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Over 48 Terra Projects Merged to Polygon Ecosystem

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

Over 48 projects that used to run on the Terra blockchain have been jointly migrated to the Polygon ecosystem, including the well-known Lunaverse (LUV) Metaverse platform, OnePlanet NFT marketplace, and Derby Stars play-to-earn (P2E) games.

Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt wrote on his official Twitter: “We are working closely with a variety of Terra projects to help them migrate over swiftly to Polygon.We will be putting capital and resources against these migrations to welcome the developers and their respective communities to our platform.”

Polygon, a decentralised Ethereum scaling network to simplify supply chain operations. The ecosystem provides scalable, secure, and instant Ethereum transactions designed to use Plasma side chains and a Proof-of-Stake network to solve the pain points of slow block confirmation and high gas fees.

The company said over 48 projects have successfully entered the Polygon ecosystem.

The network has been renamed Terra Classic. In May, Terra network’s native tokens, LUNA and UST, suffered an unprecedented collapse,

LUNA shed off all of the gains it has accrued over the past 12 months as it slumped to its 52-week low of $0.8384. The fall of the LUNA comes off as a bigger surprise to the crypto world as such a plunge is uncommon, especially for an established blockchain protocol that attained its All-Time High (ATH) of $119.18 barely a month ago.

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OKX Sponsors $20m Training Kit for Soccer Team Manchester City

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

Crypto exchange OKX, formerly OKEx, announced on Sunday that it will invest more than $20 million to sponsor Manchester City’s training kit this season.

It became a partnership with Manchester City in March and will continue to expand its investment in it, becoming the club’s official training kit partner for the 2022-23 season.

The partnership also educates Manchester City players in crypto educational content produced by OKX.

Forbes estimates the club to be worth $4.25 billion, placing it sixth.

In February, intra-city contender Manchester United inked a multi-year deal with Tezos, a proof-of-stake (POS) blockchain provider, as the club’s training kit sponsor.

Manchester United has signed a training gear sponsorship deal with point-of-sale (POS) blockchain provider Tezos. The new collaboration comes after last season’s contract with AON expired;

While cryptocurrencies are going through a bitter winter, many crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, BlockFi, Crypto.com and Gemini have announced layoffs. However, OKX is still advancing the talent introduction plan. Plans to increase headcount by 30% to 5,000 employees.

Haider Rafique, Chief Marketing Officer of OKX, said:

“OKX’s investments in our partners and our team are market agnostic because our principals and beliefs haven’t changed. We are intentional about selecting partners who reflect this focus, which means we didn’t spend the bull run making sports deals at an unsustainable rate .”

OKX is sponsoring Daniel Ricciardo at a time when races of the Formula One World Championship events are set to take place.

McLaren Racing, a British motor racing team, has inked a multi-year deal with crypto exchange OKX, formerly OKEx, to be the primary partner of McLaren Shadow esports Team and McLaren Formula 1 (F1) Team from this year.

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Tagged : Industry / Manchester City / Okx / Partnership

Celsius Hires New Lawyers for Restructuring: WSJ

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

Celsius Network LLC has hired new lawyers to advise the troubled cryptocurrency lender on restructuring, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The much-needed restructuring plan has come as it seeks to escape the recent turmoil in crypto markets, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the WSJ report, Kirkland & Ellis LLP lawyers have been called on board to advise Celsius on options, including a bankruptcy filing.

The lawyers have replaced the company’s previous lead restructuring counsel, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

Since the company’s stagnation due to the market plunge, it has been in an unstable liquidity position. As part of its recovery efforts, Celsius has brought on a team of restructuring lawyers and appointed Citigroup to advise it on potential financing options.

The WSJ reported that Celsius is also reshuffling its board as they appointed two new directors last week.

Customers of the company, who reported $11.8 billion in assets in May and 1.7 million users, have not been able to access their Celsius accounts for nearly a month after it froze user withdrawals as crypto prices plunged.

Celsius was looking to avoid lengthy bankruptcy proceedings, The Block reported citing people familiar with the company’s situation.

On June 30, Celsius shared a blog post with the community saying it was continuing to take “important steps to preserve and protect assets and explore options available to us.”

“These options include pursuing strategic transactions as well as a restructuring of our liabilities, among other avenues,” said the post. “These exhaustive explorations are complex and take time, but we want the community to know that our teams are working with experts from many different disciplines.”

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Tagged : Celsius / Crypto / Enterprise / RESTRUCTURION / Wsj

Bitcoin May Tumble to $10K, Study Shows

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

According to Bloomberg, the latest survey by Bloomberg MLIV Pulse shows that Bitcoin may tumble to the $10,000 mark.

The global speculative frenzy in the financial market due to the COVID-19 epidemic has once again crushed the cryptocurrency market.

Since the epidemic is gradually brought under control, the market value of cryptocurrencies has evaporated by about $2 trillion. Compared with the end of last year, many investors, mainly retail investors, are worried about the current cryptocurrency.

That’s according to 950 responses to MLIV Pulse’s weekly survey from retail investors, portfolio managers, and strategists around the world.

60% of respondents said that Bitcoin is likely to halve in value, and the coin is more likely to fall to $10,000 than to rebound to $30,000.

Bitcoin’s price hasn’t touched the $10,000 mark since September 2020, compared to an all-time high of over $68,000 in November last year. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $20414 during the Asia trading section.

Jared Madfes, the partner at Tribe Capital, a venture capital firm, emphasized that expectations for further Bitcoin declines reflect “inherent fear in the market”, adding, “It’s very easy to be fearful right now, not only in crypto, but generally in the world.”

According to the latest MLIV Pulse survey, 28% of respondents feel confident in the future of cryptocurrencies, but 20% said they are worthless.

“Bitcoin still is powering large parts of the crypto-verse, while Ethereum is losing its lead,” said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp., a foreign-exchange broker.

Bitcoin’s development remains bumpy. The United States Treasury Department delivered a crypto framework to President Joe Biden as instructed in the Executive Order (EO) issued in March.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / MLIV PULSE

NFT Lender Omni Hacked for 1,300 ETH

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

Non-fungible token (NFT) platform, Omni was hacked for 1,300 ether (ETH) ($1.43 million) as the hacker exploited the firm’s reentrancy vulnerability protocol, according to PeckShield.

The NFT money market platform allows users to stake their NFTs on the platform, normally open staking for popular collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, to receive tokens like ETH.

Although the hacker was able to drain out more than 1,300 wETH ($1.4 million), the ERC20 tradable version of ETH, Omni stated that the theft did not affect customers’ funds. The company added that only internal testing funds were impacted as the platform is still in beta testing mode.

The protocol has been suspended for a complete investigation, according to the NFT company.

According to The Block, projects coded with Solidity are vulnerable to reentrancy. It allows hackers to force their smart contract to make an external call to an untrusted contract.

For this nature of the hack, Yajin Zhou – CEO of blockchain security company BlockSec – told The Block that the hacker deposited NFTs from a collection called Doodles, which were used to borrow wrapped ETH (WETH), tokenized versions of cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the value of the original coin.

Following the deposit and liquidation of the position, the remaining Doodle NFT from the original collateral is returned back to the attacker.

Zhou added that hackers often liquidate the loan position as the value of the NFT left as collateral before the callback function was invoked isn’t sufficient to cover the debt position. To tackle this, hackers typically rely on reentrancy as they are able to force through using borrowed WETH to buy more NFTs before the liquidation occurs.

Furthermore, Zhou added that the hacker then used the Doodles NFT acquired with the initial loan as collateral to borrow more WETH. However, as Omni had failed to recognize this new position, the hacker could withdraw the NFTs without paying back the loan.

According to The Block, data from Etherscan shows the attacker has already laundered the funds via a coin mixing service for private transactions on Ethereum called Tornado Cash.

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Tagged : #ETH / Blockchain / Cybercrime / Hack / NFT / Omni

Voyager Digital Executives Threatened by Clients, Revealed in Bankruptcy Hearing

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

Senior executives of crypto broker Voyager Digital and their families were reportedly threatened by their clients, a court in Manhattan revealed last Friday.

At the first-ever bankruptcy hearing for Voyager Digital took place before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles in Manhattan last Friday, the company’s attorney, Christopher Marcus of Kirkland & Ellis said the firm’s executives and their families were threatened by customers when their accounts were frozen.

Marcus highlighted how inevitable it is for Voyager Digital to file for bankruptcy, a move it did as soon as it was able to. At the time when the firm filed the bankruptcy claim, it said there were as many as 3.5 million active users holding as much as $5.9 billion in assets. With the liquidity pressures the firm was facing as well as the current losses it is experiencing from the ordered liquidation of Three Arrows (3AC), its business continuity was notably hampered.

Amidst the escalating personal threats Voyager Digital’s executives are receiving, Marcus said the restructuring approach is to show users that there is still hope.

“We are focused on a path forward,” Marcus said. “It is not correct to think that there is no hope.”

Experts have noted that the Chapter 11 bankruptcy is the best for Voyager Digital as a broker-dealer liquidation would completely halt Voyager’s operations and result in a lot of expensive litigation that would benefit no one according to Josh Sussberg of Kirkland.

Voyager Digital is not alone as there have been reports that LUNA coin holders also threatened Do Kwon when the coin shed as much as 99.9% of its value back in May. Kwon has moved from South Korea and is now resident in Singapore following the event.

The spate of liquidations in the digital currency ecosystem is now very alarming, and the credit extension from Alameda Ventures was unable to save Voyager Digital. Three Arrows Capital has also filed for Chapter 15 Bankruptcy in the US while another struggling firm, Celsius Network is resisting the urge to file for bankruptcy on its lawyer’s recommendation.

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Tagged : Bankruptcy / Legal / Voyager Digital

CoinFLEX to Sue Robert Ver to Recover $84m Outstanding Debt

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

CoinFLEX, a Hong Kong-based physical futures crypto exchange, announced last Saturday that it has taken legal action to recover $84 million from a single long-term serving client.

Last month, the exchange suspended withdrawals after a counterparty later revealed as longtime crypto investor Roger Ver failed to repay $47 million from a margin call.

Last Saturday, the exchange further revealed that the total amount owed by the investor is $84 million. The exchange said so after it calculated a final amount of losses from significant positions in its native FLEX token.

CoinFLEX co-founders Sudhu Arumugam and Mark disclosed that the exchange has begun an arbitration proceeding in Hong Kong to recover the $84 million. Founders said that process could take about 12 months before a judgment is delivered.

CoinFLEX co-founders commented: “We have commenced arbitration in HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre) for the recovery of this $84 million as the individual had a legal obligation under the agreement to pay and has refused to do so. His liability to pay is a personal liability which means the individual is personally liable to pay the total amount, so our lawyers are very confident that we can enforce the award against him.”

The founders further disclosed that CoinFLEX has signed a joint venture with a certain US-based crypto exchange as part of efforts to revive its fortunes.

Meanwhile, CoinFlex is planning to allow temporary withdrawals from its platform, though with some limitations. On Saturday, the founders revealed a “Locked Funds Plan” for the withdrawals. They mentioned that CoinFlex has been engaging in discussions with creditors, investors, and others, and now the exchange is looking into creating some temporary liquidity for its depositors.

Ripple Effects of Current Market Crash

On 23rd June, CoinFLEX halted withdrawals citing “extreme market conditions” alongside uncertainty regarding a certain counterparty. During that time, CoinFlex CEO Mark Lamb clarified that the counterparty is not any lending firm nor Three Arrows Capital.

On 28th June, the exchange announced plans to raise $47 million via a token sale to resolve the withdrawal problem. The withdrawal issues came after a certain individual’s account associated with Roger Ver, went into negative equity during the recent market turbulence.

CoinFLEX described the client as a “high integrity” individual, with liquidity issues linked to the recent plunge in crypto and non-crypto markets, who has “significant shareholdings in several unicorn private companies and a large portfolio.”

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Tagged : COINFLEX / Debt / Lawsuit / Legal / ROBERT VER

Biden Receives Crypto Regulation Framework from Treasury

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

The United States Treasury Department has delivered a crypto framework to President Joe Biden as instructed in the Executive Order (EO) issued back in March.

The Treasury Department said the framework sent to the President was created in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the heads of other relevant agencies.

According to the Treasury, the framework calls on the United States’ core allies to collaborate on creating international standards for regulating crypto assets.

Harmonizing Crypto Regulations Across Borders

The Treasury highlights the need to harmonize approaches that can help to nip in the board regulations in combating crimes emanating from the crypto ecosystem which often spills to foreign jurisdictions.

“Uneven regulation, supervision, and compliance across jurisdictions creates opportunities for arbitrage and raises risks to financial stability and the protection of consumers, investors, businesses, and markets,” the framework reads, adding, “Inadequate anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation, supervision, and enforcement by other countries challenge the ability of the United States to investigate illicit digital asset transaction flows that frequently jump overseas, as is often the case in ransomware payments and other cybercrime-related money laundering.”

Also, the Treasury wants the US to take the charge in leading talks with respect to the development of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) frameworks.

“Such international work should continue to address the full spectrum of issues and challenges raised by digital assets, including financial stability; consumer and investor protection, and business risks; and money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, sanctions evasion, and other illicit activities,” the Treasury noted.

While the United States is now doing all it can to focus on the nascent crypto industry, the European Union is already ahead. The EU agreed on its own comprehensive framework for Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) in the past week, with full implementation barely a few years away.

It is not immediately clear how the US and EU will harmonize strategies moving forward but on CBDCs, more work is still ahead and the collaboration may be more meaningful this way.

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Tagged : Crypto / Executive Order / Framework / Joe Biden / Regulation

UK FCA Appoints Hong Kong’s Securities Boss to Lead

by Blockchain NewsJuly 11, 2022

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced Ashley Alder as its new Chair, with the scheduled projection for his term to commence in January 2023.

Alder will take over from interim Chairman Richard Lloyd.

Alder is a veteran when it comes to financial market regulation and besides his background as a lawyer, he currently serves as the CEO of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong. Alder will bring his broad experience from managing Hong Kong’s SFC since 2011 as well as his broad expertise as the elected Chair of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions to the FCA.

“It’s a great privilege to have the opportunity to Chair the FCA, whose core work is so vital to the financial health of consumers,” Ashley Alder said in a statement, adding that he “also values the opportunity to contribute to a crucial phase in the FCA’s history as it helps chart the UK’s post-Brexit future as a global financial centre which continues to support innovation and competition through its own world-leading regulatory standards. I look forward to working with FCA colleagues as they deliver on their mission.”

As the FCA Chairman, Alder will be responsible for the regulation of over 51,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK and will be answerable to the HM Treasury as well as the Parliament. This position is also critical to the development of crypto regulation in the UK, as advocates are lobbying the administration to try not to regulate decentralised finance (Defi), reports said.

Alder will mount the ship of the FCA at a time that is politically significant with the proposed exit of Prime Minister Boris Johnson as well as an era when the UK is focusing its radar on the cryptocurrency industry. Prior to Johnson’s resignation, UK is reportedly to introduce stablecoin regulation by August. FCA is one of the regulation parties to be consulted.

While Alder is not anti-crypto considering how Hong Kong flourished in crypto-related affairs during his tenure, the narrative in the UK may differ considerably.

The stakeholders in the digital currency ecosystem will have a lot of adjustments to make with the new sheriff that is now in town.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Regulation