Week in review: BlockFi files for bankruptcy as Durov unveils Telegram’s DeFi solutions

BlockFi filed for bankruptcy, Pavel Durov announced a non-custodial wallet and Telegram’s DEX, the FTX-backed decentralized exchange Serum announced it would wind down, and other events from the week gone by.

Bitcoin price tests levels above $17,000

In the early part of the week, the price of the top cryptocurrency moved within a relatively tight range. On Wednesday, 30 November, it rose above $17,000 but failed to sustain the level.

In the following days, Bitcoin briefly tested the aforementioned levels several times and dipped below them. At the time of writing, the digital gold was trading near $16,950.

Over the week, almost all top-10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation ended in the green. The exceptions were BNB Coin (-7.1%) and XRP (-2.1%). The best performer was meme coin Dogecoin, up 15.4%.

The total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies rose to $888 billion. The Bitcoin dominance index climbed to 36.7%.

BlockFi files for bankruptcy

The crypto lending platform BlockFi and its eight subsidiary structures filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

According to the filing, BlockFi has more than 100,000 creditors. The company’s assets and liabilities are estimated to be between $1 billion and $10 billion. Among its creditors is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with obligations of $30 million.

Sam Bankman-Fried explains the causes of the FTX collapse and the FTT token

Sam Bankman-Fried told Tiffany Fong in an interview that the crash of FTT was caused not by a lack of liquidity but by the actions of investors who felt a “fear” given the market conditions.

The former FTX chief gave a string of further interviews, prompting sharp responses from the community. Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz called all his statements “nonsense,” adding that Bankman-Fried and his associates “have perpetuated the fraud” and should sit in prison. Community members also expressed discontent with the former FTX CEO’s responses and conduct during the interviews.

Earlier this week the Texas regulator called Bankman-Fried to testify at hearings on the collapse of his affiliated companies. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink stated that the firm lost $24 million on investments in FTX. In FTX Japan they promised to provide a plan for returning client funds.

Pavel Durov unveils DeFi products from Telegram

According to the founder of the messaging app, Telegram will develop non-custodial wallets and decentralized applications, including a decentralised exchange.

“The blockchain industry is built on the prospect of decentralisation, but in the end control ended up in the hands of a few people who began to abuse it. As a result, many people lost money when FTX collapsed”, — wrote Durov.

FTX-backed Serum protocol ceases operations

The Solana-based decentralised exchange Serum announced it would wind down. The team says the future of the exchange’s native token SRM is unclear, as governance over updates remains with FTX. The project noted that OpenBook, a Serum fork, is gaining traction.

Elon Musk presents new features on Twitter, triggering a pump in Dogecoin and MobileCoin

Although Musk’s post did not mention Dogecoin explicitly, some investors speculated about a future integration of the asset as a payments option on Twitter. The speculation may have been sparked by a blank field opposite the Payments section on one of the slides in the presentation.

Also depicted are encrypted private messages. According to researcher Jane Wong, the integration of this feature would be provided by a protocol from the messaging app Signal, which supports cryptocurrency payments in MobileCoin (MOB). A few hours before publication, MOB’s price surged more than sixfold, from $0.59 to $3.70.

What to chat about with friends?

• Kraken reduced about 30% of staff and agreed to pay $362,000 for sanctions violations against Iran.
• South Korea’s prosecutors issued a warrant for the arrest of the Terraform Labs co-founder, three investors and four developers.
• Co-founders of Uniswap and Avalanche made Forbes “30 Under 30” list.
• Miami mayor talked about keeping salaries paid in Bitcoin amid the crypto winter.

Aave and Compound paused lending markets

DeFi protocol Aave temporarily froze lending markets for 17 tokens, citing asset-related risks. The list includes tokens from major DeFi protocols like MakerDAO or Curve. A similar move for 10 tokens was taken by the protocol Compound.

Uniswap launches NFT aggregator

The Uniswap team launched its own NFT aggregator. Users can trade non-fungible tokens from leading platforms such as OpenSea, X2Y2, Sudoswap and LooksRare.

Brazil approves cryptocurrency regulation, while Italy unveils tax on gains from digital assets

The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved a bill regulating the crypto industry, which the Senate had backed in April. The measure is now awaiting the president’s signature.

The regulatory act also introduces a new crime — fraud involving digital currencies — punishable by two to six years’ imprisonment in addition to a fine.

Amendments to Italy’s 2023 budget proposal envisage introducing a 26% tax on capital gains from trading digital assets. The tax would apply to profits above €2,000 ($2,088).

Reports suggest possible shutdown of AAX; Line to close Bitfront

The Hong Kong-based crypto exchange AAX, which suspended withdrawals, is reportedly on the verge of closure, according to published screenshots of internal correspondence obtained by the press.

Staff will be paid through November and only half of the platform’s assets will be available. In this context, vice-president Ben Kaselin announced his departure from the company.

Line, the operator of the eponymous messenger, announced that its affiliated Bitcoin exchange Bitfront would cease operations from 31 March 2023. The operator attributed the decision to crypto winter and “other factors” in the industry.

In November the crypto industry lost more than $391 million

In November the Web3 industry lost $391.6 million across 29 exploits, including the Deribit hot-wallet hack and the theft of FTX funds, PeckShield counted. Since the start of the year, losses from hacker attacks in the crypto industry have reached $3.37 billion. For all of 2021 the figure was $1.55 billion, according to experts.

Toward the end of the week it became known that hackers attacked the DeFi protocol Ankr and crashed the price of the wrapped asset aBNBc used for staking. The asset price fell to zero.

Also on ForkLog:

• Co-founders of Uniswap and Avalanche made Forbes “30 Under 30” list.
• Miami mayor talked about keeping salaries paid in Bitcoin amid the crypto winter.
• Kraken reduced about 30% of staff and agreed to pay $362,000 for sanctions violations against Iran.
• In Tether they called the WSJ article on the growth of lending in USDT “hypocrisy”

What else to read?

ForkLog has prepared a December calendar of major events. Among them are the launch of LINK staking and the beta tests of the DEX BasicSwap.

In traditional digests, the main weekly stories in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence were collected.

The DeFi sector continues to attract heightened attention from crypto investors. ForkLog has compiled the most important events and news from recent weeks into a digest.

Read ForkLog’s bitcoin news in our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.