Crypto lender Genesis in trouble & Bitcoin still more valuable than many large corporations

The week’s big topics have been Genesis’ potential insolvency, CoinMarketCap’s new transparency-promoting feature, Metamask’s data collection, Russia’s planned crypto exchange, and, of course, Bitcoin.

This is what the crypto world is talking about right now.

Crypto lender Genesis in jeopardy

The collapse of FTX has also brought other companies to the brink of bankruptcy. One of these is the crypto lender Genesis, which belongs to the Digital Currency Group. The Digital Currency Group consists of Genesis, the asset management company Grayscale and the news website CoinDesk.

Genesis was one of the many companies left behind by FTX’s bankruptcy. Genesis said the company had $175 million locked up in its FTX account.

Bloomberg reports that Genesis executives spent all of the last weekend meeting with investors to address their liquidity crisis. The company has warned that it will have to file for bankruptcy if it does not get at least one billion dollars worth of assets at its disposal.

Genesis has told Bloomberg in a previous interview that the company has no plans to file for bankruptcy immediately. The company is also actively trying to resolve the matter with its creditors, and the company’s goal is to resolve the situation in a way that is pleasing to all parties without going into bankruptcy.

Bloomberg’s interview took place after asset manager Grayscale had said that the company does not make public information about whether the company’s clients’ investments are protected. Grayscale operates, among other things, the world’s largest Bitcoin fund.

FTX had about 900 million dollars in liquid assets and customer funds and other similar amounts up to ten times that amount. If all customers had wanted to withdraw their funds, it would not have been possible.

FTX’s bankruptcy has forced crypto companies to be more specific about how much money they really have at their disposal.

Many companies have already acted in an exemplary manner and proved their own assets. With the crisis, the companies’ transparency will be emphasized even more in the future.

Bitcoin still more valuable than many large corporations

Although the bear market has reduced the prices of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is still worth more than many large companies.

Bitcoin’s market value is currently down 75 % from the end of 2021. At the end of 2021, Bitcoin had a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion and currently has a market capitalization of $318 billion. If Bitcoin were a company, it would be the 28th most valuable asset in the world right now, among companies and other important commodities.

The Obituaries service has calculated that the media has declared Bitcoin dead 466 times. Many countries outlaw Bitcoin at least once a year, and it’s constantly in the headlines in connection with pyramid schemes. Still, Bitcoin has remained afloat for more than a decade. It has not only survived but has always risen to new highs after the bear market.

Coinmarketcap published tracking of crypto exchange reserves

Coinmarketcap, the leading crypto market data provider, has launched a new tracking functionality on its website. The new functionality allows users to monitor the asset reserves of crypto exchanges.

Functionality brings transparency to the money reserves of crypto exchanges and creates a sense of security for the end users of crypto services. With the functionality, it is possible to examine the company’s total assets in public crypto wallets.

The company tweeted on the subject, in which Binance was used as an example with its crypto assets of more than 65 billion dollars. Currently, seven exchanges have published their reserves. In addition to Binance, other crypto exchanges include Crypto.com, KuCoin, Bybit, Huobi, Bitfinex, and OKX.

The crypto community has received the tracking functionality positively. Among others, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was one of the first operators to promise to provide information about their reserves after the FTX collapse.

On November 10, Binance released information about its wealth. The information included the addresses of the wallets and the transactions that took place in them. CZ tweeted that this is just the beginning of a larger amount of data that will become available later.

Metamask shakes up the crypto world by collecting IP addresses

ConsenSys, the company behind Metamask, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency wallet, has published an update to its privacy statement, which has caused a stir in the crypto community.

The company announced that in the future, it will collect IP addresses and Ethereum wallet information from its users when a transaction is made. The data also includes other information, such as personal data, devices, browsers, and operating systems. Metamask has more than 20 million users.

The announcement is basically against the decentralized ideology and anonymity of cryptocurrencies. That’s why the case has caused a stir on Twitter. Chris Blec, who campaigns for Web3 and decentralization, has said: “Don’t ignore this stuff. This is how you will be canceled from the financial system in the not-so-distant future. This is how they’ll do it.”

The value of the metaverse might increase significantly

According to a report by Deloitte, the value of the metaverse might increase to 13 trillion dollars by 2030. The report also described that the metaverse will increase Asia’s gross national product by 800-1400 billion dollars annually until 2035.

The “Metaverse in Asia” report offers in-depth information and an assessment of the possibilities of the metaverse in the Asian market. The report covers 12 different countries: China and Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

“The potential impact of the metaverse on Asia and globally could be significant if investments are made into fundamental and enabling factors. Though investments made in the next five to ten years may not have immediate short-run returns on output, these investments will likely play out over a longer time frame as the technologies mature,” the report describes.

According to the report, by 2035, up to 2.4% of the entire GDP of Asia will be related to the metaverse. However, it is still uncertain in which direction the technology will develop.

More and more companies have increased their presence in the metaverse. Consulting firm McKinsey believes that global spending in the metaverse could reach up to $5 trillion by 2030.

According to Gartner’s analysis, the time spent in the metaverse will increase significantly. According to the company’s estimate, every fourth person will spend at least an hour a day in the metaverse.

The use of Bitcoin in crime will decrease in the future

Cyber ​​security company Kaspersky has reported that ransom demands and payments from criminal activity would not necessarily focus on Bitcoin in the future. Criminals no longer have the same opportunities as before.

The authorities are better able to monitor the movement of Bitcoin funds, which effectively prevents criminal activity. The company estimates that cybercriminals will look at other digital currencies for criminal activities in the future.

According to research by Chainanalys, a lot of extortion crimes related to cryptocurrencies were committed in 2021. During 2021, up to 602 million dollars were deposited into cryptocurrency wallets that were associated with crime. According to the company, it should be noted that a large part of the total amount is shrouded in mystery.

Digital currencies designed with privacy in mind are increasingly popular with cybercriminals. Cryptocurrencies that emphasize privacy include, e.g., Monero and Zcash.

Jason Rebholz from cryptocurrency insurance company Corvus says that many of the world’s most prominent hacking groups offer a discount if the customer pays with Monero. Monero significantly protects user privacy while making it harder for criminals to get caught.

Monero differs significantly in terms of privacy compared to other cryptocurrencies. When exchanging Monero, for example, the address of the crypto wallet is changing, which makes it significantly more difficult to trace the money.

In 2020, Interpol analyst Jerek Jakubeck said that tracking criminals became significantly more difficult if the criminals decided to transfer funds to the Monero blockchain. When the funds were transferred to Monero, the investigations were forced to be put to an end.

Russia plans to build a crypto exchange

A national crypto exchange is being promoted in Russia. The Ministry of Finance and the Russian Central Bank have previously been against cryptocurrencies, but now they support the idea.

Local media reports various government actors have discussed crypto legislation and the implementation of a crypto exchange. The national crypto exchange should initially be used by the central bank.

Sergey Altukhov from the Russian Economic Committee has stated that discussions on changing cryptocurrency legislation have started. “It is illogical to claim that cryptocurrencies do not exist. The problem with cryptocurrencies is that they are outside the control of the state,” says Altukhov.

Altukhov also declares that the tax revenue lost by the state is billions of Russian rubles for cryptocurrencies. According to Altukhov, it is important to modify the rules of the game in such a way that they do not conflict with the interests of the state or the Central Bank of Russia.

The national crypto exchange could come to operate alongside the Moscow stock exchange.

Stay in the loop of the latest crypto events

• Web3 in Slush & El Salvador continues BTC purchases
• Technical Analysis: Capitulation and Market Bottom?
• FTX goes bankrupt – The crypto market still holds its ground

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