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Singapore Regulator Says It Will Not Tolerate Bad Crypto Behaviour

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According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) top fintech officer, Sopnendu Mohanty, the sector would not accept bad behavior in the crypto ecosystem.

Mohanty’s remarks come amid turmoil in the cryptocurrency market brought on by the failure of two tokens from Singapore-based Terraform Labs, namely terraUSD (UST) and terra (luna), which destroyed $40 billion in investor capital.

“We have no tolerance for any market bad behavior.” “If somebody has done a bad thing, we are brutal and unrelentingly hard.”

Mohanty told The FT in an interview

Another Singapore-based cryptocurrency company, hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, has had difficulties as a result of Terra’s collapse. The fund’s investment in luna experienced huge losses, and the ensuing market crisis required forced liquidations.

Several lenders, notably BlockFi and Voyager, are having financial issues as a result of Three Arrows Capital’s inability to service its loans. Recently, both acquired credit lines from Alameda Research.

Singapore’s regulator won’t grant licenses easily, says Mohanty

He continued by saying that the MAS would be cautious to provide licenses to cryptocurrency companies. In order to license cryptocurrency enterprises, the government has implemented a “painfully long” and “very rigorous due diligence process,” according to him.

So far, the MAS has only approved 14 companies to offer crypto services. The regulator handed Crypto.com, Genesis, and the cryptocurrency trading platform Sparrow in-principle clearance earlier this week.

Overall, Singapore’s opinion of the cryptocurrency industry has changed significantly. Prior to recently, the nation actively courted the industry, but as a result of its stricter stance, crypto companies have relocated to other nations, notably Dubai.

How Popular Must Certain Altcoins Become to be Used as Payment Methods

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Altcoins are far different from Bitcoin – they’re all other cryptocurrencies outside Bitcoin. Short for alternative coins – they’re essentially every crypto coin on the market, which was over 18,000 as of March 2022. At the top of the food chain are Bitcoin and Ethereum, worth $20,956.6 and $1072.15, respectively, at the time of writing. Ethereum is one of the most promising altcoins, especially now that it’s linked to NFTs and the metaverse. Still, it’s the 17,999 other altcoins that need to gain popularity to become a viable consideration for a payment option. Let’s explore how that might happen. 

The Evolution Of Altcoins

The first altcoin entered the market two years after Bitcoin in 2011, called Litecoin. It transpires that Litecoin was to be the first of many thousands of altcoins to flood the market, all with different purposes but all of them with a similar composition to Bitcoin. They both share the same source code and operate on the same peer-to-peer systems, like Coinbase. In some instances, altcoins have attempted to become the next Bitcoin by providing a cheaper and more viable eCommerce method. 

One of the glaringly obvious differences between altcoins and bitcoin is the uses and applications. Altcoins are designed to have multiple functions. Some coins are used solely for mining, others as stablecoins, some as security tokens, and others are nothing more than meme coins. But Bitcoin has the sole function of being a way for people to send money on the internet using a decentralized blockchain. 

Why Bitcoin Is Already A Payment Option

Bitcoin is already a payment option because it was created to be just that. 

Alternative payment methods have become increasingly popular in recent years. The migration of transactions from physical to online was inevitable. The use of prepaid digital cards and digital wallets online at online casinos like Dunder, local vinyl vendors, and leading high-street retailers like Zara is now common., and widespread. The use of digital solutions in physical stores remains on the rise too.

Still, it took many years for Bitcoin to actually become a payment option in the real world, as it were, with brands like Lush, Etsy, and Dunder allowing shoppers or players to spend using Bitcoin. How did Bitcoin get there? Through trust and evolution. The value of Bitcoin is relatively stable against the dollar compared to many of the altcoins, and it comes with cheaper transaction fees that appeal to vendors and sellers. 

People now trust that Bitcoin is stable enough to become a viable payment option, with fluctuations in value only ever being small and the ability to trade Bitcoin into dollars being easy. 

What Do Altcoins Need To Do To Catch Up?

Altcoins have a lot to do to catch up in the sense that the value isn’t as trusted, and some altcoins are generally not suitable to be a viable payment method for sellers to accept. For example, the meme coin Dogecoin, although it’s now gaining value, is still regarded as a coin with no real-world value and holds little value in the crypto world. The value of altcoins varies dramatically, making it more of a risk for sellers to accept it as a payment option, as within the timeframe of completing a transaction, an altcoin could lose half of its value. 

The only coin making real-world progress is Ethereum, although its progress is now more notable in the digital world with NFTs and the metaverse. At present, altcoins have more uses for trading and investment than a real-world payment option. 

Altcoins are intriguing. They have multiple uses and functions that appeal to investors, and there’s no denying that the use of altcoins is expanding as more investors dive into the altcoin investment world. But there’s also no denying that most altcoins aren’t likely to become an accepted payment method anytime soon. 

Bybit Joins Bandwagon To Lay off Employees Amidst Harsh Market Conditions

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Bybit, a global crypto exchange platform, has joined rivals in laying off employees to withstand the continued dip in crypto markets.

A spokesman for the exchange told The Block on Monday that affected employees will be given severance compensation and access to Bybit’s employee career support in their job move. They refused to say how many jobs would be lost or how many individuals are now employed by the exchange. According to its LinkedIn page, the exchange employs around 660 people.

Bybit is the latest cryptocurrency exchange to lay off employees. Coinbase, Gemini, BitMEX, and Crypto.com have all let off employees in recent weeks. According to The Block, at least 1,500 employees have lost their employment in the crypto field in the last two months.

Some of the other crypto firms that laid-off employees include Robinhood, Bitso, and BlockFi. The harsh market conditions have affected the lives of a lot of employees as they had to step down from their position on such short notice.

Bybit had exponential growth in 2020

According to an email from CEO Ben Zhou to colleagues reviewed by The Block, Bybit employed “a few hundred” people at the beginning of 2020 and has grown by 300 percent since then. The message’s authenticity was not confirmed by Bybit’s representative.

“Our organization size had grown exponentially but the overall business growth did not grow in the same way.” “During the latest staff review, internal efficiency is still the biggest problem that Bybit has now. This means our operational efficiency has gotten worse despite our growing size. It’s evident that we haven’t utilized our fast-growing resources properly.”

Zhou said in the email.

The exchange was formed in Singapore in 2018 and immediately rose to prominence in the derivatives market. According to The Block’s Data Dashboard, it is presently the second-largest crypto exchange in terms of futures trading.

Present Crypto Bear Market Reminds Mark Cuban of Warren Buffet’s Foresight

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Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a billionaire crypto investor, says the current market collapse reminds him of a Warren Buffett proverb.

The rise and fall of cryptocurrency markets and initiatives, according to Cuban, is similar to the 91-year-old Oracle of Omaha’s saying, “Only when the tide goes out do you realize who’s been swimming naked.”

Cuban made the statement during a Thursday interview with Fortune, in which he examined what he considers to be faulty business strategies in some crypto companies that have struggled in recent months.

“Like Warren Buffett says, ‘When the tide goes out, you get to see who is swimming naked.’”

Current crypto market witnesses companies and investors suffering

Terra, Celsius, and Three Arrows Capital were among the corporations that appeared to be swimming naked.

By the middle of May, the Terra system, now known as Terra Classic, had entirely collapsed. Investors have lost tens of billions of dollars as a result of the collapse, and many regulatory organizations have launched a manhunt for the company’s founder and CEO, Do Kwon.

If the recent halting of withdrawals is any indication, Celsius, the staking and lending platform, is struggling to stay afloat. Three Arrows Capital, an investment firm, is said to have faced a $400 million liquidation after failing to pay margin calls.

Despite the bleak short-term picture for crypto, Cuban believes that downturns have a purifying impact on markets and that this time will be no different for crypto. However, he believes that you should constantly support innovation.

Marc Lasry, CEO of Avenue Capital Group, is even more pessimistic about the financial markets. On Bloomberg TV, he forecast that the suffering in the economy as a whole will last until the end of 2022, with equity indexes falling another 10%. Lasry, on the other hand, feels that the US economy is robust enough to keep the current dip short-lived.

Korea’s Crypto Exchanges Are Planning to Form a New Emergency System

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Korea’s major crypto exchanges have agreed to develop a new emergency system that will activate within 24 hours if another Terra-style crash threatens to occur.

Exchanges will gather under the new method to respond to sudden unfavorable market consequences, such as what happened with Terra in May.

According to a source from local news outlet Daily Sports, the agreement came after five of the country’s top crypto exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, attended a session at the National Assembly, South Korea’s legislature, on Monday to discuss market fairness.

Korea’s new system to tackle a Terra-style fall

Exchange officials, members of the National Assembly, and Chairman Lee Bok-Hyeon of the Financial Supervisory Services (FSS) addressed components of a new code of conduct that exchanges will voluntarily follow to protect investors.

In September, the new code will also see the launch of a warning system to alert investors of especially high-risk virtual assets due to extraordinary price changes or other unusual activities.

Listing standards will be revisited in October, and a regular evaluation system for all listed tokens will be implemented.

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May resulted in tens of billions of dollars in losses and a flurry of legal issues for Do Kwon, the company’s creator, who was confirmed to have cheated the government out of roughly $40 million in taxes.

Do Kwon, the South Korean founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, has been the center of attention for Korea’s exchanges. The notorious Financial and Securities Crime Investigation Team, often known as the Grim Reapers of Yeoui-do, has been investigating Kwon for alleged wrongdoing and tax evasion.

According to The JoongAng news outlet, the Grim Reapers unearthed records from the Seoul tax office on Wednesday, claiming and confirming that Kwon and Terraform Labs dodged roughly $40 million in corporation and income taxes in 2021.

Brazil’s New Proposal Will Make Payments in Crypto Legal

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A proposed amendment to Brazil’s legislation would allow Brazilians to utilize cryptocurrency as a form of payment while also shielding their private keys from being seized by the courts.

On Friday, Federal Deputy Paulo Martins submitted the idea to the country’s legislature. If passed, the measure would broaden both the legal uses of cryptocurrencies in Brazil as well as the ability of courts to seize them.

While crypto-assets are not a currency in and of themselves, they could be “used as a financial asset, means of exchange or payment, or instrument of access to goods and services or investment,” according to the proposed addition to Article 835 of the Civil Procedure Code.

Brazil’s new proposal will not make crypto a legal tender

It would not make Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency legal tender in the nation. Instead, it would make cryptocurrency a legally recognized financial instrument that could be used for investments and other purposes.

According to one interpretation of the plan, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) might be used to pay for products and services all around the country. It might also be used to settle outstanding debts “in the case of a crypto asset offering or forced restriction.”

The plan also covers the new rights and restrictions that Brazilian courts will have once a cryptocurrency is recognized as a financial instrument, such as the ability to freeze exchange accounts.

However, the proposal does not grant the court the authority to seize users’ private keys:

“The following regulations shall be followed: The Judiciary will not have access to the users’ private key.”

To ensure the payment’s authenticity, the debtor would have to transmit it to the court’s wallet. The proposal is silent on how the court would get cryptocurrency from self-held wallets.

The court would have the right to order “intermediaries” such as exchanges to freeze the debtor’s crypto assets if they retain their crypto on exchanges.

The proposed amendments are still being debated in the country’s legislative chamber, the Chamber of Deputies. This means the Senate may take several years to pass the amendments and the president to sign them into law. They may have radically changed by then.

Coinglass Data Reveals That Over 245,000 Crypto Traders Liquidated Over $1.20 Billion in 24 Hours

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Over $1.2 billion in crypto was liquidated in the last 24 hours, according to Coinglass, as bitcoin and ethereum plunged below $21,000 and $1,100, respectively. Bitcoin fell to $20,950 before recovering to $22,522. The world’s largest crypto has dropped around 14 percent of its value in the last 24 hours.

Ethereum had a similar fate, falling to $1,094 before rebounding to $1,227. In the previous 24 hours, Ether has lost about 8% of its value. According to Coinglass data, nearly $13 million was liquidated in the preceding hour.

The total value of the 24-hour liquidation is $1.20 billion. During this time, an estimated 248,172 investors liquidated their positions. Bitmex, which was valued at $4.46 million, has the largest single liquidation.

The Crypto market is bleeding

When comparing the liquidation of several cryptocurrencies over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin was the worst impacted, with almost $579 million in liquidation. Ethereum was the next to be liquidated, at a stunning $444.27 million.

The crypto market is once again in an adverse environment. Digital assets took a beating on Monday, as trading platforms like Celsius and Binance suspended withdrawals while other businesses laid-off employees.

Celsius indicated that withdrawals, swaps, and transfers between accounts will be paused due to “extreme market conditions.” “Stabilize liquidity and operations” was the goal of the action.

Binance also encountered a setback when a transaction became blocked, forcing a three-hour delay in Bitcoin withdrawals. Worst of all, companies such as Crypto.com, Gemini, Coinbase, and BlockFi exacerbated the problem by laying off a chunk of their workforce. Some businesses have even stopped employing. Extreme market conditions, according to the companies, were the fundamental cause of the widespread layoffs.

Amidst all the chaos, Binance seems to be expanding the hiring as CZ spoke at the Consensus 2022, stating that crypto winter is a good time to invest in acquiring talents.

Here’s How An Anonymous User’s Claim of Telegram Exploit Was Nullified

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According to Telegram, the anonymous account’s allegations are “baseless” and meant to “get users to download malware.” 

An unknown person attracted the attention of the crypto community this week by claiming to disclose the wrongdoings of notable crypto influencers and top projects in the sector.

The putative whistleblower, who goes by the Twitter handle “Adyingnobody,” has threatened to “tear a wedge in the entire community” by revealing Telegram chats obtained through a previously unknown flaw in the messaging program. They claimed to have evidence of everything from frauds and rug pulls to murder, theft, and sexual assault in a thread.

The whistleblower thanked Telegram for the exploit

Because of the gravity of the allegations, the anonymous person attracted the attention of the crypto Twitter community, moving from zero to 38,000 followers in a matter of hours.

The Ethereum wallet address shown in the person’s Twitter bio has also received 43 transactions, which could be tips from others who want a sneak peek at what they’re planning to reveal.

Regardless of the claims, worried members of the community turned to Twitter to urge people to exercise caution and vigilance while dealing with the supposed whistleblower. If we ignore their spectacular claims, the bottom link simply “download a zip file” and “sign a contract,” according to Twitter user Kapluie.

This is a “hacky sounding item,” according to the Twitter user, who advises against downloading it. While it’s possible that the claims are accurate, Twitter user Cryptonator1337 cautioned that anyone downloading files from the anonymous account should be cautious. 

Apart from the two, Twitter user Zugged pointed out that Adyingnobody’s claims were false, calling the deed a “publicity stunt.” Zugged sent a link to a list of Telegram’s flaws, emphasizing that none of them are equivalent to what Adyingnobody claims to have exploited.

The claims were publicly responded to by Telegram. The conduct could be an attempt to “get consumers to download malware.”

The Economic Impact of Cryptocurrencies

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The implementation of the cryptocurrency has been very apparent to the public, since the beginning of the Bitcoin in 2009. It has stabilized itself as an alternative currency source across the world based on its autonomy & convenient nature. Since the period alternative forms of crypto currencies were invested.

There are more than 2000 cryptocurrencies that exist as of January 2022. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoins are traded widely as they provide a more fresh &  digital based currency. Blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrency has also taken forward as a mainstream of crypto investment.

Cryptocurrency provides many incentives for entrepreneurs across the globe. It has made it easier for entrepreneurs to reach international markets rather than strictly sticking to the national markets. This allows sellers to create relationships and foster trusts with markets never before available and has been fantastic for developing nations.

During this evolution, the demand for Crypto mining has significantly grown. Cro Capita caters in keeping up the crypto currency flow with its starling ability to break though mathematical problems and puzzles. With the success of the same Cro Capita pitch in to rise in global economy, providing individuals to invest in mining and gain incredible profits; in return raising the volume of crypto currencies.

Cryptocurrency has provided a new technology-based way to go about business. The market has brought about many new buyers and allowed for international trade to happen more smoothly.

Even though the market has been on the rise, it has ways to go before it can take that next leap to be a more widely used form of currency. 

Japan’s New Law Might Assist in Taking Hold of Stolen Crypto

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According to reports, Japan’s Justice Ministry is considering revising an asset seizure statute connected to organized crime to include a provision allowing crypto to be hijacked in such cases.

If the rumors are confirmed, a possible modification of the Act on Organized Crimes and the Control of Proceeds of Crime (1999) will allow law enforcement authorities and judges to seize crypto assets used in illegal activities such as money laundering.

According to statements from news stations like the Yomiuri Shimbun on June 4, the Justice Ministry will need to first engage in discussions with the Legislative Council before moving forward.

Japan’s new seizure law might include crypto

According to the Jiji Press, talks with the legislative Council could begin as early as next month.

Due to the fact that the specific law focused on the seizure of funds/assets from organized crime does not explicitly outline any procedure regarding illegally acquired cryptocurrencies, there is concern that criminals may be able to continue their illicit behavior through their unseized digital asset holdings.

Physical property, monetary claims, and mobile assets such as machinery, cars, tools, and supplies are the only assets that can be confiscated under current legislation, with crypto falling under none of those categories.

The adjustment to the law would next need to be authorized by the cabinet and then endorsed by parliament, and given the nature of such a proposal, it is unlikely to face much opposition.

The study comes just days after Japan’s government passed a bill prohibiting non-banking entities from issuing stablecoins in an effort to reduce system risk and improve consumer safety.

Only licensed banks, registered money transfer agents, and local trust firms are permitted to produce and issue stablecoins under the bill.