A federal judge ruled that Celsius Network customers who had interest-bearing accounts on the platform had turned over control of their assets to the bankrupt crypto lender, meaning the deposits are part of the company’s bankruptcy estate. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said in a court order Wednesday that Celsius’ terms of service made it clear it took possession of crypto assets deposited into its Earn product, dealing a blow to customers who were hoping to recoup their deposits. Celsius held around $4.2 billion in various cryptocurrencies in Earn as of last July, including $23 million in stablecoins.
Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky at Consensus 2019 (CoinDesk)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a limited objection to Binance.US’proposed $1.02 billion purchase of the assets of bankrupt crypto lender VoyagerDigital. In its filing, the SEC questioned the adequacy of the information in Binance.US’ disclosure statement, specifically details on the ability of the crypto exchange to “consummate a transaction of this magnitude,” as well as how Binance.US intends to secure customer assets and details on how Binance.US would rebalance its cryptocurrency portfolio.
Coinbase will pay a $50 million fine to the New York State Department of Financial Services to settle charges that it let users open accounts without conducting sufficient background checks. The regulators found that the crypto exchange’s policies violated anti-money-laundering laws. The settlement will also require Coinbase to invest $50 million over the next two years to bolster its compliance program.
Market Insight: Leader of the Bitcoin Pack
Source: Arcane Research
Binance’s market share of bitcoin (BTC) trading volume rose to 92% by the end of 2022, according to Arcane Research.
The share was just 45% at the start of last year, but the elimination of trading fees in June, plus the collapse of rival FTX in November, served to push users to Binance, which is the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume.
“No matter how you look at it in terms of trading activity, Binance is the crypto market,” Arcane wrote. “After lifting trading fees for its BTC spot pairs this summer, Binance completely overtook all market share in the spot market.”
The chart shows liquid staking protocol Lido’s governance LDO has breached a 10-month bear market trendline.
“Lido, with its native LDO token, will likely disproportionately benefit from an increase in the ETH staking ratio as the protocol takes a 10% cut in the ETH staking rewards which is transferred to Lido’s treasury. Users do not have to stake it themselves, they can ‘outsource’ staking to Lido,” Markus Thielen, head of research and strategy at crypto investment firm Matrixport, said.
Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.
