NFT / BTC / DEFI News 📣

2022-11-25 07:40:19 ​​Celsius bankruptcy victims get proof-of-claim deadline from US court.

The situation surrounding the Celsius bankruptcy continues as U.S. regulators set a deadline for those affected by the situation to file a proof claim against the company.

The ongoing case of the Celsius bankruptcy continues as the United States Bankruptcy Court in the southern district of New York State approved a new filing deadline.

According to an official document, a deadline has been set for those filing any claims against the former digital assets lender. Any person or entity — which covers individuals, partnerships, corporations, joint ventures and trusts — who wishes to do so must submit a proof of claim by Jan. 3, 2023, 5:00 pm EST.

Celsius itself made a thread on Twitter, informing its former users of the recent court deadline approval, along with step-by-step information as to how claims are filed:

The decision came shortly after the independent examiner in the Celsius case made an allegation that the company had “insufficient’ accounting and operational controls in its management of customer funds.

Celsius’ activities have been under the watchful eye of regulators. A court ruling on Nov. 1 from the judge overseeing the case ordered a probe to investigate the possibility of Celsius as a Ponzi scheme as customers claimed that the former crypto lender used the assets of new users to cover existing yields and facilitate withdrawals.

Additionally, the courts objected to a reopening of the platform for withdrawals and stablecoin sales. The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 5 of this year.

Developments in the Celsius bankruptcy case come on the heels of yet another major crypto platform going under. The ongoing FTX liquidity crisis turned bankruptcy scandal is yet another case that has former users and investors with lost funds at the mercy of regulators.

The FTX case is speculated to have over 1 million creditors involved. On Nov. 20, five days after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the defunct exchange announced it is beginning a strategic review of its global assets to attempt to sell or reorganize.

Lawyers familiar with these types of legal proceedings have speculated that getting funds recovered from FTX could be a process lasting years, possibly “decades.” Open / Comment

2022-11-16 11:14:09 ​Ripple Price Analysis & Prediction (Nov 15th) – These Levels Must Break to Determine the Next Price Movement as XRP Calms

Most top cryptocurrencies are currently calm, including Ripple’s XRP, which now moving sideways after it established support above $0.32. How long and strong this support can hold price actions is yet to be ascertained.

After last week’s crash, XRP’s price decreased by roughly 35% after its monthly high of $0.51. The heavy crash plunges the price significantly below a key support level of $0.44.
This level has turned resistance as the price dips lower to the $0.317 level. The price later recovered slightly from this level.

Over the past 24 hours, the price has increased by almost 12% as the market experience a break of the bloodbath. Due to more recovery, the coin has been trading between the range of $0.32 and $0.4 price levels for the past few days now.

These mentioned price levels now act as support and resistance, marked orange on the 4-hour chart. Currently, the price is increasing towards the above resistance level after yesterday’s bounce. We can expect a reaction once the price reaches this resistance.

However, if the price breaks above, it would confirm a fresh increase for XRP. Should the price later break below the current holding support, we can expect the recent bearish scenario to resume.

A continuous rejection at these range levels will likely keep XRP calm until a notable break occurs on either side.

As the market still looks dicey on the current 4-hour chart, let’s consider a key level to watch in case of volatility expansion.
In an upward direction, a significant increase above the $0.4065 resistance level could rally the price to an immediate resistance level of $0.44 in no time. The $0.487 level will be the next buying target if the price keeps rising.
In a downward direction, XRP would first need to bridge the $0.32 support level before it drops further to a key support level of $0.3. the support to watch below this key level is $0.27. Open / Comment

2022-11-12 09:05:40 ​​Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: ETH Moves Higher as Markets Continue to React to US Inflation Report

Ethereum was trading higher on Friday, as cryptocurrency markets continued to rebound, following yesterday’s U.S. inflation report. The better-than-expected 7.7% CPI (consumer price index) figure for October boosted prices, following recent bearish sentiment. Bitcoin briefly climbed back above the $18,000 level on Friday.

Bitcoin (BTC) moved higher on Friday, as the token rebounded following a recent spell of relatively large sell-offs.

Following a low of $16,290.27 on Thursday, BTC/USD surged to an intraday peak of $18,054.31 earlier in the day.

The move came as the world’s largest cryptocurrency continued to move away from a key support point of $15,800.

As can be seen from the chart, this surge occurred as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) also rebounded from a recent six-month low.

Currently, BTC is trading at $17,339.58, with the index tracking at 36.89, which is below a long-term resistance point of 39.00.

In order for BTC/USD to continue this current momentum, the RSI ceiling will first need to be broken.

Ethereum (ETH) rose by as much as 8% in today’s session, as the token briefly recaptured the $1,300 level.

Soon after the U.S. inflation report was released, ETH/USD rose to a peak of $1,341.79, moving away from earlier lows of $1,199.24.

The token continues to trade above yesterday’s bottom, and as of writing is residing at the $1,272.95 mark.

Looking at the chart, the 10-day (red) moving average (MA) looks to be on the cusp of a downward cross with the 25-day (blue) MA.

Typically, such a move signals the beginning of a downward trend, which could mean that we have not yet reached a bottom.

Should this be the case, bears will likely be targeting a breakout below $1,000, after failing to move beyond this point earlier in the week. Open / Comment

2022-11-09 11:37:15 ​Binance tops up backstop fund with $215 million in bitcoin and BNB

Binance has topped up an emergency fund designed to protect users following pronounced volatility in crypto markets triggered by the exchange giant's dispute with — and subsequent surprise rescue deal for — rival FTX. 
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, said in a tweet that the exchange had added funds to its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) “to adjust to recent price fluctuations,” and to ensure that it again contains $1 billion worth of crypto.
Binance moved 194,500 BNB ($62 million) and 8,325 BTC ($153 million) into the SAFU fund, according to The Block Research’s analysis — a deposit of $215 million in total. A Binance spokesperson had declined to specify the size of the top-up, but Zhao said in his tweet that SAFU's BNB balance had been brought to over $700 million and its bitcoin balance to $300 million.
The exchange operator describes SAFU, which it set up in 2018, as “an emergency insurance fund” to which it sends a percentage of trading fees. As of Jan. 29 this year, the fund — which is comprised of BNB, BUSD and bitcoin — contained roughly $1 billion.

It appears, however, that turbulence in crypto markets — bitcoin and ether are down 6% and 12%, respectively, in the past 24 hours — decreased the size of backstop. The declines have been brought on chiefly by the stunning news, announced Tuesday, that Binance had agreed to acquire FTX after the exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried halted withdrawals.
As the drama unfolded, Zhao continued to post on social media. In one tweet, he opined that “all crypto exchange should do merkle-tree proof-of-reserves,” and said that Binance would start offering that kind of transparency soon. Open / Comment

2022-11-06 11:47:23 ​But, how long can that continue before users get too disillusioned with the space as a whole and end up quitting it before it’s had a chance to reach its full potential?

It may sound harsh, but the simple truth is that if you can’t deliver what you promised, you should let others do it. 99% of developers have been overpromising and under-delivering consistently — they’re making the rest of us honest and eager GameFi enthusiasts look bad and risking our industry’s reputation, and for what?

Such projects should get out of the space entirely and give GameFi a chance to redeem itself before users get tired of the charade. The stakes are too high to let them play with the future of GameFi any longer, or the dream of mass adoption will slip further and further from us and never turn into our reality.

Shinnosuke “Shin” Murata is the founder of blockchain games developer Murasaki. He joined Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co.in 2014, doing automotive finance and trading in Malaysia, Venezuela and Bolivia. He left Mitsui to join a second-year startup called Jiraffe as the company’s first sales representative and later joined STVV, a Belgian football club, as its chief operating officer and assisted the club with creating a community token. He founded Murasaki in the Netherlands in 2019. Open / Comment

2022-11-01 06:47:21 ​​Celsius bankruptcy case Trustee slams $3M employee bonus motion.

The Trustee has objected to the retention bonus, citing a lack of sufficient information within the motion to warrant such a high payout and a lack of clarity around whether any recipients should be considered insiders.

The United States Trustee overseeing the Celsius Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, William Harrington, has objected to a Celsius motion that would see 62 of its 275 employees paid a retention bonus totaling $2.96 million.

The Trustee has blasted Celsius in its supporting statement for the objection filed on Oct. 27, noting:

“It defies logic, not to mention the Bankruptcy Code, that a company where the majority of its functions are no longer providing services, would now propose a multi-million dollar bonus scheme.”

For the “bonus motion,” as it is aptly named, to receive approval, the Trustee claims that Celsius must show that the bonuses are reasonable based on the facts of the case. Without any identifiable metrics, the Trustee says Celsius has failed to do so.

While the objection does not infer that Celsius employees are not deserving of an essential employee retention program (KERP), it points to the information provided by Celsius as being insufficient to justify such a high amount.

KERPs are designed to motivate employees to advance a successful restructuring outcome. While adding to executive pay ahead of a potential restructuring may seem counterintuitive, it can often be in the best interest of stakeholders.

Unlike the personal information of Celsius creditors, details of the KERP recipients have been kept out of the public eye, with an unredacted breakdown provided only to the court, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors and the Trustee.

The Trustee has taken issue with that as well, claiming other interested parties are unable to argue whether the participants could be considered insiders, which would render them ineligible for a KERP.

Celsius had filed the bonus motion on Oct. 11, with a hearing on the proposal and related relief set to take place on Nov. 1.

Meanwhile, the lender is also being blamed for causing financial distress at Bitcoin miner Core Scientific, who claimed on Oct. 19 that Celsius has refused to pay its bills since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 13, resulting in Core Scientific losing approximately $53,000 per day. Open / Comment

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Join https://bit.ly/3TyMDXk Open / Comment

2022-10-23 19:36:38 ​​OpenSea revises NFT rarity ranking protocol after community feedback.

A community member argued that the new rarity ranking protocol destroys the market-driven rarity structure for some NFT collections.

While giving rarity ranks to nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on a marketplace may help collectors decide on whether to purchase NFTs , some argue that ranking NFTs may do more harm than good.

In a tweet, an NFT investor pointed out several issues surrounding OpenRarity, the new rarity ranking protocol implemented by NFT marketplace OpenSea. According to the community member, putting “rank” in the NFT listing with no mention of “rarity” anywhere could be misleading.

Taking the Moonbirds NFT collection as an example, the community member argued that since the collection enabled the OpenRarity ranking protocol, it destroyed its own market-driven rarity structure, making every single NFT a “floor Moonbird.” The NFT collector also called out Kevin Rose, the CEO of Proof, the creators of Moonbird, to turn off the OpenRarity ranking function for the collection.

Days after the feedback, the NFT marketplace made some revisions to the ranking system. At the moment, NFT listings now show “rarity rank” instead of just the rank. In addition to this, the NFT marketplace has also added a trait count within the ranking methodology and a way to sort items with unique attributes before applying any additional information that elevates its rank.

After making the changes, OpenSea announced that it will enable the rarity ranking feature to eligible collections across all chains. The change will be implemented starting Oct. 25. According to the NFT marketplace, the most consistent feedback that they have received is from people asking how they could get access. To make this access possible for more collections, the marketplace will be implementing the feature to all their supported blockchains.

The NFT marketplace first launched the NFT ranking protocol on Sept. 21 in an attempt to provide a reliable rarity ranking for collectors. The protocol called OpenRarity is a collaboration between NFT entities and aims to standardize the rarity methodology across NFT platforms. Open / Comment

2022-10-19 21:13:24 ​​Germany leaves the US behind in top crypto economies in Q3.

The United States, which was the joint top-ranked crypto economy last quarter along with Germany, fell to seventh place in the rankings.

Germany has become the most favorable crypto economy in the world in the third quarter of 2022, according to a new report. The United States, the joint top-rank holder from last quarter, fell six places to rank seventh on the top crypto economy.

The crypto economy rankings compiled by Coincub looked into various factors such as favorable crypto outlook, clear crypto tax rules and more transparent regulatory communications to rank countries.

Germany, although not a tax haven, is considered one of the strongest all-around "traditional-tax" crypto economies that reward long-term crypto holders. German law charges zero tax on crypto holdings of over a year.

Switzerland ranked second with its positive crypto regulatory stance and is home to some of the top crypto organizations in the world. The next three spots on the list were acquired by Australia, UAE and Singapore, respectively.

Australia has shown a great appetite for crypto and the government has been equally supportive of it over the past year, pushing positive crypto legislation along with reasonable tax policy. UAE has invested heavily in Web3 and has a very attractive zero-tax policy on crypto gains. Singapore, on the other hand, has established itself as a crypto powerhouse in Asia, with a significant chunk of the population involved in crypto trading and investment.

The U.S dropped to the seventh spot due to its unfavorable crypto tax policy and lack of clarity on the regulatory end. However, the report highlighted that the U.S is the only country to allow crypto to form part of strategic workplace pensions. With some key crypto regulations legislature under work, the U.S could see a significant improvement in its rankings by next quarter.

Among the top crypto-curious nations determined by the number of “Bitcoin” related searches, El Salvador topped the list again, followed by Nigeria and the Central African Republic. Open / Comment

2022-10-15 20:51:13 ​​Blockchaincom closes crypto custody for Russians amid EU sanctions.

Blockchaincom will soon shut down accounts of Russian nationals, while companies like Binance are also working to apply the new EU sanctions.

Crypto wallet provider Blockchaincom is the latest company to soon cease to provide services to Russian nationals due to the latest sanctions by the European Union.

Blockchaincom has notified its users that it’s going to shut down accounts of Russian nationals in two weeks, the local news agency RBC reported on Oct. 14.

According to the report, Blockchaincom will allow Russian users to withdraw their funds until Oct. 27, 2022. After that date, the accounts of Russian nationals are reportedly going to be blocked.

The statement emphasized that Blockchaincom is currently prohibited from providing custodial and reward services to Russian citizens in line with the EU’s eighth package of sanctions against Russia.

Unlike previous sanctions, which only limited Russan-EU crypto payments to around $9,700, or 10,000 euros, the latest package puts a blanket ban on cross-border crypto payments between Russians and the EU. The new sanctions were imposed on Oct. 6.

Blockchaincom’s services are not limited to custodial services. Blockchaincom also runs a noncustodial wallet, which ideally is designed to allow users to fully control their assets while the company has no access to the wallet’s data. In addition to the noncustodial wallet, Blockchaincom also runs custodial trading accounts, which allow users to buy and sell crypto on the platform.

It remains unclear whether Russian customers would be able to retain access to their noncustodial wallets on Blockchaincom. The firm did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Blockchaincom is not the only platform to halt some services to Russians amid the latest sanctions. Major blockchain developer Dapper Labs also suspended Russian accounts due to the EU’s latest sanctions against Russia and its nationals.

According to online reports, many other major exchanges and peer-to-peer platforms, including Cryptocom, Coinbase and LocalBitcoins, are planning to comply with the sanctions as well. The companies did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. Open / Comment