Terra’s Do Kwon Says He is Cooperating With Prosecutors in New Interview

In what appears to be the longest interview session Do Kwon has had since the collapse of Terraform Labs and its associated tokens LUNA and UST, founder, Do Kwon, has granted over an hour of an interview to crypto Journalist and host of the Unchained Podcast Laura Shin.

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In the interview, Kwon said he is currently cooperating with South Korean regulators but has not felt the need to turn himself in as he has not seen an arrest warrant from the prosecutors yet.

 

“We haven’t seen a copy of the arrest warrant so every piece of data we are consuming is from the media,” Kwon said, affirming that all of the document requests he has been served has been treated.

 

One of the most important talking points with Shin was the remorse he felt for the whole collapse of the protocol. He emphatically said he was “sorry” about how everything went down and said he believes every investor in the LUNA and UST believed his assertions that the algorithmic stablecoin can be kept stable.

 

Kwon said he believes the accusations of fraud and scams are unwarranted and that every investor deserves to know what really transpired. He said he understands that it is very difficult to leave with immense losses and that is part of what breaks him the most.

 

The embattled developer said besides the collapse of the LUNA and UST tokens and the ecosystem that was built around the coins, he has contributed positively to the growth of the crypto ecosystem in the five years he has been a leader in the space.


Despite the more than an hour interview, Kwon did not disclose his location, and besides South Korean prosecutors that are on the hunt for him, Interpol has also issued a Red Notice for him, making him one of the most wanted humans alive.

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Crypto Mining May be Sacrificed as EU Continues to Battle Energy Crisis

The European Commission is preparing the minds of leaders in its member states as they may need to halt cryptocurrency mining on their shores should the strain on the energy industry in the region demand it. 

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According to a Press Release, detailing an action plan to digitalize the energy sector, the commission reiterated the onus may soon lie on its member states to completely ban Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining systems used by such crypto assets as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum Classic (ETC), and Dogecoin (DOGE).

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has put additional strain on the region’s energy capabilities and the sanctions being placed on the Russian government also include the cap on the oil coming from the Putin-led country.

With winter coming, the energy demands of households and industries will increase. While it may be difficult to forecast the state of things between the EU and Russia in the most critical times, the European Commission has chosen to take a proactive approach towards preparing its member countries on what it might cost to free up the electricity grid with the load coming from crypto miners.

In the longer term, the European Commission plans to introduce a rating system that will categorize crypto miners based on their estimated environmental impact. The introduction of this rating system is a compromise attained when there was pushback earlier this year when the ban of PoW from the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation was vehemently opposed by members of the European Parliament.

According to the commission, the transition from PoW to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system by the Ethereum Network is more or less the nature of transformations it hopes to see in the near future. With the proposals for the crypto miner rating already underway, its implementation, if approved will be slated for 2025.

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German Crypto Neobank Nuri to Sets Date to Close its Business

Nuri, a cryptocurrency-focused German Neobank has set December 18 as the date it will stop access to its platform and find ways to liquidate its assets.

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In an open letter to its workers, key stakeholders, and the general public, Nuri’s CEO Kristina Walcker-Mayer described how the company’s attempt to find additional funding or an acquirer had been futile considering the current economic pangs in the global financial ecosystem as a whole.

 

Founded in 2015 as Bitwala, Nuri occupies a very pivotal position in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and offers a regulated platform that enables customers to invest in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) amongst others.

 

The company raised the sum of $45 million from top investors including Coparian, Earlybird Venture Capital, and Sony Financial Ventures per data from Dealroom. Apparently, in the crypto wake of the crypto winter and the mishap that befell its key trading partners, the startup’s longevity was placed at risk.

 

“This year, the challenges have become insuperable due to the tough economical & political environment of the past months, which kept us from raising new funds or finding an acquirer. On top, the insolvency of one of our main business partners worsened the situation significantly and put us over the edge,” Kristina said in her letter.

 

The company has previously filed for insolvency and while it was given a 3 months time frame to restructure its business, the failure to land a backer now means the end of the road for the firm.

 

The plans to liquidate the business, according to Kristina, is not affecting its business viability at this time and unlike other global players like Voyager Digital that halted withdrawals, Nuri will allow its customers to withdraw their funds until the stipulated time. The CEO also assured that trading activities will run as usual until the end of November.

 

In all, she thanked the customers, investors, and workers whose futures remain fairly uncertain at this time.

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UK Launches Global Crypto Law Review as it Considers Legal Reforms

The Ministry of Justice of the British Government has backed a project that will be undertaken by the Law Commission of England and Wales which seeks to understand how legal issues relating to crypto and its attendant technologies are being handled in other countries.

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This latest project by the Law Commission is dubbed Digital Assets: Which Law, Which Court? will specifically focus on private international laws including those which have addressed technical issues bothering smart contracts, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and electronic trade documents amongst others.

 

The launch of the project is deemed highly necessary as the growth of these blockchain innovations has presented whole new legal challenges for most countries including the United Kingdom. With the plans to gain insights from the handling of these cases from around the world, the Law Commission can then propose a set of legal reforms for public consultation in mid-2023.

 

“With digital assets and other emerging technologies developing rapidly in recent years, the laws that support and govern them have struggled to keep pace. This has led to inconsistencies across jurisdictions, with uncertainty over which laws should be applied and which courts should rule on them,” said Professor Sarah Green, the Law Commissioner for Commercial and Common Law.

 

While the United Kingdom is poised to become a global hub for digital currencies, all aspects of regulating emerging financial technology have to be foolproof. The emergence of appropriate laws will prevent precedents such as one presented in the case of Nathaniel Chastain, the former head of product at NFT marketplace, OpenSea who was charged with insider trading offenses.


In a bold move, Chastain’s lawyers asked the court to dismiss the case, noting that NFTs are neither categorized as commodities nor lack merit. While judgment has not yet been passed on the case, a robust legal reform can help prevent such gray areas as Chastain’s lawyers are exploiting.

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Blockchain’s Adoption & Capabilities Increase against Fraud in Public Finance Sector

Based on blockchain’s inherent capability of tackling fraudulent transactions, this cutting-edge technology is expected to continue being adopted in the banking and financial services sector, according to HashCash Consultants CEO Raj Chowdhury.

Chowdhury pointed out:

“Innovations such as blockchain empower public finance managers with greater visibility and control of public fund utilization in real-time. Efficient use of public money will lead to improved services for the public, economic boost, and improvement of the community as a whole.”

With research forecasting that the worldwide blockchain expenditure will clock $67.4 billion by the close of 2026, the banking and financial services industry is expected to remain the top spending area in the blockchain space, contributing to nearly 30% of the total expenditure. 

Chowdhury stated:

“The performance of decentralized blockchain architecture is proportional to the number of available network members.” 

He added:

“The underlying crypto platform offers real-time transaction visibility based on permissioned access along with hassle-free provisions for eKYC and auditing, leading to improved overall service.”

Not only does blockchain technology prompt fraud prevention it also instigates transparency, smart contract enforceability, capital optimization, and instant settlements.

Fraud prevention becomes a reality based on blockchain’s secure data encryption that utilizes multiple security layers. 

Chowdhury had previously acknowledged that the banking infrastructure required blockchain technology to meet the needs of the rapidly changing fintech environment. 

Meanwhile, the global blockchain technology market in the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector is expected to hit $4.02 billion by 2026, thanks to a surge in FinTech spending, Blockchain.News reported. 

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Metaverse Hits Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2023: Gartner

Metaverse is among the top ten strategic technology trends for 2023, according to technological research and consulting firm Gartner, Inc. 

Metaverse escalates its influence and would extend to be one of the trending topics among fintech. 

Frances Karamouzis, a Gartner analyst, pointed out:

“The Gartner strategic technology trends for 2023 are built around three themes — optimize, scale and pioneer — where technologies can help organizations optimize resilience, operations or trust, scale vertical solutions and product delivery, and pioneer with new forms of engagement, accelerated responses or opportunity.”

Since the metaverse renders enhanced immersive experiences, Gartner anticipates that a fully-integrated metaverse won’t belong to a single vendor and will be device-independent. Per the report:

“It will have a virtual economy of itself, enabled by digital currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). By 2027, Gartner predicts that over 40% of large organizations worldwide will use a combination of Web3, AR cloud and digital twins in metaverse-based projects aimed at increasing revenue.”

Gartner suggested that it will not be just about delivering technology in 2023 because environmental, social and governance (ESG) regulations and expectations have to be incorporated.

Karamouzis added:

“To enhance their organization’s financial position during times of economic turbulence, CIOs and IT executives must look beyond cost savings to new forms of operational excellence while continuing to accelerate digital transformation.”

Among the top 10 strategic technology trends in 2023 include super apps, adaptive artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, applied observability, digital immune system, and industry cloud platforms.

Meanwhile, the Dubai Ajman Police force has broken history based on the revelation that it will start to offer services to citizens in the metaverse, Blockchain.News reported. 

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DeFi TVL Rebounds to the $54 Billion Mark, Eth-based MakerDAO Remains Dominant Lender

Fresh data from tracking service DeFi Llama shows that the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols has rebounded to the $54 billion mark.

According to the data, the total TVL was down — between $53.7 and $53.29 billion — since October 12. In September, the TVL was down to $52.22 billion, the lowest since March 2022.

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As per the data, the largest DeFi lending platform across all chains remains the Ethereum-based MakerDAO, with a market dominance of 14.48% and $7.83 billion TVL. Lido is the second most dominant DeFi lender with a market cap of $6.11 billion, while the third is Curve Finance with $5.92 billion, Aave comes fourth with $5.19 billion, and Uniswap is fifth with $4.97 billion.

As it can be seen in the data, the value locked in Ethereum remains the largest, with around $31.2 billion, or just over 57% of the aggregate value locked today. Ethereum is followed by Tron’s $5.54 billion, Binance Smart Chain (BSC)’s $5.33 billion, and Avalanche’s $1.41 billion, among other DeFi protocols.

In simple terms, TVL measures the total value of all assets locked into DeFi protocols. TVL includes all the tokens deposited in all the functions that DeFi protocols offer, including staking, lending, and liquidity pools. In other words, the TVL is a measure of the funds deposited in smart contracts, and this figure is closely monitored by analysts as an indicator of investor confidence in the market.

Over the last two years, the cryptocurrency sector recorded a dramatic increase in the total value locked (TVL) across all DeFi platforms because of the boom associated with the bull market that attracted massive capital during that time. But all that changed in 2022.

As of March this year, the value locked in DeFi traded above the $200 billion mark. But things started turning worse in May amid a wider sell-off in global markets and waning interest in risky assets, such as cryptocurrencies. The total value locked in the crypto market declined from $160 billion in mid-April 2022 to $52.2 billion in September 2022, the lowest level since March 2022.

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 44,256.86 1.99%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,368.16 0.43%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 78.67 6.58%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 255.55 3.26%