A book once slated to be released by Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO and founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, has been pulled before it could ever hit the shelves and the publisher of the title is trying to "remove all trace of it online." The Mashinsky Method: The Decentralized Path to Financial Freedom was the name of an upcoming financial literacy book by Alex Mashinsky with a tentative release date set for sometime in June. It promised to teach his "7-step method" on "how to protect your assets and how to create compounding yield [...] Using stablecoins and …

A crypto exchange project initially proposed by 3AC and Coinflex has now launched an official website and waitlist as of Feb. 9. Called “Open Exchange (OPNX)”, the new project alleges that it will be “the world's first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives,” according to a tweet from the project’s official Twitter account. 1/ Introducing Open Exchange. Open Exchange will start as the world's first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives. Then become the world's most radically transparent CEX. The claims waitlist is now open @ https://t.co/Q2HsUqSZ7E — OPNX Official (@OPNX_Official) February 9, 2023 In a …

London-based digital asset protection firm, Coincover, has secured $30 million in a funding round led by Foundation Capital, with a follow-on investment from CMT digital. According to Coincover’s announcement, the funds will be used to scale its operations, drive recruitment, develop new products, and form partnerships to help strengthen the security of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, thereby, providing even more comprehensive protection to businesses and individuals holding digital assets. Coincover was founded in 2018 and launched in 2019 with the aim of providing trust to the digital asset industry. The company already works with over 300 businesses including exchanges, wallets, hedge …

United States authorities appear to be resurrecting past techniques to crackdown on crypto firms and banks offering services to the industry, several sources told Cointelegraph. The alleged strategy consists of isolating the traditional financial system from the crypto market by spanning "multiple agencies to discourage banks from dealing with crypto firms," aiming to lead crypto businesses to become "completely unbanked," according to Nic Carter — co-founder of venture firm Castle Island and crypto intelligence firm Coin Metrics. The claims rely on conversations he had with bank executives, including crypto native and traditional banks, Carter told Cointelegraph. "They tell me they …

Bitcoin (BTC) miner Bitfarms has settled its debt obligations with BlockFi, closing the chapter on its short relationship with the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender. On Feb. 9, Bitfarms disclosed that it had settled its $21 million debt obligations with BlockFi for a single $7.75 million cash payment. The settlement was reached weeks after Bitfarms warned that it might default on its BlockFi loan. “Combined with the earlier restructuring and elimination of our capital expenditure obligations in December, this successful negotiation and settlement furthers our initiatives to reduce indebtedness,” said Jeff Lucas, Bitfarms’ chief financial officer. Bitfarms’ relationship with BlockFi centers around …

105-year-old German bank DekaBank is planning to launch a blockchain-based tokenization platform as part of its collaboration with the digital asset firm Metaco. DekaBank targets the release of its blockchain platform sometime in 2024, while the infrastructure is expected to be ready in 2023, DekaBank’s digital asset custody executive Andreas Sack told Cointelegraph. “The tokenization platform infrastructure will be ready in the foreseeable future, and that will launch the first minimum viable product in our crypto custody solution,” Sack stated. He added that the first test transactions of the tokenization platform are likely to take place this year. DekaBank’s upcoming …

Finland-based peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency platform LocalBitcoins is shutting down operations after serving its customers for more than 10 years. LocalBitcoins officially announced termination of services on Feb. 9, citing tough market conditions of the ongoing cryptocurrency winter. “Regardless of our efforts to overcome challenges during the ongoing very cold crypto-winter, we have regretfully concluded that LocalBitcoins can no longer provide its Bitcoin trading service,” the firm said. LocalBitcoins encouraged all customers to withdraw their crypto assets from the platform, asking to proceed with withdrawing Bitcoin (BTC) from the LocalBitcoins wallet. According to the announcement, users will be able to withdraw …

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market value, has completed reserves attestation by major global accounting firm BDO. The stablecoin firm released BDO’s assurance opinion on Feb. 9, which re-affirms the accuracy of Tether’s consolidated reserves report (CRR) as of Dec. 31, 2022. The CRR shows that Tether’s consolidated assets amount to at least $67 billion, exceeding consolidated liabilities of $66 billion, with excess reserves equaling at least $960 million. In addition to reducing its secured loans as committed, the report also shows that Tether ended 2022 with zero commercial paper. “Our opinion is limited solely to …

The crypto mining industry has faced moratoriums in some parts of the U.S. and Canada in recent months. Now, Russia provides tax incentives for those who want to invest in crypto mining. The new $12 million crypto mining center will open in East Siberia with the direct support of the government. According to local media, the state-owned Corporation for the Development of the Far East announced the launch of the crypto mining center in Buryatia — a republic in East Siberia and a part of the Russian Federation. The facility will possess 30,000 mining machines, hire 100 workers and consume …

The cryptocurrency miner Argo continues to undergo a series of company changes in light of its major acquisition and newly filed lawsuit. Peter Wall, the CEO of Argo Blockchain, announced his resignation from his executive position at the company on Feb. 9. According to the announcement, Wall will remain an advisor to Argo throughout the next three months in support of the transition out of the position. He also commented that he was “pleased” to have spearheaded the recent Galaxy Digital acquisition deal. In the same announcement, the company also revealed the resignation of Argo board member Sarah Gow. This …

The crypto winter and FTX collapse has decimated the ranks of cryptocurrency lenders. Genesis, BlockFi, Voyageur Digital and Celsius Network all filed for bankruptcy in the past seven months, and the contagion may still not be over. But at least one crypto lender appears to be on the comeback trail. SALT Lending, one of the world’s first cryptocurrency lenders, announced Feb. 8 that it has closed a $64.4 million financing that will strengthen its balance sheet and replenish its capital reserves. Accredited investors will receive shares of the company’s preferred stock in return for their funding. Though the Series A …

Michael Demissie, the head of digital assets at Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) is adamant that the cryptocurrency market fall in 2022 won’t waver institutional interest in digital assets. At a conference run by Afore Consulting on Feb. 8, Demissie said the digital asset industry is “here to stay” as institutional investors have held a strong interest in crypto. "What we see is clients are absolutely interested in digital assets, broadly,” he said, according to a Feb. 8 report from Reuters. Demissie backed up his thoughts by referencing a survey conducted by BNY Mellon in October, 2022, which …