Daily Crypto News | November 13th, 2022
Welcome to Barmy’s Daily Crypto News – November 13th, 2022
1. Sam Bankman-Fried is understood to looking to flee to Dubai
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, Gary Wang, the co-founder, and Nishad Singh, the director of engineering, are believed to be in the Bahamas and are “under surveillance” by the local law enforcement.
The host of The Crypto Roundtable Show, Mario Nawfal, brought up a related hypothesis during a 16-hour Twitter Room. A guest speaker said “reliable sources” had seen Bankman-Fried “in a locked space” with law enforcement in Albany Tower, a posh hotel in New Providence, The Bahamas.
Additionally, according to an unconfirmed report, his father, Joseph Bankman, is currently working with Bankman-Fried. On November 10, rumors that Bankman-Fried had been detained on the tarmac at The Bahamas Airport circulated. According to the evidence, Bankman-private Fried’s aircraft had been grounded for 40 minutes while en route from Nassau to Miami.
Following the tracking of Bankman-private Fried’s plane’s whereabouts by Twitter users using the flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange on November 12, reports surfaced that he had arrived in Buenos Aires early that morning. In a text message to Reuters sent later that day, Bankman-Fried refuted rumors that he had fled to Argentina and said instead that he was still in the Bahamas.
2. Tether proactively blacklisted $31.4 million worth of USDT
On the evening of November 11, several wallet addresses connected to FTX were discovered transferring millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies without a formal notice, leading to rumors of both hackers and the start of FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings. After a short while, FTX on Telegram confirmed that the fund transfers were a result of an ongoing hack.
Tether aggressively blocked USDT coins tied to transactions totaling $31.4 million after FTX confirmed the hack on Telegram, as seen above. Blockchain researcher ZachXBT noted that the blacklisted USDT coins were made up of $27.5 million on Solana and $3.9 million on Avalanche.
Elon Musk, a multibillionaire businessman who just bought Twitter in an effort to realize its full potential, acknowledged Twitter’s role in following the events of the FTX in real time. Tether prevented hackers from transferring the funds to another account or trading them for other cryptocurrencies by blocking the allegedly stolen USDT token. Tether may burn the blacklisted USDT as part of the remedy and distribute identical amounts of the asset to the original owner. The hacker also took several other crypto assets, such as Ethereum, Chainlink, and USDP, which have not yet received assistance from their respective ecosystems.
3.Bitso Launches QR Payment Service for Travelers
One of the top Latam cryptocurrency exchanges, Bitso, has introduced a QR-based payments service that intends to make it possible for tourists to use cryptocurrencies to make purchases in Argentina.
The program aims to simplify the lives of visitors to the nation by enabling them to pay for goods and services at all businesses using the well-known QR payments method using cryptocurrencies. In a country like Argentina, where there are more than 14 distinct dollar conversion rates, Bitso aims to act as a crucial payment tool, preventing the headache of exchanging foreign currency for cash.
Stablecoins, bitcoin, and ether will be accepted by the service, and it will instantly exchange them for Argentine pesos at the time of payment. Bitso wants to take advantage of the increasing numbers of visitors who will be arriving in the nation after the Covid-19 quarantine season is through. The company claims that Latam’s tourism sector is on the upswing, with searches for travel destinations in the region increasing by 113%.
Due to Bitso’s adoption of QR payments, which the company announced in September, customers now have the option to make purchases at a huge variety of establishments that accept this new method of payment. This feature was added by the business to let users who had been using the platform to save money make purchases instead of using external cash exchanges.
4. Bitfinex shared their proof of reserve to regain investor confidence
This year’s collapse of significant crypto ecosystems, such FTX and Terra, brought to light the significance of openness surrounding the real deposits held by crypto exchanges and companies. The public was shown the proof of reserves by the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex amidst the continued fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) in the cryptocurrency market.
Major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Kucoin, and Crypto.com, have recently made a commitment to sharing their proof of reserve in an effort to restore investor confidence. Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex, published the list of the main Bitfinex wallets, which was most recently updated on November 11.
On GitHub, Ardoino posted Bitfinex’s proof of reserves along with a list of 135 cold and hot wallet addresses. He listed some of the company’s significant holdings, including 204338.17967717 BTC and 1225600 ETH among top holders, saving users the trouble of having to look through the addresses. Back in June 2018, Bitfinex created an open-source framework called Antani with the goal of promoting transparency with regard to evidence of solvency, custody, and off-chain delegated proof of vote.
Ardoino revealed Bitfinex’s ambitions to resurrect the system that would let users see their balances without jeopardizing anonymity, which had previously gone unnoticed. According to Antani’s whitepaper, users would be able to cryptographically verify their balances, removing the possibility of depegging and enabling Bitfinex users to validate the presence of their assets. While the community welcomed the news, some people noted that it was incomplete because it did not include Bitfinex’s liability estimates.
5. VTB’s Mobile App to Support Digital Ruble Transfers and Payments
Among Russian financial institutions, VTB Bank has taken the lead in creating a prototype feature that enables users of its banking app to open accounts and make transfers using the virtual equivalent of the country’s fiat currency.
In 2023, some consumers will be permitted to test out digital rubles, according to the bank’s press service. The bank also showcased a function for purchasing digital financial assets, or coins and tokens with an issuer under current Russian law, with digital rubles during Finopolis-2022, a forum for cutting-edge financial innovations. Customers will be able to purchase it the following year as well.
By 2024, the bank plans to introduce an exchange feature that will enable conversion between digital rubles and conventional electronic money. In October 2020, the Bank of Russia presented the idea for its central bank digital currency (CBDC), and in December 2021, the prototype platform was completed. The project’s pilot phase began in January of this year.
The monetary authority declared in May that it will begin testing the virtual ruble in actual consumer transactions in April 2023. As a result of the sanctions put in place as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the regulator said in June that the project’s timeline is being accelerated. It intends to launch fully in 2024.
The trials have been joined by about a dozen commercial banks and other financial organizations. The digital ruble will be the third version of the Russian currency after cash and bank money. In order to enable both online and offline payments, it is anticipated that it will possess both cash and non-cash ruble properties.
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