Paxos, a blockchain infrastructure firm, recently confirmed that it made a mistake in paying over $500,000 in transfer fees to a Bitcoin miner. On September 10, Paxos paid a six-figure fee to move $2,000, with the average network fee typically being around $2. The company later acknowledged the error and requested the miner to refund the funds. The miner, after expressing frustration, agreed to return the money, and the funds were returned on September 15.
In other news, a bankruptcy court has approved the sale of FTX digital assets in weekly batches through an investment adviser and under preestablished guidelines. However, the sale does not include Bitcoin, Ether, and certain insider-affiliated tokens. FTX, which has $833 million worth of Bitcoin and Ether, holds a total of $3.4 billion in Digital Assets A. This includes assets such as Solana, Bitcoin, Ether, and Aptos.
Meanwhile, Digital Currency Group (DCG) has proposed a new agreement plan for the creditors of bankrupt Genesis Global. According to the plan, unsecured creditors will receive a 70-90% recovery, with a meaningful portion in digital currencies. Additionally, the plan states that Gemini Earn users could recover all funds projected at around 95-110% without any contribution from Gemini. However, if Gemini were to provide $100 million to Gemini Earn users, as it did previously, users would receive more than full recovery.
Asset manager Franklin Templeton has filed an application with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The fund would be structured as a trust, with Coinbase acting as the custodian of the BTC and The Bank of New York Mellon as the cash custodian and administrator. Franklin Templeton, which manages $1.5 trillion in assets, joins a long list of asset managers waiting for regulatory approval for a spot ETF.
In the world of cryptocurrency exchanges, executives from Binance.US, the offshoot of crypto exchange Binance, have recently departed amid layoffs and ongoing investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The departures included the CEO, legal head, and chief risk officer. The SEC sued Binance.US, Binance, and CEO Changpeng Zhao in June, alleging unregistered securities operations and other improprieties. The agency’s request to file sealed documents in the case has raised concerns about a potential criminal probe by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin is currently valued at $26,465, Ether at $1,628, and XRP at $0.50. The total market cap stands at $1.05 trillion. Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three gainers of the week are Toncoin, VeChain, and Bitcoin Cash, while the top three losers are ApeCoin, Astar, and Flare.
In other industry news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Stoner Cats 2 LLC (SC2), the company behind the Stoner Cats animated web series, with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto-asset securities in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). SC2 has agreed to a cease-and-desist order and will pay a civil penalty of $1 million. Additionally, Karl Greenwood, co-founder of OneCoin, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $300 million for his involvement in the multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.
Lastly, the recent attack on crypto exchange CoinEx, which resulted in the loss of at least $55 million, has been attributed to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus. The group was identified after inadvertently exposing its address, which was the same one used in previous hacks. CoinEx saw large outflows of funds to this address on September 12, leading security experts to suspect a breach.
In conclusion, the cryptocurrency industry has experienced various newsworthy events this week, including fee mistakes, bankruptcy court approvals, proposed agreement plans, ETF applications, executive departures, and regulatory charges. The market has also seen fluctuations in prices, with some cryptocurrencies experiencing gains and others experiencing losses. Additionally, criminal activities such as unregistered securities offerings and hacking attacks continue to be ongoing issues within the industry.
