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| Take a look at the hits from today's Inside Cryptocurrency briefing: - Revolut's restriction for some of its crypto services in the U.K.,
- The release of the first-ever advertising for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) product,
- Hackers selling access to Binance's law enforcement request panel for $10,000 in crypto, and more.
Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | Investment management firm Bitwise has recently released the first-ever advertising for a spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) product. The firm said its ad campaign will appear across many TV channels, social media platforms, and digital media outlets, including CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business Network. More: - The ad features the 85-year-old famous actor Jonathan Goldsmith, best known for his "The Most Interesting Man in the World" persona in Dos Equis' beer ad campaigns.
- Goldsmith says what is interesting these days is Bitcoin in the new ad, advising viewers to look for Bitwise with his signature concluding phrase, "My friends."
- Many asset management giants, including Bitwise, consecutively applied to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this year.
- The SEC has yet to approve any applications and has delayed its ultimate decision on some of them.
- However, Bitwise has already been offering crypto ETF products for several years, such as the Bitwise Bitcoin and Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF (BTOP) and the Bitwise Bitcoin Strategy Optimum Roll ETF (BITC).
Zoom Out: - The traditional financial giants waiting for the SEC to approve their Bitcoin ETF applications include Grayscale Investments, BlackRock, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, and Valkyrie.
- Bloomberg analysts expect the agency to approve the qualified applications between Jan. 5 and 10, 2024.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: The Helium Mobile token (MOBILE) increased its value by more than 2,250% in two weeks since U.S.-based blockchain startup Nova Labs' Helium Mobile brand expanded its blockchain-based mobile plan nationwide. The token's price closed yesterday at $0.00688590, up from $0.00029214 on Dec. 5, the same day Helium Mobile announced the expansion. Furthermore, the popular cryptocurrency reached its all-time high within the day, surpassing the $0.0077 level for the first time in its history. Helium Mobile's other ecosystem tokens, HNT and IOT, also experienced significant price increases over the past weeks. Relevance: Nova Labs' mobile plan was first launched with a monthly price tag of $5 in August under the Helium Mobile brand and was initially limited to only Miami residents. The plan's success in the U.S. city paved the way for a new $20 nationwide offering. The service offers unlimited text, talk, and data to customers across the U.S. using blockchain technology for $20 a month. The network is mainly powered by wireless hotspots owned by individuals and businesses across the U.S. The hotspot owners earn 50 cents in MOBILE tokens for each gigabyte of data provided to the customers. The token, which currently serves as a reward, reacted to the nationwide expansion positively, increasing by over 2,250% in value. Brands that should care: Nova Labs signed an exclusive deal with T-Mobile, the second-largest U.S. carrier, in 2022 for its mobile plan. As part of the partnership between the two companies, the phones using the plan automatically switch to the wireless network of T-Mobile when they are out of the coverage area of a hotspot. | | | |
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| 3 | | A Montenegrin appeals court has overruled the High Court's previous decision to extradite Do Kwon, the co-founder of the collapsed Terra ecosystem, to either the U.S. or South Korea, citing multiple violations in the legal proceedings. The case will now be sent back to the Primary Court for retrial. More: - The High Court approved Do Kwon's extradition in November, leaving the final decision on the destination up to Justice Minister Andrej Milovic.
- At the time, the court said the legal prerequisites for the extradition were met, but the approval was brought to the consideration of an appellate court after Kwon's defense team appealed the decision.
- The appeals court ultimately canceled the approval, stating that the court did not provide sufficient reasons for the decision, and the investigating judge failed to hear the defendant related to the extradition request of the U.S., which is required by law.
- Kwon was arrested at the Podgorica Airport in Montenegro in March with Han Chang Joon, the chief financial officer of Terraform Labs, while trying to fly to Dubai carrying falsified traveling documents.
- Since then, both the U.S. and South Korea have sought Kwon's extradition, though neither has a direct extradition treaty with Montenegro.
- The co-founder faces various charges in both countries, including fraud, securities law violations, deceiving investors, racket collecting, and building a Ponzi scheme.
- Kwon is also currently serving his prison sentence for document forgery in Montenegro, and his detention term was recently extended by two months to Feb. 15, 2024, at the request of U.S. and South Korean officials.
Zoom Out: - The multibillion-dollar Terra ecosystem collapsed last year after the prices of its native tokens, Luna and TerraUSD, plummeted nearly to zero in May and lost all their value against the U.S. dollar (USD), triggering a prolonged crypto winter.
- The downfall caused over $60B to be wiped off the crypto market.
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| 4 | | Malevolent actors have recently put access to the law enforcement request panel of Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, up for sale for $10,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) or Monero (XMR). The sale was announced through a poster on the cybercrime forum BreachForums. More: - The panel offers law enforcement agencies worldwide lawful access to account data.
- Binance validates these requests and facilitates access using a third-party service dubbed Kodex.
- The move came shortly after hackers compromised three computers belonging to law enforcement officers from Taiwan, Uganda, and the Philippines as part of a global malware campaign, meaning Binance itself did not experience any hack.
- The breach caused the credentials stored in the browser to be stolen, allowing for unauthorized access to Binance's panel.
Zoom Out: - In July, Binance's head of the law enforcement training program, Jarek Jakubcek, said they often encounter fraudulent requests, including the ones from private investigators pretending to be police.
- At the time, Jakubcek also underlined that they knew how law enforcement requests should look since their team consisted of 30 former law enforcement officers.
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| 5 | | Neobank and financial technology (fintech) company Revolut has announced that it would temporarily halt crypto purchasing services on its business platform in the U.K. on Jan. 8, 2024, citing new regulatory requirements in the country. The firm informed its customers of the decision through an email. More: - In the email, Revolut said it needs to adjust its current business-focused crypto offerings to ensure that all of the new requirements are met.
- However, the email only mentioned crypto purchases, which means that the customers will be able to continue to hold crypto and sell their crypto holdings without interruption through Revolut Business.
- The move came more than two months after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the U.K.'s financial market regulator, put its new rules on crypto promotions into force.
- The new rules classify crypto as restricted mass market investments, a category for high-risk investment products.
- The tightened regulations also require crypto ads to contain clear risk warnings, prohibit incentives such as referrals and new joiner bonuses for crypto firms, and introduce a 24-hour cooling-off period that delays placing orders for investors engaging in crypto for the first time.
- Though the updated regulations took effect on Oct. 8, the FCA later postponed the deadline to Jan. 8, giving crypto firms an additional four months to make their offerings compliant with the new rules.
Zoom Out: - On the other hand, the toughened rules also forced several other crypto-related platforms, including Bybit, PayPal, Luno, CoinCorner, and Binance, to restrict their crypto-trading services in the U.K.
- The FCA recently announced its plans to further toughen its regulations for crypto asset activities in 2024.
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| 6 | | The U.S.-based digital asset investment firm Galaxy Digital's global head of asset management, Steve Kurz, has announced the company's plans to acquire, manage, and sell the assets of more bankrupt companies like the collapsed crypto exchange FTX. The firm said the deal with FTX helped its assets under management (AUM) surge to $5.3B from $1.7B a year ago. More: - The tripling in Galaxy Digital's AUM allowed the firm to breathe easily this year since it struggled to recover from last year's prolonged crypto winter and reported a $94M loss in Q3 2023.
- Galaxy Digital struck a deal with FTX in August to manage and trade the latter's digital assets while receiving a monthly management fee.
- As part of the deal, the investment firm has undertaken a fiduciary duty to look out for the best interest of FTX when managing its digital assets.
- The deal mainly aims to help FTX recover the value of its digital assets to repay its creditors and restructure by exiting bankruptcy.
- In a court filing, FTX disclosed that it held $3.4B of digital assets, and in September, the U.S. bankruptcy court approved the firm to sell as much as $100M of those assets a week.
- Earlier in 2023, the bankrupt company also outlined its plans for a potential relaunch of its crypto exchange, with expectations to receive confirmation for an ultimate plan with one of the bidders within Q2 2024.
Zoom Out: - FTX, previously the third-largest crypto exchange, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022, with all the 130 entities under the roof of FTX Group.
- The downfall followed the claims that the former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), used customer funds in FTX to compensate for losses at the sister company Alameda Research.
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- A U.S. Bankruptcy Court has blocked the crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) from selling or reducing its ownership in its collapsed crypto lender arm, Genesis Global, until the legal bankruptcy proceedings end.
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its final decision on several Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETF) applications to May 2024.
- Metaverse startup Improbable has sold its gaming unit, MPG, to Ireland-based video game company Keywords Studios for almost $100M.
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 | Staff Writer | | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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