Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

BlockFi permitted to pay $10M in staff bonuses in spite of bankruptcy

According to a Jan. 27 filing, bankrupt crypto lending startup BlockFi has been granted court authority to pay roughly $10 million in staff bonuses.　　The term “bonus” is not used in the file. Instead, it refers to an employee retention program and describes additional incentives above and above base pay.　　BlockFi will pay up to $9.98 million to a few remaining employees under the program. Employees will receive the money in three installments. There will be two payment tiers: one that pays employees 42.5% of their basic income and one that pays employees 9% of their base salary.　　According to todays filing, BlockFi has been “allowed, but not instructed” to implement this staff retention program. Though the company does not appear to be obligated to pay all or any of its employees, if it decides to proceed with the retention plan, it must execute the last of the three installments within 12 months of court approval.　　The number of employees eligible for the incentive was not specified in the court filing. According to recent sources, the firm currently employs around 125 people.　　BlockFi initially justified its request by claiming that due to fierce competition, its staff would most certainly be hired elsewhere. According to statements

2023-01-28Deep Dive

Earning Yield with CeFi Crypto-Based Accounts

At the previous article talked about What is CeFi in Crypto？ (https://www.wikibit.com/en/202301262214134994.html) So now, we will look into Earning Yield with CeFi.　　Crypto-based accounts are becoming increasingly popular among investors and traders who want to maximize their returns. Cryptocurrency-based accounts offer numerous advantages compared to traditional financial accounts, including higher yields, faster transactions, and more control over their assets. However, many investors are unsure about how to use CeFi (Centralized Finance) to earn yield with their crypto-based accounts. Here, we will explore how to use CeFi to maximize your earnings and how to effectively optimize your portfolio to achieve the highest possible yields.　　Making the Most of CeFi　　CeFi offers a variety of products and services that can be used to maximize your returns. CeFi products include interest accounts, loans, and derivatives, allowing you to take advantage of different strategies to maximize your yield. Interest accounts allow you to earn interest on your cryptocurrency holdings, while loans allow you to borrow funds against your holdings. Derivatives, such as futures and options, enable you to make more aggressive trades by taking advantage of leverage.　　Optimizing Your Portfolio　　The key to maximizing your yield is to ensure that your portfolio is properly optimized. You should ensure that

2023-01-27Deep Dive

China begins charging 20% of cryptocurrency investors and Bitcoin miners.

China has had a tumultuous history with the cryptocurrency sector due to the governments indecision over the best course of action, which has ranged from a complete ban to looking at the potential uses of blockchain. Lately, several municipal governments have begun to tax cryptocurrencies heavily on their income.　　According to Colin Wus January 25 report, several crypto whales, miners, and other traders have indicated they are currently awaiting the findings of individual income tax audits conducted by their local tax authorities that began in early 2022.　　The execution of a 20% personal income tax on asset earnings for individual cryptocurrency investors and many Bitcoin (BTC) miners is described in the report. This came about as a result of several significant domestic exchanges providing the tax authorities with comprehensive information regarding some of the whales transactions.　　Different perspectives on digital assets　　The truth is more complicated, with tax agencies and banking authorities having varying opinions on the legitimacy of crypto, despite the fact that this practice would seem to indicate that the Chinese government has now acknowledged the legal standing of cryptocurrencies.　　In an article released in October 2021 by China Tax News, a division of the State Administration of Taxation, it was stated that

2023-01-27Deep Dive

BlockFi Had a Private Connection Worth $1,200,000,000 With FTX and Alameda

According to a recent investigation, BlockFi, a bankrupt cryptocurrency lender, has a greater financial stake in Sam Bankman-FTX Frieds and Alameda Research than previously thought. BlockFis attorneys claimed that the company has $671 million in loans to Alameda and $355 million in cryptocurrency assets on the FTX exchange, for a total of just over $1 billion, during the initial bankruptcy court for the troubled company in November.　　BlockFis exposure to Bankman-defunct Frieds enterprise is reportedly valued at $1.2 billion, according to a recent CNBC story. The article states that as of January 14th, the company had $415.9 million in assets with FTX and a $831.3 million loan to Alameda, citing an unedited BlockFi filing. The document was prepared for presentation by M3 Partners, a consultant to BlockFis creditor committee. The report was intended to have some information redacted, but by mistake the file was downloaded and accessible to the general public without the suppression.　　Additionally, according to the financial presentation, BlockFi has unadjusted assets worth almost $2.7 billion, which suggests that nearly half of the assets of the troubled cryptocurrency lender are linked to FTX and Alameda.　　A BlockFi spokesman stated the company encourages openness after the report was published.　　Exposure to Three Arrows

2023-01-27Deep Dive

A $3,620,000 fine was imposed against Coinbase for disobedience.

The Central Bank of the Netherlands (DNB) is hitting prominent crypto exchange platform Coinbase with a multimillion-dollar fine for failing to comply with its guidelines.　　In a new press release, the bank says its levying a fine against the European branch of Coinbase for offering crypto-related products without first registering with the proper authorities.　　“On 18 January 2023, De Nederlandsche Bank imposed an administrative fine of €3,325,000 on Coinbase Europe Limited. The fine was imposed because Coinbase provided crypto services in the Netherlands in the past without registration with DNB, which is in non-compliance with the law. Companies wishing to provide crypto services in the Netherlands are required to register with DNB under the Dutch Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing.”　　Coinbase will get a grade 3 fine, which has a baseline of €2 million and is now priced at $2,176,900, according to DNB. Nevertheless, the bank claims it has increased the fine to €3,325,000, or $3,619,096 at the time of writing, in order to reflect Coinbases size and impact on a global scale as well as the number of consumers it served unlawfully in the Netherlands.　　The bank continues by claiming that numerous unlawful digital currencies may have gone undetected by law enforcement as

2023-01-27Deep Dive

SEC re-declines Bitcoin ETF from ARK, 21Shares

According to a Jan. 26 filing, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected ARK and 21 Shares Bitcoin spot ETF.　　Cboe BZX intends to list the proposed ETF. The proposed regulation modification by the exchange, which would have allowed the listing, was specifically rejected today.　　According to the SEC, Cboe BZX failed to establish its ability to comply with certain parts of the Securities Exchange Act. Despite the fact that Cboe BZXs proposal clearly addressed surveillance concerns, the regulator stated that the exchange failed to demonstrate that it could prevent fraud and market manipulation or protect investors.　　In April 2022, the regulator rejected Cboe BZXs earlier request. One month later, in May 2022, the exchange submitted a follow-up plan to the SEC. The SEC postponed its decision date before finally rejecting the proposal today.　　If Cboe BZXs application had been approved, the resulting ETF would have been managed by Ark Invest, a Wall Street veteran led by Cathie Wood, and would have consisted of 21 shares. It would have been traded on the Cboe BZX exchange.　　Many past Bitcoin spot ETF proposals have been rejected by the SEC on nearly identical grounds. Last October and November, the agency rejected applications from WisdomTree and VanEck,

2023-01-27Deep Dive

$2 billion is cut from Binance's USD stablecoin monthly.

Despite poor management problems regarding the exchanges pegged tokens that appeared earlier this month and other mishaps, Binances BUSD stablecoin has continued to drop recently.　　Per the cryptocurrency price tracker CoinGecko, the circulation supply of BUSD decreased to $15.4 billion on Wednesday, losing $1 billion over the previous week and $2 billion over the previous month. The most recent dip increased BUSDs decline from $22 billion at the beginning of December, when worried consumers rushed to withdraw money from Binance after it misrepresented the amount of digital currency reserves in its reserves.　　Underneath the Binance name, the New York-based fintech company Paxos Trust has launched BUSD, a stablecoin tied to the dollar and supported by U.S. reserves of Treasury bills. Stablecoins are used by traders as a middleman to convert conventional fiat currency to digital assets and to streamline cryptocurrency trading.　　Recent reports about mistakes with the exchanges wrapped token derivatives, known as Binance-peg tokens, have coincided with the most recent fall.　　A blockchain research company called ChainArgos discovered earlier this month that the Binance-pegged BUSD wasnt always completely guaranteed by reserves in 2020 and 2021. Binance declared that it has since fixed them after acknowledging the issue. According to a Bloomberg story published

2023-01-27Deep Dive

Apple, Google, Amazon, WSJ, and even Australia's government are on the list of FTX creditor.

According to a petition, the FTX crash had an impact on 9,693,985 persons and organizations, notably Google, Apple, Amazon, and Meta. 　　According to a current document submitted to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, FTX has over 9.7 million businesses and individuals listed as creditors. The most well-known companies include ones like Apple, Amazon, Google, Netflix, Meta, Microsoft, and more.　　Who suffered a loss？　　Huge financial damages for individuals and organizations resulted from one of the darkest periods in recent cryptocurrency history—the collapse of FTX. 9,693,985 investors are impacted, according to a 115-page document published by the bankrupt exchanges attorneys. 　　Popular cryptocurrency-related companies including Coinbase, Circle, Genesis, BlockFi, Galaxy Digital, Paradigm, and many others have money trapped on the platform. Following the crash, Genesis and BlockFi were unable to carry on with their usual commercial operations and filed for bankruptcy assistance.　　Tech goliaths like Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Amazon, and Meta are among the roughly 10 million creditors. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CoinDesk were a few more media sites named by the attorneys. It is noteworthy that even the governments of the Virgin Islands, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are

2023-01-27Deep Dive

The "Real" Owner of Bithumb is wanted for prosecution on theft-related charges.

The “Real” Owner of Bithumb is wanted for prosecution on theft-related charges.　　Charges against the Kang siblings include theft, betrayal of trust, and market manipulation. As reported by the South Korean financial outlet InfoMax, several officials at the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb are currently facing accusations of theft and price manipulation.　　An investigation warrant has been obtained for Kang Jong-hyeon, who is said to be the “true owner of Bithumb,” based on such allegations.　　Executives at Bithumb are under criticism　　Legal experts verified on Wednesday that Kang and two Bithumb officials had received sentences for embezzlement and breach of confidence from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office. A Capital Markets Act accusation of fraudulent illegal activities has also been brought against them.　　Kang Ji-yeon, the younger sister of Kang, is in charge of several Bithumb subsidiaries, including Inbiogen and Bucket Studio, which specialize in distribution and footwear, respectively. By issuing convertible notes, the former is thought to have fraudulently boosted the share prices of both businesses.　　Vidente is the only largest stakeholder of Bithumb, Inbiogen is the majority owner of Vidente, and Bucket Studio is the biggest shareholder of Inbiogen. Each equity asset was linked to each other.　　Bithumbs Numerous Problems　　The prosecutions office spent months looking into Bithumb

2023-01-26Deep Dive

Robinhood’s Twitter Account Promotes Scam Token on Binance’s BNB Chain

On Wednesday, the online stockbroker Robinhood (HOOD) promoted the launching of RBH, a new scam token on the BNB Chain, on its social media pages, introducing it to the list of organizations adversely affected by cryptocurrency frauds.　　The debut of the RBH token on the Binance Smart Chain was quickly assumed to be a bogus cryptocurrency project by the crypto ecosystem, which also speculated that Robinhoods social media profiles, which had 1.6 million followers across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, had been infiltrated.　　Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of Binance, stated that it “looks like Robinhoods account got hacked” and reiterated the significance of using conceptual understanding when evaluating a coins campaign on the BNB Chain.　　The Robinhood post has since been deleted, however as of the time of publication, 61 addresses still hold RBH, and according to BscScan, $16,335 value of encased BNB had been converted for the new token in a PancakeSwap liquidity provider.　　Robinhood after learning of the unauthorized social media posts released a statement mentioning that “Based on our ongoing investigation, we believe the source of the incident was via a third party vendor”.　　These efforts are anticipated to continue despite the fact that the amount of money lost is still very minimal

2023-01-26Deep Dive

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