US Senate hearings to discuss FTX, New York bans proof-of-work and FTX assesses its assets: Hodler’s Digest, November 20-26.

every saturday coming Hodler’s Digest will help you keep track of every important news happening this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and more – a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

This Week’s Top Stories

BlockFi files for bankruptcy, citing FTX collapse for problems

Digital asset lending company BlockFi announced on November 28 that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey. The bankruptcy filing revealed, among other details, that BlockFi aims to restructure and retain specific employees. BlockFi has eight subsidiaries that filed for bankruptcy. Subsequent news reports revealed details of the bankruptcy proceedings, including that BlockFi’s attorney had frozen $355 million of the organization’s equity in the FTX.

Kraken settles with US Treasury’s OFAC over ‘clear’ sanctions violations

According to an agreement with the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken will pay a fine of approximately $362,000 for violating sanctions against Iran. The firm reported the breach to OFAC, according to comments from Marco Santorini, Kraken’s chief legal officer. Kraken allegedly allowed its exchange to be used by participants based in Iran and did not have a proper system in place to ban certain IP addresses. In addition to the $362,000 fine, the firm agreed to pay $100,000 in sanctions compliance measures as part of the settlement.

FTX was ‘fastest’ corporate failure in US history – Guardian calls for investigation

FTX headlines continue to spread as events unfold. FTX’s bankruptcy case prompted the US attorney working on the case to ask an independent expert to look into the details of FTX’s collapse. In another headline, Alameda Research’s sister organization’s bank accounts were used for FTX client fund activities without dealing directly with the bank. FTX was also the subject of the meeting of the US Senate Agriculture, Food and Forestry Committee held on December 1. In addition, Bahamian authorities are investigating FTX.

Binance is hiring an auditing firm that serves Donald Trump to audit its cryptocurrency holdings

Binance has continued to work on increasing its transparency regarding its reserves. The cryptocurrency exchange hired accounting firm Mazars, known for keeping former US President Donald Trump as a long-term client, to conduct a proof of reserves (PoR) audit. Mazars and the Trump family cut ties in 2022. In another development related to the PoR audit, Binance recently moved large amounts of cryptocurrencies, causing concern in the crypto community.

3AC’s bankruptcy proceedings are plagued by the unknown whereabouts of the founders

Three Arrows Capital liquidators are struggling to get in touch with hedge fund founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies. During a virtual hearing in Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, attorneys representing the liquidators said the founders had not been in contact with them in recent months, despite being active on social media. Zhu and Davies are now believed to be based in Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, where foreign court orders are difficult to enforce.

Winners and Losers

Bitcoin at the end of the week (BTC) I sat down $17,002Ether (ETH) hour 1288 dollars and XRP hour $0.39. It is at the level of total market capitalization $857.72 billion according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Fantom. (FTM) 32.0%, ApeCoin (monkey) 20.85% and GMX (GMX) At the level of 20.67%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are BinaryX (BNX) -18.11%, Nexo (NEXO) -9.53% and Convex Finance (CVX) at the level of -7.48%.

For more information on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

The most memorable quotes

“I think the cryptocurrency industry will have to take a more careful approach, moving from hype to creating real benefits.”

Rahul AdvaniAPAC policy director at Ripple

“If you’re Brazilian or from Venezuela or Argentina, it’s easier to understand the power of decentralized currency.”

Marcel Pechman, market analyst and Cointelegraph contributor

“DeFi-centric platforms cannot simply fall prey to shady business practices because for them ‘code is law.’

Aishwari GuptaDeFi Chief of Staff at Polygon

“We’ve definitely seen more people buying Bitcoin because of the FTX crash.”

Imo Babics, Chief Marketing Officer at Relai

“I think Apple has kind of positioned itself as the only company that’s trying to unilaterally control what apps are available on a device, and I don’t think that’s a sustainable or a good place to be.”

Mark ZuckerbergCEO of Meta

“Obviously, I made a lot of mistakes, or I’d give anything to do it again.”

Sam “SBF” Bankman-FriedFormer CEO of FTX

Forecast of the week

If BTC Breaks $16K, Bitcoin Will Fall to $14K or Worse – Analyst

According to Cointelegraph’s BTC price index, Bitcoin spent more than $17,000, although the asset has played above and below the level several times in recent days.

Earlier in the week, digital asset analyst under the pseudonym il Capo Of Crypto tweeted that BTC could be in danger if the asset falls below the $16,000 mark. “When it drops below 16k, it teleports to 12k-14k,” the analyst said on November 28.

The article also mentions other noteworthy factors and analysis, including the potential significance of November’s monthly candle close.

FUD of the week

Vyacheslav Taran, head of the Libertex cryptocurrency exchange, died in a helicopter crash in France

A third unexpected death recently rocked the crypto space. Vyacheslav Taran, the 53-year-old billionaire Russian president of Libertex Group, died in a helicopter crash on November 25. Taran also founded Forex Club and has been involved in many cryptocurrency ventures. Only Taran and the pilot were on board the helicopter en route from Switzerland to Monaco, both of whom died in the crash. Amber Group co-founder Tiantian Kullander, 30, and MakerDAO co-founder Nikolay Mushegian, 29, also died unexpectedly in November and October.

EmpiresX ‘head trader’ faces 4 years in prison over $100m cryptocurrency ‘Ponzi’

Joshua David Nicholas received nearly four years in prison for his involvement in EmpiresX, a $100 million crypto Ponzi scheme. Nicholas served as the head trader for the scheme, claiming the promise of profits based on bot trading, although the operation was actually a Ponzi scheme misappropriating customer funds. Emerson Pires and Flavio Goncalves, who are still at large, also played a role in the fraud, which lasted from 2020 to 2022.

Bankman-Fried, on the hook in Texas, has been summoned to appear in court in February

An investigation by the Texas securities regulator is investigating whether Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX US violated Texas securities laws. Bankmen-Fried should appear in court on February 2 as part of the investigation. According to a notice of hearing filed by Texas State Securities Board Director Joseph Rotunda and filed with Bankman-Fried on Nov. 29, FTX USA offered unregistered securities to Texans through “WIN” accounts.