Autor Cointelegraph By Sam Bourgi

FTX collapse could trigger ‘appetite' for harsher regulation, says Andrew Yang

Calls for harsher regulations around cryptocurrencies and digital assets will likely grow louder in the aftermath of FTX’s collapse — something former United States presidential candidate Andrew Yang said isn’t conducive to making America a hotbed for blockchain innovation. Speaking at the Texas Blockchain Summit in Austin on Nov. 18, Yang acknowledged that the bankruptcy of FTX and sister company Alameda Research would make common sense crypto regulation harder to pass in the short term.“I’ve always been in the camp that some intelligent regulation is a good thing. I think it would help the industry mature and make it more mainstream. But, unfortunately, we missed a beat — like a major beat,” he said, referring to the collective failures of FTX, FTX US and Alameda Research. “Because of FTX and the problems and the headlines and the real people that got hurt, there’s going to be an appetite for regulation that, in my mind, might not hit the mark,” he said. “Because you want to be able to balance the very real concerns with the need to keep America the home of innovation and development of these tools.”Yang acknowledged that the path to regulatory clarity on digital assets is more difficult because of the hyper-politicization of the two-party system. As such, the FTX fiasco will only embolden crypto’s biggest opponents to try and squash the industry. Yang said he’s working with the Bipartisan Policy Center, a D.C.-based think tank, to educate congresspeople about blockchain technology and its value proposition:“[W]e e work with the Bipartisan Policy Center to liaise with members of Congress or their offices or their policy teams and just educate them about what these tools are and what they can do and the problems they can solve and why their constituents actually care and value them. We work with the American Conference of Mayors to have various mayors stand up and say, look, the blockchain is a good thing.”Related: FTX meltdown triggers FINRA into probing crypto commsThe widening political chasm between Democrats and Republicans is something Yang has long been concerned about, telling Cointelegraph in May that the U.S. midterm elections further demonstrated the politicization of crypto. Crypto regulation is now being discussed by the White House. https://t.co/bidpXgunJt— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) November 11, 2022The need to regulate crypto appears to have intensified over the past week as lawmakers continue to dissect the fallout from FTX. On Nov. 10, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration would “closely monitor” developments in the sector.

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Crypto Biz: FTX fallout leaves blood in its wake

Bitcoin (BTC) is the greatest monetary revolution of the modern age. By simply buying and holding Bitcoin, citizens are staging a peaceful protest against the indentured servitude brought on by fiat economics. In the process, they’ve initiated one of the greatest wealth transfers of all time — a process that will take decades to play out fully. Bitcoin has also galvanized a trillion-dollar cryptocurrency and blockchain industry — a double-edged sword that is both inspiring and frightening. Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the now-bankrupt FTX Group, is a case study of what can go wrong when pariahs are in charge of major corporations. Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF as he’s often called, has “sincerely apologized” for defrauding investors, conning auditors and using customer funds to prop up FTX’s sister hedge fund. We haven’t even untangled the political web that SBF finds himself in — one that may include Gary Gensler of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. This week’s Crypto Biz continues to unpack the implosion of FTX, which, as of 10 days ago, was the second-largest digital asset exchange in the world. Sam Bankman-Fried is ‘under supervision’ in Bahamas, looking to flee to DubaiAfter denying rumors that he fled to Argentina over the weekend, SBF was said to be under supervision in the Bahamas alongside FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh. A source familiar with the matter informed Cointelegraph that it would be difficult for the trio to leave the country on their own accord. The same source, who chose to remain anonymous, also claimed that Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison was trying to flee to Dubai to avoid extradition to the United States. Despite trying to convey a modest lifestyle to the public, SBF lives in a $40 million penthouse in the Bahamas. FTX fallout continues: BlockFi reportedly mulling bankruptcy, SALT pauses withdrawals and depositsThe fallout from the FTX debacle was both immediate and devastating as Bitcoin lender BlockFi halted platform activity, leading to credible rumors that it was on the verge of bankruptcy. In an official update to clients on Nov. 14, BlockFi said it had “significant exposure” to FTX and its affiliated companies. Meanwhile, crypto lending company SALT also disclosed this week that it was halting platform activity, including pausing all deposits and withdrawals, due to the FTX contagion. As Cointelegraph reported, SALT CEO Shawn Owen has denied allegations that his company was “going bust.” But, things don’t look good for SALT users at the moment. Salt lending goes bust. If you currently have money on a lending platform or “earn” platform, GET IT OFF. pic.twitter.com/eOIGG8yTrO— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) November 15, 2022Genesis Global halts withdrawals citing ‘unprecedented market turmoil’On Nov. 16, the FTX contagion spilled over into the institutional markets as liquidity provider Genesis Global announced a temporary suspension of withdrawals due to “unprecedented market turmoil.” Genesis Global isn’t a household name in crypto, but it does provide liquidity to Grayscale’s Bitcoin Investment Trust, which currently has over $20 billion in net assets. Genesis managed to weather the Three Arrows Capital collapse earlier this year, having since filed a $1.2 billion claim against the failed hedge fund. It’s unclear whether Genesis will survive the FTX meltdown, as it had $175 million worth of funds stuck on the exchange. FTX bankruptcy freezes millions worth of crypto company fundsIn addition to BlockFi, SALT and Genesis Global, several companies were left holding the bag on FTX’s bankruptcy. Hedge fund Galois Capital is said to have as much as $50 million worth of crypto stuck on FTX. New Huo Technology, which owns the Hong Kong crypto exchange Hbit, has been unable to withdraw $18.1 million of digital assets from FTX. Nestcoin, a Nigerian Web3 startup, has reported similar problems but didn’t disclose how much money was locked up on SBF’s exchange. FTX touched every corner of the cryptocurrency market, leaving millions of people exposed. More details will come to light in the coming weeks and months. An update shared with our investors earlier today on the FTX incident and its impact on @Nestcoin. pic.twitter.com/0Mjo4SYF7R— YB (25,25) ⏳ (@YeleBademosi) November 14, 2022

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$138B investment manager Man Group to launch crypto hedge fund: Report

London-based investment manager Man Group Plc is preparing to launch a cryptocurrency hedge fund, signaling continued investor appetite for digital assets in the wake of FTX’s monumental collapse earlier this month. Bloomberg reported on Nov. 18 that Man Group is preparing to launch its crypto-focused hedge fund through its computer-led trading unit AHL. Citing private sources, Bloomberg disclosed that the new hedge fund could be ready by the end of the year. A spokesperson for Man Group declined to comment on the matter when asked by Cointelegraph.  Man Group already has exposure to digital assets through AHL, which actively trades crypto futures. By the end of September, Man Group had $138.4 billion in assets under management, down slightly from $142.3 billion during the previous quarter. The company trades publicly on the London Stock Exchange and is a component of the FTSE 250.Institutional appetite for digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) has grown over the past two years, driven partly by the recognition that crypto represents a new investment class. However, broad institutional exposure to crypto has been hindered by a lack of clear regulations and the perception that fiduciary standards prevent fund managers from openly advocating for the sector.Related: Amid FTX collapse, crypto funds see largest inflows in 14 weeksCrypto’s push for mass adoption may have been hindered by the recent collapse of FTX and the firm’s subsequent Chapter 11 filing. Some believe that FTX’s failure will put more regulatory scrutiny on the industry at a time when investors were anticipating clearer and perhaps more favorable guidelines.

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zkSync developer Matter Labs raises $200M, commits to open-sourcing platform

Matter Labs, the developer behind the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible zkSync, has received major industry backing as it pledges to fully open source its platform — marking the first such initiative for a ZK-rollup technology. Matter Labs confirmed on Nov. 16 that it had closed a $200 million Series C funding round co-led by Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly, with additional participation from LightSpeed Venture Partners, Variant and existing investor Andreessen Horowitz. The company has now raised $458 million in financing across all rounds, including $200 million from BitDAO that’s earmarked for funding ecosystem projects.Founded in 2018, Matter Labs is working to scale Ethereum through zero-knowledge proofs, a digital authentication process that enables seamless data sharing between two parties. Ethereum has enjoyed widescale acceptance among developers in the blockchain community, but mainstream adoption of its technology has been partially hindered by scalability issues. As a ZK-rollup technology, zkSync provides a layer-2 scalability solution for Ethereum that maintains the network’s security or decentralization features. Over 150 projects have signaled their intent to launch on zkSync’s mainnet, which was released on Oct. 28 as part of a multi-stage process to bring the protocol into full production. Some of its most notable partners include Chainlink, Uniswap, Aave, Curve, 1inch and SushiSwap. In addition to the funding announcement, Matter Labs disclosed that its zkSync technology would be released through an MIT Open Source license later this quarter. This gives developers the ability to view, modify and fork the code.In an interview with Cointelegraph, Matter Labs’ chief product officer Steve Newcomb said his firm wanted to “drive consensus in open source,” which is why everything in the mainnet release will be fully open sourced by MIT’s standard. He explained that, by open sourcing the protocol, zkSync could become the layer-2 standard for the industry. “In crypto, one of the major things we want to stop is centralized censorship. Anything other than full open source is centralized censorship of code,” Newcomb said. “We can’t decide who is right or wrong or good or bad.”Related: Ethereum-scaling protocol zkSync’s layer-3 prototype set for testing in 2023Although venture capital has flowed freely into blockchain projects for the past two years, deteriorating market conditions have caused investors to be much more cautious in recent months. According to Cointelegraph Research, venture funding in the crypto and blockchain industry fell 66% quarter-on-quarter to $4.98 billion. Still, 2022 is shaping to be a record year in terms funding deals and total capital raised. 

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Amid FTX collapse, crypto funds see largest inflows in 14 weeks

Inflows into cryptocurrency investment products rose sharply last week as institutional investors bought the dip amid the marketwide collapse triggered by FTX’s and Alameda Research’s bankruptcies. Digital asset investment products saw inflows totaling $42 million in the week ending Nov. 13, the largest increase in 14 weeks, according to CoinShares data. Bitcoin (BTC) investment products saw the largest inflows at $19 million, followed by multiasset and Ether (ETH) funds at $8.6 million and $5.9 million, respectively. Investors were also betting on a further deterioration in market conditions, with short Bitcoin products registering $4.8 million in weekly inflows. Net inflows were recorded across all major regions, led by the United States ($29 million), Brazil ($8 million) and Canada ($4.3 million).Although investors were buying into crypto investment products, their outlook on blockchain equities soured. CoinShares data revealed that blockchain equities registered $32 million in weekly outflows, the largest since May. Meanwhile, the broader equity market recorded its best week of gains since March, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite gaining 8.1% on weaker-than-expected inflation numbers. Related: Crypto Biz: Crypto’s day of reckoning has arrivedThe cryptocurrency market faced renewed sell-side pressure last week as Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange filed for bankruptcy following a run on its assets. The bank run was triggered by Binance’s sudden liquidation of FTX Token (FTX) on Nov. 6. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao expressed interest in buying out the collapsing derivatives exchange but backed out less than 24 hours later due to an apparent hole in FTX’s finances. It has since come to light that FTX is sitting on roughly $8 billion in liabilities. Full disclosure: Binance never shorted FTT. We still have a bag of as we stopped selling FTT after SBF called me. Very expensive call. https://t.co/3A6wyFPGlm— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 14, 2022Crypto prices appear to have stabilized following last week’s rout, with Bitcoin currently hovering just north of $16,500, according to Cointelegraph’s BTC price index. Market sentiment, however, could take months or even longer to recover.

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