Searching for more evidence that self-custody of your cryptocurrency holdings beats a centralized manager? Look to the latest action by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The agency sent a letter to FTX Exchange this month — along with four other entities — that included a cease and desist order for “false and misleading statements.” Namely, it accused the exchange of falsely implying that user funds were FDIC-insured. It could have turned into an ugly situation if customers expected — but did not receive — a certain level of protection in the event of catastrophic failure. It’s difficult to ascertain …

Malaysia continues accelerating its pace of cryptocurrency adoption as one of the major local banks is moving into cryptocurrency trading as part of its default banking offerings. Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad, one of the largest private investment banks with more than 500,000 customers, has partnered with China’s tech giant Ant Group to launch a crypto-friendly wallet and trading app. According to an announcement on Wednesday, Kenanga has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ant to jointly develop Malaysia’s wealth application called categorized as a super app. Under the terms of the agreement, Ant’s digital technology unit will provide Kenanga with …

Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a 16.5% correction between Aug. 15 and Aug. 19 as it tested the $20,800 support. While the drop is startling, in reality a $4,050 price difference is relatively insignificant, especially when one accounts for Bitcoin's 72% annualized volatility. Currently, the S&P 500’s volatility stands at 31%, which is significantly lower, yet the index traded down 9.1% between June 8 and June 13. So, comparatively speaking, the index of major U.S. listed companies faced a more abrupt movement adjusted for the historical risk metric. At the start of this week, crypto investors' sentiment worsened after weaker conditions in …

iFinex, the company responsible for Bitfinex Derivatives, announced on Aug. 23 the launch of a new service offering available to users before the highly-anticipated Ethereum (ETH) Merge. The exchange now offers Ethereum Chain Split Tokens (CSTs). Tokens available to users represent the two systems involved in the Merge: ETHW (PoW) and ETHS (PoS). Bitfinex released the new trading tokens for users to have the possibility to trade on the potential forking event. The coins will be available through the Bitfinex derivatives platform. Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino said they released these new tokens better to prepare users for all eventual possibilities …

The Securities Commission (SC) of Malaysia issued a statement on Aug. 22 regarding Huobi operations in the country. According to the statement, the crypto exchange is now on the SC’s Investor Alert List. Malaysian financial regulators say Huobi has been operating a digital asset exchange in the country without official registration with the SC. Huobi Global [https://t.co/la9Y3ntGuq] has been added to the SC’s Investor Alert List for operating a digital asset exchange (DAX) in Malaysia without being registered with the SC. pic.twitter.com/z3IGgnCa0t — SC Malaysia (@SecComMY) August 22, 2022 In a follow-up tweet, the SC said that any operations which …

After the rising wedge formation was broken on Aug. 17, the total crypto market capitalization quickly dropped to $1 trillion and the bulls' dream of recouping the $1.2 trillion support, last seen on June 10, became even more distant. The worsening conditions are not exclusive to crypto markets. The price of WTI oil ceded 3.6% on Aug. 22, down 28% from the $122 peak seen on June 8. The United States treasuries 5-year yield, which bottomed on Aug. 1 at 2.61%, reverted the trend and is now trading at 3.16%. These are all signs that investors are feeling less confident …

The European stock markets and the United States equities markets are both deep in the red on Aug. 22 as investors fear that aggressive rate hikes may not be off the table. Another thing keeping investors nervous could be the upcoming Jackson Hole economic symposium which is scheduled to begin on Aug. 25. Investors are concerned that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell could further elaborate on the Fed's hawkish stance and plans for future interest rate hikes. This macro uncertainty has kept the institutional investors away from the crypto markets. CoinShares data showed that crypto investment products recorded weekly volumes …

Voyager Digital Holdings’ committee of unsecured creditors has filed a motion to object to the firm's proposal to keep its employees by paying them monetary awards for staying in the company. On August 2, Voyager Digital filed a motion to the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York to approve the Key Employee Retention Plan (KERP) that aims to distribute $1.9 million to 38 key employees who were deemed to be very crucial to the operations of the exchange. However, the exchange’s creditors disagreed with the proposal. In a motion filed on August 19, the creditors …

FTX was among the many crypto exchanges with a front-row seat to witness the crypto hype of 2021, back when Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies hit their all-time highs. Driven by massive customer onboarding, partnerships, sponsorships and other factors, FTX’s revenue reportedly grew 1000% in 2021 — revealed internal documents. Audited financials of FY 2020-2021 show FTX witnessing a 1000% increase in revenue — growing from $90 million in 2020 to $1.2 billion in 2021, claimed CNBC alleging access to the documents. The revenue breakdown discloses a 1842.85% increase in operating income for FTX, from $14 million to $272 million …

Many see implementing Know Your Customer (KYC) tools in crypto as a deterrent to the Bitcoin (BTC) Standard, which has predominantly promoted anonymized peer-to-peer transactions. However, regulators stay put on promoting KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) implementations as a means to ensure investors’ safety and protection against financial fraud. While most crypto exchanges have begun implementing regulatory recommendations to remain at the forefront of crypto’s mainstream adoption, investors still have the choice to opt for crypto exchanges that promote greater anonymity by not imposing KYC processes. But does opting for the latter as an investor mean compromising on safety? A …

On Friday, August 19, the total crypto market capitalization dropped by 9.1%, but more importantly, the all-important $1 trillion psychological support was tapped. The market's latest venture below this just three weeks ago, meaning investors were pretty confident that the $780 billion total market-cap low on June 18 was a mere distant memory. Regulatory uncertainty increased on Aug. 17 after the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce announced that they were "deeply concerned" that proof-of-work mining could increase demand for fossil fuels. As a result, U.S. lawmakers requested the crypto mining companies to provide information on energy consumption …

FTX has reportedly begun blocking accounts that have sent coins through Zk.money, a private layer 2 chain provided by the Aztec Network on Ethereum. According to Twitter users, FTX has identified the DApp as a mixer — a service it deems a “high-risk activity” prohibited by the exchange. Reports of blocked transactions on FTX began appearing on Twitter on Thursday, sometimes with commentary about FTX’s motives and allegations that Zk.money is not a mixer. Twitter users also noted that blocking transactions connected to the protocol may imply a ban with far-reaching effects, similar to the sanctions imposed by the United …