US regulators want more rules for digital assets; Kim Kardashian fined $1.26M by SEC on EMAX promotion

On Oct 3, 2022

The biggest news in the cryptosphere for Oct. 3 includes, Binance burning 5.5 billion LUNC tokens, Tether reducing its commercial paper holdings below $50 million, and Transit Swap hacker returning over 70% of stolen funds.

CryptoSlate Top Stories

Binance burns $1.9M LUNC tokens

Binance used trading fees worth approximately $1.9 million to burn 5.5 billion Luna Classic (LUNC) tokens, as announced on Oct. 3.

While a majority of the LUNC community called for the burn, outliers like FatMan Terra considered the burn “absurd”. He said Binance should have used the $1.9 million to build out more useful tools, instead of throwing it to a burn event that has a meager 0.09% impact on LUNC supply reduction.

Kim Kardashian to pay SEC $1.26M for promoting EMAX security token

American Celebrity Kim Kardashian was accused by the SEC of allegedly promoting unregistered EMAX security tokens to her Instagram followers.

Kardashian agreed to play by the SEC’s rule to pay up the $1.26 million fine and avoid promoting any crypto securities tokens for the next three years.

Tether reduces commercial paper exposure to below $50M, Treasury bills rise to 58.1% of reserve

Tether has moved to convert all of its commercial paper into U.S. Treasury bills. As of Sept. 30, the stablecoin issue drastically reduced its commercial paper holdings from $8.4 billion (as reported in June) to less than $50 million.

Tether now holds 58.1% of its reserve assets in U.S. Treasury bills, up from 43.5% reported in June 2022.

FTX will pay fair market value for Celsius, SBF says

FTX which recently completed the purchase of Voyager Digital is said to be raising about $32 billion to bid for Celsius Network’s assets.

FTX CEO said that if his exchange settles to purchase Celsius assets, it would be determined by a fair market price. FTX’s goal is to “pay $1 for every $1 and get the $1 back to customers.”

Polygon co-founder gives Devcon 2022 Bogota a miss over safety concerns

Due to security concerns arising from Bogota Colombia, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal said he will not travel down for the Devcon 2022 conference.

Solana team members were reportedly attacked at the Bogota airport. Developers coming for the Devcon event have been advised to exercise caution as bad elements in the region are generally hostile to foreigners.

Bitcoin stable as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank rumored to be on verge of collapse

Unfavorable macroeconomic conditions are hinting at global bank contagion. Credit default on Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse is approaching the same level that birthed the Lehman Brothers collapse of 2008.

With Bitcoin trading relatively stable between $18,900 and $20,000, more investors seeking an escape from the banking collapse may turn to the flagship crypto as a safe haven asset.

Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky withdrew $10M weeks before bankruptcy – FT

Further investigation into Alex Mashinsky’s days as Celsius CEO revealed he withdrew about $10 million from the lending platform a few weeks before filing for bankruptcy.

Mashinsky’s spokesperson told FT that the Celsius founder deposited the said amounts and only withdrew them in May to offset his tax duties.

New Sushi Head Chef promotes asset-backed tokens, receives 83% of vote

SushiSwap community completed the election of its Head Chef on Oct. 3, with Jared Grey emerging the winner after receiving a whopping 83% support from on-chain voters.

Grey who is a strong advocate for asset-backed tokens, noted that his regime will focus on positioning SushiSwap to capture “the next run on liquidity” coming through asset-back tokens.

Cardano’s founder Charles Hoskinson reveals ‘age of Voltaire’

Charles Hoskinson said that Cardano’s “age of Voltaire” will introduce a new system of decentralized voting and treasury management to the crypto community.

From the Voltaire era, Cardano will become fully autonomous. The treasury system will be designed to fund any Cardano Improvement Proposal approved by the community for immediate execution entirely on-chain.

Bitcoin mining hashrate touches new all-time high, mining difficulty expected to rise

Despite the current bear market, Bitcoin’s hashrate reached an all-time high of 244.25EH/s on Oct.3. So far in 2022, the hashrate is up 84% despite a 72% decline in BTC price.

With more miners reportedly upgrading their equipment and getting back online, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is expected to rise anywhere between 3% to 10%.

Transit Swap hacker returns $16.5M of stolen funds

A hacker launched an attack against Transit Swap’s unverified contract and siphoned over $21 million of users’ funds.

Transit Swap has worked closely with SlowMist, PeckShield, and Bitrace to recover over 70% ($16.5 million) from the hacker.

Research Highlight

How inflation and debased fiat currencies are pushing investors to Bitcoin

Local currencies of many countries across the globe are fast losing their value to spiking inflation rates. As highlighted by CryptoSlate, the Turkish Lira (TRY) has lost 26% against the U.S. dollar, while the British pound lost 4.3% to the USD in a single day.

On the flip side, the trading volume for Bitcoin (BTC) has increased significantly over the period, as more investors flock to preserve their wealth in the “safe haven” crypto asset.

News from around the Cryptoverse

Senior U.S. regulators call for increased crypto regulation

The Financial Stability Council comprised of senior U.S. regulators has proposed a bill to Congress to enable them to exercise a comprehensive regulation over the crypto market and stablecoins,

The council unanimously agreed to increase regulation of the crypto market as its activities could pose a challenge to the stability of the U.S. financial system.