Kategorie: Crypto Markets

Zipmex, a Thai-based crypto exchange, has halted withdrawals citing a combination of circumstances. The Southeast Asian exchange has halted withdrawals until further notice.

A tweet by the exchange said:

“Due to a combination of circumstances beyond our control including volatile market conditions, and the resulting financial difficulties of our key business partners, to maintain the integrity of our platform, we would be pausing withdrawals until further notice.”

Failed acquisition by Coinbase

Prior to the halting of withdrawals, Cointelegraph had issued reports that Zipmex could be in trouble but the crypto exchange ended up dismissing that as just rumors. This came after a failed acquisition of Zipmex by Coinbase.

Responding to Cointelegraph, the CEO and co-founder of Zipmex, Marcus Lim, said:

“While Coinbase is an interesting partner, an investor makes more sense at this stage.”

Lim went ahead to explain the reason for the failed acquisition saying:

“The acquisition fell through due to market conditions. They’ve pulled out in many countries around the world such as Turkey and in Latin America. Coinbase is a great strategic partner to the business.”

Coinbase had made an offer to acquire Zipmex in the first quarter of 2022 but the acquisition plan fell on June 9. However, Coinbase went ahead to make a strategic investment into the Thai-based crypto exchange.

Other than halting withdrawals, there are reports that Zipmex is planning for a Series B+ that could value it at $400 million.

By August 2021, Zipmex had reached a 200,000 user base with over $1 billion in gross transaction volume since it was launched in 2019.

Zipmex troubles

According to sources some funds, about $100 million from Zipmex were given to Hong Kong-based asset manager Babel Finance with the aim of generating yield. However, there is a risk of default since Babel halted withdrawals in June due to unusual liquidity pressures resulting from the crypto market meltdown and hasn’t resumed the withdrawals.

Though not confirmed, there are fears that Zipmex could go the way of Celsius, which has already filed for bankruptcy seeking financial restructuring.

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Multi-chain NFT platform WEYU has partnered with Zilliqa to provide users with easy access to NFTs.

Commenting about the partnership, the head of Metaverse and NFTs at Zilliqa, Sandra Helou, said;

“Multichain integration is one way for L1 blockchains like Zilliqa to achieve greater interoperability. More importantly, it enables the value and utility that NFTs offer to extend beyond its native platform. Think about the possibilities that could unleash for creators, who now have a far wider audience to showcase their unique works too. By partnering with WEYU, Zilliqa is helping to bring more users into our ecosystem and the blockchain space in general. Ultimately we’re supporting mass adoption by making NFTs more accessible to individuals and brands through a no-code solution.”

WEYU’s YU Launch tool

By integrating with WEYU, Zilliqa’s ecosystem will become an NFT powerhouse. Zilliqa is designed as a scalable and secure platform for building decentralized applications while WEYU is purpose-built to drive the large-scale adoption of NFTs. Together the two will enable anyone to easily access, create and manage digital assets including NFTs.

WEYU has created an NFT generating tool called YU Launch that is specifically designed for the Zilliqa blockchain. This will subsequently increase the number of NFT creators joining the WEYU platform and the Zilliqa blockchain ecosystem as a whole.

One of the main advantages of this partnership is providing creators and builders to construct digital assets free of cost and within minutes using the YU Launch tool.

Commenting about the partnership, WEYU Co-Founder, Chris Dawe, said

“WEYU believes that Web3 can deliver a new chapter in accessing opportunities never before available on the internet. By building user-friendly applications on top of the greatest technology of our times, blockchain, people across the globe will be able to transact digital items of value and create new economies across the World Wide Web. By partnering with Zilliqa, a mature and attractive alternative to Ethereum and other layer 1’s, WEYU taps into a new and exciting frontier of possibilities. With our first collaboration we bring – YU-Launch – the no-code NFT generation platform but this is just the beginning! The next chapter of this collaboration is sure to attract the masses to the Zilliqa ecosystem.”

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The cryptocurrency and stock market had had a meltdown as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to combat the rising inflation. As a result, several companies/firms have experienced financial instability with SkyBridge Capital being the most recent victim; something that has forced it to suspend the withdrawals.

The current situation within the financial market has destabilized the operations of many companies, especially those dealing with cryptocurrencies. Some like Voyager and Celsius have already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as they seek to restructure their financial income methods to remain afloat. Others especially capital funds and crypto exchanges like CoinFLEX have resulted in suspending withdrawals.

On their part, SkyBridge has chosen to restrict its customers from withdrawing from one of its funds. The fund is following right in the steps of Celsius which started by suspending withdrawals as it sought to tidy out its financial mess. The main reason for suspending withdrawals is because of the prolonged decline of the cryptocurrency and stock markets.

SkyBridge liquidation fears

SkyBridge Capital is one of Anthony Scaramucci’s funds established in the United States. Anthony Scaramucci once worked as the White House Communication Director in 2017 although his tenure only lasted 10 days before being fired by Donald Trump.

When SkyBridge ventured into crypto, Peter Schiff, a well-known opponent of cryptocurrencies warned that “SkyBridge Capital’s foray into the bitcoin market will occur at its height.” Afterward, major players were allowed to sell their interests to SkyBridge for cash, and Legion Strategies is one of the funds that grabbed the opportunity.

One-fifth of the Legion Strategies fund is however made up of private enterprises and they are challenging to sell. But about a quarter of Legion Strategies’ net assets are already invested in additional funds containing cryptocurrencies and other digital assets that are managed by SkyBridge Capital.

SkyBridge Capital is also said to have taken part in an investment round conducted by FTX, which is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges.

But despite all the negative sentiments within the cryptocurrency market, SkyBridge has assured its clients (investors) that there is no need to worry about liquidation since it is unleveled.

The post SkyBridge Capital suspends funds withdrawal amid liquidation fears appeared first on CoinJournal.

OKX, a Seychelles-based crypto exchange, is the latest digital asset service provider to get a provisional license to operate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The provisional license issued by the recently formed Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), which is the digital assets regulator in Dubai, allows OKX to provide certain crypto exchange products and services to a select group of investors and financial service providers.

According to a statement released by OKX after getting the provisional license, OKX stated that the license ““allows it to extend certain exchange products and services to pre-qualified investors and financial service providers.”

The general manager at OKX for Dubai, Lennix Lai, while commenting on the development said:

“The MENA region is one of the fastest-growing markets for our industry, and we are very excited to be at the heart of this thriving ecosystem. OKX looks forward to contributing meaningfully to the free exchange of ideas that is going to be so important to the development of this space while innovating for the future in a regulated framework.”

Dubai slowly becoming a top crypto destination

Since it was established at the beginning of this year, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has issued provisional licenses and approvals to several cryptocurrency exchanges. Besides OKX, the other exchanges that have received provisional licenses and approvals include Binance and Coinmena.

The rush by crypto exchanges and other crypto service providers to set up base in Dubai is proving that UAE and specifically Dubai is one of the top global hubs for the cryptocurrency industry.

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Marathon Digital Holdings and Hut 8 Mining were among the biggest daily gainers after double-digit rallies on Monday.

Bitcoin mining firms saw their stocks make huge moves on Monday following Bitcoin’s breakout to prices above $22,000.

The stocks of top Bitcoin (BTC) mining firms jumped as positivity around the crypto industry seeped into the sector. As BCT/USD rose to retest price levels above $22,200, the shares of top miners opened higher and ripped.

MARA leads gainers

Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (MARA) rose to intraday highs of $10.97, outperforming Bitcoin as gains amounted to close to 36%. The stock however hit resistance and slipped below $10.00, although it still closed more than 21% higher at $9.76.

Another stock to see massive gains was Riot Blockchain Inc. (RIOT), which surged to intraday highs of $6.88 to accumulate over 23% in gains at the intraday peak. Despite cooling off into the close, RIOT stock still closed double digits in the green at $6.23 (+11.85%).

Shares of Bitfarms, Core Scientific Inc. and Hut 8 Mining Corp. also registered impressive gains at the start of the week. Hut 8 ended Monday’s session nearly 8.7% up, Core Scientific was 8.3% higher and Bitfarms managed +4%.

Coinbase (COIN) and MicroStrategy (MSTR) also registered significant gains, with the Coinbase stock closing more than 9% higher and MicroStrategy at +5%.

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