• FTX seeks to exclude its Bahamian unit, FTX Digital Markets (FTX DM), from any claim over company assets.
• The company was set up in May 2022 with alleged involvement of fraud by its founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
• There has been legal and diplomatic tensions between US and the Bahamas since the filing claims that Bahamian law enforcement agencies had close relationship to SBF.

FTX Seeks To Exclude Bahamian Unit From Any Claim Over Company Assets

FTX DM was established in May 2022 as an offshore haven for an ongoing fraudulent scheme by its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). The company is now seeking to exclude its Bahamian unit from any claim over company assets, according to a legal filing on 19 March. This accusation can likely rekindle legal and diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and the Bahamas.

Bahamas Courts Placed FTX’s Bahamas Arm Into Liquidation

The Bahamas courts placed the FTX’s Bahamas arm, FTX Digital Markets (FTX DM), into liquidation on 10 November 2020. The larger group filed for bankruptcy in Delaware the next day thus creating a perplexing situation which has already resulted in disagreements over who has access to corporate data held centrally.

Close Relationship With Bahamian Agencies Mentioned In Filing

The legal filing also mentions $143 million transferred to FTX DM bank accounts and accuses Bahamian authorities of assisting SBF’s efforts to avoid prosecution. It states that SBF and other FTX executives maintained a close relationship with Bahamian law enforcement agencies, including Prime Minister, Attorney General and Securities Commission intending to use this relationship if massive fraud was discovered.

Request To Strip Power Of Liquidators

FTX now led by restructuring expert John J Ray III asked Delaware courts through its recent filing that it should completely strip Bahamas liquidators of any powers ruling that FTX DM is an economic and legal „nullity“ with no legitimate fiat, crypto or intellectual property to resolve.

No Comment From Regulator or Liquidators Yet

The Bahamas Securities Commission and liquidators have not issued any comment on the matter as of now although previously they had mentioned Ray’s public comments demonstrate a „cavalier attitude towards truth“. Both parties however came into understanding to cooperate in January 2021

• Hedera network experienced a period of downtime due to an exploit in its Smart Contract Service code.
• Following the resumption of operations, the total value of assets locked (TVL) on DeFi protocols on Hedera has increased by 7%.
• The price of HBAR has declined by 34% in the past 20 days and is now trading at $0.05795.

Hedera Network Experiences Period of Downtime

Hedera Hashgraph suffered a major setback when an exploit in its Smart Contract Service code caused a 24-hour period of downtime. As soon as it was detected, Hedera decided to turn off mainnet proxies to prevent further theft. This resulted in a decrease in the total value of assets locked (TVL) on DeFi protocols on Hedera during this time.

Network Resumes Operations

Following several hours of downtime, Hedera resumed operations and saw an uptick in transactions per second processed on the chain. Twitter user KungensSlott complained about low transactions per second rate soon after it returned online but this issue has since been resolved with 791 transactions being processed per second at press time.

HBAR Price Plummets

Similar to the overall increase in cryptocurrencies at the start of 2021, HBAR also rose to a high of $0.088 on 20 February before experiencing a decline down to $0.05795 at press time – representing a 34% drop over 20 days according to CoinMarketCap data. A look at its Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) indicator showed that bears had taken control from bulls since 20 February, as signified by its Directional Movement Index where sellers‘ strength surpassed buyers‘.

Hedera Profit Calculator

Is your portfolio green? Check out the Hedera Profit Calculator for more information about how your portfolio is doing during this bear run and what strategies you can take advantage of while HBAR’s prices remain low.

Conclusion

The attack that took place against Hedera’s Smart Contract Service code caused disruption within their network, resulting in decreased TVL and lower prices for HBAR tokens over recent weeks. However, following recovery operations, things are beginning to look up again with increased transaction rates and higher TVLs returning despite bearish pressures still present over HBAR’s market performance currently.

• Long liquidations for Bitcoin (BTC) reached a seven-month high following the decline in BTC’s price on March 3.
• CryptoQuant analysts believe further drops in BTC’s price are imminent due to a large spot sale on exchanges such as Binance and an increase in coin distribution by short-term holders.
• Joao Wedson warned investors of a possible “price capitulation” if BTC’s market capitalization crosses its Delta Cap metric, an occurrence that has preceded significant drops in price three times prior.

Long Liquidations Reach Seven-Month High

Following the sharp decline in Bitcoin’s [BTC] price in the early trading hours of 3 March, long liquidations soared to a seven-month high, data from Coinglass showed. The drop in value was triggered by apprehension and uncertainty regarding Silvergate Capital, a financial institution recognized for its supportive attitude toward digital currencies. Source: Coinglass

Analysts Warn of Further Price Drops

CryptoQuant analyst caueconomy found that these long liquidations were the third since the Terra/LUNA crash in May 2022 and the second following the fallout of cryptocurrency FTX in November 2022. Another CryptoQuant analyst with the pseudonym CryptoOnchain opined that Bitcoin’s [BTC] price might drop further due to an increase in outflow of stablecoins from exchanges and lack of support from long-term holders for recent price increases. Source: CryptoQuant

Joao Wedson Warns of Possible Price Capitulation

Pseudonymous analyst Joao Wedson warned investors to gear up for a „possible new scenario of price capitulation.“ Wedson assessed BTC’s Delta Cap metric and found that a price bottom is formed when the coin’s market capitalization crosses with its Delta Cap. This crossing occurred on three previous occasions: 2011, 2015, and 2018; each time followed by notable drops in BTC’s prices. Source: CryptoQuant

Is Your Portfolio Green?

To benefit from this year’s increase in prices, an on-chain assessment revealed an increase in coin distribution by short-term holders as well. Is your portfolio green? Check out the Bitcoin Profit Calculator to find out more information about how your investments have performed so far this year.

Conclusion

The crypto market has seen an increase in outflow of stablecoins from exchanges which cannot sustain current prices leading to potential further decreases while short term holders have been buying BTC, long term holders have not supported recent increases leading analysts to warn investors to prepare themselves for “price capitulation” if it follows historical patterns with past occurrences being followed by significant drops after market capitalization crosses with its Delta Cap metric

• Aptos’s NFT trading volume has declined; development activity is rebounding.
• Martian Wallet and Jujube Finance have partnered up, while METAPIXEL announced the dates for Gran Saga Unlimited community testing.
• The ‚Solana Killer‘ has lost over 30% of its value since February, wiping out nearly $780 million of its market cap.

Aptos’s Market Performance

Aptos started 2023 with a bang, with much of this meteoric rise being powered by its growing list of partnerships and product launches. However, the juggernaut has come to a halt. Since the start of February, the ‚Solana Killer‘ lost over 30% in its value, wiping out nearly $780 million of its market cap.

Decline in DeFi and NFT Activity

One of the primary drivers for APT’s pump in January was growth in DeFi protocols on the network. However, activity has significantly tapered down; according to data from DeFiLlama, Aptos’s total value locked (TVL) declined 15% since the start of February. Additionally, NFT momentum has been waning; trading volume has plunged while there was a substantial decrease in number of NFT transactions as well.

Rebound in Development Activity

Despite these market conditions, development activity showed clear signs of rebound at the time of writing; implying that the network was steadfast towards its technical milestones and could meet deadlines. Investor sentiment also soared as indicated by Aptos’s weighted sentiment metric as well.

Key Updates

On 24 February, Aptos provided key updates on some popular projects: Martian Wallet partnered with Jujube Finance allowing users to access features from latter; METAPIXEL announced dates for Gran Saga Unlimited community test; BloctoApp closed Series A funding round at $80M; Mises001 announced a new partnership with Kanalabs too.

Conclusion

While it is difficult to predict how far Aptos will go given current market conditions, it is undoubtedly trying to make strides through strategic partnerships and product launches which bodes well for future prospects if maintained consistently over time.

• Charles Hoskinson has been criticised for his idea of Contingent Staking on the Cardano blockchain.
• This involves improving contractual agreements within the blockchain and addressing operations within a regulatory environment.
• ADA’s price managed to achieve a new 2023 high at $0.42 during Wednesday’s rally, before experiencing a slight dip in the last 24 hours due to profit-taking.

Controversial Idea of Contingent Staking

Charles Hoskinson is no stranger to criticism when it comes to matters related to the Cardano blockchain. His latest concept, contingent staking, has met with mixed reactions from the community, as some have expressed their lack of understanding about its possible implications. The Cardano CEO reintroduced this concept two days ago and clarified that it would be used as an additional safety mechanism for ISPOs (Initial Smart Pool Offering) in a contractual setting, rather than replacing normal staking or introducing KYC measures into the network.

ADA Achieves New Highs

The bullish performance of ADA so far this week saw its price reach a new 2023 high at $0.42 during Wednesday’s (15 February) rally. Although there was some profit-taking after this week’s rally causing ADA’s price to dip slightly in the last 24 hours, overall investor sentiment remains positive with minimal signs of bearish retracement so far. Furthermore, ADA’s market cap in terms of Bitcoin has also increased over time, indicating growing demand for the altcoin among investors and traders alike.

Cardano Profit Calculator

In order to keep track of potential profits from staking one’s ADA tokens on Cardano’s network, users can make use of the Cardano Profit Calculator which allows them to input their stake amount and receive estimated returns over time based on current network parameters such as network total supply, block reward distributions etc. This calculator serves as a useful tool for investors who are looking to maximize their returns from staking without having to monitor prices continuously or manually calculate potential profits from their transactions and holdings on the platform.

What Could Contingent Staking Mean?

The idea behind contingent staking is that it could provide an extra layer of security when it comes to contractual agreements within a regulatory setting by introducing additional checks or safeguards against risks associated with ISPOs on Cardano’s network. If successfully implemented, this could potentially lead to greater trust amongst participants since there will be more assurance that investments are safe and secure even if certain conditions are not met or expectations are not realized upon execution of smart contracts deployed on Cardano’s platform.

Conclusion

It remains unclear how Charles Hoskinson’s idea for contingent staking will pan out in terms of actual implementation and whether it will prove successful in providing an extra layer of security for ISPOs conducted on Cardano’s network given its still conceptual stage at present time. Nevertheless, with increasing demand for ADA amongst traders and investors alike indicated through its market cap growth against Bitcoin as well as rising highs achieved throughout this week – one can only wonder what other surprises lie ahead for holders/stakers/investors alike when it comes to Cardano’s future development plans!

• Hedera just onboarded Dell as its newest member of the governing council.
• The market reacted positively, but HBAR was still unable to escape its press time range.
• Analyzing the impact, Hedera may benefit from Dell’s technological prowess in the long-term and short-term metrics experienced a large spike.

Hedera Onboards Dell as Governing Council Member

Hedera recently announced that tech giant Dell has joined its governing council, which already includes industry heavyweights such as FIS and Google. Dell’s senior director of technology strategy noted that their involvement reflects the company’s need to be part of ongoing industry growth, and they will be running a Hedera node to facilitate transaction ordering on the blockchain network.

Market Reaction

The market reacted positively to this news, with investors exhibiting excitement through social dominance and sentiment metrics experiencing large spikes in the last 24 hours. Furthermore, HBAR’s on-chain volume saw a sharp uptick in the same amount of time – its largest spike this month so far.

Price Action

As a result of all this activity, HBAR bounced back by roughly 17%, trading at $0.075 at press time. Although it was still unable to break above its January highs despite a solid rally, RSI indicators showed signs of relative weakness.

Benefits for Hedera

Having Dell join their governing council is an overall positive development for Hedera since it provides both long-term and short-term benefits – from potentially gaining access to valuable technological prowess to seeing immediate investor excitement reflected in metrics such as social dominance and sentiment scores increasing significantly within 24 hours.

Conclusion

Overall, while there has been some bullish price action due to Dell’s addition to Hedera’s governing council, HBAR remains below its January highs despite a solid rally. However, given that it has seen higher levels of on-chain volume compared to other weeks this month so far suggests that it may soon break out from its press time range if more investors continue accumulating positions in it over the coming days or weeks ahead.

• Polygon zkEVM registered growth during the last seven days.
• Polygon partnered with Genso to help improve the latter’s offerings.
• Despite these developments, MATIC’s price shocked investors by declining by over 6% in the last 24 hours.

The Polygon network recently released new statistics on the Polygon zkEVM. The figures reveal that the zkEVM has seen positive growth over the past week, with the total number of wallet addresses now reaching 82,484, and the total number of deployed contracts increasing by 17%. In addition, the average block time was found to be 1.1 minutes, and the total number of blocks rose by 12.6%.

To further bolster the network, Polygon has also announced a partnership with Genso. This collaboration will enable Genso to create game worlds that are more detailed and alive than ever before, with landscapes, characters, dynamic weather, and more. Genso was thrilled to start openly collaborating with Polygon and believes it will help them provide an even more immersive experience for the Genso community.

Despite the positive developments, however, MATIC’s price shocked investors by declining by over 6% in the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, MATIC was trading at $1.09, with a market capitalization of over $9.4 billion. Despite the recent negative price action, MATIC remained one of the top choices for whales, with WhaleStats noting that the asset saw an increase in large transactions from high net worth investors. It remains to be seen whether these developments will be enough to bolster MATIC’s price in the near future.

• The FBI announced that North Korean cybercrime groups were behind the hack of Horizon Bridge, draining $100 million worth of crypto.
• The two identified groups were Lazarus Group and APT38 and the stolen money was used to fund North Korea’s ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs.
• The hackers laundered more than $60 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) and converted it to Bitcoin (BTC) on various crypto platforms, with the cooperation of crypto service providers.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed that North Korean cybercrime groups were behind the hack of Horizon Bridge, a tool for cross-chain interoperability between Harmony, Binance Smart Chain, and Ethereum. The attack had drained a reported $100 million worth of cryptocurrency from the platform.

The two cybercrime groups, identified as Lazarus Group and APT38, allegedly used the stolen money to fund North Korea’s ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. The FBI further stated that the criminal organization had laundered more than $60 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) on January 13, 2023. The transactions were done on RAILGUN – a privacy protocol.

Moreover, the FBI claimed that the hackers converted the laundered Ethereum (ETH) into Bitcoin (BTC) on various crypto platforms. Allegedly, the hackers received some help from crypto service providers in stealing the funds. The FBI identified 11 Bitcoin addresses which received the stolen crypto.

The press release by the FBI read, “the FBI’s Cyber Division, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, and the FBI’s Virtual Assets Unit—continue to identify and disrupt North Korea’s theft and laundering of virtual currency (…).”

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has taken a hard stance against North Korean cybercrime groups, which have been accused of hacking Horizon Bridge and stealing $100 million worth of cryptocurrency. The FBI has identified two groups – Lazarus Group and APT38 – as the culprits behind the attack.

The stolen funds were allegedly used to fund North Korea’s ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. The FBI further stated that the criminal organization laundered more than $60 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) on January 13, 2023, on the privacy protocol RAILGUN.

The hackers then converted the laundered Ethereum (ETH) into Bitcoin (BTC) on various crypto platforms. The FBI believes that the hackers received assistance from crypto service providers in stealing the funds. The FBI identified 11 Bitcoin addresses which received the stolen crypto.

The FBI has formed a coalition of law enforcement agencies to combat North Korean cybercrime, including the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, and the FBI’s Virtual Assets Unit. The coalition is committed to identifying and disrupting North Korea’s theft and laundering of virtual currency.

• Litecoin [LTC] has been on a bullish trend since breaking out of its range lows in late November.
• Despite a pullback in December, the higher timeframe market structure remained bullish with the $59.25 level unbroken.
• A fair value gap from $84.75-$91.75 could fuel further price gains if the momentum continues to favor the bulls.

Litecoin [LTC] has been on an impressive run on the price charts in recent weeks, with the cryptocurrency breaking out from the range highs in late November. The bullish move was significant, as the range has been in play since May. In addition to this, the Litecoin halving in August 2023 and the rising hash rates in recent months could also provide a tailwind for the cryptocurrency.

The momentum continued to favor the bulls, and Litecoin was able to reach a high of $91.75 on 24 January 2021. However, the sellers stepped in and a pullback to an area of interest was expected. The $85 and $80.6 levels could see a deeper retracement towards $76.3. Despite this, the higher timeframe market structure remained bullish as the $59.25 was unbroken. This saw a follow-through from the bulls over the past two weeks, as they reclaimed the range highs and pushed higher still.

Traders can watch out for a dip to $80 to buy, and a fair value gap from $84.75-$91.75 could fuel further price gains if the momentum continues to favor the bulls. On the other hand, an aggressive move downward could follow in the coming days and traders must remain cautious. It is important to note that this article does not constitute financial, investment, trading, or other types of advice and is solely the writer’s opinion.