Terra developer Terraform Labs files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Terraform Labs, the blockchain company behind the infamous Terra ecosystem, filed for bankruptcy in the US a month after a court ruled that the firm violated US laws. In court documents filed on January 21, Singapore-based blockchain company Terraform Labs disclosed liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million. Among the creditors with the largest unsecured claims are Nansen CEO Alexander Svanevik of Standard Crypto and Ashley Swaren, TokenTerminal chief commercial officer Rasmus Savander. The filing will reportedly allow the firm to pursue its business plan while pursuing ongoing litigation, including “representative litigation pending in Singapore and litigation in the United States” involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Terraform Labs said in a statement, Reuters reports. Following this news, the price of LUNA fell more than 5%, dropping to $0.62, according to data from CoinGecko. In late December 2023, a US federal judge sided with the SEC in a case against Terraform Labs and its former boss Do Kwon, who has been detained in Montenegro since March 2023 after being convicted of trying to use a fake passport to escape to Dubai on private jet. The US court decision indicated the sale of two unregistered securities by Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, specifically the LUNA, UST and MIR tokens. Terraform Labs has played a critical role in the Terra ecosystem, developing and supporting various projects and protocols within the ecosystem. One of Terra's key products was its failed algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), which was designed to maintain its peg to the US dollar by algorithmically pegging it to LUNA.
ARK Investment moves $16 million from ProShares into its own Bitcoin ETFs ARK Investment Management, led by Cathie Wood, has divested itself from the ProShares Bitcoin ETF, reallocating approximately $16 million to its own Bitcoin ETF. The move included the sale of shares of the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO), a pioneering ETF in the US.S. Bitcoin futures market, and the purchase of 365,427 shares of the ARK 21 shares of the Bitcoin ETF (ARKB). This adjustment resulted in ARKB accounting for the ARK 1% Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW). ARKB's share price dropped to $43.51 on Tuesday, a significant decline from its original Listing Price of $49 on January. eleven. ARK Investment Management previously switched its investment from Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to BITO in December in anticipation of the U.S. approval of direct Bitcoin ETFs. Cathie Wood expressed confidence in investing in the already approved fund during the one-term pending approval. This latest change in portfolio composition is consistent with Ark's ongoing strategy to optimize its position in the changing landscape of cryptocurrency investing. ark's 21Shares Bitcoin ETF currently offers one of the lowest rates at 0.21%. Leading crypto exchange Coinbase acts as the custodian of the Arc ETF.
The TOWN Foundation has announced its plan to set a new record for the fastest blockchain in the world. To demonstrate the reliability, scalability and speed of the Open Network (TO) blockchain, a public network performance test is scheduled for October 31, 2023 at 15:00 UTC.
MetaMask will partner with Stripe to offer US users an easy way to switch between fiat and digital currencies, further simplifying the cryptocurrency experience.
Interest in Shiba Inu futures rises to highest level since early June
Altcoin Shiba Inu (SHIB) has skyrocketed over 18% in the past seven days.
The day before, the cryptocurrency reached $0.0000083.99.
On Friday, June 23, the SHIB rate dropped to $0.000007829. The altcoin’s capitalization exceeds $4.612 billion.
The surge in the spot market has led to increased interest in SHIB futures. The amount of open contracts today is close to $11 million, as evidenced by data from the CoinGlass platform.
Russian economist doubts Bitcoin will return to $60,000
Many Russian experts are skeptical about the long-term prospects of the largest cryptocurrency. For example, Mikhail Dorofeev, an associate professor at the Department of Public Finance at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, said last summer that Bitcoin would most likely collapse to $10,000.
Representatives of Coinbase and Robinhood will call on Congress to promptly legalize the crypto market
Coinbase and Robinhood sent representatives to speak before Congress. They will talk about the problems caused by the lack of regulation of digital currencies in the United States.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced that his company has no plans to leave the American jurisdiction for now.
Jack Dorsey supported US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy
Participant in the US presidential race, Robert Kennedy, promises to protect cryptocurrency holders and defend the interests of the blockchain industry if he takes the post of head of state.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who also represents the BTC fan camp, supports this politician and believes that he should lead the American government.
DappRadar: The DApps market grew by almost 10% in May
Despite the dominance of the bearish trend in the digital asset market, decentralized applications (DApps) showed a 9.97% increase in trading volume in May.
A report from DappRadar said the number of unique wallets sending and receiving funds daily reached 1,967,051 last month.
The cryptocurrency market suffered heavy losses last night after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the Binance exchange.
The regulator accused the trading platform of violating investor protection rules and misrepresenting data on transactions in digital assets, which the SEC classifies as unregistered securities, Bloomberg reports.
The State Duma Financial Market Committee has prepared an updated version of the bill on the crypto ruble
In preparation for the implementation of the regulatory framework for the digital currency of the Russian Federation, the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market presented an updated version of the law on the cryptoruble.
Deputies propose to vest the Bank of Russia with regulatory functions, reports the Interfax agency.
The Committee sent an updated version of the document to the relevant ministries. Last week, Anatoly Aksakov, who heads the Lower House of Parliament Committee on the Financial Market, said that by the end of June, deputies could adopt a bill on introducing the crypto-ruble into the state’s financial system.
Stablecoin trading volume falls to lowest level since late 2020
In May, activity among holders of stablecoins deployed on Ethereum dropped sharply due to high transaction fees. Users began to switch en masse to the Solana and Polygon blockchains, which offer lower fees, The Block reports.
According to experts, this month the amount of transactions with ETH-based stablecoins will be the lowest since December 2020.
“Rich Dad” is confident in the reliability of gold and Bitcoin
In April, financier Robert Kiyosaki said his plans included further investments in gold and Bitcoin. It was these assets that he called on Twitter the safest amid the approaching global economic crisis.
Rich Dad says President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve can't be trusted. The dollar can “burst” at any moment, so now you need to redistribute your savings in favor of digital currency and precious metals.
Stablecoin issuers spent more than $1.3 million on crypto lobbying in Congress
Crypto companies annually allocate part of their capital to lobbying the interests of the blockchain industry. Since the beginning of 2022, issuers of stablecoins Tether, Circle and others have spent more than $1.3 million for these purposes.
The developer of the largest USDT token uses the services of the consulting firm FTI Government Affairs to promote the interests of its business.
DappRadar: NFT trading volume in May was just over $333 million
DappRadar has found that activity in the NFT market has been weakening over the past few months.
Trading volume for tokenized collections has been declining since early January 2023.
In May, market users completed transactions worth just over $333 million. However, the number of wallets on NFT platforms increased, the owners of which made 2.3 million transactions in three weeks.
Binance hopes UK will opt for soft crypto regulation
The largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, expressed hope that the UK authorities will choose a more liberal course towards the blockchain industry.
If the United States prefers to tighten policy in this area, then London should become more flexible in this matter, said Patrick Hillmann, who heads Binance's strategic development division. With this statement, he commented on the desire of the American leadership for strict crypto regulation.
DBS Bank took advantage of the collapse of crypto exchanges in 2022
Singapore's DBS Bank launched its own platform for transactions with digital currencies in 2020. Against the backdrop of the bankruptcy of Bitcoin exchanges in 2022, the activity of investors on the bank’s platform has sharply increased.
DBS Bank CEO Lionel Lim said year-on-year bitcoin trading volume on the platform has grown by 80%.
Hong Kong will allow exchanges to process transactions with Bitcoin and Ethereum
From June 1, cryptocurrency exchanges will be able to legally serve Hong Kong investors.
The city will begin to operate a mechanism for licensing trading platforms, whose users will be able to buy and sell virtual currencies. This step by the Hong Kong authorities will be part of the metropolis’s ambitious program to stimulate innovative development and the arrival of investors and blockchain startups.