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Bittrex

Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy after SEC complaint

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Three weeks after being charged with running an unauthorized securities exchange by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), cryptocurrency trading platform Bittrex Inc applied for bankruptcy exemption on Monday.

Bittrex which is based in Seattle stopped operating in the United States on April 30 while stating that Bittrex Global, which services clients outside of the United States, would not be impacted by the bankruptcy case. The non-American operations of the business are headquartered in Liechtenstein.

Bittrex
Image Source: investing.com

Based on a bankruptcy filing submitted in a Wilmington, Delaware court, Bittrex’s financial assets, and debts were in the range of 500 million USD to 1 billion USD.

Also Read: Qualcomm to acquire Israeli auto-chip maker Autotalks

According to Bittrex, U.S. users who hadn’t withdrawn money before April 30 still have crypto assets in their possession.

The assets in question are safe & secure, according to Bittrex, which also stated that it planned to seek the bankruptcy court seeking a brief reopening of account holders so that the cryptocurrency may be returned to customers.

Over the past twelve months, several businesses in the cryptocurrency sector have filed for bankruptcy. These failures were caused by a decline in asset prices, increased regulatory attention, and, in the scenario of the once-famous exchange FTX, criminal allegations.

the SEC filed a lawsuit against Bittrex, On April 17, saying that, William Shihara, its previous chief executive officer, had urged cryptocurrency asset issuers looking to list their tokens on the exchange’s website to take down any public declarations that would prompt regulators to look into the token sales as securities.

The cryptocurrency assets on Bittrex’s website weren’t securities or investment agreements, according to Bittrex, which has refuted the SEC’s accusations.

Although the SEC’s action is continuing, Bittrex has previously consented to pay the U.S. Treasury an amount equal to $29 million in penalties for apparent breaches of the country-specific regulations and the money laundering prevention law.

The Bureau of Foreign Asset Control under the Treasury Department was cited as Bittrex’s biggest unsecured creditor in its plea, owing the organization more than 24 million, USD.

Also Read: Google Rolls Out Passkeys to (Eventually) Kill Passwords

The majority of Bittrex’s other biggest creditors were cryptocurrency exchange users. Without mentioning them by name, Bittrex highlighted 16 users who have at least one million dollars in their respective accounts. As per the petition, the biggest existing Bittrex client account has assets at 14.6 million USD.

“The market downturn triggered by multiple failures in the crypto ecosystem became an outright collapse by the end of the year. These events have caused us to reset our strategy,” Bittrex co-founder Richie Lai told employees in an internal email leaked on Twitter.

Source: forkast.news
Gemini

Gemini – Cryptocurrency Exchange Founded By Twin Brothers.

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In this digital era, when we are trying to bring cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, etc. There are many companies that provide these services, ensuring its safety, Gemini is one of them.

Gemini Trust firm is a cryptocurrency exchange, wallet, and custodian which provides services like Buying, selling, and storing digital assets for their customers. Gemini was founded in 2014 by Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss and is governed by The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS). Its headquarters were established in New York City, New York, Unites States.

History

Founders announced the establishment of Gemini in 2013. But it began to work in October 2015. After that, the company started to add different digital services like FIX, API support, etc. In 2016, it permitted users to withdraw Ethereum classics from the exchange, pursuing a hard fork in Ethereum’s code. It allowed its users to withdraw Bitcoin Cash from the exchange given that they had a balance available on the exchange before the bitcoin hard fork in August 2017. Chicago Board Exchange started using Gemini for its Bitcoin Future contracts. By April 2018, It initiated services for Block trading. It enables Gemini users to buy and sell digital assets in large quantities, outside Gemini’s order books. It started to make use of NASDAQ’s smart technologies to monitor trade, any fraudulent activity, and price manipulation on its exchange.

Gemini
Image source: www.protocol.com

Services

Gemini enables the users to purchase and store bitcoin through a complex system of private keys and a password-protected environment while keeping the amount small to avoid the risk of loss. They can trade crypto and fiat currency in an open market and transfer USD to and from their bank accounts.

Partnerships

It did a number of partnerships which were:

In 2017, CBOE partnered with Gemini to use its dollar-dominated auction price.

In March 2018, It partnered with Caspian, a full-stack cryptocurrency trading and risk management platform for Institutional and complex investors.

In May 2020, It announced a partnership with Samsung In which Samsung smartphone users could link their Blockchain wallets to their Gemini accounts to transfer crypto and view balance.

Revenue

Gemini achieved total funding of 423.9 Million USD. Trust’s current valuation is 7.1 billion USD, raising an estimated annual revenue of 307.2 million USD.

Competitors

It operates in many different countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. So, it has many competitors. Some of its main competitors are Coinbase, Binance, Bitstamp, and Kraken.

Achievements

  • World’s first licensed ether exchange in 2016
  • World’s first licensed Zcash exchange in 2018.
  • Became the first one to launch Bitcoin’s futures contracts in 2017.

Court Cases

The commodity futures trading commission filed a suit against Gemini for misrepresentation of the company’s exchange and futures contracts during 3017 meetings. The case was filed on 2 June 2022. The suit demanded to block it from all trading commodities and from getting further investment with additional fines.

The Winklevoss Brothers – Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Cameron Howard Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss are twin brothers born on august 22, 1981. They are the American cryptocurrency and bitcoin investors, entrepreneurs, and founders of Winklevoss Capital Management and Gemini Crypto exchange. Besides this, They are also Olympic rowers who completed their men’s pair rowing event at The 2008 summer Olympics. Winklevoss and his brothers also co-founded HarvardConnection with Divya Narendra. Tyler Winklevoss is the chief Executive officer of Gemini Trust firm. They also founded a website called Guest with Rachelle Hruska. They filed a suit against Facebook for stealing their connectU idea to create Facebook. Each twin holds a cryptocurrency of 1.4 billion USD estimated to Forbes.

Digital Rupee

What Industry Stakeholders Think Of The Digital Rupee In 2022–23?

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The anticipated Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the Digital Rupee, will be launched in 2022-23, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who presented the Union Budget for the financial year 2022 on Tuesday. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue the digital currency, which will be based on blockchain technology, according to the minister. It will, however, differ from traditional cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, which are decentralized.

In her budget speech, Sitharaman, 62, said the digital rupee aims to “give a big boost to the digital economy” and lead to a “more efficient and affordable currency management system.” The exact name of the digital rupee will be decided later. The finance minister gave no further details about the long-awaited CBDC in her hour-and-a-half speech. She later explained in a press conference, however, that the digital rupee will be treated differently than other digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

“Currency is only currency when it is issued by the central bank, even if it is cryptocurrency. Anything beyond that, loosely speaking, we all refer to cryptocurrencies, they are not currencies,” she explained.
Plans for a digital rupee, for example, have been rumored for some time. In response to a question from the upper house, Finance Minister Anurag Singh Thakur proposed its formation in February of last year.
The government’s decision to create its own digital currency was applauded by the industry.

Digital Rupee
Image source: assettype.com

The news of the launch of digital rupees on the blockchain, according to Nischal Shetty, CEO of crypto exchanges and wallet WazirX, is “amazing,” indicating that the country is on the road to legalizing the crypto sector. Yes, I am.
“This move will pave the way for the adoption of cryptocurrencies and put India at the forefront of innovation,” he said.
Other cryptocurrency stakeholders agree with Shetty’s viewpoints and are optimistic about the future.

“The introduction of a CBDC clearly shows that India is a digital-first, efficiency-driven, and transparency-led system,” said Sumit Gupta, co-founder, and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX.
The launch of the digital Rupee by the RBI, according to Avinash Shekhar, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange ZebPay, will help familiarise Indian consumers with the benefits and efficiency of virtual currency and build an appetite for crypto and blockchain.

“The Budget focused heavily on integrating technology across sectors, and the gradual acceptance of a digital currency, blockchain, and virtual digital assets has the potential to make India a leader in this new paradigm of blockchain-enabled revolution,” Shekhar said.
The launch of the digital currency, according to Shivam Thakral, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange and wallet BuyUcoin, will catalyze the growth of blockchain infrastructure in the country.
“If RBI allows the trading of CBDC on private exchanges, it will add a new dimension to public-private partnerships in India’s fintech space,” he said. The arrival of the new currency, according to Ashish Singhal, Founder, and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch Kuber and Co-Chair of the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Assets Council (BACC), will accelerate digitization in the country.

“We also believe that various budget measures to improve digital payments adoption will induce more digital-savvy Indians into the financial ecosystem willing to explore newer forms of investing and wealth creation,” Singhal added.
Fintech companies have reacted positively to the government’s announcement to enter the digital currency space, in addition to cryptocurrency exchanges.
“The official announcement of India’s CBDC (Digital Rupee) launch is a long-awaited positive move that will create a wave of preparatory work among retail payment providers,” he said.
The introduction of digital rupees, according to Harshil Mathur, CEO, and co-founder of payment gateway RazorPay, will help reduce the financial and physical effort required to manage money.
Puneet Gupta, managing director and vice president of data management firm NetApp India, agreed that the announcement would aid in the creation of a framework for emerging technologies.
Users can only go from traditional digital senders to digital recipients, according to digital payment strategist Ram Lastgi, when it comes to how central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, can help boost the domestic digital economy. He stated that he would be able to conduct digital transactions. From a digital sender to an offline receiver, in a sense.

He explained that “smartphone users can make payments for digital currencies via QR codes, while non-smartphone users can make payments via SMS string-based electronic vouchers.”
Payments via SMS string-based electronic vouchers, he added, will gradually allow people who don’t have smartphones to accept digital methods.
Market analysts also believe that the addition of a digital currency to the existing Rupee would reduce economic leakages by reducing reliance on physical cash.
Abheek Barua, Chief Economist at HDFC Bank, believes that digital currency will have an impact on banks. “The implications of the same will have to be thought through further,” he said.

According to Pankit Desai, Co-Founder, and CEO of Mumbai-based cybersecurity startup Sequretek, the government should focus on raising awareness and education among businesses and consumers about the importance of cybersecurity, privacy, and data security, as well as bringing technological advancements in digital payments for sustainable growth.
Madhusudan E, a member of the Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) and Co-Founder and CEO of personal loan platform KreditBee, also emphasized the importance of paying attention to the digital currency’s implementation process.
While the government is finally moving to launch the country’s digital currency as an alternative to cryptocurrencies, some experts have pointed out that the government does not recognize any other digital currencies in the country.

Crypto

Crypto Investors Scammed of $1 Million Through Bogus MetaMask Token, Scam Classified as “Honeypot” and “Rug Pull”.

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MetaMask, a cryptocurrency exchange, recently announced that it will soon begin airdropping its own cryptocurrency, $MASK, into the wallets of its existing users. As a result of the news, a rumored fake MetaMask token appeared on the crypto market, and it was quickly available for trading on the Uniswap platform. This MetaMask token, which is based on the Ethereum blockchain, reportedly increased by 2,600% in a short period of time. The sale was locked as soon as the fake tokens worth $1 million were sold, raising suspicions of a rug-pull scam.

The scam, which preyed on traders’ eagerness for a MetaMask wallet token, took advantage of a flaw in the popular DEXTools trading app to persuade users of the token’s legitimacy. A scammer was able to inject code into the DEXTools app front end for the Uniswap WETH/MASK pair, causing a pop-up to appear telling users that the MASK token had been verified when they viewed it.
Unsuspecting users were unable to sell the fake MASK token after purchasing it. This type of scam is known as a “honeypot,” because it allows users to enter only to discover that the smart contract that governs the token’s interactions prevents them from selling.

Crypto
Image source: digitalcoinstandard.com

The scammer appears to have programmed the smart contract for the fake MetaMask token to prevent holders from selling until it has received upwards of $1 million in liquidity. According to transaction data from Etherscan, the scammer took 475 ETH from the token’s Uniswap liquidity pool, worth $1.79 million at press time. The ill-gotten gains were sent to Tornado Cash, a popular coin mixing app, and then laundered to a separate wallet.
The MASK token was first reported as a scam on Twitter Monday evening, with several accounts warning that it was a scam despite a pop-up on DEXTools claiming it was legitimate. Since then, Twitter user @cobynft has detailed how the scam worked, claiming that it was the DEXTools app developers’ “serious fault” that allowed the scam to convince so many people to buy the tokens. DexTools has yet to respond to questions about its role in the platform’s inability to prevent cybercriminals from abusing it.
The current anticipation for a legitimate MetaMask token is another reason why the MetaMask token scam was so successful. The MetaMask team has hinted at issuing a token to decentralize the popular EVM wallet, with many speculating that it could be done via an airdrop.

The MetaMask token scam is the third major crypto-fraud to hit the market this holiday season. MetaSwapMGAS, a Binance Smart Chain project, allegedly stole 1,100 BNB from users on Sunday. Another Ethereum project, MetaDAO, appears to have pulled a rug over its investors yesterday, stealing 800 ETH worth over $3.2 million. According to a recent report by research firm Chainalysis, scammers cheated crypto investors out of $7.7 billion this year. According to the report, the classic rug pull was the most common type of scam. Rug pulls are common in DeFi because it’s cheap and easy to create new tokens on the blockchain and get them listed on decentralized exchanges (DEXes) without a code audit if you have the right technical knowledge.
In November, investors in a new cryptocurrency called “Squidgame Cash” or “SQUID,” which was inspired by the Netflix series Squid Games, were reported to have had their “rug pulled” after the token crashed 99.99 percent overnight. This project is thought to have netted the scammers around $3.3 million. The case’s investigation is still ongoing.

Cases of crypto-focused cybercrime are on the rise in tandem with the global crypto expansion. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States said earlier this month that cyber scammers are duping people out of their assets by making them use physical cryptocurrency ATMs and digital QR codes to complete malicious transactions. To avoid being scammed, Hyderabad Police recently issued a warning to investors about transferring assets into unknown, unauthorized wallets.

Coinstore

‘Coinstore’ Cryptocurrency Exchange Enters India Despite Fear Of Ban On Virtual Cryptocurrency.

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Singapore’s digital currency market is booming. Coinstore started operating in India when the Indian government was drafting a bill that would effectively ban the use of most private cryptocurrencies. In addition to developing an app and web platform, Coinstore plans to open offices in Bangalore, New Delhi, and Mumbai, a platform that will serve as a foundation for further expansion in India.

“With India accounting for nearly a quarter of our total active users, it made sense for us to expand into the market,” Charles Tan, Coinstore’s head of advertising and marketing, told Reuters.

Source: https://gadgets.ndtv.com/
Coinstore
Image source: todaynews24.top

“There have been policy reversals,” Tan said when asked why Coinstore is launching in India despite the looming cryptocurrency crackdown. “But we hope things will be positive, and we are optimistic that the Indian government will come up with a healthy framework for cryptocurrencies.”
The New Delhi government intends to discourage cryptocurrency trading by imposing high capital gains and other taxes, according to two sources. On its legislative agenda for the upcoming winter session, the House has stated that only certain cryptocurrencies will be permitted to promote the technology and applications they entail.
Coinstore plans to hire about 100 people in India and spend $20 million (around Rs. 150 crores) on marketing, hiring, and developing cryptocurrency-related products and services for the Indian market, according to Tan.
Coinstore is the second global exchange to open a local unit in India in the last few months after CrossTower did so in September. Since the beginning of this year, the price of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has more than doubled, attracting hordes of Indian investors. As of 10 a.m. IST on November 29, the price of bitcoin in India was Rs. 43.13 lakh.

Industry estimates put the number of crypto investors in India at 15 million to 20 million, with a total market capitalization of around Rs. 40,000 crore. Coinstore intends to expand into Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and Vietnam, according to Tan.
There has been a drop in new cryptocurrency exchange sign-ups, as potential investors appear to be hedging their bets until regulatory clarity on the asset class emerges. A matrix is used to value crypto companies based on new user sign-ups.
The bill aims to outlaw all private cryptocurrencies in India, but makes “certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology and its applications.” So far in November, crypto exchanges have seen a 15-50 percent drop in new sign-ups.
They’ve also seen a drop in monthly transactions as some investors hedged their bets and went into “wait and see” mode.

“On a week-to-week basis, we’ve seen a 20% drop in new sign-ups.” During the recent bull cycle, we had an average daily sign-up rate of 8,000-10,000 people. “Right now, we’re getting 5,000-6,000 new users per day,” BuyUcoin CEO Shivam Thakral said.
“We haven’t seen any significant changes in these numbers on our platform because we primarily cater to retail investors who are looking to invest for the long term,” said Ashish Singhal, CEO of CoinSwitch Kuber.
“People who have already held crypto assets through mining or payments are selling them, which has resulted in an increase in the number of sign-ups. As a result, we’re seeing some of the new members depositing cryptos, selling them, withdrawing money, and depositing it in their bank accounts,” said Sathvik Vishwanath, co-founder, and CEO of Unocoin, a cryptocurrency exchange.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Despite price fluctuations last Tuesday after the government moved to regulate the sector, smaller exchanges reported steady sign-ups as people continued to be curious about the new asset class.

Coinbase Logo

Applications Of Cryptoassets Led Coinbase To The Unicorn Club

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We talk about a new era of technology where the Internet has made our lives pretty easier. The modern technologies and types of equipment have been beneficial to our medical, educational and industrial systems as well. But, it is high time we put a little attention to our financial system.

The world is changing but the subject, that is, mankind is constant. Since time immemorial humans have improvised the world. Speaking of the modernization in our financial system, the major population is not familiar with the concept of cryptoassets.

Defining cryptoassets is similar to introducing one to a whole new financial world. They are nothing but digital assets with the implementation of cryptographic techniques. There are no central parties to monitor any transaction. Coinbase is a company based on such digital assets which made billions over the span of seven years.

Coinbase

Currently, Coinbase is the United Nation’s largest crypto assets exchange. In June 2012, Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam founded the company. Within five years the company hit annual revenue of $ 1 billion. The company’s headquarters is based in San Francisco California.

The main products of Coinbase are Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum and exchange of digital assets. The bitcoin transaction of Coinbase takes place in more than 190 countries worldwide.

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong
Image Sorce: Google

Brian Armstrong completed both his Bachelor’s and Masters from Rice University. While he was an undergraduate student in Computer Science he worked as an intern for IBM. He also worked at Deloitte & Touch for five months.

In August 2003, Brian co-founded UniversityTutor.com and in 2011 he joined Airbnb.com as a software engineer. He resigned when he decided to build Coinbase.

Fred Ehrsam

Fred went to Duke University and has a B.S degree in both Computer Science and Economics. He also carried research on Self-assembling DNA Nanostructures from Duke University.

Fred Ehrsam
Image source – Google

He started off his career as a Trader on GoldmanSachs and worked there for a couple of years. In 2012, he co-founded Coinbase with Brian Armstrong and now serves as the Board of Directors. Fred also co-founded Paradigm in June 2018. He also appeared in Forbes 30 Under 30.

Early History

Back in June 2012, Ben Reeves, co-founder of Blockchain.info was also a part of the founding team of Coinbase. But, due to mismatching of future plans, he left shortly. The company wasn’t in its full form back then. After it participated in the Y Combinator startup incubator program it finally started providing services from October 2012.

Initially, the company launched the service buying and selling bitcoin but who knew it would be a scope of investment in the near future. Once the company sees through it never really had to turn back.

Investments, Growth, and Expansion

The company’s Series A round took place in May 2013. Coinbase raised a funding of $5 million from venture capital firm Union Square Ventures. After a few months, the company again received a funding of $25 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Ribbit Capital.

The next year Coinbase hit a million users. It also implemented a lot of new things in their systems. Some of them were a vault system for secure bitcoin storage and secured insurance for the bitcoin stored in the company’s server.

In 2015, the company received a funding of $75 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New York Stock Exchange, etc. 2017 was a big year for Coinbase as it received the BitLicense. The company was given legal permission to trade in Ethereum and Litecoin. On 5th April 2018, the company formed Coinbase Ventures to invest in companies with similar grounds of interest.

Coinbase Ventures made its first investment on May 20 on Compound Labs.

Acquisitions and Partnerships

Coinbase made its first acquisitions in 2014. It acquired Blockr, blockchain explorer service and Kippt, a web bookmarking company. In the same year, the company came into joint ventures with Overstock, Dell, Expedia, etc. The company also made a deal with PayPal, Braintree and, Stripe which allowed users bitcoin payment.

Recently, Coinbase has acquired a company called Neutrino. The company was acquired for an undisclosed amount. A lot of questions have been coming up since then. Some information came up regarding Neutrino’s founders having a connection with the Hacking Team. Hacking Team is a Milan based company that sells information to the government and clearly has a poor human rights record.

In August 2019, the company announced a hacking attack. A questionable acquisition followed by a hacking attack has clearly put the users in a dilemma. But, Coinbase declared that nothing was compromised and everything is secure.