# 28th Dec 2022 News Update *Crypto news, Macro Trend, Investment and Regulation* By [JOJO](https://paragraph.com/@jojo) · 2022-12-28 --- ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/24d98708ef05722e68080f313890a543.png) **News Updates**   ================== ### **Public Bitcoin mining firms are ending the year with more than $4 billion in debt: Hashrate Index reported.** Bitcoin miner Core Scientific. The company owes $1.3 billion to creditors and recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. * The troubled miner is trying to liquidate some of its inventory and plans to sell as much as 1 gigawatt worth of equipment. Marathon Digital also holds a good amount of debt. It owes about $851 million, but the bulk is in convertible notes, which means its creditors can exchange it for shares in the firm. * The company also has $31.3 million of investments in now-bankrupt Compute North. * Still, unlike Core Scientific, Marathon is reportedly not in danger of going bankrupt.  Many bitcoin miners took out loans as demand jumped. Some that were drawn against bitcoin and crypto holdings have become difficult to service, with the prices of bitcoin and crypto declining significantly since the start of the year. **Source: The Block Pro** ### **US Department of Justice probing $372M FTX exploit** According to a Dec. 27 Bloomberg report, the U.S DOJ has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of approximately $372 million in missing digital assets from now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX and FTX US. On Nov. 12, amid its bankruptcy and internal collapse, FTX warned customers of abnormal wallet activity regarding at least 228,523 Ether  transferred out of the exchange from an unknown perpetrator. In the issue’s last known update on Nov. 29, crypto analyst ZachXBT alleged that a portion of the stolen funds was transferred to Singapore-based exchange OKX using a Bitcoin mixer. Lennix Lai, managing director of OKX, responded: “#OKX is aware of the situation, and the team is investigating the wallet flow.” **Source:** [**Cointelegraph**](https://cointelegraph.com/news/u-s-department-of-justice-probing-372m-ftx-exploit-report) ### **“Running Bitcoin” half marathon will commemorate Hal Finney** Fran Finney, the widow of early Bitcoin contributor Hal Finney, announced a charity half marathon in honor of her husband via Twitter on Dec. 27. The event is called “Running Bitcoin.” It aims to collect funds for research into treatment for ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Hal Finney was diagnosed with the disease in 2009 before he passed away from complications in 2014. Harold Thomas Finney II (May 4, 1956 – August 28, 2014) was an American software developer. In his early career, he was credited as lead developer on several console games. Finney later worked for PGP Corporation. He also was an early bitcoin contributor and received the first bitcoin transaction from bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto. **Source:** [**Cryptoslate**](https://cryptoslate.com/running-bitcoin-half-marathon-will-commemorate-hal-finney/) ### **Crypto Investment Firm Midas Shutting Down Platform Following Losses** Midas Investments, an investment firm that focused on DeFi yields, is shutting down its platform following significant losses experienced in 2022. CEO and founder Iakov “Trevor” Levin wrote that this past spring, the Midas DeFi portfolio lost $50 million, or 20% of its $250 million in assets under management (AUM), and that after the collapse of Celsius and FTX, its platform experienced over 60% of AUM being withdrawn. Starting on Tuesday, Midas disabled deposits and swaps, as well as withdrawals for some time while it makes cautions and balance adjustments. Its target is to deduct 55% from user balances held in bitcoin, ether and stablecoins, with the adjustment being compensated for in MIDAS tokens which can be swapped in for tokens of its new project. **Source:** [**Coindesk**](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/12/27/crypto-investment-firm-midas-shutting-down-platform-following-losses/) ### **DEX Trader Joe is live on Arbitrum amid trend to move to multiple chains** Trader Joe launched its mainnet on Arbitrum, its first move expanding to a chain beyond Avalanche. Trader Joe plans to continue its expansion to other chains that have strong decentralized finance (DeFi) activity and expected ecosystem growth. **Source:** [**The Block**](https://www.theblock.co/post/198131/dex-trader-joe-is-live-on-arbitrum-amid-trend-to-move-to-multiple-chains) ### **SBF Filing Details $546 Million Purchase of Robinhood Shares** Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Former FTX CTO Gary Wang took out loans from Alameda Research to buy stock in the publicly traded exchange Robinhood, according to documents released on Tuesday by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Ownership of the Robinhood shares is being contested in federal court by crypto lending platform BlockFi, who say Bankman-Fried’s shares were promised to them. In the affidavit, Bankman-Fried says he and Wang formed a new company, Emergent, to acquire shares in Robinhood Markets Inc, better known as Robinhood, totaling $546.4 million. **Source:** [**Decrypt**](https://decrypt.co/118041/sbf-filing-details-546-million-purchase-of-robinhood-shares) ### **Mango Markets exploiter arrested on fraud charges**  The crypto trader behind the $110 million exploit of decentralized exchange Mango Markets has been arrested in Puerto Rico on Dec. 26  — and charged with market manipulation and fraud. According to a previously sealed complaint filed with the Southern District of New York and made public on Dec. 27, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pinned Avraham Eisenberg with one count commodities fraud and one count of commodities manipulation in relation to his exploit of Mango Markets. Eisenberg’s Oct. 11 exploit of Mango Markets worked by manipulating the value of the platform’s native token, MNGO, artificially inflating its price relative to USD Coin. Eisenberg and his team then took out “massive loans” against its inflated collateral, which drained Mango’s treasury of around $110 million worth of various cryptocurrencies.  Source: [Cointelegraph](https://cointelegraph.com/news/maybe-it-was-illegal-mango-markets-exploiter-arrested-on-fraud-charges) **Daily Crypto Income (DeFi)**  =============================== **Exponential Tech** ==================== **Macro Trend** =============== ### **Spain announces $10.6 bln package to ease inflation pain** Spain on Tuesday announced 10 billion euros ($10.65 billion) worth of measures to ease the pain of inflation in the third major package this year, bringing total aid to 45 billion euros since early 2022. The package includes a one-off bonus of 200 euros for about 4.2 million households with annual incomes up to 27,000 euros and the extension of tax cuts for energy bills into the first half of next year, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters. Spain has been grappling with a cost-of-living crisis exacerbated by the impact of the war in Ukraine on energy prices. **Source:** [**Reuters**](https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/spain-announces-106-bln-package-ease-inflation-pain-2023-2022-12-27/) **Investment** ============== ### **Bitcoin volatility index hits historic all-time low. Will BTC spike afterwards?** ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/1341eca90c92656ebf25c1c065fb92e3.png) According to TradingView data analyzed by CryptoSlate, Bitcoin (BTC) volatility index fell to its all-time lowest on Dec. 27. The chart above represents the BTC volatility index since February 2017. The metric fell to the level of 20.00 towards the end of 2022 and kept falling to see its lowest in BTC history at 11.46. The chart above demonstrates the same volatility index with a 7-day moving average. This chart shows that every time the BTC volatility index hits bottom, it records an aggressive spike afterward. Source: [Cryptoslate](https://cryptoslate.com/bitcoin-volatility-index-hits-historic-all-time-low/) ### **Crypto Stocks Continue Sell-off as COIN and HOOD Hit New Monthly Lows** The HOOD stock hits monthly lows as investors fear the liquidation of 56 million shares. Whereas other crypto stocks like COIN and MSTR continue the downtrend. The bears tighten their holds over the crypto stocks as Coinbase (COIN), MicroStrategy (MSTR), and Robinhood (HOOD) continue the downtrend.  Recently in a [court filing](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.njb.1094107/gov.uscourts.njb.1094107.19.7.pdf), Sam Bankman-Fried admitted to borrowing around $546 million from Alameda Research to acquire a 7.6% stake in stocks and crypto investing platform – Robinhood. The shares’ custody lies with a special purpose holding company, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, which is owned 90% by Sam Bankman-Fried and 10% by Gary Wang. There is a fear that these HOOD shares [might get liquidated](https://beincrypto.com/56-million-hood-stocks-to-get-liquidated/). **Source:** [**Beincrypto**](https://beincrypto.com/coin-and-hood-hit-new-monthly-lows/) ### **These Cryptos Could Dump in 2023 as Millions of Tokens Unlock From Vesting Period** **Vesting Schedules in Crypto Projects** Projects lock their native token into special “vesting” smart contracts to ensure the controlled release of their token at predetermined dates. A vesting schedule also reassures investors that the project’s creators are committed to fulfilling the project’s ultimate goal.  While a token release increases a token’s market cap, investors often sell their new tokens during difficult macroeconomic conditions, resulting in price dumps. **Sweatcoin Could Dump 30% if Bear Market Continues** Launched in Sep. 2022 on the NEAR blockchain, Sweatcoin rewards its app users with SWEAT utility tokens for exercising. Sweatcoin’s smart contracts will release 326,223,776.52 SWEAT ($3,500) on Jan. 13, 2023, for a SWEAT airdrop and contributions to the SWEAT treasury, with further unlocking of 227,105,696 SWEAT ($2,430.03) scheduled for Aug. 2023. These unlocked tokens represent roughly 2% of the SWEAT’s daily trading volume. These numbers suggest Sweatcoin could drop as much as 30% to below $0.01 after 2023 token releases. **BitDAO Could Fall Below $0.25 after the Release of 188 Million BIT** According to [TokenUnlocks](https://token.unlocks.app/bitdao), BitDAO will release about 188 million BIT ($53 million) on Jan. 15, 2023, [representing](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitdao) about ten times the token’s trading volume. An injection of 188 million BIT on Jan. 15, 2023, could see the price falling below $0.25. **APE Likely to Fall if Crypto Winter Continues** Yuga Labs first rolled out 150,000, 000 APE to holders of the Bored and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs, and plans to unlock 7.3 million ($26 million) APE for the ApeCoin DAO treasury on Jan. 17, 2023. Smart contracts will also release about 33 million APE ($105 million) on March 17, 2023  Its downward trajectory for the rest of the year to date closely mirrors a decline in interest around speculative NFTs like BAYC and metaverse-related initiatives amid an ongoing crypto winter. Unless interest in the NFT market and metaverse revives in 2023, the coming $100 million-plus token unlocks could mean more pain for APE holders. Sourc: [Beincrypto](https://beincrypto.com/these-cryptos-could-dump-in-2023-from-vesting-period/) **Regulation** ============== **Airdrops** ============ ### **Quest:Taiko's First Public Testnet / Earn an Early Poap** Taiko scales Ethereum in a manner that emulates Ethereum as closely as possible - both technically and non-technically. Taiko is an Ethereum-equivalent ZK-Rollup, scaling Ethereum by supporting all EVM opcodes in a layer-2 architecture that is decentralized. **Deadline: TBA** **Rewards:** Earn a POAP **When rewards: TBA** **How to:** ⭕️ What to do? * Request test tokens from faucets [https://l1faucet.a1.taiko.xyz](https://l1faucet.a1.taiko.xyz)  [https://l2faucet.a1.taiko.xyz](https://l2faucet.a1.taiko.xyz)  * Bridge tokens between Ethereum A1 and Taiko A1 [https://bridge.a1.taiko.xyz](https://bridge.a1.taiko.xyz)  * Join Discord / Share Feedback [https://discord.gg/taikoxyz](https://discord.gg/taikoxyz) ⭕️ What's More * If you know how to do it deploy contracts * Run Node / This makes you a part of Taiko! * Transfer Tokens between accounts ⭕️ Why are we doing this? * Earn a POAP by using your wallet to complete any 2 of the 3 following actions by January 31st 23:59 UTC Note: Token, Potential Airdrop $TKO is Taiko's native token so early users and projects supporter might be eligible for future rewards (Airdrop). --- *Originally published on [JOJO](https://paragraph.com/@jojo/28th-dec-2022-news-update)*