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2023-12-01 17:12:02 AntPool agrees to refund record $3 million Bitcoin transaction fee

Bitcoin mining pool AntPool has agreed to refund the record-breaking $3 million transaction fee it mined last week, pending owner verification. AntPool wrote in the announcement. “The risk control system of AntPool temporarily froze the fee when packaging the transaction. Please contact us before 00:00 (UTC+8) on December 10, 2023 and verify personal identity. After verification, AntPool will refund the fee.”

AntPool requested the original owner of the funds to prepare a signing tool, such as Electrum or Bitcoin Core — the most widely used software implementation of the Bitcoin protocol — using the private key of the address that sent the transaction to sign the message “AntPool”, then send the signed text to its support email address. The transaction was mined by AntPool in block 818,087 but it had not publicly commented on the matter until now. The previous record $500,000 fee paid in September was subsequently identified as a “fat finger” overpayment by the crypto services provider Paxos. F2Pool, the miner facilitating that transaction, agreed to reimburse the fee to Paxos.

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2023-11-30 11:08:02 Coinbase tells some customers it received subpoena related to Bybit

Coinbase has alerted some users about a subpoena it received from a U.S. regulator involving crypto exchange Bybit, according to emails sent out by the exchange that were posted on social media. The CFTC has certain powers to conduct investigations, including through voluntary statements and subpoenas, according to its enforcement manual. Laws also require Coinbase to collect information.

Coinbase itself has faced regulatory scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission after it was sued in June for allegedly operating illegally as an exchange, broker and clearing agency. Shortly before, the SEC sued Binance on similar charges, but also included allegations that the exchange lied to customers and misdirected capital to separate investment funds owned by former CEO Changpeng Zhao. "We may access, read, preserve, and disclose information when we believe it is reasonably necessary to comply with law, legal obligations, regulations, law enforcement, governmental, and other legal requests, court orders, or for disclosure to tax authorities," Coinbase said.

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2023-11-29 10:30:08 Crypto Trading Firm Kronos Research Offers 10% Bounty to Hacker

Taipei-based cryptocurrency trading and investment firm Kronos Research has opened doors for negotiations with a hacker who made off with $25 million of the firm's treasury early this month. Last week, the Taiwanese trading and VC firm reported via a post on X that an unauthorized entity gained access to its API keys. Onchain experts ZachXBT and Lookonchain later confirmed that the attacker made off with $25 million, mostly in stablecoins.

"At present, we can confirm that the losses are about $26 million in crypto assets, and despite it being a sizable amount, Kronos remains in good standing. All losses will be covered internally, and no partners will be affected," the firm later posted on X. Public, on-chain negotiations between hackers and their victims have become increasingly common. Recently, the attacker behind an exploit of KyberSwap signed one of the transactions that pilfered funds from the decentralized exchange, stating that they would begin negotiations when they were "fully rested." KyberSwap offered them a 10% bounty to return stolen funds. In August, Curve Finance offered hackers a 10% bounty in exchange for the return of the stolen crypto, also negotiated via transaction signing.

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2023-11-28 12:15:06 Hamas, Hezbollah Now Prefer Tron to Bitcoin: Reuters

The Tron blockchain has overtaken Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency network most favored by groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which are designated as terror organizations by the U.S., U.K. and other jurisdictions, Reuters reported on Monday. Israel has made 87 such seizures from Tron wallets this year, two-thirds of the total number going back to July 2021. These include 39 from wallets the country said in June were owned by Lebanon-based Hezbollah and 26 in July from Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

There has been a sharp rise in cryptocurrency seizures from Tron wallets since 2021 and a decline in those from Bitcoin wallets, Reuters' analysis found. Almost two-thirds of Israel's Tron seizures were in 2023, including 39 from wallets Israel said in June were owned by Lebanon's Hezbollah and 26 in July from Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad. "Earlier it was Bitcoin and now our data shows that these terrorist organizations tend to increasingly favor Tron," Mriganka Pattnaik, CEO of blockchain analysis firm Merkle Science, said. In response to the research, Tron spokesperson Hayward Wong told Reuters all technologies could "in theory be used for questionable activities," adding that Tron did not have control over those using its network.

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2023-11-26 19:20:09 GBTC Discount Shrinks To Two-Year Low of 7.5%

GBTC shares are approaching BTC parity as negotiations between Grayscale and the SEC move apace. Shares for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) – the world’s largest Bitcoin fund – are nearly back to parity with Bitcoin (BTC)’s price after trading deeply underwater for the past two years. Their rising value reflects market confidence that Grayscale’s efforts to convert its fund into a Bitcoin spot ETF will prove successful. GBTC’s discount to NAV ratio shrank as low as 8.6%, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

The discount reflects the difference between the market cap of GBTC’s shares versus the total value of all BTC held by the trust. According to the most recent figures from Grayscale’s website, the fund holds $33.75 in BTC per share, compared to a market price of $31.21 right now – a mere 7.5% discount as of Friday. At the time, separate memos from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that executives from Grayscale, BlackRock, and others held meetings with the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets on Monday to discuss their respective ETF applications. Major investors like Cathie Wood and Mike Novogratz – who themselves govern funds sponsoring separate ETF applications – have noted increased engagement from the SEC in helping to sharpen their products before they reach the market.

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2023-11-26 00:01:18 Binance faces aggressive CFTC action: “Access to US customers is a privilege, not a right.”

Binance faces aggressive CFTC action when the CFTC Commissioner says, “Access to US customers is a privilege, not a right.” The last couple of years have been tough for the crypto industry and its leading figures. And it’s not likely there will be relief for the sector anytime soon. At least, that’s what policymakers are signaling. This week, Binance chief Changpeng Zhao joined his former industry rival Sam Bankman-Fried in making headlines for charges against him and his crypto exchange, which included breaching US anti-money-laundering laws.

On Tuesday, Zhao pleaded guilty and left his role as CEO. Binance is set to pay over $4.3 billion in fines, $50 million of which will be paid by the former CEO himself. As part of Binance faces aggressive CFTC action, A statement made by CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero read: “There are no pirate ships in US markets” and that “access to US customers is a privilege, not a right.” Goldsmith added that the CFTC plans to continue its aggressive pursuit of crypto exchanges that violate trade laws. The commissioner noted that there will be no tolerance for using VPNs, or any other actions that could circumvent KYC rules, including pop-up questions that merely ask users to attest that they aren’t based in the US.

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2023-11-23 15:07:02 Binance Will Retain Its International Dominance After U.S. Settlement: Bernstein

Binance experienced minor outflows of less than $1 billion following the news of the settlement with the U.S. government, there was no major panic from customers, and it remains the dominant crypto exchange internationally, with $67 billion of customer funds under custody, broker Bernstein said in a research report Wednesday. “Binance’s reputation with retail non-U.S. customers has remained strong through the crisis,” analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote.

Binance will remain a “material entity in non-U.S. markets,” but Bernstein says it expects increased competition from the likes of listed rival Coinbase (COIN) and new exchanges in regulated markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore. Bernstein says the crypto exchange has adequate funds to settle the $4.3 billion fine while maintaining healthy operations. “Binance’s complete exit from the U.S would mean continued dominance of onshore and incumbent exchanges in the U.S.,” the authors wrote, noting that asset managers who have filed exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications are already working with exchanges such as Coinbase for prime broking and custody.

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2023-11-22 14:54:02 BNB price spikes amid report of possible Binance deal with DOJ

The price of BNB rose Monday after a report the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking $4 billion from Binance as part of a deal that could end its ongoing investigation. BNB has increased by over 5% in the past 24 hours and was changing hands for $254.51 at 1:50 p.m. in New York, according to CoinGecko. It had surged as high as $258.05, the highest price since June 9. According to a Bloomberg report on Monday, the DOJ is seeking over $4 billion from Binance Holdings Ltd.

The DOJ has been investigating the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange over alleged money laundering, bank fraud and sanctions violations, according to the Bloomberg report. Negotiations include the possibility that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao could face criminal charges in the U.S. as part of an agreement to resolve the probe, the report added. The report said investors are stalling, with risk-off sentiment returning to a previously buoyant market. This is despite the latest indications on FedWatch that reveal an almost 98.8% probability that the U.S. central bank will maintain its target rate within the current range of 5.25% to 5.50% at its next meeting on December 13.

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2023-11-21 14:10:04 Avalanche's AVAX token leads price rally among Ethereum rivals

AVAX, the native token of the Avalanche blockchain, is spearheading a rally among Layer 1 alternatives to Ethereum. In the past month, blockchain platforms that are considered Layer 1 alternatives to Ethereum have seen their native tokens make gains of over 100%, compared to a 22% increase in the value of ether. AVAX has surged nearly 130% in the last 30 days, according to CoinGecko data, while Solana's price increased by 113% and the native token of the Near protocol has risen by 110%.

In an illustration of the increased activity on these alternative Layer 1s, data from The Block's dashboard shows the number of daily transactions on the Near blockchain has reached an all-time high of 1.68 million. "Avalanche's collaborations with heavyweight institutions like JP Morgan and Citi are indicative of a growing institutional inclination towards high-performance layer 1 alternatives to Ethereum," said Jeff Feng, co-founder of Sei Labs, which supports the high-performance Sei blockchain. "These developments highlight the financial industry's active search for scalable blockchain solutions," he added.

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2023-11-20 13:35:08 Sam Altman remains at Worldcoin's developer while he may return to OpenAI

Sam Altman, ousted CEO of OpenAI, appears to be keeping his job at Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, as negotiations regarding his return to OpenAI reportedly continue. Tools for Humanity's website lists Altman as the co-founder and chairman of the project, and a spokesperson confirmed that the website remains a current indicator of his position. Worldcoin's WLD token initially fell upon the news of Altman's ouster from OpenAI, though its price has recovered from $1.83 to $2.40.

Worldcoin aims to build a global network by distributing tokens to participants who agree to have their retinas scanned by an orb-like device, thus verifying, in theory, that each person on the planet has one and only one Worldcoin account. Since launch, nearly 40 million WLD tokens have been distributed to users, according to data from Worldcoin. Tools for Humanity raised $100 million in March 2022 at a $3 billion valuation and a further $115 million in May 2023. Worldcoin's WLD token initially fell upon the news of Altman's ouster from OpenAI, though its price has recovered from $1.83 to $2.40, according to The Block's Price Page.

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