(Jan. 9–15) This Week in Crypto: What Has Happened So Far?
We are bringing to you once again the top stories we found interesting this week (from January 9 to 15) in the cryptocurrency market, as well as some important updates you can’t wait to see within the Melega Finance ecosystem.
The past week has been remarkably bullish (at least), with Bitcoin and its colleagues surging to heights unseen in recent months. The perhaps already-dwindling faith in the industry was substantially restored when the most popular cryptocurrency hit $21,000 on January 14, an important level not reached since November 2022. Amazingly, the global crypto market cap reclaimed its trillion-dollar status on CoinGecko.
However, the second week of 2023 has only just come to an end, and the cryptoverse has already experienced a number of both good and bad things, such as massive crypto job losses, additional criminal accusations against entities, and many more.
Now, let’s get into them!
What happened in the second week of 2023 in the crypto world?
Crypto winter forces powerful cryptocurrency firms to lay off workers.
The impact of the crypto winter hasn’t changed regardless of the year, as evidenced by the way crypto companies are laying off employees.
The ongoing decline in the cryptocurrency market and the general economy led to the layoffs of 950 employees, or about 20% of the workforce, at the well-known cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase. This is an additional job cut after the company fired about 1,100 workers in June.
At the same time, Blockchain.com also lets go of 28% of its staff to achieve profitability in 2023. It slashed 25% of its workforce in July 2022, impacted by the collapse of 3AC.
The latest one among the crypto giants is Crypto.com, which reduced its global staff by 20%. The company’s CEO also cited several factors, including ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseen industry events.
Former FTX engineer to testify against SBF?
According to a recent Bloomberg report, Nishad Singh, the former head of engineering at FTX, is attempting to reach a plea agreement with federal prosecutors as the investigation into the collapse of the exchange is ongoing. Sam Bankman-Fried, a 30-year-old entrepreneur, would become more and more alone if this party were to succeed in becoming the third senior executive to testify against him.
Although no charges have been brought against the former engineer, he was reportedly one of the executives who lived in a huge luxury penthouse with SBF in the Bahamas. Also, his huge donations to American politicians were found out.
Similarly, reports have tied Singh to a line of codes used to hide the transfers between FTX and its sister trading firm, Alameda Research. Regulators allege that Alameda was given a “virtually unlimited line of credit” for losing bets, with FTX customers ultimately picking up the tab.
Gemini’s co-founder accused DCG’s CEO of fraud and demanded his resignation.
Gemini exchange co-founder Cameron Winklevoss sent another open letter to the CEO of Digital Currency Group, Barry Silbert, accusing him of outright fraud. Winklevoss is calling for him to step down and has warned that there is no path forward as long as Barry Silbert remains CEO of DCG.
This was because 340,000 customers in the Gemini Earn program continued to be owed $900,000 by Genesis, which is one of DCG’s subsidiaries. However, in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday, Barry Silbert said 2022 had been the most difficult year of his life both personally and professionally, adding: “Bad actors and repeated blow-ups have wreaked havoc on our industry, with ripple effects extending far and wide.”
After this, Gemini just had to officially close down its EARN program!
Amazon Web Services joins forces with Avalanche to bring blockchain to governments and institutions.
Cloud computing platform Amazon Web Services (AWS) has partnered with Ava Labs to scale blockchain adoption for enterprises, institutions, and governments. The partnership will make it easier for developers to launch and manage nodes on the Avalanche blockchain, as AWS will support Avalanche’s infrastructure and decentralized applications (Dapps).
Huobi exchange removes some coins from its platform.
On January 11, cryptocurrency exchange Huobi said that it would delist 33 tokens consisting of tickers ABT, ATP, APN, AST, DIE, DHT, DFA, EDEN, GEAR, HC, INDI, IOI, INV, IRIS, GCOIN, GOF, KMA, MTA, NAS, OPUL, PEARL, PRIMATE, QASH, SMT, SLC, SKU, SOC, STC, TALK, VALUE, WHALE, WILD, and YAM
Effective January 16, the aforementioned tokens will cease trading and be delisted permanently. In explaining the decision, Huobi wrote that most of the tokens violated Section 17, Rule 1, and Section 17, Rule 2 of the Huobi Token Management Rules.
The FTX Arena is no more.
As the contagion from the collapse of FTX continues to spread, a Florida judge stripped fallen cryptocurrency exchange FTX of its naming rights to the home of the Miami Heat on Wednesday, January 11. Judge Dorsey wrote that the termination “shall be effective immediately upon entry of this order,” even though it was supposed to be effective for 19 years.
El Salvador passes a law on crypto transfers.
El Salvador’s congress approved a digital securities law that would allow the nation to raise funds through the world’s first sovereign blockchain bond. Congress approved the bill by 62 votes to 16, and it will now be sent to President Nayib Bukele for signing.
This law, once it becomes effective, would regulate the issuance of other digital assets by both state and private entities.
The SEC has charged Genesis and Gemini for selling unregistered securities.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged crypto firms Genesis and Gemini on Thursday with allegedly selling unregistered securities in connection with a high-yield product offered to depositors. Gemini, a crypto exchange, and Genesis, a crypto lender, partnered on a Gemini product called Earn, which touted yields of up to 8% for customers.
What happened in the Melega Finance ecosystem?
We are pleased to announce the availability of all newly listed crypto tokens on Melega Farm and Pool. This means you can now go to MelegaSwap, stake the following pairs, and earn rewards in return.
Koala Bear (KOALA)
Koalabear (KOALA) is a community-led token on a mission to bring crypto to the average person while also helping save Koala Bear in need. Launched in August 2021, $KOALA is a deflationary BSC-based currency with a maximum supply of 210 billion tokens.
Ostrich (OSTRICH)
In line with the incoming investments, the Ostrich Club is on a mission to bring together the real sector and blockchain technology. The project aims to undertake high value-added initiatives for the real sector, to provide liquidity for OSTRICH, and to reduce its total supply over time.
Qatar Champs World Cup (QCWC)
The QCWC is a meme token created on the Binance smart chain (BSC) network, following the adaptation of DOGE and SHIBA to the crypto market and celebrating the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The tokens are distributed meticulously so that investors are secure and to provide her with distribution security, unique NFTs, the humanitarian project, and many others so that the project grows and does not stop after the conclusion of the World Cup.
Gem Wallet Token (GWT)
Gem Wallet Token (GWT) is the official token of Gem Guard Wallet, a mobile-based cryptocurrency wallet that is used for trading, buying, and selling NFTs and cryptocurrencies. GWT is a chance for anyone on the platform of Gem Wallet to hold and own their very own (affordable) crypto asset backed by the platform itself. GWT has a burning mechanism that decreases its total supply and increases its value.
Volt INU (VOLT)
Volt Inu ($VOLT) is an ecosystem aimed at becoming a one-stop shop offering DeFi products while bringing profits back to the native token to support its deflationary purpose.
This ecosystem includes, among others, a decentralized exchange allowing projects to get listed in a free and permissionless way and allowing them to become deflationary by burning their supply, as well as an NFT collection giving exclusive access to future collections, real-world events, and meetups, as well as exclusive rights and revenues within the VOLT ecosystem, such as a P2E game.
To participate in any of these Farms/Pools and earn rewards with a high percentage APR, kindly visit MelegaSwap.
Upcoming Melega Listings
Rottoken (ROTTO)
Rottoken ($ROTTO) is a decentralized token that functions to support associations that work with people with mental health conditions. The goal is to help different associations in the field of mental health with periodic donations.
To guarantee the survival of the token, work is being done on a lottery system, the creation of a collection of an NFT collection, a crypto wallet, and a DAPP staking application.
EverFrogeInu (FROGE)
FROGE is a meme-reward token, with the possibility of repurchasing, inherently supporting tokenomics. It is a play-to-earn (P2E) game with the possibility of earning money.
Do you want to buy, sell and invest in cryptocurrencies in 2023 while also having 100% control over your crypto assets? If yes, then Melega Finance is for you. MelegaSwap is a leading automated market maker (AMM) decentralized exchange that provides users with a variety of options to trade and earn free tokens at extraordinarily high-interest rates and low charges.
At Melega, nobody manages your funds for you because you manage them directly from your personal wallet while smart contracts transparently take care of every other thing.
Learn More About the Melega Ecosystem
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