Sophia Hernandez
Sophia Hernandez is an experienced crypto writer who has been writing about crypto and blockchain technology for 3 years. She has a deep understanding of the complexities of the crypto market and is skilled at breaking down these concepts into easy-to-understand language for readers.
Articles by Sophia Hernandez
12 months ago
2 mins read
Hotbit, a cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in 2017, has announced that it will be shutting down its primary platform on May 22, 2023. The exchange cited a number of factors for its decision, including a criminal investigation that was opened last August, as well as the collapse of FTX and the brief depegging of USDC. The criminal investigation into Hotbit was launched after allegations of misconduct by a former manager. The specific violations were not disclosed, but the company said the implicated staff had left months earlier. Senior managers at Hotbit were also subpoenaed last July and reportedly cooperated
12 months ago
1 min read
An alleged rug pull on the decentralized exchange (DEX) Swaprum has wiped out $3 million worth of customer funds. The rug pull, which is a type of cryptocurrency scam, occurs when developers abandon a project and steal the funds that have been deposited into it. In the case of Swaprum, the developers allegedly shut down the platform and disappeared with the funds. The rug pull has affected a number of users who had deposited funds into Swaprum. Some users have lost tens of thousands of dollars, and others have lost their entire life savings. The rug pull has raised concerns
12 months ago
1 min read
A former executive at CoinDeal, a cryptocurrency exchange, has been indicted on charges of fraud and money laundering. The executive, identified as Dawid Urbaniak, is accused of stealing over $45 million from the exchange’s customers. Urbaniak is alleged to have used his position at CoinDeal to gain access to customer accounts and then withdraw their funds. He is also accused of using the exchange’s platform to launder the stolen funds. The indictment alleges that Urbaniak’s fraud scheme began in 2018 and continued until his arrest in 2022. During that time, he is accused of stealing over $45 million from over
12 months ago
1 min read
A Bitcoin whale has emerged from 12 years of dormancy to move 139 BTC. The wallet, which has been inactive since 2011, transferred the BTC to a new SegWit address on May 11. The current market value of the BTC is roughly $3.5 million. The move has sparked speculation about the whale’s intentions. Some believe that the whale is preparing to sell the BTC, while others believe that the whale is simply moving the BTC to a more secure location. It is also possible that the whale is simply testing the waters. If the whale sells the BTC and the
12 months ago
1 min read
Over the past few days, Bitcoin has struggled to gain momentum, failing to break past the $27,000 mark due to low weekend trading volumes. The altcoin market has also seen limited price movements, with Ethereum (ETH) holding steady above $1,800 and Binance Coin (BNB) surging to over $310. Bitcoin’s lackluster performance started on Wednesday when it quickly jumped from $27,500 to $28,400 after the release of the US CPI numbers for April. However, the upward trend was short-lived, and the asset dropped by almost $2,000 to a multi-week low of $26,600 on Bitstamp. Despite attempts by the bulls to push
12 months ago
1 min read
Empower Oversight, a watchdog agency, is taking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to court over Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests that have yet to be fulfilled. The lawsuit seeks to compel the SEC to provide Empower with requested records that could shed light on potential conflicts of interest related to cryptocurrency, specifically involving former SEC officials William Hinman and Jay Clayton. Hinman, who is now a senior adviser at the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, received a pension from the firm while at the SEC, which was an Enterprise Ethereum Alliance member during his tenure. Clayton, who
12 months ago
1 min read
Bittrex crypto exchange has been granted approval by a bankruptcy judge in the United States for a $7 million loan from its parent company, Aquila Holdings, to facilitate its bankruptcy proceedings. The exchange intends to request a second loan of 450 BTC worth $12 million in a hearing later in June. Despite claims that it can repay all customers in cryptocurrency, the loan will only be used to assist the bankruptcy. Bittrex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the District of Delaware last week, impacting its Seattle-based entity, two Bittrex enterprises in Malta, and a related entity called Desolation Holdings
1 year ago
1 min read
Cardano (ADA) is emerging as the top blockchain in terms of daily transaction volume, taking the lead from Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), which are currently facing skyrocketing network fees. According to data from the cryptocurrency monitoring and analytics platform Messari on May 9, Cardano recorded a massive $13.25 billion in 24-hour transaction volume, while Bitcoin came in second with $0.59 billion, followed by Ethereum with $3.03 billion. The surge in transaction volume on Cardano is largely attributed to the recent launch of two new meme crypto assets, Snek and Pepeblue, on the blockchain’s decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. As Ethereum’s
1 year ago
1 min read
Bittrex, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the U.S., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its American operations following accusations of operating an unregistered securities exchange by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) three weeks prior. According to the filing, Bittrex has assets and liabilities each estimated to be worth between $500 million and $1 billion, and has over 100,000 creditors. Bittrex Global, its Liechtenstein-based offshore operations, are unaffected by the bankruptcy filing. The company announced that it will reopen customer accounts to allow them to withdraw funds, and crypto assets of U.S. customers who did not
1 year ago
1 min read
On May 7, 2023, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, suspended Bitcoin transactions due to network congestion, which resulted in high transaction fees. The company resumed transactions a few hours later, but on May 8, it suspended Bitcoin withdrawals again, citing a large volume of pending transactions. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao acknowledged that the exchange’s fee parameters did not anticipate the recent surge in BTC network gas fees. To help clear the backlog of Bitcoin transactions, Binance raised withdrawal fees and implemented Lightning Network withdrawals. Binance stated that it was replacing the pending BTC withdrawal transactions with a higher fee
1 year ago
1 min read
Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra/Luna ecosystem, is seeking to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed by an investor, Nick Patterson, citing the inapplicability of United States securities laws to its foreign-developed protocols. The investor suit claimed that the company sold unregistered securities and misled investors. Terraform’s attorneys argued that federal securities laws do not apply to the protocols, which were developed and used outside of the United States. The lawsuit was filed in June 2022, after the Terra/Luna ecosystem collapsed in May 2022, causing billions in losses to the crypto markets and sparking a raft of lawsuits against
1 year ago
1 min read
Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), the company behind the Cardano protocol, has recently launched the first Hydra head on the blockchain’s mainnet, setting a new standard for scalability on the proof-of-stake (PoS) network. This development is considered one of the most important in the Cardano ecosystem for this year, as it is expected to support the adoption of the blockchain in areas where cheap and fast transactions are required. Hydra is a family of Layer 2 protocols aimed at making the Cardano parent blockchain more usable by scaling its transactions. The goal of the Hydra development is to achieve ultimate
