• London-based cryptocurrency custody firm Copper has given up its enterprise business.
• This decision was made to focus more on the Clear Loop custody and settlement business.
• There will be some job losses within Copper’s enterprise division.

Copper Shelves Enterprise Business

London-based cryptocurrency custody firm Copper has decided to give up its enterprise business in order to focus more on its Clear Loop custody and settlement business, resulting in some job losses within the company’s enterprise division.

Reason Behind Decision

Copper made this decision due to the present challenging conditions in the digital assets space, an uncertain US regulatory environment, as well as a desire to focus on strategic offerings.

Background Information

Copper’s enterprise division was focused on securing digital asset custody and infrastructure solutions for banks and funds. It is one of the leading crypto custody providers, securing billions of dollars in digital assets using multi-party computation (MPC). They have also been working with well-known firms such as State Street.

Security Issue Raised In December 2020

In December 2020, Copper was alerted to a security issue involving their GitHub repository which contained a blueprint for how they secure customers’ assets. The entire code base was made vulnerable and downloaded at that time.

Conclusion

To conclude, Copper has decided to give up its enterprise business in order to focus more on its Clear Loop custody and settlement business, resulting in some job losses within the company’s enterprise division due to present challenging conditions in the digital assets space and an uncertain US regulatory environment.

• Hut 8 Mining (HUT) faced operational issues across its bitcoin mining sites, including an ongoing dispute with its energy provider and electrical issues in its Drumheller site.
• Management spoke to investors following the release of the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results.
• Hut 8 is currently assessing opportunities to energize miners and attempting to complete a merger with U.S. Bitcoin Corp.

Issues Facing Hut 8 Mining

Hut 8 Mining (HUT) has been facing operational issues across its bitcoin mining sites, including an ongoing dispute with its energy provider in North Bay, Ontario, and electrical issues at the Drumheller site in Alberta. The company’s shares are down 8% on Thursday as bitcoin slides to its lowest level in a month at $21,450.

Fourth Quarter Results

Following the release of the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results, management spoke to investors during an earnings call on Thursday morning. During this call it was revealed that mining profit plummeted from $39.2 million (US$28.4 million) during the same period last year to CAD$3.33 million (US$2.4 million).

U.S Bitcoin Corp Merger

The company also received a letter of no action from the Canadian competition authority for its proposed merger with U.S Bitcoin Corp., meaning that they don’t plan to challenge the move according to CEO Jaime Leverton who said on the call that their main focus is on completing this merger which will give them access to additional power for mining rigs.

Mitigating Challenges

At its Drumheller site in Alberta, Hut 8 has been facing “electrical issues” that have hit operations – however they are exploring options to mitigate these challenges so they can hopefully have a more definitive plan soon for how they will tackle these matters moving forward according reports from Chief Financial Officer Shenif Visram during the conference call as well as statements from Leverton on Thursday morning .

Conclusion

In conclusion it appears that Hut 8 Mining is doing all it can do attempt to mitigate challenges at current sites while continuing their pursuit of merging with US Bitcoin Corp which would provide them access additional power sources needed for future operation needs – however given recent share price drops due likely deriving from dropping BTC prices investors remain cautious over when or if any form of resolution will be met soon by HUT8 management moving forward .

• Swing, a cross-chain liquidity protocol, has released a new “no-code” product to reduce the time needed to deploy and update decentralized applications across multiple blockchains.
• The product, called Swing Platform, will be provided during ETHDenver conference for Ethereum developers.
• This product could help respond quickly to security incidents and make deploying and maintaining cross-chain applications easier.

Swing Launches ‘No-Code’ Product

Swing, a cross-chain liquidity protocol, has released a new “no-code” product that it says will reduce the time needed to deploy and update decentralized applications across multiple blockchains. Called Swing Platform, the product is being provided to developers during ETHDenver, a major conference for Ethereum developers.

Benefits Of No Code Product

The main benefit of this no code product is that developers can update configurations and deploy updates without changing the code. This could be especially useful in ‘critical scenarios’ when it’s necessary to disable a particular token or bridge due to a security flaw. It could also speed up the response time if something happened outside of ordinary working hours.

Cross Chain Applications Becoming More Common

Decentralized applications that straddle multiple blockchains are becoming more common but the cross-chain “bridges” used to move digital assets back and forth between networks are often targeted by hackers. Chainalysis reported that hacks and other thefts from these bridges cost $2 billion during just the first eight months of 2022 alone.

Making Cross Chain Apps Easier To Manage

Viveik Vivekananthan from Swing said: “Launching and maintaining a cross chain application is generally fraught with risk and off limits to all but best funded teams.” The aim of this product is to make launching and maintaining these types of apps easier so they become accessible for everyone regardless of resources or coding skillset they have available.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Swing’s no code product could provide significant benefits in terms of speeding up deployment times as well as making it easier for nontechnical team members to respond quickly in critical situations when it comes to managing distributed applications on multiple blockchains.

• Folkvang, a Cayman Island-based trading firm, experienced a major blow due to the collapse of FTX exchange in November 2021.
• The firm had half of its equity parked on FTX and it managed as much as $400 million in 2021.
• Despite the loss, founder Mike van Rossum is happy that they are still standing.

FinanceAlameda-Backed Crypto Trader Folkvang

Folkvang is a market-neutral crypto trading firm based in the Cayman Islands that was founded in January 2020 by a team of seasoned crypto quant traders. The firm managed as much as $400 million in 2021 and had half of its equity parked on FTX before it collapsed. Founder Mike van Rossum revealed that their equity was halved after the crash, but they are still standing despite suffering a major blow during November’s crash.

Alameda Research Investment

Folkvang’s emergence on FTX was expected after Alameda Research—the trading firm that played a central role in FTX’s demise—invested in Folkvang and Folkvang returned the favor by investing in FTX (Sam Bankman-Fried owned both FTX and Alameda.)

FTX Collapse Aftermath

In an interview with CoinDesk, van Rossum gave an account of the messy situation following the collapse of FTX exchange. He said that it was “a tough pill to swallow” and that they had to pay back lenders out of pocket since they were active borrowers. At its peak in 2021, Folkvang managed around $400 million worth of assets including equity and loans.

Survival Despite Losses

Van Rossum recognized that this is all part of the game when it comes to such risky investments, and he’s glad that his company is still standing despite losses from the crash. During one single trade day, Folkvang did up to $8 billion worth of volume which goes to show how successful they were prior to this incident.

Crypto Industry Still Reeling

More than three months later since this crash happened, the cryptocurrency industry is still feeling repercussions from what happened with FTX exchange. It serves as an important reminder for investors who want to get involved with cryptocurrencies—to be aware of these risks associated with them because no one can predict what will happen next or how far losses may go if something similar happens again in the future.

• TrueFi’s TRU token surged over 200% after Binance minted $50 million of TUSD stablecoin.
• Speculation was sparked that TUSD could gain a larger role in trading on Binance after the crackdown on the Paxos-issued BUSD.
• The issuers of TrueUSD and TRU have been separated since 2020, and TrustToken (now Archblock) transferred all its assets to TrueFi Foundation.

TRU Token Rallies Over 200% After Binance’s TUSD Mint Sparks Speculation

The rally appears to come from traders mistakenly connecting TRU with TUSD, a stablecoin that had been issued by TrueFi in the past but now no longer is. By Krisztian SandorFeb 16, 2023 at 6:03 p.m. UTCUpdated Feb 16, 2023 at 7:24 p.m. UTC

Rally Details

TRU, the governance token of decentralized lending protocol TrueFi, surged 220% on Thursday in an hour, data by CoinMarketCap shows, in a speculative flurry over a Binance stablecoin transaction. Before the rally took off, Binance minted $50 million of TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin according to blockchain data.

Speculative Misunderstanding

The event sparked speculation among crypto traders about TUSD potentially gaining a larger role in trading on Binance after the regulatory crackdown on the Paxos-issued BUSD. This speculation seems to be misplaced however as TrustToken sold TUSD in 2020 to Techteryx and then renamed itself Archblock last year when it separated from TrueFi protocol and began decentralizing the platform.

Price Surge

TRU surged as high as 14.6 cents from 4.4 cents on Binance before later paring some of the gains and trading at around 11 cents at press time..

Conclusion

B USD Drama Sets Stage for Stablecoin Market Reshuffling showed us that despite misconnections between tokens related to their issuers still happen there are steps being taken towards more regulation within this space so that these mixups can be avoided or eliminated altogether soon enough!

• Kraken is in the process of settling with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over charges that it offered unregistered securities.
• Kraken will immediately shut down its cryptocurrency staking-as-a-service platform for US customers and pay $30 million to settle SEC charges.
• The SEC voted on the settlement during a closed-door commissioner meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Kraken Agrees to Shutter US Crypto-Staking Operations

Crypto exchange Kraken has agreed to “immediately” end its crypto staking-as-a-service platform for U.S. customers and pay $30 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges it offered unregistered securities, the U.S. agency announced Thursday.

Details of the Settlement

The SEC confirmed Kraken would shut down its staking services for U.S. customers after the publication of this article, following a vote by commissioners in a closed session on Thursday afternoon. Kraken’s staking service had promised up to 24% yield, and sent customers staking rewards twice per week according to its website.

Implications for Crypto Regulation

The settlement signals increased regulatory scrutiny of crypto exchanges offering tokenized assets, which could have implications for other platforms offering similar services in the future. It also provides further evidence that regulators are willing to take action against companies operating outside their jurisdiction if they offer services related to digital assets in some way or another, regardless of whether those activities involve traditional financial products or not.

Background Information

The news comes one day after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that his company was negotiating with both federal and state authorities over potential violations of securities law related to certain tokens listed on Coinbase Pro and Prime trading platforms during 2017–18 period, including Ethereum Classic (ETC), Zcash (ZEC) and XRP (XRP). The SEC has yet to comment publicly on these negotiations as well as any potential penalties Coinbase may face if found guilty of breaking securities laws at any point during this period.

Conclusion

This settlement serves as an important reminder that all companies involved in digital asset trading should remain vigilant when it comes to complying with federal regulations governing such activities, even if they operate outside U.S borders or cater primarily towards non-US customers – failure to do so can result in significant fines or other legal action from regulators domestically or abroad.

• Coinbase (COIN) stocks jumped 20% after the Fed’s rate hike and Jerome Powell’s remarks on fighting inflation.
• The crypto exchange also won a dismissal of a proposed class-action lawsuit by customers.
• Other crypto-related stocks like MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Silvergate Capital (SI) have also been rallying this year.

Coinbase Shares Soar

Coinbase (COIN) shares soared more than 20% on Thursday after the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate hike decision and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on progress in fighting the high rate of inflation.

Proposed Class-Action Lawsuit Dismissed

The US-based crypto exchange also got a boost after it won a dismissal on Wednesday of a proposed class-action lawsuit by customers who claimed Coinbase sold them unregistered securities.

Stock Price Correlated with Bitcoin

The company’s stock is up more than 100% this year as the crypto industry started recovering from the FTX exchange’s collapse. This is because Coinbase makes most of its revenue from trading volume, so its stock price is highly correlated with bitcoin (BTC), which has been rallying so far this year.

Barclays: Volumes Rose 56% in January

U.K bank Barclays said in a note on Thursday that Coinbase volumes rose 56% in January from the previous month, and that “volumes are now near levels seen in October before the collapse of FTX, but remain below the average for 2022.”

Crypto-Linked Stocks Rallying

Other crypto-linked stocks like MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Silvergate Capital (SI) have also been rallying this year, along with broader equity markets. Edward Moya, senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker OANDA noted that “we might be getting six more weeks of winter, but it doesn’t seem like we will be seeing an ice age in crypto.”

• Stablecoin regulation is the first priority for the newly formed Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion.
• Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), the chair of the subcommittee, stated that the stablecoin draft will be used as a model for how the committee will approach digital asset regulation.
• Privacy statute is also a priority of the committee, which is important for the digital asset industry.

The U.S. House of Representatives has created a new subcommittee to oversee digital assets, financial technology, and inclusion. The Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion will be chaired by Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), who has stated that the committee’s first priority is to regulate stablecoins.

Hill has made it clear that the subcommittee plans to use the stablecoin draft as a model for how it will approach digital asset regulation moving forward. He believes that this is an important starting point for the committee, as it will provide much-needed clarity on which agency, the SEC or the CFTC, will have explicit oversight. Hill has also stated that the committee is looking to pursue a privacy statute federally, which is important for the digital asset industry.

The subcommittee is also focusing on financial inclusion, as it seeks to ensure that everyone has access to the same financial opportunities. This includes providing guidance on how to ensure that products and services are made available to underserved markets. Additionally, the subcommittee is looking for ways to create a more equitable financial system by increasing access to financial services and providing financial education to those who may not have access to it.

The subcommittee also seeks to create an environment that encourages innovation in the digital asset and fintech sectors. This includes exploring how to create a regulatory framework that encourages the development of new products and services that can benefit consumers and businesses. Hill has stressed the importance of creating a regulatory framework that is flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changing digital asset landscape.

Finally, the subcommittee is also looking to address consumer protection by providing guidance on how to protect consumers from fraudulent or deceptive practices. Hill has stated that this is an important priority, as it will help ensure that consumers have the necessary information and resources to make informed decisions when it comes to investing in digital assets.

Overall, the Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion is seeking to create an environment that encourages innovation, financial inclusion, and consumer protection. With Rep. French Hill at the helm, the subcommittee is looking to create a regulatory framework that is flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changing digital asset landscape. By providing guidance on stablecoin regulation, financial inclusion, and consumer protection, the subcommittee is looking to create a stable and secure environment for digital assets.

• The European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has called for global crypto regulations instead of just EU regulations.
• McGuinness said that without a global approach, the crypto market will suffer from more and more problems.
• The EU has already passed the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA), but the vote has been postponed to April.

The European Union is one of the first major jurisdictions in the world to regulate the crypto market with its Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA). As the crypto sector continues to grow in global importance, the EU’s leading financial-services official has called for global crypto rules instead of just EU rules.

Mairead McGuinness, the European Commissioner, told CoinDesk on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that the turmoil in the crypto market has given extra ammunition to those pushing for a global rulebook. She said that the technology is borderless and if the world fails to put a global approach into place, the crypto market will suffer from more and more problems.

McGuinness also said that it’s great that the EU is the first major jurisdiction in the world to regulate the sector, but there’s no point in Europe being on its own because this is a global development and it can’t be restricted to just one region.

The EU’s MiCA regulation was meant to have been voted on in December, but the date has since been pushed back to April. The regulation, which was first proposed in September 2020, is intended to regulate the crypto sector in the same way that traditional financial markets are regulated. It includes provisions for consumer protection, transparency and market integrity.

The regulation also includes measures to protect investors, such as rules against insider trading and market manipulation, and new rules on custody and trading of digital assets.

The MiCA regulation is an important step forward in the global regulation of the crypto sector. If the world is to make use of the potential of the sector and protect investors, it is important that the regulation is adopted by all major jurisdictions. This is why McGuinness is calling for a global approach to crypto regulation, so that all countries are on the same page.

• John J. Ray III, the new head of FTX, is exploring the possibility of reviving the bankrupt crypto exchange.
• Ray’s comments came in his first interview since taking over FTX in November.
• Ray said the decision would come down to whether restarting FTX’s international exchange would recover more for customers than just liquidating assets or selling the platform.

John J. Ray III, the new head of the crypto exchange FTX, is exploring the possibility of reviving the bankrupt platform. The comment came in his first interview since taking over the exchange in November.

Ray, who previously handled Enron’s restructuring, said that despite the accusations of criminal misconduct against former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, customers have still lauded FTX’s technology and said it could be worth reviving the exchange.

Ray noted that the decision to revive the exchange would ultimately come down to whether it would be more beneficial for customers to restart FTX’s international exchange, rather than liquidating assets or selling the platform. “Everything is on the table,” Ray said. “If there is a path forward on that, then we will not only explore that, we’ll do it.”

The FTX token FTT was trading up 33% on Binance on the news. In the interview, Ray also criticized Bankman-Fried’s comments to the media and elsewhere as being unhelpful. Bankman-Fried has said FTX did not need to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and has been critical of Ray’s decisions.

Should FTX be revived, Ray said it would require a significant financial commitment, as well as a team of experienced professionals. He added that he is also exploring the possibility of forming a partnership with another cryptocurrency exchange.

These efforts could potentially revive FTX and allow customers to regain access to their funds. However, it is still uncertain whether the exchange will be able to make a successful comeback. Until then, investors will have to wait and see.