💱BitMEX Founders Plead Guilty - TWJ #92
The long-running saga of Arthur Hayes & the legendary BitMEX.
In today’s issue:
The crypto market is slightly up with the global market cap sitting at ~$1.6-1.7 trillion. LUNA led the top 100 past 24-h performance amongst layer 1 assets. Global markets continue to stay mixed due to geopolitical uncertainties.
In other news, BitMEX founders plead guilty, Coinbase beats Q4 earnings estimates, and Block generates $2 billion revenue in Q4 BTC transactions.
We’re continually improving our content, please reach out if you have ideas or would like us to recap another segment of the market.
- Curated by Marco Manoppo (@manoppomarco)
📰Market News
⎆BitMEX Founders Plead Guilty
One of the most notable and a pioneer of the crypto derivatives market, BitMEX, has somewhat concluded its multi-year saga after co-founders Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo finally plead guilty to failing to establish an anti-money-laundering program at BitMEX.
Hayes, 36, and Delo, 38, each pleaded guilty Thursday to a single charge of violating the Bank Secrecy Act. Under the plea deal, the parties agreed that the federal sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of six to 12 months each. Hayes and Delo each also agreed to pay a fine of $10 million. If convicted at trial, they had faced as much as five years in prison.
⎆Coinbase Beats Q4 Earnings Estimates
Coinbase shares fell in postmarket trading despite generating a strong return in Q4 2021 of $2.5 billion in revenue (versus $2 billion analyst estimates). The firm reported a Q4 trading volume of $547 billion, up from $327 billion in Q3. The firm’s Monthly Transacting Users (MTU) are also up from 7.4M in Q3 to 11.4M in Q4.
⎆Block Generates $2 Billion Revenue in Q4 BTC Transactions
Jack Dorsey’s Block reported total revenue of $4.08 billion in Q4 2021 with its Bitcoin-related revenue totaling near $2 billion. The firm announced its rebranding move from Square to Block to align better with its founder’s vision regarding Bitcoin, blockchain, and crypto-assets.
👨🏻💻Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
🏛Governance - Active Proposals
Candle - Transfer from Candle governance treasury
Fei - FIP-84b: Restore newTimelock to FeiDAO
Gitcoin - Canceled proposal: Fraud Defence & Detection (FDD) - S13 Budget
🦮NFT & Metaverse
High-Profile Athletes are Spending Huge Amounts on NFTs: Here's Why
OneOf Expands Sports NFT Presence With New Collection on Polygon
OpenSea Disables Features Temporarily as Contract Migration Completes
UkraineDAO Mobilize Support and Raise Funds Via NFTs
Top Sales (Last 24-h); Source: https://dappradar.com/nft
📈Deal Flow & Capital Raise
BitsCrunch - $3.6M Unknown Round
Aligned - $34M Unknown Round
Aptos - $200M Unknown Round
InfStones - $33M Series B
⚖️Regulatory Update
President Biden Announces Technology & Bank Sanctions Against Russia
People Are Sending Bitcoin to Aid Ukraine's Military as Russia Advances
BitMEX Founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo Plead Guilty to Violating US Law
IRA Financial 'Swatted' at Time of $36M Crypto Hack
China's Supreme Court Rules Crypto Transactions Constitute 'Illegal Fundraising'
📚Noteworthy Reads
0xfbifemboy’s Read on 6 Long-Term Crypto Predictions
SBF’s Thread on Thoughts on Crypto, Ukraine, and Stocks
Maggie Hsu’s Read on Go-to-Market in Web3: New Mindsets, Tactics, Metrics
Feel free to reach out to manoppomarco@gmail.com — feedbacks and constructive criticisms are much appreciated.