Stake pool operators (SPO) and several users have reported that roughly half of Cardano network nodes had temporarily switched off at the weekend.
An Input Output Global Telegram SPO post on Sunday stated that issues with roughly 50 percent of Cardano nodes forced a start and restart of the network.
It explained that the incident took place at 00:09 UCT, disrupting relay and block-producing nodes. This caused peer connections to disconnect and triggered exceptions.
Reassuring users, the post continued,
“Block production was only briefly impacted with a portion of the network falling out of sync for approximately https://cardanoscan.io/block/8300569 before nodes restarted. Therefore impact was low – akin to the delays that occur during normal operations and often seen at epoch boundaries. Most nodes automatically recovered – depending on the SPO deployment choice.”
It concluded that teams were investigating the root causes for the technical snafu and would implement additional logging measures along with normal procedures.
Node Shark Observations
Node Shark co-founder Tom Stokes wrote in a post at the same time that the incident had hit roughly 50 percent of the nodes on the network. Citing a chart, he revealed that network synching plummeted from 100 percent to 40 percent for more than 300 nodes.
An additional SPO added at the time that “some SPOs saw no impact,” adding “Others had relays and BPs restart. SPOs, Devs, and IOG are in Discord debugging atm. No root cause yet.”
The news comes after Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko reported his cryptocurrency platform faced similar problems in early November. The efforts come after Solana updated its operations following outage concerns over its network.
Speaking at the Breakpoint 2022 event in Lisbon last year, Yakovenko explained how the Solana network faced many concerns linked to its network stability and running time.
Bitcoin (BTC) prices have seen a massive rally at the weekend after surging past $23,000 USD and settling later on Sunday. BTC’s market capitalisation reached up to $23,051.72, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Despite this, the crypto comeback also comes amid a major price adjustment following a bearish 2022, which saw the collapse of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager, and disgraced crypto platform FTX.
The news has restored optimism for many crypto traders and investors, namely as many laud its return to over $20,000 following a massive slump from July to December.
Crypto intelligence platform Santiment tweeted on Friday: “Bitcoin has now surpassed $22.7k for the first time since August 18, 2022. The price rise has come as the large whale tier group of addresses holding 1,000 to 10,000 $BTC has collectively accumulated 64,638 ($1.46 billion) $BTC in the past 15 days.”
Other major cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Dogecoin, Cardano, Solana, and many others jumped amid the huge rally.
Potential Contributors to BTC Rally
The news comes amid an email Binance sent to its users that SWIFT would not allow transfers less than $100,000 USD. The new rule will take effect on 1 February, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
Signature Bank, Binance’s banking partner, initiated the measures, prompting Binance to seek a new banking partner. The news also comes amid allegations from US authorities that Binance helped contribute to transactions linked to crypto exchange Bitzlato and Russian darkweb space Hydra.
Additional market contributions have fuelled skyrocketing prices, including the collapse of Genesis Holdings. The cryptocurrency lending firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday.
The enterprise remains locked in a massive row with crypto trading firm Gemini over its Earn programme, which ceased withdrawals in mid-November. Over 340,000 clients have lost access to over $900 million USD in online holdings.
Miami, Florida, 24th January, 2023, Chainwire
Genesis Coin Inc, the first and largest Bitcoin ATM software platform worldwide announced today that they have been acquired by early Bitcoin ATM pioneers Andrew Barnard and Doug Carrillo.
Founded in 2013, Genesis Coin’s technology powers approximately 35% of global Bitcoin ATM transactions. Barnard and Carrillo, who also founded Bitstop, built the first and largest private-label Bitcoin ATM platform based in Miami, FL with over 2,500+ Bitcoin ATMs worldwide. Genesis Coin and Bitstop represent over 75+ operators operating 12,000+ Bitcoin ATMs in the United States and international markets powering billions of dollars in annual sales volume.
As part of the acquisition, Andrew Barnard will become Chief Executive Officer and Doug Carrillo will become Chief Strategy Officer and both will join the Board of Directors of Genesis Coin. Evan Rose, Genesis Coin’s founder, will stay on as a technical advisor and remain a member of the company’s Board of Directors. The Genesis Coin headquarters will move to Miami, Florida.
“Genesis Coin gave birth to the Bitcoin ATM industry,” said Barnard. “It’s the first and largest Bitcoin ATM software platform in The World. Evan built a platform trusted by some of the largest Bitcoin ATM operators in our industry, both domestically and internationally, including the Chivo network in partnership with the Government of El Salvador.
Our industry is now rapidly changing and Genesis Coin will lead the way into the future. Accomplishing this requires a solid team of world-class visionaries and developers. At Bitstop, we built an incredible software team and platform which has partnered with some of the largest companies both private and publicly traded from the traditional ATM industry. We plan to bring our background and expertise in building the best technology and team in the Bitcoin ATM industry to Genesis Coin. We believe this is a win-win for all stakeholders,” furthered Barnard.
“Andrew, Doug, and I have been friends for a long time and have also been friendly competitors,” commented Rose. “They have a reputation for their innovative and creative thinking. In addition, they have been successful in establishing key relationships in the Bitcoin space and their technical expertise and knowledge of Bitcoin is very impressive. In turn, this has allowed them to attract and retain top-tier talent and build great products. This transaction represents the coming together of the two leading software platforms in the industry and creates value for both companies’ stakeholders. It combines the best product, engineering, and leadership teams in the space. I’m thrilled to work alongside them and look forward to introducing very exciting new products and services we have planned for this year,” commented Rose.
Barnard, Carrillo and Rose stressed the importance of continuing to provide stability to both platforms and continuing to service the needs of operators on both platforms. For the time being, both the Genesis Coin and Bitstop platforms will continue to run independently while exploring technical synergies. Genesis Coin has already made several key hires to its development team with a core focus on product development.
“This acquisition represents the most significant event in the Bitcoin ATM industry to date,” said Carrillo. “Our commitment is to provide Genesis Coin with the proper resources it needs to pave the way for continued growth and innovation. We truly believe that this new combination of the best minds in our space will be the catalyst for the Bitcoin ATM industry evolving into its next phase. We are hyper-focused on building the best software for Bitcoin ATMs in the world. Today, the most sophisticated operators in our industry rely on Genesis Coin and Bitstop technology to power their businesses. As a result, we have become ‘The Standard’ in the Bitcoin ATM space where virtually all industry organic M&A activity today is occurring on the Genesis Coin and Bitstop networks.” concluded Carrillo.
“Leverage dominated the entire cryptocurrency space over the last two years. Many other platforms in our industry couldn’t resist the siren song,” said Barnard. “This is a capital-intensive industry where you do not want to be in a lot of debt. Genesis Coin is financially secure with a strong balance sheet, no debt, and strong cash flow. The company does not have external investors. The result of this is that operators can build their future on the Genesis Coin platform with confidence. In a volatile industry, we are a beacon of stability. We are bullish on the potential of this industry. We see significant market growth from here over the next 10 years. We believe we are in the best position in the industry to unite the very best operators and support their growth. Our goal is to listen to our operators and deliver the very best products and features to them so they can deliver maximum value to their customers at scale,” concluded Barnard.
About Genesis Coin
Genesis Coin is the first and largest white-label Bitcoin ATM network worldwide. We are the premier provider of autonomous vending solutions for bitcoin. Genesis Coin’s proprietary managed infrastructure software solution has propelled it to become the largest provider of Bitcoin ATMs and software facilitating self-service buying and selling billions of dollars in cryptocurrencies across the world annually. Genesis Coin’s software provides customers with a reliable, tailored operating platform. Genesis Coin delivers its software by selling BTMs to third-party operators who provide opportunities for businesses looking to diversify their revenue and drive foot traffic to their locations. Our machines make bitcoin simple for everyone. www.bitcoinatm.com
Contact
CEO
Andrew Barnard
Genesis Coin Inc
[email protected]
Genesis, a major cryptocurrency lending firm and subsidy of the Digital Currency Group (DCG), filed for bankruptcy last week, global media reported.
Recently, US regulators from the Securities and Exchange Commission hit the crypto company with charges of illegal and unregulated cryptocurrency sales.
Cameron Winklevoss, Gemini co-founder, tweeted on Friday that Genesis Global Capital LLC had “filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11.”
He added, hitting out at Genesis: “We have been preparing to take direct legal action against Barry, DCG, and others who share responsibility for the fraud that has caused harm to the 340,000+ Earn users and others duped by Genesis and its accomplices.”
The Tea on Genesis
Issues erupted after now-bankrupt crypto trading platform FTX collapsed in mid-November due to a massive liquidity crunch. Much of FTX’s troubles have surfaced due to fraud charges against disgraced ex-CEO and founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, and several key executives.
The news comes after Genesis announced mass redundancies of roughly 30 percent of its workforce. It later faced a massive row with crypto exchange Gemini due to its Earn programme, leading to a loss of $900 million USD in deposited assets. It initially offered investors up to 7.4 percent interest on holdings.
Genesis has locked out hundreds of thousands of Earn users after halting withdrawals in November, citing market volatility and instability.
Genesis interim chief executive, Derar Islim, said in a statement: “We look forward to advancing our dialogue with DCG and our creditors’ advisers as we seek to implement a path to maximise value and provide the best opportunity for our business to emerge well-positioned for the future.”
Along with FTX, Genesis joins Three Arrows Capital, BlockFi, and Voyager, among others, in the growing list of defunct cryptocurrency enterprises.
Binance’s charity division has planned to invest in roughly 30,665 scholarships for students seeking Web3 careers this year.
Crypto heavyweight Binance announced its Binance Charity Scholar Programme (BCSP), which aims to train and upskill Web3 enthusiasts while supporting funding for each student.
The company said: “At Binance, we believe knowledge is wealth that cannot be stolen, and crypto literacy is the cornerstone of mass adoption. Education is a huge part of what we do and who we are, especially in support of our mission to advance the adoption of digital assets.”
It added that digital education and skills development were “out of reach for many, resulting in a blockchain industry that lacks diversity and talent.”
Binance Cohort and Affiliates
More than 82,000 people had registered interest in the programme for the next cohort with a roughly 37 percent acceptance rate.
Institutions such as the University of Western Australia, the University of Nicosia in Cypress, Nigermain tech hub Utiva, and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management have joined the initiative.
The Kyiv IT Cluster and the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation have also collaborated with the initiative. Binance Charity also partnered with members of the Ukrainian government to upskill citizens due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.
Binance’s History of Philanthropy
The news comes after Binance Charity raised over $3.5 million USD to back 290,000 hours of training for Web3 students via courses and instruction.
Binance Charity head, Helen Hai, added: “The response to our Web3 education projects has been unprecedented, showing the keen appetite of so many people to learn about blockchain, De-Fi, NFTs, coding and much more,” said Helen Hai, Head of Binance Charity.
She concluded: “We’re seeing interest from a diverse range of people, including a great ratio of women, which is something I feel particularly passionate about. With so many more education initiatives with amazing partners in the pipeline, we’ve never been more excited to build a more inclusive Web3 world.”
Geneva, Switzerland, 24th January, 2023, Chainwire
TRON-based cryptocurrency may soon be officially adopted as legal tender by the government of the eastern Caribbean island of St. Maarten.
Member of Parliament (MP) Rolando Brison has been outspoken for some time now about the benefits of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency for the people and the economy of his homeland. Today, he initiated the proposal of a law to designate TRON as the country’s blockchain infrastructure and TRON-based cryptocurrency as legal tender for everyday usage.
H.E. Justin Sun, founder of TRON, tweeted about the milestone:
“Another milestone for #TRON! St Maarten to adopt TRON as legal tender marks another achievement for our push [toward] worldwide blockchain adoption.”
Early last year, on March 19, 2022, Bitcoin.com News featured MP Rolando Brison, the leader of the United People’s Party and 2nd Vice Chairman of St. Maarten’s Parliament, when he announced “he’s become the first elected official to request his entire salary paid in bitcoin cash.” Brison has long believed and advocated for St. Maarten to become the “Crypto Capital of the Caribbean” by pioneering the integration of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency solutions.
The St. Martin News Network (SMNN) today highlighted MP Brison’s declaration to advance a law that would officially make TRON and TRON-based cryptocurrency part of St. Maarten’s local commerce and economic infrastructure. SMNN noted MP Brison’s intention not to “re-invent the wheel,” but rather to follow the example of St. Maarten’s southern neighbor Dominica.
In October 2022, the Commonwealth of Dominica officially announced TRON as its national blockchain, following the passage of the Virtual Asset Business Legislation in May 2022, which the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank assisted in drafting. Dominica also at that time adopted seven TRON-based cryptocurrencies as legal tender. Brison is now working to translate “the law in a manner that fits our Dutch legal system and local economy,” SMNN reported.
According to their website, “The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) was established in October 1983. It is the Monetary Authority for a group of eight island economies namely Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.” St. Maarten, one of four countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is also a member. The ECCB monetary union has a total Gross Domestic Product of nearly $10 billion USD.
“The ECCB legislation is a great framework for regulation that focuses on protecting the consumer, the economy, and ensuring that virtual asset oversight does not spiral out of control, without stagnating potential growth opportunities for the sector,” Brison said. Crypto is currently unregulated by the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten. “Allowing cryptocurrency to continue totally unregulated in St. Maarten is extremely risky, and we have to be proactive. Hence I use my right of initiative to bring this law with TRON Protocol at the forefront, with possibilities later for other blockchains to be incorporated; this too can be done in line with other countries like St. Kitts, who I know are also working on their own legal tender legislation,” stated Brison, as quoted by the SMNN.
TRON DAO is a community-governed DAO dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet via blockchain technology and dApps. The TRON ecosystem is striving to make decentralized financial solutions and stable currency accessible to every human on the planet. Brison feels that collaboration with TRON will connect St. Maarten’s economy with the fastest-growing DeFi ecosystem in the world, thus increasing the island’s attractiveness both for innovative entrepreneurs as well as international tourists.
Brison will formally engage St. Maarten’s legislative process in the coming weeks, in accordance with the constitutional right MPs have to initiate laws, with the hope that official adoption will soon follow.
About TRON DAO
TRON DAO is a community-governed DAO dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet via blockchain technology and dApps.
Founded in September 2017 by H.E. Justin Sun, the TRON network has continued to deliver impressive achievements since MainNet launch in May 2018. July 2018 also marked the ecosystem integration of BitTorrent, a pioneer in decentralized Web3 services boasting over 100 million monthly active users. The TRON network has gained incredible traction in recent years. As of January 2023, it has over 138 million total user accounts on the blockchain, more than 4.7 billion total transactions, and over $11.0 billion in total value locked (TVL), as reported on TRONSCAN. In addition, TRON hosts the largest circulating supply of USD Tether (USDT) stablecoin across the globe, overtaking USDT on Ethereum since April 2021. The TRON network completed full decentralization in December 2021 and is now a community-governed DAO. In May 2022, the over-collateralized decentralized stablecoin USDD was launched on the TRON blockchain, backed by the first-ever crypto reserve for the blockchain industry – TRON DAO Reserve, marking TRON’s official entry into decentralized stablecoins. Most recently in October 2022, TRON was designated as the national blockchain for the Commonwealth of Dominica, which is the first time a major public blockchain partnering with a sovereign nation to develop its national blockchain infrastructure. On top of the government’s endorsement to issue Dominica Coin (“DMC”), a blockchain-based fan token to help promote Dominica’s global fanfare, seven existing TRON-based tokens – TRX, BTT, NFT, JST, USDD, USDT, TUSD, have been granted statutory status as authorized digital currency and medium of exchange in the country.
TRONNetwork | TRONDAO | Twitter | YouTube | Telegram | Discord | Reddit | GitHub | Medium | Forum
Contact
Hayward Wong
[email protected]
US authorities have named crypto exchange giant Binance a counterparty linked to Bitzlato, the US Department of the Treasury announced Wednesday.
According to the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) order, Bitzlato had conducted money laundering totalling $700 million USD. FinCEN accused Binance of providing funds along with the “Russia-connected darknet market Hydra [and] alleged Russia-based Ponzi scheme ‘TheFiniko'” from May 2018 to September last year.
A Binance spokesperson hit back at the allegations, stating: “Binance is pleased to have provided substantial assistance to international law enforcement partners in support of this investigation. This exemplifies Binance’s commitment to working collaboratively with law enforcement partners worldwide.”
The comments echo statements from Binance’s Changpeng Zhao after Poland’s Financial Supervisory Authority warned the exchange over similar allegations. Despite this, Binance secured its licence in the Central European nation.
A Binance spokesperson said at the time: “This shows the level of commitment & hard work [CZ] is putting in for the adoption and compliance. Extremely bullish for [Binance].”
Bitzlato Founder Arrested in Miami
The news comes after US and French authorities arrested Bitzlato founder Anatoly Legkodymov on Wednesday as part of a “major international cryptocurrency enforcement action.”
A statement from the US Department of Justice (US DoJ) alleged the crypto exchange was a “primary money laundering concern.” It also accused the company of ties to Russian money laundering.
Authorities arrested Legkodymov in Miami, where he faces a hearing at the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Crypto-centred media firm CoinDesk Inc has sought investment banking companies amid a potential sale of its operations, its chief executive said in a statement as quoted by global media.
A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report revealed that investment bankers from Lazard Ltd have expressed interest along with other unsolicited offers of up to $200 million, people familiar with the matter said.
Digital Currency Group Inc (DCG) owns CoinDesk and acquired the latter for $500,000 in 2016. The sale led to roughly $50 million in earnings in 2022 due to online adverts, index and events, and others, the firm added.
Grayscale Investments, its subsidy firm, is valued at $13.5 billion via its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. It currently faces significant issues along with Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Foundry, amid the ongoing FTX collapse.
“Over the last few months, we have received numerous inbound indications of interest in CoinDesk,” company chief executive Kevin Worth said in a statement.
The news comes amid a major shift in the cryptocurrency market, namely after FTX bankruptcy in mid-November due to fraud and funds mismanagement, among other offences.
Further issues surfaced after Genesis Global Trading Inc laid off 30 percent of its employees and faces an impending bankruptcy as early as this week, Bloomberg revealed on Wednesday.
Insolvent cryptocurrency trading firm FTX said in a statement that hackers stole roughly $415 million in digital assets from centrally-held accounts.
The theft comprises a large number of assets the company hopes to recover, it said in a presentation.
According to the bankrupt firm’s “Maximizing FTX Recoveries” presentation, its total liquid assets for recovery to $5.5 billion USD. This also includes “unauthorized third-party transfers” totalling $323 million from its global platform, FTX.com. FTX hedge fund Alameda Research lost a further $2 million to hackers.
It added,
“FTX Debtors have identified approximately $181 million of digital assets associated with FTX US as of the Petition Date, $90 million of which was subject to unauthorized third-party transfers post-petition, $88 million of which is in cold storage under the control of the FTX Debtors, and $3 million of which is pending transfer to cold storage under the control of the FTX Debtors.”
Conversely, the company outlined in its presentation that $529 million in FTT, the firm’s native token, were classified as liquid assets. FTT collapsed amid a massive liquidity crunch in mid-November last year.
John Ray, acting chief executive for the restructuring firm, said in a statement as cited by CNBC,
“We are making important progress in our efforts to maximize recoveries, and it has taken a Herculean investigative effort from our team to uncover this preliminary information.”
Hack Job at FTX?
The news comes after the company faced security breaches in November last year, potentially leading to the stolen funds. At the time, the phishing attacks forced FTX to suspend transactions after it reported more than $570 million in losses. Roughly $100 million of the funds remain missing.
Currently, FTX’s former and disgraced CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, faces charges of fraud and misappropriation of funds, among others. Total charges could hit him with up to 115 years in prison. A US-based task force has been deployed to recover the stolen funds, including those in the presentation.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has unveiled a novel toolkit for decentralised autonomous organisations. The document has received contributions from over 100 experts and aims to “develop effective operational, governance and legal strategies.”
The paper outlines a theoretical approach to DAOs and aims to unite professionals to tackle further adoption of Web3 technologies.
It read: “Our goal is to provide tools to increase understanding, demystify DAO operations, enhance DAO governance and frame the legal and regulatory questions.”
Speaking further, the initiative stated local ‘ambassadors’ and DAO community specialists could “facilitate onboarding and other key operational processes.”
It also said that sufficient policy and legal DAO frameworks were “crucial” to benefitting users and mitigating risks. Other risks included proposals from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the US Infrastructure Bill.
Such regulatory frameworks could “create competing requirements for DAOs,” it added.
It concluded:
“Like the rest of web3, DAOs are a novel and emergent phenomenon. In less than a decade, they have gone from theory to practice, mushrooming across sectors. While proponents project the continued and rapid expansion of DAOs, critics view them as ephemeral. Only time will reveal the results of the DAO experiment, demonstrating if, when and how DAOs will ultimately have their greatest impact.”
The news comes as the WEF continues to explore DAOs, namely after publishing several reports on the Web3-based organisational structure. The Davos-based event is currently taking place from 16 to 20 January and has gathered numerous world leaders, analysts, and experts.