Biggest crypto news on November 28th included Kraken CEO saying Binance Proof-of-Reserve is pointless without proof of commitments, Coinbase losing $2 billion worth of Bitcoin over the weekend, and BlockFi filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy includes.
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Another $2 billion worth of Bitcoin was removed from Coinbase over the weekend
According to Glassnode, cryptocurrency exchanges have lost $15 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) in the past five days, with Coinbase losing the most.
Between November 24th and November 25th, around 100,000 BTC (a total of $1.5 billion) were reportedly withdrawn from Coinbass. The trend continued over the weekend of November 26 and November 27, resulting in nearly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin leaving the exchange’s inventory.
As a result, Coinbase has lost $3.5 billion over the past five days, while Binance has topped its stock with nearly $1.2 billion worth of Bitcoin.
Kraken’s Powell says Binance Proof-of-Reserve is meaningless without commitments
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell argued that Binance’s proof of reserve (PoR) was insufficient because it failed to highlight its obligations. He added that applying the Merkle Tree without an outside auditor is not enough to prove that an exchange is not overstocking accounts with negative balances.
In response, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that its exchange is working to attract external auditors in the short term, while PoR does not contain negative balances.
Jokes about a twisted ETH depeg cause a brief panic on Twitter
With bankruptcy rumors taking over the cryptocurrency community, prominent Ethereum advocates including Vitalik Buterin have made a joke that Ethereum (WETH) is about to go bankrupt.
To prevent further panic in the community, Ethereum developer Hudson Jameson joked and announced that WETH will not technically face bankruptcy because it is a decentralized smart contract like Ethereum and cannot face a bank run.
However, the WETH prank caused the price of ETH to drop by about 4%, and some community members warned that such pranks could cause “users to be at their most stupid.”
BitBoy claims that O’Leary, along with FTX, was a key player in the Celsi collapse
Speaking on Altcoin Daily, crypto YouTuber “Bitboy” called out Kevin O’Leary for strongly supporting Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). Bitboy claimed that SBF targeted rival platforms like Celsius and contributed to its collapse in order to raise more liquidity for FTX.
Bitboy added that O’Leary, a supporter of SBF, publicly called for Celsius to go to zero before the crypto lender’s failure.
Governor Abbott says Texas wants to be the center of Bitcoin innovation
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has urged Bitcoin companies to set up offices in Texas as he pushes a pro-Bitcoin/blockchain agenda that will make the state “more inviting” to Bitcoin innovation.
Abbott added that Texas is improving its legislation as “a kind of anti-regulation” while also providing the infrastructure necessary for Bitcoin to succeed.
Germany has the second highest concentration of ETH nodes in the world
According to CV VC Labs’ 2022 Blockchain report, approximately 22.8% of all Ethereum validators operate from Germany. This makes the European country the second highest concentration of ETH nodes behind the US, which leads with 45.3%.
In addition, the report highlights that German blockchain projects have raised around $8 billion with 220 fundings, with around 34 startups being unicorns.
JP Morgan believes that regulation will lead to the convergence of cryptocurrency, TradFi
Following the collapse of FTX, JP Morgan & Chase highlighted possible changes that it believes will help cryptocurrency and traditional financial coverage. The banking giant said it expects the approval of regulatory frameworks such as the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill in 2023, which will focus mainly on customer protection and self-protection regulation.
He added that cryptocurrency exchanges may be required to increase transparency by publishing regular audits of reserves, assets and liabilities. It also predicts a shift from centralized exchanges (CEX) to decentralized exchanges (DEX).
Blockfi becomes another victim of FTX collapse with bankruptcy filing
Just two weeks after suspending customer withdrawals, cryptocurrency lender BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to its massive exposure to FTX. It reportedly owes nearly 100,000 creditors, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is owed about $30 million.
BlockFi added that it has about $256 million in cash to go through the restructuring process with the goal of “increasing values for all customers and stakeholders.”
BITFRONT, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by LINE, announces its closure
Asia-based cryptocurrency exchange BITFRONT has announced plans to cease operations as of March 31, 2023. After this date, it will stop withdrawing funds and proceed to delete all users’ personal files from its system.
The vice-president of AAX speaks against the adoption of the company’s bankruptcy decision
A trend of bankruptcies has hit Hong Kong stock exchange AAX, which has announced it will not be able to pay staff salaries beyond November, while its customers will receive around 50% of their funds.
AAX Vice President Ben Kazelin resigned from his position and expressed his dissatisfaction with the bankruptcy process.
Research Emphasis
Binance led ‘dumb money’ Bitcoin investment in 2017; FTX is leading the 2022 cycle
Back in 2017, when Binance was founded, it served as a haven for dumb money investors who got FOMO into Bitcoin trading based on the hype and withdrew their shares at a loss even after the price peaked.
Fast forward to 2022, Binance has become the leading cryptocurrency exchange, making it a home for smart money investors, while exchanges like the bankrupt FTX housed dumb money investors.
News from around the Cryptoverse
Gam7 launches $100 million grant program
Web3 game is DAO Gam7 was created A $100 million grant program for game developers to build tools and scalable solutions that will drive global adoption of Web3 games.
Kraken will pay $363,000 to the US Treasury
The US Department of the Treasury has announced that it has collected $362,158 from the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken for not implementing sanctions against Iran.
According to the report, Kraken was unable to block the IP addresses of Iranian users trading on the stock exchange at a time when the Treasury had imposed a ban on Iran.
Crypto market
Over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) traded down a slight -1.87% to $16,243, while Ethereum (ETH) traded down -3.44% to $1,172.