 billion, based on market pricing at the time of tra

After FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was released on bail and traveled to his parent’s home in California, it has been reported that SBF was visited by the crypto advocate Tiffany Fong, and also the “Big Short” author Michael Lewis while he’s been on house arrest. Fong detailed she managed to interview SBF, while Lewis visited to presumably get information on the downfall of the FTX empire for the writer’s upcoming book. SBF Gets 2 Visitors While on House Arrest and Before His Jan. 3 Arraignment in New York Since SBF was released on bail, reports note that two people have been granted access to visit the disgraced former FTX CEO while he’s on house arrest. Tiffany Fong disclosed that she met with SBF and noted that she had not written anything yet when she tweeted about her discussion with SBF on Dec. 28. The following day, The New York Post published an article about Fong’s visit, and the article’s authors Selim Algar, Andy Tillett, and Patrick Reilly decided to call Fon

At the end of 2021, a myriad of people thought a handful of smart contract platform tokens, often referred to as ‘Ethereum killers,’ would flip the second-largest crypto asset in terms of market capitalization in 2022. As 2022 comes to an end, statistics show that none of the so-called ‘Ethereum killers’ have surpassed the leading smart contract platform token, and a number of these tokens have lost considerable amounts of value during the crypto winter. Ethereum Outperformed Its Competitors in terms of Market Cap, Decentralized Finance Action, and Non-Fungible Token Sales On Dec. 23, 2021, the top smart contract platform coins held an overall valuation of around $823 billion and at that time, ethereum’s ( ETH ) market capitalization represented 59.42% of the aggregate. Today, on Dec. 30, 2022 , the crypto economy’s top smart contract platform coins are valued at $239 billion, and ETH ’s market cap is roughly $144 billion. Data indicates that ETH ’s market cap equates to 60.25% of

Sudeban, the Venezuelan banking watchdog, is currently working on a mechanism to review crypto-related transactions in real-time to control the influence these have on the stability of the exchange market. Analysts have recently linked the situation in peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto markets to the recent drop in the value of the bolivar. Venezuelan Government to Monitor Crypto Transactions The Venezuelan government is aiming to monitor the the movements of crypto-based P2P exchanges to protect the value of the bolivar. On Dec. 20, the Venezuelan banking watchdog Sudeban explained that it is in the process of designing a system to monitor banking transactions in real-time, with the help of Sunacrip, the national cryptocurrency regulator. While no more details were offered, the organization explained the objective is to “fight the irregular practices that attack our currency and the stability of the exchange market.” This means that the government looks to be examining the link between t

Today’s top ten crypto assets make up a large portion of the crypto economy’s current $797.95 billion value on Dec. 29, 2022, and many of them are some of the most popular digital currencies today. While coin market capitalization aggregation sites allow patrons to add their favorite coins to a watchlist, between coingecko.com and coinmarketcap.com, bitcoin is the most watched top ten crypto coin in 2022 as it’s on approximately 4,848,865 watchlists today. The Top Ten Crypto Market Cap Coins in Terms of Watchlist Numbers As 2022 comes to an end, crypto market and price aggregation websites like coinmarketcap.com (CMC) and coingecko.com (CG) offer watchlists so visitors can hone in on their favorite coins or maybe the coins held in their portfolio. In basic terms, a watchlist is a specific set of crypto assets that a person selects in order to monitor and it can be viewed without monitoring all the other crypto assets the individual doesn’t care about. In traditional finance, inve

Its been 105 days since Ethereum transitioned from a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain to a proof-of-stake (PoS) network and the number of Ethereum validators is set to surpass 500,000 in 2023. According to metrics, Ethereum’s issuance rate of new coins has dropped considerably and only 4,790.45 ether has been minted since The Merge took place on Sept. 15, 2022. Ethereum’s Issuance Rate Is 0.014% per Annum in Contrast to the Simulated PoW Inflation Rate of 3.58% per Year The Ethereum ( ETH ) network has been operating under its proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm for more than three months and since then, 4,790.45 ethereum or $5.7 million in value has been added to the supply. Statistics from ultrasound.money show that Ethereum’s current issuance rate of new coins per annum is 0.014%. That’s a whole lot different than what it would be if Ethereum was still a PoW chain, according to ultrasound.money’s simulation metrics. If ETH remained a PoW chain during the last 105 days, then

Bitcoin’s hashrate has jumped from the low 170 exahash per second (EH/s) recorded this week, to above the 300 exahash range after a number of bitcoin mining operations from Texas temporarily went offline on Dec. 25, 2022. Furthermore, three-day hashrate distribution statistics recorded on Dec. 29, 2022 indicate that two mining pools command more than 50% of the global hashrate. 2 Mining Entities Currently Produce More Than 50% of the Global Hashrate, Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Expected to Decline Significantly in 5 Days The computational processing power behind the Bitcoin ( BTC ) network ramped up to the 300 EH/s range on the evening of Dec. 28, 2022. Three days before the rise, BTC ’s hashrate slid to a low of 170 EH/s on Dec. 28, 2022, when bitcoin miners from Texas curtailed their hashpower to relieve the grid from any excess load. Most of the SHA256 hashpower returned the same day, as Bitcoin.com News reported on it climbing back to 240 EH/s by 12:00 p.m. (ET). Following Wedn

A marketplace for digital assets is soon going to open in China under a public-private partnership, local media revealed. According to the report, the goal is to establish a regulated trading platform for digital collectibles as part of government efforts to curb market speculation with such assets. National Marketplace to Support Trading of Digital Collectibles and Copyrights in China Chinese authorities are preparing to launch a state-controlled platform allowing the trading of non-fungible tokens ( NFTs ) and other digital assets, local media announced. The initiative is a joint project between government organizations and a private company. The “China Digital Asset Trading Platform,” built in partnership by the China Technology Exchange, China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, and Huaban Digital Copyright Service Center Co. Limited, will launch on Jan. 1, 2023, the report by Sina Finance detailed on Wednesday. The marketplace will operate under the license of the China Digital

The U.S dollar-Argentine peso exchange rate escalated during December, with the Argentine fiat currency reaching new historic lows as citizens ran to exchange their holiday payments for dollars. The U.S. dollar reached a value of 356 pesos on December 28, losing almost 10% during just one week, and threatening to spur a more significant inflationary jump. Argentine Peso Sinks to Lowest Level in History Argentina, one of the countries in Latam with active exchange control for foreign currencies, is facing difficulties maintaining the value of its fiat currency. The exchange between U.S. dollars and Argentine pesos reached historic levels, with the peso sinking to its lowest level ever on Dec. 28. The dollar reached a price of 356 pesos in its parallel cash denomination, also called “blue,” having closed November with a value of 314 pesos per U.S. dollar. The Argentine peso plummet accelerated last week when it lost more than 10% of its value. Since the start of 2022, the Argentine

The Central African Republic’s plan to list the sango coin in the last quarter of 2022 has been put on hold, while the scheduled unlocking of 5% of token holders’ portfolios has similarly been postponed, a statement from the team promoting the token has reportedly said. The decision to delay the listing of the coin was prompted by what the team terms “current market conditions.” Scheduled Token Unlocking Postponed Nearly eight months after becoming the first country in Africa to adopt bitcoin, the Central African Republic (CAR) recently said it will not proceed with the listing of its “Sango” crypto token as planned. In a statement reportedly posted in a sango coin Telegram group, the team promoting the token claimed that “current market conditions” had necessitated this decision. Besides the listing delay, the CAR team said the planned unlocking of up to 5% of sango holders’ portfolios had been postponed as well. According to the token information available on the official Sango

Microstrategy is now holding approximately 132,500 bitcoin following its most recent purchases. This year, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has emerged as “the institutional-grade digital asset,” said Microstrategy founder Michael Saylor. Microstrategy Acquires More Bitcoin Nasdaq-listed Microstrategy Inc. announced Wednesday that it has purchased more bitcoin for its corporate treasury. Michael Saylor, the company’s founder and executive chairman, tweeted Wednesday: Microstrategy has increased its bitcoin holdings by ~2,500 BTC . As of 12/27/22 Microstrategy holds ~132,500 bitcoin acquired for ~$4.03 billion at an average price of ~$30,397 per bitcoin. In its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Microstrategy clarified that the 2,500 coins were acquired between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 by its wholly owned subsidiary Macrostrategy. The subsidiary bought approximately 2,395 BTC at an average price of $17,871 per coin between Nov. 1 and Dec. 21. It then so

After the publicly-listed bitcoin mining firm Argo Blockchain suspended trading on Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange, the company said it would follow up the next day with an announcement. The following day, on Dec. 28, 2022, Argo detailed it is selling its Helios facility to Galaxy Digital for $65 million, and the financially troubled business plans to refinance asset-backed loans with a new $35 million loan that stems from Galaxy. Galaxy Digital Purchases Texas Data Center From Argo Blockchain, Company Hopes Transactions Will ‘Enable the Company to Continue Operations’ Galaxy Digital is giving Argo Blockchain (Nasdaq: ARBK ) some fresh liquidity, according to a press announcement published by Argo on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022. Argo detailed that it is selling its Helios facility to Galaxy for $65 million. Galaxy has also agreed to host Argo’s fleet of Bitmain-manufactured S19J Pro bitcoin miners at the Helios facility. The Helios facility is located in Dickens County, Texas and

According to court documents, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is set to be arraigned by the federal court in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on Jan. 3, 2023. The disgraced FTX co-founder plans to enter a plea in his fraud case in front of U.S. judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, according to a report published by Reuters. Report Claims FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried ‘Expected to Enter a Plea Next Week,’ Criminal Defense Attorney Says Feds Have a Case With ‘Very Few Holes’ Just recently, the judge that was presiding over Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) fraud case, judge Ronnie Abrams, withdrew from the case citing a conflict of interest. It seems Abrams husband, Greg Andres, was reportedly an FTX adviser last year. Andres is a partner at the white-shoe, international law firm headquartered in New York City, Davis Polk & Wardwell. Following Abrams’s withdrawal from SBF’s case, the judge has been replaced by judge Lewis Kaplan. The 78-year-old Kaplan has been called a “ no-nonsense ” j