Author: Karikari Daniel

Article written by Karikari Daniel

El Salvador approves bill for digital securities, including Bitcoin bonds

January 12, 2023 1 min read

El Salvador has made history by passing a digital securities bill that will allow the country to issue bonds based on Bitcoin. The bill, which was first introduced to parliament in November, was approved by the legislative assembly on January 11th, with 62 votes in favor. The digital securities bill aims to establish a legal framework for the transfer of digital assets, including Bitcoin, in the context of public offerings.

Former Coinbase Manager’s Brother Receives 10-Month Sentence

January 11, 2023 1 min read

The brother of a former Coinbase product manager, Nikhil Wahi, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for insider trading of crypto tokens, in which he leveraged his familial connection to his brother, Ishan Wahi. The Wahi brothers were arrested in July 2022, after Ishan was accused of passing on confidential information about upcoming Coinbase listings to his brother, allowing him to invest large amounts of money into those

Coinbase cuts 20% of workforce in latest round of layoffs

January 10, 2023 1 min read

Coinbase has announced another round of layoffs, which will affect 950 employees and reduce its operating expenses by 25%. The company CEO Brian Armstrong said that, while the decision was difficult, it was necessary in order to reduce expenses and increase the chances of doing well in every scenario. This is the latest round of layoffs, after the company cut 1,100 jobs, or 18% of its workforce, in June 2022

Astar Network unveils XVM on public testnet

January 10, 2023 1 min read

Astar Network, a smart contract platform for multichain, announced the launch of its Cross-Virtual Machine (XVM) on the public testnet Shibuya. Astar Network claims that the XVM allows for interoperability between different smart contract environments such as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and WebAssembly (WASM). This allows for seamless communication between smart contracts, regardless of the language they are written in or the environment they are in. This is the

US authorities issue subpoenas to hedge funds as part of Binance investigation

January 9, 2023 1 min read

US federal prosecutors have reportedly issued subpoenas to several hedge funds as part of an ongoing investigation into potential money laundering violations by Binance Global Inc., according to the Washington Post. The US attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington in Seattle is seeking records of the subpoenaed firms’ communications with Binance, according to sources familiar with the matter. It is not yet clear if the subpoenas will lead

Immunefi Researcher Saves $200 Million from Being Stolen on Three Polkadot Parachains

January 6, 2023 1 min read

A security researcher known as pwning.eth discovered and reported a software vulnerability that could have been exploited to steal up to $200 million from three Ethereum-compatible parachains on the Polkadot network. The vulnerability was found in a program called Frontier that is used for “wrapping” native tokens on the Moonbeam, Astar Network, and Acala parachains. Wrapping is the process of converting native crypto assets into tokens that can be more

Evmos introduces automatic conversion feature for Ethereum and Cosmos token swaps

January 6, 2023 1 min read

Evmos, a blockchain in the Cosmos ecosystem with native support for Ethereum applications and tokens, has introduced automated conversions for token swaps between the Cosmos and Ethereum ecosystems in its latest version 10.0 upgrade. The upgrade allows users to send native Cosmos tokens to Evmos, which will automatically be converted to Ethereum-compatible tokens for use on Evmos or other Ethereum-compatible blockchains. Similarly, users can transfer Ethereum-based tokens to other Cosmos

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Empire faced challenges before downfall

January 5, 2023 1 min read

A report from the Wall Street Journal suggests that financial crypto firm Alameda Research, owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, experienced problems years before the collapse of the FTX exchange. Alameda allegedly made significant profits through arbitrage in Japan, but saw these profits decline as the price gap closed in 2018. The firm’s trading algorithm also reportedly made incorrect predictions on price moves, leading to losses. Alameda also reportedly lost two-thirds of

Former FTX attorney informed US prosecutors of SBF fund abuse: Reuters

January 5, 2023 1 min read

Former top lawyer for collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Daniel Friedberg, shared information with US prosecutors about the alleged abuse of customer funds by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Friedberg joined a meeting on 22 November with officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission at the US Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, according to a source close to

NFT influencer loses over $300,000 worth of CryptoPunks in cyberattack

January 5, 2023 1 min read

NFT influencer CryptoNovo announced on January 4 that he had fallen victim to a cyberattack, resulting in the loss of two CryptoPunks and other NFTs including Meebits, CloneX, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and Bored Ape Yacht Club. The two CryptoPunks were quickly sold by the attacker, one for 70 Ether (worth $88,434 at the time of publication) and the other for 199 ETH (worth $251,404), resulting in losses of over

SideKick Finance launches decentralized NFT crowdfunding platform

January 4, 2023 1 min read

Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform SideKick Finance has launched JumpStart, a decentralized non-fungible token (NFT) crowdfunding platform. JumpStart is deployed across multiple Ethereum Virtual Machine networks and aims to provide a scalable and interoperable crowdfunding platform for use cases including gaming, music, art and charity. The platform uses NFTs and smart contracts to allow creators to crowdfund projects securely, transparently and decentralized, while also offering contributors the ability to verify and

FTX’s Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to charges

January 4, 2023 1 min read

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. The charges stem from allegations that Bankman-Fried used customer funds from FTX to cover loans taken out by Alameda Research, an affiliated crypto hedge fund, and to make investments in other companies and donate to political campaigns. Bankman-Fried has maintained his innocence and says he was unaware that