After the collapse of FTX, Binance enjoyed several weeks of glowing press coverage about its commitment to spend $1 billion on helping the crypto industry. However, it appears that the wallet in question still holds nearly $1 billion BUSD and hasn’t spent anything.

In its initial announcement on November 24, 2022, Binance claimed that 150 companies had applied to this so-called Industry Recovery Initiative so it’s possible that Binance is still evaluating applicants and will disburse funds sometime in the future.

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Bulgarian authorities have raided the Sofia offices of crypto lender Nexo amid claims of a number of violations, including tax offenses and computer fraud.

Police targeted more than 15 sites across the city on Thursday as part of what prosecutors called “a pre-trial investigation aimed at neutralizing an illegal criminal activity,” (via Reuters).

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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has requested that a federal judge impose a default judgement against Ooki DAO after it failed to respond to a lawsuit that alleged it violated federal commodities laws.

Ooki DAO -- formerly known as bZeroX -- is a decentralized crypto lending and borrowing protocol that offers users margin trading through loaned funds in order to increase trading exposure.

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A second group of Genesis creditors says they were misled by the lender into thinking that their money would be safe, and are now out hundreds of millions of dollars. The group is made up of individuals who were direct clients of Genesis, rather than investors who came in through Gemini or another intermediary.

At least one member of the group pulled all of his money out of Genesis in late spring, following news that the lender had significant losses tied to Three Arrows Capital (3AC), the multi-billion-dollar hedge fund that went bankrupt in May.

However, the creditor, who declined to give his name because he is still in active negotiations with Genesis, ended up putting more than $10 million back into the company in the second half of last year.

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Bitcoin is currently rallying after a brutal 2022 that saw 65% slashed from its price. But how long can the upturn last? Is it even a real rally? And why do bitcoin’s ups and downs over the past 12 months appear to be so closely tied to the fortunes of traditional stocks?

Here, Protos takes a look at bitcoin’s price history and some current activity to try and understand what’s going on in both markets.

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Crypto.com is in the process of de-listing Tether (USDT) for Canadian users, effective from the end of this month.

A Crypto.com spokesperson says this decision was made “in accordance with instructions from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) as part of our pre-registration undertaking for a restricted dealer license.” Crypto.com filed its pre-registration with the OSC at the beginning of August 2022.

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A massive tranche of ether (ETH) is unlocking soon. During a meeting on December 8, Ethereum developers decided to make staked ETH on Ethereum’s Beacon Chain available for withdrawal with the Shanghai update as early as March 2023. The meeting was ratified last week.

The Beacon Chain holds $21 billion (over 15.9 million ETH) staked within Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake system. Additional ETH is voluntarily staked into the Beacon Chain daily and cannot be withdrawn until Shanghai activates. So, by the time March arrives, the Beacon Chain will far exceed 16 million ETH.

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In what was called crypto’s first-ever insider trading case, the brother of a former Coinbase employee has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

As reported by Reuters, Nikhil Wahi, confessed last year to making trades using confidential information passed to him by his brother Ishan, a product manager at the San Francisco-based exchange.

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Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong has hinted that the spectacular implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s rival exchange FTX last year proves that his company has chosen the right strategy for long-term success. However, despite this foresight, the company has announced that it’s set to fire nearly 1,000 employees.

Armstrong broke the news early Tuesday in a message to Coinbase’s employees.

“Coinbase is well capitalized, and crypto isn't going anywhere. In fact, I believe recent events will ultimately end up benefiting Coinbase greatly (a large competitor failing, emerging regulatory clarity, etc.), and they validate our long-term strategy,” wrote Armstrong.

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The US Justice Department has launched a webpage that allows any US resident who believes they’re a victim of fraud by Sam Bankman-Fried to file an official report. It specifies 10 rights that federal crime victims have under US law, including United States Code Title 18 Section 3771. The site also provides official FTX contact information from the US government.

FTX disintegrated in November 2022 and, according to bankruptcy filings, could have more than one million creditors. It owes its top 50 creditors more than $3 billion and the US government’s bankruptcy overseer assigned a creditors’ committee to its bankruptcy case.

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