Kategorie: Crypto Markets

• The FTC said Celsius “squandered billions in user deposits” after “duping” customers into depositing funds.
• Celsius and its former CEO have also been sued by the US SEC today.
• Last week, the CFTC found the former CEO and Celsius Network guilty of violating several laws while operating in the country.

In what appears as a double tragedy for the bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Network, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued the company with a $4.7 billion fine.

The judgment will, however, be suspended to “permit Celsius to return its remaining assets to consumers in bankruptcy proceedings.”

According to the July 13 FTC judgment, Celsius and its affiliate firms will be permanently barred from “offering, marketing, or promoting any product or service that could be used to deposit, exchange, invest, or withdraw any assets.”

FTC’s fine was announced just hours after the United States SEC filed a lawsuit against Celsius Network and its former CEO Alex Mashinsky.

Why is Celsius under siege by US regulators?

The crypto lending company, which had its headquarters in New Jersey, offered customers a range of cryptocurrency services including interest-bearing accounts, personal loans backed by customers’ bitcoin deposits, and a cryptocurrency exchange before its collapse.

The FTC has stated that the platform co-founders Alex Mashinsky, Shlomi Leon, and Hanoch Goldstein misappropriated more than $4 billion in consumer assets while marketing the platform as a “safe place” for users to deposit their cryptocurrencies.

The FTC also charged Celsius with making $1.2 billion in unsecured loans, lying about having a user insurance policy worth $750 million, and without having any way to track its assets and liabilities until late 2021. According to the FTC, officials reportedly lied about the state of the company even as the 2022 cryptocurrency bear market was beginning.

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• Polygon’s technical upgrade could see MATIC renamed to POL.
• POL will operate on multiple chains including PoS, zkEVM and Supernets.
• The price of MATIC rose after the news, up 5% in 24 hours as daily volume jumped 21%.

Polygon has outlined a proposal for a technical upgrade of the native token MATIC. The details of this switch have been published in a white paper from a group of the blockchain platform’s founders and researchers.

The upgrade seeks to replace MATIC with a “next generation” protocol token dubbed POL, the protocol said in a blog post. The “rebranding” is part of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap, with POL designed to advance security and growth across the leading Ethereum scaling solution.

POL token’s utility

According to the technical upgrade’s whitepaper, POL is hyperproductive token – meaning holders can become validators and earn rewards. However, it offers more utility with validators able to operate across multiple chains. This would include the Polygon proof-of-stake (PoS), zkEVM and Supernets.

1/ Today, the next technical proposal of Polygon 2.0 is unveiled:

POL, the upgraded token of the Polygon protocol! 💫

POL is the next generation native token, designed to secure, align and grow the Polygon ecosystem.

Watch the video to get an idea how cool it is, then 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Gn7KcHpWEY

— Polygon (Labs) (@0xPolygonLabs) July 13, 2023

Upgrading from MATIC to POL will involve holders sending their MATIC tokens to the given upgrade smart contract. The system will automatically replace MATIC with POL in a 1:1 ratio and send the new token to the holder’s address. Polygon said in a blog post that the upgrade will result in only one native token – POL.

If the Polygon community adopts the proposal, the upgrade could begin in the next six months. Holders will thereafter have sufficient time to complete the switch, with a suggested timeline of four or more years.

MATIC price rose following the upgrade proposal, with the token’s value surging to its highest level since early June.

Data from CoinGecko showed Polygon’s native token traded nearly 5% in the past 24 hours. The altcoin’s daily trading volume was up 21.7% in the same period, with more than $306 million traded.

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• At press time, Conflux (CFX) token was trading at $0.1981, up 10% in the last 24 hours.
• Conflux Network partnered with China Telecom to develop a Blockchain-powered SIM card (BSIM) in May 2023.
• The Bank of China will start testing of SIM card-linked payments using the digital yuan.

The Bank of China declared on July 10 that it would begin testing SIM card-linked payments using the digital Yuan on July 11. The announcement has boosted Conflux (CFX) price seeing that Conflux Network partnered with China Telecom to develop a Blockchain-powered SIM card (BSIM). In May 2023, the two unveiled their jointly developed BSIM card at the Xuhui District West Bank Artificial Intelligence Center in Shanghai.

The state-owned bank asserted in its statement that it is implementing this programme in conjunction with telecom behemoths China Telecom and China Unicom. With the help of the near-field communication protocol (NFC) and “super SIM cards” technology, the project aims to make payments possible.

Users will essentially be able to process digital Yuan payments by making contact with designated payment terminals with their mobile phones.

Excitement among the Conflux community

The CFX community now believe the Conflux Network will have a big impact on the new SIM Card e-CNY payment system. This enthusiasm resulted in a rise in price, which increased by 10% this morning to reach a high of $0.2046.

Prior to the announcement, the CFX token was experiencing a seven-day price decline that saw it slip from $0.197 to $0.175.

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• At press time, LBRY Token had plunged to $0.009298 from a high of $0.01235 on July 11.
• The plunge followed a ruling that LBRY Inc. violated US securities laws.
• LBRY Inc. has stated that it is shutting down its business.

The LBRY Credits (LBC) fell by 24% early today as a result of a Federal Judge’s ruling that LBRY, Inc, the company that created the LBRY protocol, is responsible for breaking US securities laws. . LBRY was sued by the SEC in March 2021 for offering unregistered securities.

Following the final judgment, the company is permanently prohibited from selling unregistered securities unless it first registers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). LBRY, Inc also has thirty days to pay a fine of $111,614.

Winding LBRY Inc. down

After the ruling, the decentralized content-sharing project LBRY Inc. was quick to announce its next steps stating that it working on winding down completely.

The final judgement in SEC vs LBRY is out.

In accordance with the court’s order and our promises, we expect to spend the next several months winding LBRY Inc. down entirely.

As to what happens to LBRY from here, well, that’s up to you. pic.twitter.com/cU8O3nATT6

— LBRY 🚀 (@LBRYcom) July 11, 2023

It’s crucial to note that the SEC never requested a total shutdown of the project, at least not in their initial complaint, despite the project’s announcement that it is closing. On the contrary, the regulator sought to prevent unregistered securities offerings of any kind and the return of “ill-gotten” profits from those activities, and civil penalties.

The SEC cited explicit statements on LBRY’s website that it was selling LBRY Credits (LBC) tokens to “financially support its operations” both through their protocol and on secondary markets, which refer to the buying and selling of tokens on platforms that aren’t the cryptocurrency’s original issuers. These statements were made during the litigation process.

Last year’s ruling against LBRY

In November last year, Judge Paul J. Barbadoro of the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire ruled against LBRY Inc. ruling that the project could not provide “any reasonable trier of fact that could reject the SEC’s claims.” As a result, LBRY Inc. declared they lost.

However, LBRY Inc. filed and won an appeal focusing on whether the secondary market sales of the LBC tokens should be included in an injunction the US SEC is seeking the court to approve. 

After yesterday’s ruling, the company’s CEO, Jeremy Kauffman, tweeted that “neither the SEC nor the federal judge himself can tell me what the law allows and doesn’t allow,” adding that “all I’ve ever wanted to do is follow the law.”

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• Astar Foundation and NTT Digital will collaborate to create Web3 talent training programs.
• The partners will also work on initiatives aimed at enhancing network infrastructure.
• Astar Foundation and NTT Digital began collaborating in 2022.

Astar Foundation, the developer group behind multichain smart contracts platform Astar Network, has announced a strategic partnership with NTT Digital.

Established by Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo, NTT Digital is a Web3 platform built to offer security and accessibility to enterprises and individuals seeking to build in web3.

Support for Web3 talent and technical infrastructure

In a press release the firms published on July 11, Astar Foundation said the collaboration will focus on advancing Web3 adoption via training programs for talent looking for a career path in the industry. The partners will also work together on efforts to create an enabling environment through technical infrastructure.

Astar Foundation is Astar Network’s main contributor and source code maintainer. According to the press release, the group believes its expertise in the blockchain applications could be crucial in the partners’ effort to develop innovative products that can spark Web3 adoption.

Training programs will include initiatives such as skill development programs, while technical infrastructure enhancements will focus on cybersecurity and fraud prevention.

Sota Watanabe, founder of Astar Foundation noted in a statement:

“We’re excited to partner with NTT Digital, who bring decades of experience in building tech infrastructure to drive adoption and innovation. Together, we will empower individuals and businesses to embrace the potential of Web3, enabling a more inclusive, decentralized future.”

NTT DoCoMo and Astar began their collaboration last year, with the Japanese telecommunications giant pledging $4 billion towards accelerating Web3 development in Japan. The company wants to use its subsidiary NTT Digital to achieve this goal, Aster Network wrote.

Earlier this year, Astar Network and Sony Network Communications unveiled a Web3 incubation program that ran from mid-March to June.

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