Crypto derivatives exchange Bybit has launched a new support fund to help institutional traders access liquidity in the wake of the FTX collapse — an event that triggered a fresh wave of panic selling across the digital asset space. The support fund, valued at $100 million, is available to market makers and high-frequency trading institutions struggling with financial or operational difficulties following the collapse of FTX earlier this month, Bybit disclosed on Nov. 24. The funds will be distributed to eligible applicants at a 0% interest rate. To be eligible, institutional traders must be active on Bybit or other exchanges. …

Bitcoin (BTC) exchanges may have just seen the largest exodus of user funds ever, data suggests. Data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode shows that on Nov. 23, major exchanges were down almost 179,000 BTC in monthly withdrawals. Major exchanges see record BTC withdrawals With FTX contagion still in the air, exchange users have been busy withdrawing funds to noncustodial wallets. As Cointelegraph reported, $3 billion worth of cryptocurrency left major platforms in the immediate aftermath of FTX imploding. That trend is ongoing, Glassnode shows, with its data capturing the largest-ever decrease in exchange BTC reserves for the 30 days to …

Russian lawmakers are working on amendments to launch a national crypto exchange. This effort is reportedly supported both by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Russia which have a long history of disagreement over crypto regulation in the country. As local media reported on Nov. 23, members of the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, the Duma, have been in discussions regarding amendments to the country's existing cryptocurrency legislation “On digital financial assets” with market stakeholders. The amendments, which would lay down a legal framework for a national exchange, will first be presented to the central bank. …

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas says the continued “hacking attempts” on FTX’s digital assets prove they made the right call to take control of the exchange’s assets on Nov. 12. In a statement on Nov. 23, the commission said the fact that FTX's "systems were compromised, and that they continue to face new hacking attempts – reinforces the wisdom of the commission's prompt action to secure these digital assets." On the same day that FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, the crypto community began flagging roughly $266.3 million worth of outflows on wallets associated with FTX. By Nov. …

Crypto exchange CrossTower Inc., which is currently bidding for the assets of Voyager Digital, is reportedly window shopping for other crypto company acquisitions. In a Nov. 24 Bloomberg report, CrossTower CEO Kapil Rathi revealed that the company is looking to pick up firms with a “good set of customers” and a “good balance sheet” despite the current bear market, stating: “We’re in a great place to either acquire entities who have a good set of customers with them and a good balance sheet [...] so we are openly looking at different types of companies from an organic growth perspective.” In …

Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis has compared the fall of Mt. Gox to FTX to determine how FTX’s bankruptcy will impact the ecosystem. It concluded that FTX was a relatively smaller part of the crypto industry than Mt. Gox was at the time and that the industry should bounce back stronger than ever. In a Nov. 23 Twitter thread, Chainalysis’ research lead Eric Jardine began his comparison by first looking at the market share of the two firms, finding that Mt. Gox averaged 46% of all exchange inflows in the year leading up to its collapse in 2014, compared to FTX’s …

Crypto exchange OKX has released a Proof of Reserves page that allows users to audit its reserves to make sure it is solvent. This comes at a time when crypto exchanges are coming under greater scrutiny after the collapse of FTX. OKX announced the new page in a tweet, as well as on its blog. Don’t trust, verify → OKX Proof of Reserves (PoR) is LIVE. To set a new standard of transparency, risk management and user protection, we’re launching our first PoR. You can now verify your assets are backed 1:1 on #OKX ⤵️ Details — OKX (@okx) November …

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, has reiterated apologies to the exchange’s employees in a letter explaining the collapse. According to a Nov. 22 letter reviewed by Cointelegraph, Bankman-Fried broke down the reasons behind FTX’s liquidity crisis and subsequent bankruptcy to employees. He largely confirmed information reported by media outlets amid the exchange’s collapse, citing the crypto market downturn as one of the factors leading to reduction in the value of FTX’s collateral assets. November’s “run on the bank,” according to the former CEO, helped reduce the exchange’s collateral to roughly $9 billion with $8 billion in …

Blockchain analytics carried out by a Nansen researcher has highlighted outflows of Ether (ETH) and stablecoins from centralized exchanges in the wake of FTX’s collapse. Nansen research analyst Sandra Leow posted a thread on Twitter unpacking the current state of Decentralized Finance (DeFi), with a specific focus on the movement of ETH and stablecoins from exchanges. As it stands, the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract contains over 15 million ETH while some 4 million Wrapped ETH are held in the WETH deposit contract. Web3 infrastructure development and investment firm Jump Trading holds over 2 million ETH tokens and is the third …

The downfall of former crypto exchange FTX has had the entire industry in disarray since the situation began to unravel days before it declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11. A new op-ed from United States Senator Elizabeth Warren revealed a negative stance towards the industry with regard to the fallout. Warren wrote that the crypto industry is on a “well-worn path of financial innovation,” which starts with exciting rewards but ends in “crippling losses.” She compared it to subprime mortgages of 2008, penny stocks and credit-default swaps. The Senator said what happened with FTX should be a “wake-up call” to regulators …

The FTX crash appears to have affected not only companies and investors but also entire cities that previously became partners of the troubled cryptocurrency exchange. South Korea’s second-largest city, Busan, is reportedly reconsidering its plans to build a local crypto exchange as a consequence of the FTX collapse, the local news agency Yonhap reported on Nov. 23. The government and financial authorities of Busan have become increasingly concerned about the concept of a public-private digital exchange amid the FTX contagion. “In view of various conditions, it is unreasonable for the city of Busan to promote the establishment of a digital …

Coinbase was trending on Twitter on Nov. 22 after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, known also as CZ, sent out a tweet that appeared to question Coinbase’s Bitcoin holdings. In the since deleted tweet, CZ referenced a yahoo finance article that alleged that “Coinbase Custody holds 635,000 BTC on behalf of Grayscale.” CZ added, “4 months ago, Coinbase (I assume exchange) has less than 600K,” with a link to a 4 month old article from Bitcoinist. The Binance CEO made it clear that he was simply quoting “news reports", and not making any claims of his own. However, his tweet was …