BitMEX hit with an additional penalty following its 2022 guilty plea

  • BitMEX fined $100M for AML violations following a guilty plea in 2022.
  • The US court also ordered a two-year probation for the exchange.

The operator of BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange, HDR Global Trading Limited, has been ordered to pay a $100 million fine following BitMEX’s guilty plea in 2022 for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act.

Besides the fine, the sentence handed down on January 15, 2025, by Judge John Koeltl of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, also included two years of unsupervised probation for the exchange.

The charges stem from BitMEX’s operation without a meaningful Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program.

In 2020, the CFTC charged BitMEX owners with illegally operating a cryptocurrency derivatives trading Platform and anti-money laundering violations. BitMEX introduced AML checks on the platform and pleaded guilty to the charges in 2022.

However, in early 2023, BitMEX was hit with a new lawsuit filed by BMA LLC, claiming that BitMEX had been illegally offering services to users in the US through ABS Global, which is wholly controlled and operated by HDR, despite being unregistered as a money-transmitting company.

While the court recognized this violation during the hearing, all other counts against the exchange were dismissed at the request of the US government.

In a statement to its users after the court issued the sentence, BitMEX expressed disappointment over the additional financial penalty. However, the company noted that the fine was significantly lower than what the Department of Justice had been seeking over the past three years.

The sentencing marks another chapter in the regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrency platforms. It highlights the importance of compliance with US banking laws, especially concerning anti-money laundering practices.

This case serves as a reminder to other crypto entities about the legal risks of non-compliance.

The post BitMEX hit with an additional penalty following its 2022 guilty plea appeared first on CoinJournal.

Sony’s “Entertainment Network”, Soneum, Goes Live

  • Sony launched a layer 2 network on Ethereum to create an entertainment layer on top of a Web3 finance layer.
  • The network is open to all creators and will protect creator rights while ensuring equitable value distribution between creators and consumers.

Sony, the media and Entertainment giant, has launched a layer 2 network on Ethereum called Soneum through its subsidiary, Sony Block Solutions Labs. The network is intended to use Web3 tech to power a digital creator economy.

The network, built using the OP stack (a blockchain development kit from the Optimism Foundation), will use chain abstraction technologies and methods to onboard regular users to Web3 without requiring them to understand the underlying tech.

Another important touchpoint for the Head of Sony BSL, Sota Watanabe, is the protection of IP rights. Soneum is built with mechanisms in place to protect these rights.

According to an X post by Watanabe, “We are making a home for all creators inside and outside of web3. Memecoins are an important culture, which I like as well, but IP infringement is not. Let’s create meme culture not infringing IP rights!”

Unlike other major consumer brands whose engagement with Web3 is largely limited to NFTs, Sony is going beyond to provide an infrastructure for the next evolution of the creator economy.

Soneum also launched Spark, an incubator program that has selected 32 projects from a list of 1,700 that will debut on the new network.

While Soneum recently launched its mainnet, it logged over 14 million users during its testnet phase which lasted four months from August 2024 and logged over 50 million transactions.

The post Sony’s “Entertainment Network”, Soneum, Goes Live appeared first on CoinJournal.

Dogecoin eyes the $0.40 resistance level as market rebounds

Key takeaways

  • DOGE is up 5% in the last 24 hours and could surge to the $0.40 resistance level soon.
  • iDEGEN’s presale approaches $16.5m.

DOGE hits $0.36

DOGE, the native coin of the Dogecoin ecosystem, is one of the best performers among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the last 24 hours. The coin is up 5% as the broader market rebounds.

At press time, the price of Dogecoin stands at $0.3614 and could rally higher in the near term. Following the liquidity clearance of around $0.308 earlier this week, DOGE had renounced excellently and could target external liquidity above $0.40 soon. If the market conditions persist, DOGE could test the resistance level at $0.40070 in the coming days. 

What is iDEGEN?

The crypto market has recovered excellently following Monday’s dip. With Bitcoin and other major altcoins rallying, the total crypto market has recently increased.

Funding into new projects hasn’t halted as iDEGEN and other promising projects continue to attract investors. 

iDEGEN is an exciting project that merges the AI and memecoin ecosystems, ensuring investors take advantage of both. In their whitepaper, the team explained that iDEGEN is a meme project that leverages the benefits of AI to create the next billion-dollar memecoin. 

As an AI tool, iDEGEN learns, evolves, and adapts by leveraging community feeds on X. While iDEGEN is powered by AI, degens ultimately raise the tool. 

$IDGN will be a memecoin with exciting utility to the community. The team will launch its native token as a memecoin thanks to the massive adoption of this narrative in recent years. In 2024, the memecoin space grew from a $20 billion market cap to $120 billion, representing a 500% growth within 12 months. It is the second-best performing narrative in the crypto space, only behind AI. 

With iDEGEN combining the two strongest narratives (AI and meme) in the crypto ecosystem, it could become one of the best performers in 2025 once it launches on exchanges in February. 

The iDEGEN tool has a simple working mechanism. Users feed the tool their data through tweets, tags, and comments. It absorbs the post and adds it to its knowledge base; that’s how it learns. Furthermore, the tool posts on X every 60 minutes and can generate and post memes. 

Learn more about the iDEGEN project here.

iDEGEN’s presale to end in February, team raises over $16 million

The iDEGEN presale is approaching $16.5 million fast, with over 1.4 billion $IDGNE tokens sold. Currently, $IDGN is going for $0.01, with the price set to increase to $0.011 in the next stage. In the last presale stage, $IDGN will go for $0.038, giving early investors a massive ROI before the token launches on exchanges. 

According to the iDEGEN team, the presale will last 41 more days before the token launches on centralised and decentralised exchanges. $IDGN currently has over 19,000 holders with an accumulated 8,991% return on investments. 

Why invest in the iDEGEN presale today?

Investors are excited about the incoming Trump administration, which could result in another Bull cycle. Last year, memecoins and AI tokens outperformed other narratives, and this could repeat itself this year.

iDEGEN is one of the projects combining these narratives. The project is still in its presale, which means investors can purchase the tokens at possible discount prices before $IDGN lists on exchanges. 

$IDGN will list on February 27, once the presale is over, and could deliver excellent gains to early investors thanks to its AI and memecoin combination.

The post Dogecoin eyes the $0.40 resistance level as market rebounds appeared first on CoinJournal.

Gate 2024 Annual Report: Trading Volume Exceeds $3.8 Trillion, Solidifying Top 4 Market Position

In 2024, Gate, one of the world’s leading digital asset trading platforms, experienced a year of rapid growth and deep innovation. Through sharp industry insights, innovative product strategies, and a profound understanding of user needs, Gate achieved record-breaking user numbers and trading volumes while actively expanding its diversified ecosystem to drive overall platform development.

Sustained Growth in Users and Trading Volume, Securing 4th Place in Market Share

According to its public report, Gate.io’s total user base surpassed 20 million, with over 50% growth, while trading volume reached $3.8 trillion, a 120% year-on-year increase. Spot trading volume exceeded $1.8 trillion, and contract trading volume reached $2 trillion, both showing significant growth. This reflects Gate’s increasing global market penetration and the appeal of its products.

The platform launched 873 new tokens throughout the year, including 437 exclusive first listings, providing users with diverse investment options. Gate also demonstrated strong performance in various regional markets, particularly in Asia and Europe, where both trading volumes and user numbers grew significantly.

Through its Gate Startup initiative, the platform continued to introduce innovative features, distributing airdrops worth nearly $30 million, with cumulative airdrop value exceeding $120 million. Additionally, Gate Token (GT) saw nearly 300% growth in 2024, with its price reaching a historic high of $18.667 as of January 9th, 2025. These metrics highlight Gate’s robust growth momentum.

Innovative Products Leading Emerging Markets with Over $1 Billion Trading Volume

Gate continued to lead in product innovation in 2024, especially in the Memecoin sector. By launching dedicated Pilot and MemeBox, the platform attracted significant user participation in this emerging market. Since its launch, Pilot has achieved over $1 billion in trading volume, listing more than 500 Memecoin projects. Additionally, a $50 million dedicated fund was established to support the booming Memecoin market.

The platform also increased its focus on the TON ecosystem. Through collaboration with Telegram, Gate introduced the Gate Wallet Mini App and Mini App, which attracted numerous TON ecosystem users. Monthly active users for these apps exceeded 2.55 million and 1.4 million, respectively, further strengthening Gate’s influence in the Web3 and blockchain ecosystem.

Strong Momentum in Quantitative Investment with Superior Returns

Gate made notable progress in quantitative investment. The Quantitative Fund launched in April became an industry benchmark, attracting high-net-worth investors with its innovative low-risk, high-return strategy and flexible redemption mechanisms. In its first year, the fund achieved an annualized return of over 20%, outperforming the average across major platforms.

Gate’s USDT-based fund reported an annualized return of over 40%, while the BTC-based fund achieved 25%. These impressive results significantly bolstered institutional investor engagement, with spot trading volume increasing 4.4 times and contract trading volume growing 1.63 times year-on-year. Broker services also saw a 17-fold increase in trading volume, reflecting growing demand for Gate’s institutional services and professional trading systems.

Reserves Totaling $9.566 Billion: Building Trust Through Security and Compliance

In 2024, Gate excelled in reserve fund performance, providing users with a robust security framework. The platform’s total reserves reached $9.566 billion, with a reserve ratio of 123.91%, up 47.2% from the previous audit. Excess reserves hit a historic high of $1.846 billion, an increase of 68.89%, ranking second among major platforms. Reserve ratios for mainstream cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum stood at 124.47% and 128.52%, exceeding the industry average by 20 percentage points.

At the same time, Gate Entities has continued to strengthen its compliance framework, actively advancing regulatory efforts across multiple regions. By acquiring Coin Master, Gate Entities expanded its compliance presence in the Asian market. Through its Malta platform, it has successfully submitted a MiCA license application and further bolstered its compliance presence in Europe by acquiring the licensed institution Sheer Markets in Cyprus. Additionally, Gate Entities completed VASP registration in Argentina and is advancing compliance initiatives in key global markets, including Gibraltar, the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East, paving the way for future global expansion.

Financial Innovation to Meet Diverse Investment Needs: Gate Earn Surges 185%

Gate achieved remarkable milestones in financial innovation, particularly in the Gate Earn product line. Gate Earn’s daily funds surged 185%, reaching nearly $2 billion USDT. The platform added over 500,000 new users, with 205% year-on-year growth. Supporting 832 tokens, Gate offers rewards pools for USDT, BTC, ETH, and other major cryptocurrencies, with up to 30% additional returns.

With 665 projects covering a total fund scale of $18 billion, Gate continues to meet the diverse needs of its users. Innovative products like on-chain staking, dual-currency investment, and GT mining further enhance asset management flexibility and expand investment options.

Collaborating with Industry Leaders to Drive Innovation and Growth

Gate partnered with several industry leaders to advance blockchain innovation and ecosystem development. Collaborations included strategic partnerships with Elliptic and Chainalysis to enhance compliance and security, a $10 million investment in The Open Network (TON), and a $100 million Web3 innovation fund co-launched with the Abu Dhabi Blockchain Center. Other partnerships focused on accelerating development in the Move ecosystem and more.

Gate also strengthened collaborations with global cloud providers to enhance platform performance and security. Actively investing in Web3, Gate is driving blockchain innovation and ecosystem expansion, solidifying its position as a leader in the cryptocurrency industry.

Notably, Gate.io became the official sleeve sponsor for Inter, creating more market opportunities for the crypto sector.

Looking Ahead: Deepening Global Markets and Driving Industry Innovation

In 2024, Gate solidified its leadership in the global digital asset trading space through innovation-driven growth and a diversified ecosystem. With robust growth in trading volume and thriving innovative businesses, Gate demonstrated strong market competitiveness and industry influence.

Looking ahead, Gate will continue to embrace innovation as a driving force, deepen its focus on core businesses, expand into emerging markets, and advance the development and application of blockchain technology. The platform aims to provide users with more diverse and high-quality products and services. At the same time, Gate will actively fulfill its social responsibilities, leveraging technology to drive social progress.

Gate will collaborate with its users and global partners to continuously enhance products, optimize services, and give back to the community, working together to build a secure, transparent, and open Web3 world.

The post Gate 2024 Annual Report: Trading Volume Exceeds $3.8 Trillion, Solidifying Top 4 Market Position appeared first on CoinJournal.

TON Foundation plans US expansion

  • TON Foundation seeks US expansion amid growing crypto-friendly environment.
  • In the crypto market, Telegram-related blockchain project is powered by the Toncoin (TON) token.

Telegram related blockchain platform The Open Network (TON) plans to extend its operation networks in the US. The Toncoin (TON) token rose slightly amid the news.

According to details in a report, the move is inspired by President Donald Trump’s friendly regulatory policies.

TON Foundation shared details of the key development in a blog post published on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

New appointments

The Open Network (TON) has appointed Manuel Stotz as president to spearhead the strategic entry into the US market. He comes after his predecessor Steve Yun who remains as a board member in the foundation.

Following President-elect Donald Trump’s win , who is an investor in digital space,the US will grow into a digital hub enhancing crypto adoption and innovation.

Trump’s administration will promote favourable digital assets regulatory policies to make the US a safer crypto market. The previous administration blocked out many crypto investors by placing strict policies.

During the previous administration, Telegram faced hurdles as it tried to raise funds for a cryptocurrency project in 2020. The foundation had to bow out after a series of legal proceedings with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.

Trumps who is pro-crypto in July 2024 described Bitcoin as significant marker of freedom, sovereignty and independence in his speech

To make the US a digital hub and attract global investors, Trump has promised  his support for crypto investment. For an avid crypto investor he is, Trump has recently launched his family’s digital asset venture dubbed World Liberty Financial.

Among his policy formulations, the incoming president has announced plans to make the US the “crypto capital” globally. He also spoke of making a Bitcoin reserve in the US.

Tether announced it was relocating operations to El Salvador on Monday.

The post TON Foundation plans US expansion appeared first on CoinJournal.