Your Weekly Crypto Updates #6 ??

?? Binance Halts Withdrawals of Major USDC Stablecoin

Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, says it has suspended the withdrawal of major stablecoin USDC.

On Dec 13, Binance's chief executive Changpeng Zhao tweeted: "On USDC, we have seen an increase in withdrawals.”

He says that the exchange of USDC with two other crypto tokens, Paxos Standard (PAX) and Binance USD (BUSD), requires the use of conventional US dollars (USD) at a bank in New York. "The banks are not open for another few hours. We expect the situation will be restored when the banks open,” he explains.

?? Tether Depeg Attempt

A bombshell report suggests that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) tried to depeg USDT to save FTX from collapsing. Some are speculating that Sam was behind the collapse of Terra, 3AC, and Celsius.

SBF deflected many of the allegations levelled at him since his resignation, but today, he pointedly said he did not target Terra or Tether’s stablecoins.

“I made a lot of big mistakes this year. But this wasn’t one of them,” Bankman-Fried wrote on?Twitter?early Friday morning. “There’s no evidence because it didn’t happen. Please, please focus on your own house.”

?? Canada Just Banned Margin (Leverage) Trading On Crypto

Authorities in Canada are taking measures to better protect Canadian cryptocurrency investors in the aftermath of the FTX collapse and the spreading contagion.

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the council of Canada’s provincial and territorial securities regulators, on Dec. 13?issued?an update to crypto trading platforms operating in the country.

The CSA said that the authority has been reinforcing its approach to the supervision of crypto trading platforms by expanding existing requirements.

According to the statement, all crypto trading firms operating in Canada — local and foreign — must comply with newly expanded terms, which ban them from offering margin or leverage trading services to any Canadian clients.

The expanded terms also require crypto exchange services providers in Canada to segregate custody assets from the platform’s proprietary business.

?? Goldman Sachs Buys Into Crypto Businesses

In the wake of the crash of FTX, Goldman Sachs sees opportunities in the cryptocurrency market. The investment giant has plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to acquire or invest in cryptocurrency organizations. The company said that some valuations are now much more reasonable and that the involvement of trustworthy regulated players in the crypto industry will improve its condition.

?? Crypto Media Money

CEO of The Block resigned after it was revealed that he and his company received tens of millions of dollars in loans from Alameda Research.

Michael McCaffrey, the chief executive officer of cryptocurrency news outlet The Block, resigned after?media website Axios reported early Saturday, Hong Kong time, that he had received three undisclosed multi-million dollar loans from Alameda Research, the brokerage arm of failed digital assets exchange FTX.com.

?? SEC Regulates Against Cryptocurrency Risks

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released new guidance requiring public companies to disclose their exposure in cryptocurrency markets to their investors. Under the new guidelines, companies will not only have to include their crypto asset holdings in their public filings but also their risk exposure to FTX bankruptcy and other market developments.

?? Ethereum Upgrade Confirmed

Ethereum developers set a tentative date for the highly anticipated Shanghai hard fork. According to a?discussion?at the 151st Ethereum Core Developers Meeting on Dec. 8, core programmers have set a tentative deadline of March 2023 for Ethereum's Shanghai hard fork. In addition, developers will aim for May or June 2023 to launch the Ethereum Improvement Protocol (EIP) 4844 upgrade that will introduce proto-danksharding to the network.?

?? Major Exchanges to Start Stablecoins War

Coinbase is waiving conversion?fees for users who switch from USDT to a “trusted stablecoin” as part of a new campaign highlighting the quality of reserves that back the stablecoin, USDC, of which Coinbase is a co-founder. Meanwhile, Binance has stopped supporting USDC, auto-converting its customers’ holdings to its own stablecoin, BUSD.

In what may signal the beginning of a new phase in the battle for?stablecoin?dominance, Coinbase, the world’s?second-largest?crypto exchange by trading volume, is now encouraging its users to swap from Tether's USDT to?Circle's USDC with zero-fee trades.

"The events of the past few weeks have put some stablecoins to the test, and we’ve seen a flight to safety," the exchange said in a?blog post. "We believe that USD Coin (USDC) is a trusted and reputable stablecoin."

?? Nigeria Attempts to Force Use of CBDC

Nigeria has imposed limits on cash withdrawals in a move to push consumers towards alternatives, including its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the eNaira.

In?a letter?to banks and other financial institutions published on Tuesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) applied new limits on over-the-counter withdrawals at just ?100,000 ($225) per week for individuals and ?500,000 ($1,123) for businesses.?

Taking cash out of ATMs will be capped at ?20,000 ($45) per day, with only ?200 ($0.45) notes and smaller denominations being available from the machines.

Customers will still be able to take out larger sums in some instances but will have to pay processing fees of between 5% and 10%.

The move was justified in the letter as being in line with “the Cashless policy of the CBN.”

?? The Rise of the Digital ID Era

Australia officially launches its national digital ID while the European Union finalizes details for its Digital ID wallets.

This could be an early sign of this dystopian technology landing on your doorstep.

?? TikTok Meme Satirizes Cryptocurrencies

In the face of wildly fluctuating monetary values, TikTok creators are embracing a completely fictional form of currency called “Dabloons.” Dabloons are not crypto, and they’re not tied to fiat currencies, mining, or verification; but they are being acquired, lost and spent with ferocious frequency.

Poking some fun at the seeming absurdity of cryptos, the Dabloon economy is one big meme: TikTokers create content that rewards viewers with Dabloons, as well as content that offers just as fake ‘products’ to spend them on.

?? United States Lead in Crypto Trading Volume

Huobi Research’s latest report revealed that the United States leads in crypto trading volume, with a 9% share of the global centralized trading volume and 31% of DeFi trading.?However, the percentage of the population using crypto is not as high as in some other jurisdictions; Only 13% of Americans use crypto, compared to 20% in Vietnam, which leads to that category among the countries included in the study.

?? Tesla Market Value Falls Below $500 Billion

In late October 2021, Tesla’s market capitalization reached $1 trillion for the first time, making CEO Elon Musk the first ever person worth $300 billion or more.

On Tuesday, the electric vehicle maker’s equity valuation dipped below $500 billion in mid-day trading for the first time since November 2020 before rebounding to hover slightly above that mark.

Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of luxury goods maker LVMH Mo?t Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, has pipped Tesla CEO Elon Musk to become the world's richest person.

Musk, who recently bought the microblogging platform Twitter for $44 billion, has seen his fortune dip by over $100 billion in 2022.

?? Crypto.com & Coca-Cola Launch World Cup NFTs

Crypto.com announced its collaboration with Coca-Cola to launch a series of NFTs to celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. The crypto exchange will host the 10,000 NFTs created by Coca-Cola and digital artist GMUNK on its NFT platform to memorialize the historic matches that will be forever captured on the blockchain.

?? Russian Crypto Entrepreneur Killed in Crash

Russian crypto tycoon Vyacheslav Taran, the founder of crypto exchange Libertex, died after the helicopter he was travelling in crashed near Monaco. The helicopter allegedly mysteriously crashed in good weather conditions and after another passenger reportedly cancelled onboarding at the last minute. Taran is the third cryptocurrency entrepreneur to die unexpectedly in recent weeks.

?? Binance Net Withdrawals Topped $3.6 Billion Over the Last 7 Days

Binance appears to be suffering from a decline in liquidity. A crypto analytics firm Nansen report indicates that Binance had more than $3.6 billion net withdrawals from Dec. 7 to Dec. 13.

Binance gross outflows have been approximately $8.8 billion, while gross inflows have been around $5.1 billion.

In addition, while Binance saw more than $2 billion in daily net inflows of Ethereum ERC-20 tokens back in November, that's reversed into outflows of over $1 billion from Dec. 12-13.

?? We Are Now in the Phase of Finalizing Crypto Regulation

The Treasury is finalising plans for a package of sweeping rules to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, including limits on foreign companies selling into the UK, provisions for how to deal with the collapse of companies and restrictions on the advertising of products.

Ministers will shortly launch a consultation on the new regulatory regime after the implosion of FTX injected fresh urgency into the government’s promise to impose order on finance’s “wild west”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in April, while still chancellor, that “effective regulation” would help make Britain a global hub for crypto assets technology and would encourage “the businesses of tomorrow to invest, innovate and scale up on UK shores”.

Sam Bankman-Fried - The Disastrous Collapse of FTX ??

?? Sam Bankman-Fried Has Been Arrested by Bahamian Authorities.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities Monday evening after the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York shared a sealed indictment with the Bahamian government, setting the stage for extradition and U.S. trial for the onetime crypto billionaire at the heart of the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse.

His arrest is the first concrete move by regulators to hold individuals accountable for the multibillion-dollar implosion of FTX last month.

Before his arrest was announced, Bankman-Fried had been expected to testify virtually before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, but his attorneys told CNBC that he would not appear. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who oversees that committee, said she was “surprised” at his arrest and disappointed that Congress would not be able to hear from him on Tuesday.

?? FTX Did Invoicing, Expenses Over Slack and QuickBooks

The CEO hired to guide?FTX?through?bankruptcy?testified that the company used QuickBooks and instant messaging to handle its finances.

John Ray III, who?took FTX over?from Sam Bankman-Fried last month, told the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday that record-keeping under Bankman-Fried was virtually nonexistent.

“It’s an absence of record-keeping. Employees would communicate invoicing and expenses on Slack, which is essentially a way of communicating [in] chatrooms,” Ray told lawmakers. “They used QuickBooks — a multibillion-dollar company using QuickBooks.”

“QuickBooks?” Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) asked in shock.

“QuickBooks. Nothing against QuickBooks. It’s a very nice tool, just not for a multibillion-dollar company,” replied Ray.

?? Sam Bankman-Fried Could Be Sentenced To 115 Years In Prison

Sam Bankman-Fried?could be sentenced to up to 115 years in prison if convicted of all charges against him.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas?on Monday. US federal prosecutors?announced?on Tuesday that they had charged Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and former CEO of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with?eight counts?carrying a combined maximum sentence of 115 years.

FTX rival Binance and other traders began rapidly withdrawing their holdings from the exchange after?a?bombshell report?revealed how closely tied FTX was to Alameda Research, a trading firm set up by Bankman-Fried.

After Binance went back on plans to bail FTX out, both FTX and Alameda Research began bankruptcy proceedings, and Bankman-Fried?stepped down from his position as FTX's CEO?on November 11.

That's all for this week's?Your Weekly Crypto Updates???

As always, please Do Your Own Research (DYOR), and I will see you again next week.

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