Paxos, a blockchain infrastructure firm, has confirmed that it made a mistake in paying over $500,000 in transfer fees to a Bitcoin miner. On September 10, Paxos paid the six-figure fee to move $2,000, which is significantly higher than the average network fee of around $2. The company later acknowledged the mistake and identified that the transfer came from its own servers. After almost a day, the Bitcoin miner who received the funds agreed to refund the amount to Paxos. The funds were returned on September 15.
In other news, a bankruptcy court has approved the sale of FTX digital assets in weekly batches according to preestablished guidelines. However, the sale does not include Bitcoin, Ether, and certain insider-affiliated tokens. These assets can be sold separately by FTX after providing 10 days’ notice. FTX currently holds $833 million worth of Bitcoin and Ether, along with a total of $3.4 billion held in Digital Assets A, which includes Solana, Bitcoin, Ether, Aptos, and others. The sale of FTX assets is not expected to have a significant impact on the markets.
Gemini Earn users could potentially recover all of their funds under a new remuneration scheme proposed by Digital Currency Group, the parent company of Genesis Global. The plan estimates that these users could receive a recovery of approximately 95-110% of their claims without any contribution from Gemini. However, if Gemini were to agree to provide $100 million to Gemini Earn users, they would receive more than full recovery. This proposal aims to provide greater value and compensation to the creditors of Genesis Global, which is currently bankrupt.
Asset manager Franklin Templeton has filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The fund would be structured as a trust, with Coinbase acting as the custodian for the Bitcoin and The Bank of New York Mellon acting as the cash custodian and administrator. Franklin Templeton, which manages $1.5 trillion in assets, is joining a growing list of asset managers waiting for regulatory approval for their Bitcoin ETFs. The SEC recently delayed decisions on several spot ETF applications, including those from WisdomTree, Valkyrie, Fidelity, VanEck, Bitwise, and Invesco.
The ongoing investigation into crypto exchange Binance and its US offshoot, Binance.US, has led to the departure of several top executives this week. Among those who left Binance.US were the CEO, legal head, and chief risk officer. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance.US and its CEO in June, accusing them of engaging in unregistered securities operations and other improprieties. The SEC’s actions have raised concerns about a possible criminal probe by the US Department of Justice.
Bitcoin (BTC) is currently priced at $26,465, while Ether (ETH) is priced at $1,628, and XRP is priced at $0.50. The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies is $1.05 trillion. Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top gainers of the week are Toncoin (TON), VeChain (VET), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), while the top losers are ApeCoin (APE), Astar (ASTR), and Flare (FLR).
In other news, a recent prediction suggests that Bitcoin’s price will reach a new all-time high before the next halving event in 2024. BitQuant, a popular social media commentator, predicts that the price of Bitcoin will surpass $69,000 before the halving and eventually peak at around $250,000. This projection is based on the belief that Bitcoin’s price will continue to rise after the halving event, which typically leads to a reduction in miner rewards earned per block.
In regulatory news, Stoner Cats 2 LLC, the company behind the Stoner Cats animated web series, has been charged by the SEC for conducting an unregistered offering of crypto-asset securities in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The company sold over 10,000 NFTs for around $800 each, with the proceeds being used to fund the series. As part of a settlement with the SEC, Stoner Cats 2 has agreed to a cease-and-desist order and will pay a civil penalty of $1 million.
Karl Greenwood, co-founder of the fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $300 million. OneCoin, which was co-founded by Greenwood and Ruja Ignatova, operated as a multilevel marketing and Ponzi scheme and defrauded victims out of $4 billion. Ignatova remains at large and is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. The sentencing of Greenwood marks a significant milestone in the efforts to bring the perpetrators of the OneCoin scheme to justice.
Lastly, the recent hack on cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx, which resulted in the loss of at least $55 million, has been attributed to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus. This conclusion was reached by blockchain security firm SlowMist and on-chain investigator ZachXBT. The hacker group was identified after inadvertently exposing its address, which was used in previous hacking incidents. CoinEx experienced large outflows of funds to an address with no previous history, leading security experts to suspect a breach. The attack by Lazarus highlights the ongoing threat posed by sophisticated hacking groups in the cryptocurrency industry.
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