The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged crypto exchange Gemini and crypto lender Genesis Global Capital sold unregistered securities in a lawsuit filed late Thursday. The regulator took aim at Gemini Earn, the troubled interest-bearing product that hundreds of thousands of U.S. investors entrusted with their crypto. Gemini generated yield on billions of dollars in crypto by loaning deposits to Genesis, which loaned them out again. (Genesis is owned by Digital Currency Group, which also owns CoinDesk.)
Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (TechCrunch/Wikimedia)
Crypto.com is cutting its workforce by around 20% as the industry continues to reel from the effects of the crypto winter. The firm cited the economic headwinds from the downturn in the crypto market and the implosion of crypto exchange FTX. “We grew ambitiously at the start of 2022, building on our incredible momentum and aligning with the trajectory of the broader industry. That trajectory changed rapidly with a confluence of negative economic developments,” Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO, wrote in a post.
Noted growth investor Cathie Wood isn’t backing away from her crypto conviction as her firm, ARK Invest, purchased more shares of crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) on Thursday. Coinbase is now the 12th-largest holding for the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), making up 3.87% of the fund’s weight. Overall, the fund has a cost average of $254.65 for the shares, which closed at $47.55, up 8.6%, on Thursday. Analysts on average have a price target of $61.46, according to data compiled by FactSet.
Market Insight: Bitcoin Cash Surges
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Bitcoin cash (BCH) surged nearly 10% in the past 24 hours as traders shed light on potential network changes ahead of the protocol’s hard fork in May.
BCH broke above resistance levels of $108 to as much as $125 on Friday, price charts data shows. Buying interest could fuel a movement to at least $150, where the next resistance level lies.
A hard fork refers to an upgrade in any blockchain network. Bitcoin Cash’s hard fork is set to bring added security and privacy to the fledgling network, with plans for “CashTokens” – which would enable decentralized applications directly on Bitcoin Cash, accrding to developers.
The chart shows the daily dollar value of short bets in the bitcoin futures market liquidated since August.
On Thursday, centralized exchanges liquidated short positions worth $61.8 million, the highest since Sept. 9, taking out overleveraged bears from the market as bitcoin jumped to a two-month high of $19,097.
Liquidations happen when traders cannot fulfill margin requirements for holding long/short positions and often exacerbate bullish/bearish moves.
– Omkar Godbole
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