Binance Smart Chain Protocol Qubit Finance Hacked for $80M

A bug in Qubit's Ethereum bridge allowed a hacker to siphon 206,809 BNB from its lending pools.

Key Takeaways

• A hacker has stolen 206,809 BNB worth $80 million from Qubit Finance.
• The hacker exploited a vulnerability on the protocol's Ethereum bridge.
• The Qubit team has offered a bounty of $250,000 to the hacker in return for the stolen funds.

Qubit Finance, a DeFi protocol on Binance Smart Chain, was exploited today for $80 million worth of BNB tokens.

Qubit Hit by Hack

Another Binance Smart Chain protocol has been hacked.

An unknown hacker was able to drain $80 million worth of BNB tokens from the Binance Smart Chain lending protocol Qubit Finance.

On Jan. 27, at around 21:36 UTC, a hacker exploited a vulnerability on the Qubit Bridge, a cross-chain bridge connected to Ethereum. This bridge lets users deposit WETH from Ethereum mainnet into Qubit’s Binance Smart Chain-based smart contract to mint xETH, which can be used as lending collateral on the protocol.

Due to a critical vulnerability in the bridge’s smart contracts, the hacker was able to mint xETH without depositing any WETH, thereby giving them the ability to take out unlimited leveraged loans from Qubit’s pools.

In a Twitter post announcing the exploit, the team reported that the hacker “minted unlimited xETH to borrow on BSC.” Using the xETH as collateral, the hacker proceeded to siphon 206,809 BNB from Qubit Finance, worth about $80 million at the time. The loot can be seen sitting in the hacker’s address.

In an on-chain message directed to the hacker, the Qubit team offered a bounty of $250,000 in return for the stolen funds, as per the protocol’s ongoing bug bounty program with the ethical hacking platform Immunefi. In another post, the Qubit team has also tried to contact the hacker to negotiate.

The Qubit Finance exploit appears to be the seventh-largest DeFi protocol hack in terms of the value of stolen funds, as per data from DeFi Yield. Following the hack, the protocol’s Qubit token has dropped 27% over the past 24 hours.

Since the launch of Binance Smart Chain in September 2020, the chain has become infamous for the amount of hacks, exploits and rug pulls that have taken place on it.

In 2021, several DeFi projects on Binance Smart Chain suffered major hacks or exploits. Some of the most severe include Meerkat Finance’s $31 million hack in March 2021, a Uranium Finance exploit that cost protocol users $50 million in April, and the $88 million attack on Venus Finance in May.

Qubit Finance has not yet commented on plans to reimburse or compensate users for funds lost due to the exploit.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH and other cryptocurrencies

Binance to resume SEPA bank transfers in partnership with Paysafe

Crypto exchange Binance has partnered with London-based payments company Paysafe to resume Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) bank transfers for customers.

Binance temporarily suspended SEPA transfers in July of last year due to “events beyond our control.” Now the exchange has begun rolling out support for SEPA — a system that allows users to make cashless euro payments via bank accounts anywhere in the European Union, as well as several non-EU countries.

"There's a small set of users who will have [SEPA] access today as part of testing before it rolls out to other users across the EEA (European Economic Area)," a Binance spokesperson told The Block.

Paysafe will essentially act as a fiat on-ramps partner for Binance in Europe. The Binance spokesperson said Paysafe has developed a platform for Binance, using both their digital wallet technology and their payment processing capabilities, which will support Binance’s fiat-to-crypto services for users in Europe.

Metaverse Campaign Launched by Huobi; Swiggy Raise USD$700m

In today's ExchangeWire news digest: Huobi Global have launched a new initiative to fund metaverse developments; Swiggy have raised USD$700m (£519m) in a Series K round; and 6sense have just completed a USD$200m (£148.3m) Series E funding round just 10 months after their USD$125m (£92.67m) Series D.

Huobi Global launch their Lunar New Year campaign to aid the development of the metaverse

Huobi Global have launched their Lunar New Year campaign which aims to encourage users to explore possibilities for the future of the metaverse. The campaign, which ends on the 14th February 2022, will hand out USD$100m (£74.1m) worth of prizes to support participants - including ​​access to new metaverse token listings under Primelist. The digital asset exchange firm will also invite users to register for DIDs (decentralized identifiers), giving them the opportunity to win distinctive tiger-themed NFT avatars.

Huobi are avid supporters of the metaverse and blockchain, previously launching a USD$10m (£7.4m) fund back in September to invest in global upcoming GameFi projects. GameFi stands for “blockchain gaming integrated with DeFi mechanism.” The Seychelles-based platform launched the initiative to allow more GameFi startup projects to grow the blockchain ecosystem.

Commenting on their recent development fund, Huobi co-founder Du Jun states, “our emphasis on the metaverse reflects our intentions to provide a more fun and unique crypto experience.” They add, “we're not just another spot trading exchange. We pride ourselves on our diverse set of products and services, and the promotions we run are designed to gamify the trading experience and make it more fun.”

The news comes amid a six-month low for the cryptocurrency sector over speculation that the US Federal Reserve are looking to tighten restrictions “until the inflation picture changes,” Goldman economist David Mericle said in a statement to clients on Saturday (22 January). The announcement also accompanies a draft proposal by Russia’s central bank, seeking to ban trading and mining of cryptocurrencies in the country. Elizaveta Danilova, director of the Bank of Russia’s financial stability department, has commented, “we consider it very important to ban using Russian financial infrastructure to obtain cryptocurrency. We think this will help remove a significant part of the risks and ensure that cryptocurrency won’t be so popular.” According to the Financial Times, the price of the largest digital token by market value fell 4.3% on Saturday (22 January) to the lowest level since July last year.

Swiggy raise USD$700m (£519m) in a Series K round

platform, Swiggy, have raised USD$700m (£519m) in a Series K round led by Invesco. Although their valuation has not yet been confirmed, a source close to the matter has stated that the startup could now be worth USD$10.7bn (£7.9bn), ahead of their rival Zomato. Existing investors, such as Prosus Ventures, Alpha Wave Global, Qatar Investment Authority, and ARK Impact, supported the round with participation from new backers including Baron Capital Group and Sumeru Venture.

Prosus co-led Swiggy’s last funding round in July, along with SoftBank Vision Fund 2, where the e-commerce company raised a “heavily oversubscribed” USD$1.25bn (£926.9m). After this round, Swiggy was valued at USD$5.5bn (£4.08bn). Sriharsha Majety, chief executive and co-founder of Swiggy, stated, “the scope of food delivery in India is massive and over the next few years, we will continue to invest aggressively into growing this category.” A new report conducted by the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) has estimated that the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to USD$111.40bn (£82.6bn) by 2025, in comparison to just USD$46.2bn (£34.3bn) in 2020. The rapid growth has been triggered by an increase in smartphones and internet connections across India, as a result of the “Digital India” programme.

Majety has commented on the recent round, “our goal is to make Swiggy the platform that 100 million consumers can use 15 times a month. We will continue to invest in our people, products, and partners to create a positive impact on the ecosystem and accelerate the digital transformation in food and grocery delivery and other on-demand services.”

 6sense raise USD$200m (£148.3m) in Series E investment

6sense, a B2B insights platform, have just completed a USD$200m (£148.3m) Series E funding round, co-led by new investors Blue Owl and MSD Partners. Existing investors, Insight Partners, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, and Sapphire Ventures participated in the round, along with support from additional new investors, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, B Capital Group, Franklin Templeton, and Harmony Partners. 6sense’s total funding has now grown to USD$426m (£315.8m), just 10 months after their USD$125m (£92.67m) Series D. The San Francisco-based platform can use their new investment to accelerate their goal of rapid growth and product development. Their valuation now totals USD$5.2bn (£3.86bn).

“Ten months ago we ignited the RevTech Revolution with a promise to provide the only AI-driven platform that unifies data, people, and processes to unlock predictable revenue potential. We’ve delivered on this promise and the market has spoken. Our growth continues to outpace every competitor in our category, and customers consistently rave about the exceptional results they see with 6sense,” Jason Zintak, CEO of 6sense, commented. “This investment adds fuel to our trajectory and gives us the ability to accelerate on our commitments. Our acquisition of Saleswhale is just one example of how we are transforming the way B2B organisations create, manage and convert pipeline to revenue.”

HUOBI REGISTRATION

Sabah records 118 new COVID-19 cases

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said the number was a decrease of 54 cases compared to the previous day.

"Today, only five districts recorded new double -digit cases, led by Kota Kinabalu with 17 cases followed by Papar with 15 cases, Tuaran 15, Penampang 13 and Sandakan 12.

"Ranau only recorded two new cases yesterday and Beaufort also only recorded eight new cases. Six districts did not record any new cases," he said in a statement here today.

He said, as mentioned earlier, the fluctuation in the number of daily cases in Sabah was greatly influenced by the emergence of new clusters from time to time.

He said the community's responsible attitude such as compliance with all COVID-19 SOPs was also an important factor in maintaining the number of new cases at a low level in Sabah.

"All citizens play a role as 'front line' workers in our state's efforts to eradicate the spread of this virus.

“A total of 114 of the 118 new cases today are in Category 1 and 2, two cases in Category 3 and Category 4 respectively. There are no patients in Category 5,” he said.

Huobi launches $100M Lunar New Year campaign to support metaverse development

London, Jan. 24, 2022, PRNewswire – Huobi Global, one of the world’s leading digital-asset exchanges, announced today the official launch of its Lunar New Year campaign dubbed Prime Fest: Tiger Year. 

Lasting until Feb. 14, 2022, the campaign encourages users to explore future possibilities in the metaverse — an expansive network of virtual worlds that may incorporate augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D holographic avatars, video and other means of communication in the future. To promote the development of the metaverse, Huobi is doling out US$100 million in prizes and rewards, including access to new metaverse token listings under Primelist, high-yielding asset management products under PrimeEarn, and special blind box draws under PrimeBox. Huobi will also invite participants to register for DIDs (decentralized identifiers), or personalized virtual identities in the metaverse. These users will be eligible to win unique tiger-themed nonfungible token (NFT) avatars. 

Huobi’s DIDs are designed as users’ entry points into the metaverse, providing an access point between Web 2.0 and Web3. DIDs are widely considered a prerequisite for anyone looking to enter the metaverse, not only granting users access but also recording and verifying all information and activity on blockchains. DIDs offer users security, ownership and interoperability. Huobi’s NFT platform launched its own DIDs at the end of 2021 to give select users access to exclusive NFT releases, airdrops and other special benefits.  

“Our emphasis on the metaverse reflects our intentions to provide a more fun and unique crypto experience,” Huobi co-founder Du Jun said. “We’re not just another spot-trading exchange; we pride ourselves on our diverse set of products and services, and the promotions we run are designed to gamify the trading experience and make it more fun.”

Huobi has supported GameFi and metaverse projects through investments and token listings. In September 2021, Huobi launched a $10-million fund to invest in emerging GameFi projects. The fund invested in Zuki Moba, a Vietnam-based community-oriented MOBA Esports Game (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and Project SEED, a GameFi project utilizing a "Play to Earn" model. 

In the last year, Huobi listed tokens such as Decimated (DIO), a multiplayer online role-playing game in a dystopian cyberpunk metaverse, and ERTHA, a game where players explore and investigate a virtual world by specializing and increasing the strengths of their respective NFTs and countries.

To learn more about Prime Fest: Tiger Year, click here.

About Huobi Group

As a world-leading company in the blockchain industry, Huobi Group was founded in 2013 with a mission to make breakthroughs in core blockchain technology and integration blockchain technology with other industries. Huobi Group has expanded into public blockchains, digital-asset trading, wallets, mining pools, proprietary investments, incubation, digital-asset research and more. Huobi Group has established a global digital economy industry ecosystem by investing in more than 60 upstream and downstream companies in the blockchain industry. 

This is a paid press release. Cointelegraph does not endorse and is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products, or other materials on this page. Readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company. Cointelegraph is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods, or services mentioned in the press release.

Huobi - Huobi Global is a leading global digital asset exchange that is dedicated to providing secure and reliable digital asset trading and asset management services. Since its founding in 2013, Huobi Global has grown into a premier cryptocurrency trading platform, distinguishing itself through cutting-edge technology, a vast array of diversified products, and a truly global presence, covering more than 130 countries around the world.

Click to register Huobi account. Start your Digital Currency journey.

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GBPJPY broke through the floor and ran lower

GBPJPY on the hourly chart

Yesterday, I posted about the    GBPJPY . The pair had continued to find support against a floor at the 155.39 to 155.44 area, but also found resistance against the falling 100 hour moving average (blue line in the chart above). Something had to eventually give, and that was the floor. Once the price broke below the floor at 155.39, buyers turned to sellers and the move to the downside was on.

The momentum took the price to a low today of 153.90 (149 pip fall). The pair approached a swing area and the 50% midpoint of the move up from the December 20 low between 153.639 and 153.752. The pair slowed ahead of that area, but will remain a target on more downside momentum. Also in play on the downside would be the 100 day moving average at 153.318 (lower blue line) and the 200 day moving average at 153.003 (lower green line on the chart above).

Close risk now would be the broken 38.2% retracement of the move up from the December 20 low at 154.612, also the old swing level around 154.862. Stay below those levels and the sellers remain more in control, at least in the short term.

US suspends 44 flights by Chinese carriers after Beijing action

The decision will cut some flights by Xiamen, Air China , China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines. — AFP pic

WASHINGTON, Jan 22 — The US government said yesterday it would suspend 44 China-bound flights from the United States by four Chinese carriers in response to the Chinese government’s decision to suspend some US carrier flights over Covid-19 concerns.

The suspensions will begin on January 30 with Xiamen Airlines’ scheduled Los Angeles-to-Xiamen flight and run through March 29, the Transportation Department said.

The decision will cut some flights by Xiamen, Air China , China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.

Since December 31, Chinese authorities have suspended 20 United Airlines, 10 American Airlines and 14 Delta Air Lines flights, after some passengers tested positive for Covid-19. As recently as Tuesday, the Transportation Department said the Chinese government had announced new US flight cancellations.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Friday the policy for international passenger flights entering China has “been applied equally to Chinese and foreign airlines in a fair, open and transparent way.”

He called the US move “very unreasonable” and added “We urge the US side to stop disrupting and restricting the normal passenger flights” by Chinese airlines.”

Airlines for America, a trade group representing the three US carriers affected by China’s move along with others, said it supported Washington’s action “to ensure the fair treatment of US airlines in the Chinese market.”

The Transportation Department said France and Germany have taken similar action against China’s Covid-19 actions. It said China’s suspension of the 44 flights “are adverse to the public interest and warrant proportionate remedial action.” It added that China’s “unilateral actions against the named US carriers are inconsistent” with a bilateral agreement.

China has also suspended numerous US flights by Chinese carriers after passengers later tested positive.

The department said it was prepared to revisit its action if China revised its “policies to bring about the necessary improved situation for US carriers.” It warned that if China cancels more flights, “we reserve the right to take additional action.”

China has all but shut its borders to travellers, cutting total international flights to just 200 a week, or 2 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in September.

The number of US flights being scrapped has surged since December, as infections caused by the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus soared to record highs in the United States.

Beijing and Washington have sparred over air services since the start of the pandemic. In August, the US Transportation Department limited four flights from Chinese carriers to 40 per cent passenger capacity for four weeks after Beijing imposed identical limits on four United Airlines flights.

Before the recent cancellations, three US airlines and four Chinese carriers were operating about 20 flights a week between the countries, well below the figure of more than 100 per week before the pandemic. — Reuters

CRYPTOCURRENCY PREDICTIONS: TOP CRYPTOCURRENCIES RECOVERING FROM CRASH IN 2022

It is easy enough to determine some prominent cryptocurrencies surviving, if and when 8a crash does occur

Price volatility is a huge concern in the cryptocurrency market. There’s some degree of volatility involved with the stock market too, but the cryptocurrency market, being fairly new, comes with lesser understanding. Out of all the understanding that experts have, a recent trend was noticed by analysts – cryptocurrency crashes that usually occur on weekends. Stephen McKeon, a finance professor and partner at Collab+Currency, a crypto focussed investment fund explained in an interview that liquidy requires study of the supply of buyers and sellers. If there are few buyers compared to sellers or vice versa, transactions that fluctuate will result in a spike or crash. A good place to start is the top 20 most-traded cryptocurrencies. It is easy enough to determine some prominent survivors in this listing, if and when a crash does occur in cryptocurrency markets.

 Bitcoin

Bitcoin price has slumped to US$43,030 from the high of over US$47,700 on the 1st of January 2021. The falling cryptocurrency prices have dampened the celebration mood of retail crypto investors. But the downward price movement in crypto markets is nothing new, hence not surprising for hardcore crypto enthusiasts. Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency and is fast emerging as a store of value. Its blockchain and codebase also spawned offshoots, such as Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Both are angling to become the preferred cryptocurrency for daily transactions.

Ethereum

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization saw a substantial drop as well. The Ethereum-based cryptocurrency witnessed a plunge of 8.3% over the past 24 hours after a healthy start to the year. However, Ethereum’s world of decentralized applications or Dapps is fast gaining traction and is responsible for a slew of tokens such as Populous, which are built off its platform.

XRP

XRP is an open-source cryptocurrency that uses an open-source distributed ledger called the XRP ledger. It is the native coin of Ripple, which is an enterprise blockchain company that facilitates global transactions. The creators claim that XRP was built for payments and can settle transactions faster than most other cryptocurrencies securely and efficiently.

Cardano

Cardano is a research-based cryptocurrency built by engineers, mathematicians, and cryptography experts. It is open-sourced and decentralized, with consensus achieved using proof-of-stake. It can also facilitate peer-to-peer transactions with the ADA token. Cardano is one of the cryptocurrencies that are recovering from a crash in 2022.

Polygon

This platform looks to address many of the issues facing the Ethereum blockchain while still providing Defi solutions. Namely, the platform looks to create “Ethereum’s internet of blockchains” by connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks and aggregating scalable solutions on Ethereum. It is also one of the cryptocurrencies that are recovering from a crash.

 Litecoin

As one of the first digital currencies, Litecoin is increasingly getting adopted for real-world use, making it one of the fastest-growing digital currencies. The team has continuously been improving the network to increase speed, reduce cost and increase safety, making Litecoin one of the most attractive payment platforms. The latest update is about the increasing acceptance of Litecoin in the real world. More organizations are adopting LTC, with the recent being NetCent, Bitpay, and Verifone. Now Litecoin holders can buy goods and services from these stores. Litecoin Gaming is another recent development the team updated the community about. More is coming from the team.

Chainlink

Chainlink was designed with the motive of making smart contracts more useful. It is a decentralized network of oracles, which are capable of bringing real-world data into any blockchain network. Chainlink is the largest and most popular oracle network. Owing to its capability of integrating real-world data, the demand for Chainlink oracles will grow in the future.

 Polkadot

Polkadot was created based on research identifying the hurdles that blockchain networks will face in the future as crypto is becoming more mainstream and is promoting several innovations in the industry. One of the defining features that DOT possesses is functioning on a network that can connect other blockchain networks.

Dogecoin

The fact that Dogecoin still stands strong after not being taken seriously is a statement in itself. First, Redditors spiked the price to new heights in early 2021 as a way to prevent the speculated short-selling of Dogecoins by many Wall Street hedge funds. And then, Elon Musk called himself the “Dogefather” promoting this cryptocurrency further. While many argue the legitimacy of this coin, Dogecoin continues to have its share of market value.

 Shiba Inu

Launched in August 2020, the rise of Shiba Inu in such a short time is nothing short of uncanny. At one point, Dogecoin stayed as the top meme currency without much competition. However, SHIB, another namecoin that was created out of online jokes that went viral in 2013 came to the play.

Crypto Markets Rebound $130B: Bitcoin Recovers 5%, Shiba Inu Up 37% Since Yesterday’s Low

The crypto market has recovered more than $100 billion in a day with BTC standing at $36,000 and the alts…

After the two consecutive days of price slides, bitcoin has reclaimed some ground and stands around $36,000. The altcoins have reacted even better with notable double-digit price gains from Terra, Avalanche, Shiba Inu, and many others.

Bitcoin Stands at $36K

The past few days didn’t go all that well for the primary cryptocurrency. It was just on Thursday when a sudden price pump drove the asset to a multi-day high at $43,500.

However, this is where it all went south. Bitcoin started to dump in value rapidly and slumped to $38,000 a day later. This became the lowest price point since early August.

While this was a steep correction of its own, the bears only tightened their grip on the market. As a result, BTC dropped by another $4,000 and dipped to around $34,000. This, on the other hand, became the lowest price point since late July.

Since then, though, BTC added around $2,000 and now stands at $36,000. Nevertheless, its market capitalization is still well below $700 billion.

Altcoins With Impressive Recoveries

The altcoins suffered even more than BTC in the past few days with massive price drops. Now, though, most are well in the green on a daily scale.

Ethereum went down by roughly $1,000 in two days, bottoming at $2,300. Now, though, ETH has added more than $200 of value and sits above $2,500. More similar gains come from Ripple and Solana.

On the other hand, Binance Coin, Cardano, Polkadot, Dogecoin, and MATIC have recovered around 10% each. More gains come from Terra (20%), Avalanche (13%), and Shiba Inu (21%) on a daily scale. SHIB is up by approximately 40% since yesterday’s low, though.

Ultimately, the cryptocurrency market capitalization is up by $130 billion since yesterday’s low and is now at nearly $1.7 trillion.

Why Brazil Is the Big Latin American Bet for Global Crypto Exchanges

A cocktail of inflation and devaluation is generating a crypto boom that players such as Binance, Coinbase and Crypto.com do not want to waste.

Amid a crypto boom in Brazil, several global exchanges see the country as Latin America’s main market in 2022.

Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com and other exchanges’ interest in Brazil has been growing as the region’s largest economy wrestles with significant economic imbalances.

Brazil registered a 10% inflation rate in 2021 and a steady depreciation of the Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar, which pushed the local currency from $0.25 in January 2020 to $0.18 this month.

This article is part of CoinDesk Brasil, a brand-new partnership between CoinDesk and InfoMoney, one of Brazil's leading financial news publications. Follow CoinDesk Brasil on Twitter.

That cocktail of macroeconomic imbalances fed the crypto boom in recent years. In 2020, crypto exchanges began to notice that Brazilian stablecoin traders were quadrupling in number.

Between January and November 2021, locals traded $11.4 billion in stablecoins and almost tripled the total traded in 2020, while bitcoin trading reached $10.8 billion over the same period, according to Receita Federal, the Brazilian tax authority.

Brazilians have incentives to purchase crypto instead of U.S. dollars to hedge against inflation or devaluation. When acquiring foreign currency, Brazilians are forced to pay a tax on financial operations – IOF is its acronym in Portuguese – that ranges between 1.1% and 6.38%. The tax does not apply to stablecoins.

Moreover, the Brazilian Central Bank prohibits locals from saving U.S. dollars in a domestic bank account. To be sure, the monetary authority abolished that prohibition by approving a new exchange rate framework in December 2021, but it hasn’t implemented it yet.

Brazilians also prioritize crypto over other more traditional investments. According to data from the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB), as of August 2021 Brazilians held $50 billion in crypto, compared to $16 billion held in U.S. stocks.

Locals are familiar with digital money, as the country leads the way in digital payments in Latin America. In October 2020, the BCB launched a real-time retail payment system, Pix, which by November 2021 had more than 104 million users – in a country of 214 million – and concentrated more than 70% of total transactions.

In the crypto arena, the BCB plans to carry out the first tests of its CBDC in 2022, while the local senate will discuss three bills seeking to set the rules for the crypto ecosystem in the country.

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, has a special interest in Brazil. “It is a key strategic market for Binance, for sure. It is the largest market in Latin America in all metrics and with enormous potential; and it is also very important for the company globally,” the company told CoinDesk in an email.

Over the past three years, Binance has focused on hiring Brazilians to strengthen its support team, the company said. Now, the exchange is looking for a general manager to lead its Brazilian business, according to one of eight job openings it has in the country.

In November 2020, Binance started accepting Brazilian reals through a fiat gateway, which boosted the number of active transacting users by 125% in 2021 compared with the previous year, the company told CoinDesk.

In that same month, crypto exchange Coinbase announced the creation of an engineering hub in Brazil, for which it has nine open positions on its careers page. The company appears to have a particular interest in payment services.

Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com is another heavyweight looking to expand into Brazil.

According to Guilherme Sacamone, Crypto.com’s head of growth in Brazil, the company has been operating in the local market for "a few months" and is currently working to integrate its fiat wallet with the government's payment system, Pix. In addition, Crypto.com plans to launch a Visa debit card in Brazil, Sacamone told CoinDesk, without providing an exact launch date

Crypto.com is also looking for a country manager to lead its Brazilian operation, in addition to strengthening its institutional customer base through hiring a director of institutional sales.

“Latin America is an important region for Crypto.com and Brazil, being its largest market, has become a global priority for the company,” Sacamone said.

Brazil is also starting to attract European exchanges. Bit2me, a Spanish crypto exchange that raised EUR 20 million via an initial coin offering in 2021, plans to land during the first quarter of 2022, Bit2Me's CEO, Andrei Manuel, told CoinDesk.

Bit2Me plans to allow users to buy and sell crypto with fiat and provide crypto to crypto trading. It has a team of 20 in Brazil and plans to hire 20 more employees in 2022 to boost its marketing, compliance, product and support teams, the executive added.

But the fervor for the Brazilian market is not limited to exchanges. The global payments company Ripple considers Brazil the key trigger to growth in Latin America. It is currently looking for a business development manager to coordinate "strategic relationships" that include “payment and fintech companies, financial institutions, and digital asset infrastructure players,” among others.

A regional fight

Regional crypto exchanges already operating in Spanish-speaking markets are also eyeing Brazil. But they face the challenge of competing with Brazil’s dominant local player, Mercado Bitcoin.

Founded in 2014, Mercado Bitcoin is the largest crypto exchange in Brazil, with 3.2 million users. It also raised $250 million in a Series B funding round from Softbank in 2021, making it the first Brazilian crypto unicorn.

Mercado Bitcoin's main competitor in Brazil is Bitso, a Mexico-based crypto exchange that raised $250 million in a Series C funding round that made it the first crypto unicorn in Latin America.

José Molina, Bitso’s vice president of marketing, told CoinDesk that the company plans to become the largest exchange in the country in 2022. Although it did not disclose its customer base in Brazil, Bitso told CoinDesk that its Brazilian business unit grew 97% in the last six months.

Bitso currently has more than 30 job openings in Brazil with the aim of “growing rapidly,” Molina said. The company hired Facebook veteran Vaughan Smith in August 2021 to boost its expansion in the country.

Bitso has more users than Mercado Bitcoin – 3.7 million versus 3.2 million – when accounting for Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, which are the markets in which it currently operates.

But the numbers may change in 2022, since Mercado Bitcoin is looking to expand into the Spanish-speaking part of Latin America through acquisitions in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, 2TM CEO Roberto Dagnoni told CoinDesk in June.

Bitso is not the only Latin American crypto exchange targeting Brazil. In January 2021, Argentina-based crypto exchange Ripio acquired BitcoinTrade, the second-largest crypto exchange in Brazil.

For 2022, it plans to launch its corporate trading desk, Ripio OTC, aimed at institutional investors and high-net-worth traders, Ripio Brazil's country manager, Enrique Teixeira said. In parallel, the company is working on "various payment products" with Visa Brazil, including a crypto card and several projects with local fintech companies.

Crypto Prices Drop After Russia Calls for Ban

The price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies dropped Friday (Jan. 21) following a sell-off in speculative assets amid the news of Russia’s call to ban crypto in that country.

As the Financial Times reports, the price of bitcoin fell as much as 7.4% against the dollar in Asian trading, while ether dropped nearly 9%, wiping away about $140 billion off the market capitalization for some of the market’s largest cryptocurrencies.

The bitcoin selloff picked up steam on Wall Street late Thursday after Netflix warned that it had seen flagging subscriber growth. Shares in the streaming giant dropped about 20% in pre-market Nasdaq trading Friday.

Andrew Sullivan, managing director at Outset Global in Hong Kong, told the Financial Times Asia was seeing “huge volumes going through in a number of markets as investors move to cash” on Friday, as technology shares in the region fell.

The price drop came one day after Russia’s central bank issued a report that compared cryptocurrencies to a pyramid scheme and rallied for their abolition.

The move made Russia — the world’s third largest crypto miner — the latest nation to propose either banning cryptocurrencies or imposing stricter regulations on the digital coins.

In its report, the Bank of Russia said the growth of cryptocurrency was driven primarily by speculative demand and could cause a market bubble that threatened financial stability.

The bank said financial institutions should be forbidden from carrying out operations using crypto and proposed a ban on crypto exchanges. The bank says Russians are active crypto users, buying and selling roughly $5 billion per year.

Also on Thursday (Jan. 20), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said cryptocurrency exchanges will be a chief focus of his agency this year.

“I’ve asked staff to look at every way to get these platforms inside the investor protection remit,” Gensler said. “If the trading platforms don’t come into the regulated space, it’d be another year of the public being vulnerable.”

Your journey of metaverse starts here!

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Tether refutes allegations that it's operating as a fractional reserve bank

A quiet update to Tether’s website suggests the stablecoin is playing fast and loose with its fragile ‘dollar reserves.'

[UPDATED AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE WITH RESPONSE FROM TETHER]

So-called stablecoin Tether has been diversifying its dollar reserves like a traditional bank, according to a beguiling update on its official website (credit to redditor AtlasRand1, the alter-ego of legendary Tether-skeptic BitFinex’ed). This is less than ideal because it is not a traditional bank—it is a fragile, high risk cryptocurrency ecosystem whose very functioning depends on one basic principle: the IOU.

We call Tether an IOU stablecoin because it (supposedly) derives its dollar-peg from the assurance that each tether is backed by a fully redeemable dollar—i.e. a debt. Yet the following quote raises questions over how well-equipped Tether is to repay that debt:

“Every tether is always 100% backed by our reserves, which include traditional currency and cash equivalents and, from time to time, may include other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties, which may include affiliated entities (collectively, “reserves”). Every tether is also 1-to-1 pegged to the dollar, so 1 USD₮ is always valued by Tether at 1 USD.”

So, what’s going on?

In general, the suspicion surrounding tether has focused most heavily on the liquidity of its reserves—whether all tethers are backed. Several factors have compounded the confusion: Tether shares an executive board with BitFinex, an exchange accused of using the tether cryptocurrency to fraudulently pump the price of bitcoin; Tether has never conducted a full audit, relying instead on amateurs and a Bloomberg journalist and, finally, Tether’s liquidity rests heavily on banks with patchy track records.

The adjusted statement above only serves to complicate these liquidity issues further. What used to be a clear statement outlining the simple IOU model/mechanics—that each Tether is backed 1:1 with “dollars” in Tether’s reserves—has been replaced with the more nebulous assurance of “our reserves.” These “reserves” include “traditional currency” (dollars not specified), and—crucially—“from time to time, may include other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties, which may include affiliated entities.” (Emphasis ours.)

Let’s unpack this. The clearest implication is that Tether is operating like a fractional reserve bank. Fractional reserve banks loan out customers’ assets to a range of trusted third parties/investors, who return the funds—hopefully—in the form of interest. This is all very well for banks, which customers expect to generate interest. Tether, on the other hand, promises the exact opposite—that customers’ investments will remain stable. (Not to mention that it just replicates the existent, hated financial system.) 

That Tether diversifies its stock with “other assets” could amplify this instability. Other assets, of course, fluctuate at different rates to the dollar. Let’s say Tether is backed partially by gold, for instance. If the gold’s notional value increases at a faster rate than its dollar-value, the tethers will be backed in excess. If the gold depreciates, the peg will be at risk of collapse.    

Now imagine these “other assets” are in fact cryptocurrencies, specifically the highly volatile bitcoin. Confidence in Tether’s stability would plummet.

And now we get to the heart of it. The sources of “other assets” may include “affiliated entities.” What is Tether’s best known affiliated entity? BitFinex, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, which, as we have mentioned, shares its executives with Tether. (Revealed originally via a leak in the Paradise Papers.)

If Tether’s reserves are partially backed by other assets supplied by BitFinex, in exchange for “loans and receivables made by Tether,” that effectively means that Tether is loaning out funds to itself, in exchange for assets from itself, meaning it is running as a sort of bizarre perpetual-motion sham. Even worse is if those assets are bitcoins, which would imply—provided the allegations that Tether buys bitcoins with unbacked tethers are true—that Tether is backing its reserves with assets bought far below their notional dollar value. 

Or, as “PaloAltcoin” wrote on Reddit:

“If I read this correctly, [tethers] are actually backed by cryptocurrency. So, when the price drops and people flock to Tether, it increases the amount of Tether and it decreases the funds it’s backed by. This is just Bitconnect with extra steps.”

Gosh, perhaps we ought to look at Tether’s “proof of funds” link and check the reserves ourselves?

Ah—the link is dead.

UPDATE:

We pressed Tether on the nature of the underlying assets, its relationship with BitFinex, the dysfunctional "proof of funds" link and when the update was made. A spokesperson named "Kaspar Bitfinex" told us this:

"From time to time, Tether reviews its Terms of Service and Risk Disclosures to ensure that they remain appropriate and up to date. Our most recent revisions were intended to update our disclosures to reflect Tether’s growth and operations and to be consistent with the types of disclosures used by other institutions.

These changes were made several weeks ago and were directly communicated to Tether’s customers logging into the site. This was done by way of scrollwrap with new terms of service that required active consent.

Tethers remain completely stable and 100% backed, so Tether’s reserves always equal or exceed the number of issued Tethers. The only change is that the composition of the assets that provide that backing includes a combination of cash, cash equivalents, and may also include other assets or receivables from loans issued by Tether."

I hope this answers your questions."

You be the judge of that.

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Bitcoin Sinks Below $35,000 Overnight

The crypto crash worsened on Friday night. Now Bitcoin is on the way back up—was $34,420 the bottom?

Bitcoin continued to plunge overnight—briefly dropping below $35,000 to a low of $34,420 on CoinMarketCap—before beginning a slow rebound on Saturday morning. 

It's still down almost 10% over the past 24 hours, according to CMC, and is currently priced at just under $35,000.

Bitcoin's 24-hour low of $34,020.27 saw the cryptocurrency tumble to levels it hadn't previously touched for six months, back in July 2021. 

After hitting an all-time high on November 10 last year of $69k, Bitcoin’s price has slowly slipped, picking up its sell-off in recent weeks. 

And it's not just Bitcoin, either. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is also suffering: its price has taken a 15% hit in the past 24 hours, trading at just under $2,400 at the time of writing. 

Ethereum, like Bitcoin, is well off the all-time high it touched back in November of $4,878.26—by 49%. Popular tokens that run on the Ethereum network have not been able to avoid the sell-off in the past 24 hours. 

Meanwhile, Ethereum competitor Solana, which had a mighty boom last year, and seemingly sprung out of nowhere to land in the top 10 cryptos by market cap, is down 23% in the past day, trading at just under $94.

When will the bloodbath end? 

BTC price falls to $34K as Bitcoin RSI reaches most 'oversold' since March 2020 crash

It's looking more and more like a capitulation, but so far, open interest remains "unflushed," analysts warn

Bitcoin (BTC) refused to stem recent losses during Jan. 22 as predictions of a flight to $33,000 and lower looked increasingly likely to become a reality.

Open interest "still not flushed"

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it fell through $35,000 during the first half of Saturday.

With few silver linings available for the bulls, lower weekend volume was poised to deliver some classic erratic moves after Bitcoin lost $40,000 support on Friday.

While some, including El Salvador, made the most of the new lower levels, others voiced concern that despite the drop, pressure still remained on bulls.

"Crazy part is open interest still hasn't flushed," trader and analyst William Clemente summarized, one of many market participants noting that derivatives traders are still attempting to fight the trend.

"After all this carnage and absolute state of panic funding somehow isn't giga negative, futs aren't backwarded and OI barely went down. Interesting times. And with 'interesting' I mean poverty," popular Twitter account Byzantine General additionally quipped

RSI sinks towards March 2020 COVID lows

A source of slight relief came in the form of Bitcoin's relative strength index (RSI) on the day, this dipping to its lowest levels since March 2020.

Related: Here’s 3 ways the relative strength index (RSI) can be used as a sell signal

At that time, BTC/USD crashed to $3,600 before staging a comeback that would last well into the following year.

Daily RSI stood at just 20 Saturday, already well below even the classic "oversold" zone.

"A bit more reliable than Bitcoin alone -> total market capitalization is at next level of support, while the daily RSI hits the lowest level since March 2020," Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe commented on the situation.

"Equities sentiment is also on the lowest level since March 2020. Says it all."

Equities markets had taken a hit towards the end of the week, with tech stocks particularly in the line of fire and crypto once again showing the extent of its positive correlation.

JDT Will Announce An Attractive NFT Project Especially For Fans This Year

In July 2021, JDT has announced their NFT idea in joining the crypto arena by offering a number of digital works with benefits for its fans. This is also one of the good developments for the local crypto industry which is now starting to have a large number of users.

Recently, Johor Darul Ta’zim Football Club (JDT) is reported to be in the final process of finalizing and will announce two interesting projects under the umbrella of JDT Digital. The project includes ‘JDT Fan Token’ and ‘JDT NFT Marketplace’ with two international companies with agreements worth millions of ringgit.

Discussions have already taken place with large international companies in the industry to ensure that the JDT club can realize a well-planned program with premium products and value to supporters. This is very important because we want to achieve the standards set by DYAM Major General Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim.

The first project in question is the JDT NFT Marketplace where allowing supporters to collect a collection of artwork inspired by the club with each token owned will provide a range of unique advantages in engagement with this leading Southeast Asian club.

Apart from collecting JDT NFTs, supporters also have the opportunity to enjoy once -in -a -lifetime experiences such as VIP hospitality, unique experiences with players and have access to exclusive JDT memorabilia.

This NFT JDT project is different from the projects made by a handful of other clubs because it offers gamification and real world benefits through the artwork and tokens.

Through JDT Fan Token, the opinions of supporters will be heard more because supporters can vote in some non -technical decisions of the club as well as receive exclusive prizes and promotions that cannot be bought with money. Together we look forward to the official launch of these two pretty exciting NFT projects.

Previously, Selangor FC has emerged as Malaysia's first football club by offering digital works through the OpenSea and Pentas platforms

Dogecoin Drops to Lowest Price in Nine Months as Crypto Market Sinks

The original meme coin is now down 81% from its all-time high in May 2021, continuing its gradual decline in value.

It’s a brutal day across the cryptocurrency market, which has shed about 13% of its overall value in the last 24 hours, per CoinGecko. And while the especially volatile meme coin Dogecoin has seen a lesser daily dip, it’s now at its lowest point in more than nine months.

Dogecoin is down nearly 9% over the last 24 hours to a current price just above $0.14, as of this writing, and it briefly dipped below the $0.14 mark this afternoon. DOGE has now dropped 18% over the last seven days, according to CoinGecko’s data.

Dropping under $0.14 today, Dogecoin reached its lowest point since mid-April 2021, when the long-running meme coin was in the midst of a social media-fueled surge that took its value from about $0.07 to $0.40 in a matter of days.

Dogecoin saw an immense rise in value in early 2021. It began the year priced at less than one penny per coin, and then ticked up significantly starting in late January as part of the wider meme stock trading frenzy. DOGE popped to a then-peak of about $0.08 per coin in early February before the price started to dwindle.

But DOGE’s value multiplied several times further in April and May, ultimately reaching an all-time high above $0.73 on May 8. That peak wouldn’t hold, however.

As the wider crypto market entered an early summer free fall, DOGE dropped hard with occasional upward swings, but never came close to recapturing its top. According to CoinGecko, DOGE hasn’t been above $0.30 since early September. As of this writing, Dogecoin’s price has fallen 81% since marking its all-time high.

DOGE was created as a joke in 2013, but gained serious value in 2021 as millions of new investors flooded into cryptocurrency. It found prominent fans in Mark Cuban and Elon Musk, the latter of which has a propensity to pump DOGE’s price with his tweets. It also boosted Robinhood’s crypto business, although the company warned of the risk of relying on such a volatile coin.

Whether Dogecoin can regain its early 2021 momentum and reach the fabled $1.00 milestone remains to be seen—but right now, it has fallen far from its peak. Today’s wider market crash has only exacerbated the coin’s gradual decline in recent months.

As for Shiba Inu, the Ethereum-based meme token that emerged as DOGE’s main rival last year—and even briefly surpassed Dogecoin in market cap—it’s down a larger 16% at a current price of $0.00002273. SHIB hit a three-month low today, per data from CoinGecko, and is now down 74% from its late October all-time high of $0.00008616.

Cryptocurrency Prices Today: Bitcoin falls 7%, Ethereum sheds 9%

The global cryptocurrency market capitalisation dropped from $1.88 to $ 1.7 trillion during the last 24 hours while the trading volume surged from $66.35 to $126 billion.

The decentralised finance (DeFi) cryptocurrency market cap surged 123.14 percent to $120.97 billion. Value of stablecoins stood at $115 billion, representing nearly seven percent of the market. Stablecoins are tied to an asset - such as the dollar or any other fiat currency or gold - to stabilise their price.

Bitcoin's market dominance remained nearly flat at 40.51 percent and the asset was trading at $36,579 levels today morning.

In rupee terms, Bitcoin fell over seven percent to trade at Rs 29,63,463, while Ethereum fell nine percent to Rs 2,11,277.4.

Meanwhile, Robinhood Markets Inc is rolling out crypto wallets to a 1,000 users, allowing them to send and receive cryptocurrencies through their brokerage accounts, the company said in a blog post. The Menlo Park-based online brokerage had laid out plans to begin testing the wallets last year, with the aim of a broader rollout in 2022.

El Salvador buys its cheapest 410 Bitcoin as prices reach $36K

President Nayib Bukele confirmed that the purchase of 410 BTC was made against $15 million, placing the trading price at approximately $36,585 per BTC

The Central American country of El Salvador has added 410 Bitcoin (BTC) to its central reserve as BTC prices trade below $37,000, a price last seen on July 26th, 2021. 

The fresh addition to El Salvador’s BTC reserve was announced by President Nayib Bukele, who confirmed that the purchase of 410 BTC was made against $15 million, placing the price at approximately $36,585 per BTC.

El Salvador adopted BTC as a legal tender on Sept. 7, 2021, as a means to overcome catastrophic inflation amid the weakening spending power of the nation. Fast forward to today, the country has strategically accumulated 1,801 BTC over the past four months, especially when the market sees a momentary price fall.

The latest purchase is currently the cheapest acquisition for El Salvador ever since the country adopted BTC as a legal tender.

With BTC trading just above the $36,000 mark and the resultant sell-off, Bukele believes that “some guys are selling really cheap,” supporting his long-term vision of mainstream Bitcoin adoption.

As evidenced above by data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, BTC experienced a steady rise in prices from mid-July, which resulted in an all-time high of almost $69k in the first week of November. However, the next three months saw a steep decline in market prices as investors redirected BTC profits into buying other tokens.