Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #36

Stories to watch out for:

📣 Crypto exchange Kraken says it will "vigorously" defend itself against the SEC.

🤡 Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) faces 18 months in prison as part of his plea deal with the US government.

🚨 Ex-Binance CEO CZ's X account (Twitter) has been suspended.

💰 SEC Commissioner says: "There is no reason for us to stand in the way of a Spot Bitcoin ETF."

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $37,477; ETH is at $2,082.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 51.45%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.43T

😲 Fear and greed index: 66 (Greed)

Ping Pong Digest has been around for quite a long time. The office has changed people, and the concept of Digest, with its inside jokes about crypto and stuff… Well, it's just dried up.

For a while now, we've been focusing on creating educational materials at Trade Crypto.

Such as:

1. Compatibility test: how to find crypto marketing agency 🔥

2. Top 5 DeFi marketing agencies: amplify success & community 🔝

3. 10 Best crypto Telegram groups 👯

4. 5 best crypto cards in 2023 💳

We have a long list of content to post. There’s bound to be something for you.

So stay tuned.

For the most important updates, you can follow our COO Sviatoslav Pinchuk on LinkedIn.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #36

Stories to watch out for:

📣 Crypto exchange Kraken says it will "vigorously" defend itself against the SEC.

🤡 Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) faces 18 months in prison as part of his plea deal with the US government.

🚨 Ex-Binance CEO CZ's X account (Twitter) has been suspended.

💰 SEC Commissioner says: "There is no reason for us to stand in the way of a Spot Bitcoin ETF."

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $34,114; ETH is at $1,788.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 53.04%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.26T

😲 Fear and greed index: 70 (Greed)

I know why we're here. Sam could never get away with it. No matter how hard he tried (there’s a lot to read since Nov last year) and no metter how hard he played a dumb card in court last week. 🤡

Read it here:

🏓 I Want That Pie

Hey folks. I love the market. BTC rise is okay, but why Pepe and Floki? SBF is playing dumb in the background, and Binance and Tether are fighting terrorism faciliatation FUD.

digest.tradecrypto.com/p/want-pie

Techcrunch journalist summed it all up brilliantly (you basically don’t even have to dive in those weeks-long trial):

The criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried is over. The jury found him guilty on all seven counts. 🔥

On March 28, 2024, Judge Lewis Kaplan will announce the final sentence. Sure, prosecutors will bide their time, but Kaplan will deliver the verdict.

We're talking big numbers here, folks. Sam faces between 5 and 20 years behind bars for each of his financial crimes, and with heavy hitters like wire fraud and money laundering on the docket, he's looking at the full 20 years. 😱

Right on the courthouse steps, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams didn't mince words. He called Sam's shenanigans as a "multi-billion dollar scheme designed to make him the king of crypto” and one of the biggest financial scams in American history. 😤

Sam's co-conspirators Caroline, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh have started cooperating with the investigation in time to blame everything on SBF so they get minimal or no jail time 🥺

First, he asks the court to deny the SEC’s motion to extradite him from prison in Montenegro for questioning in the US, and now he asks to dismiss the case against him and Terra Labs altogether. 🤬

Convincing. Not for the first time, though. Despite Terraform's earlier efforts to have the case dismissed, Judge Jed Rakoff has kept the case on the table. 😉

On Oct. 27, Kwon’s lawyers wrote, “After two years of investigation, the completion of a discovery period that resulted in the taking of more than 20 depositions, and the exchange of over two million pages of documents and data, the SEC is evidentiarily no closer to proving that the Defendants did anything wrong.” 🤡

Conclusion: Both fates are fixed and they cannot escape it, William DaFoe affirms. If serious, SBF cannot get away with the crime once he has pleaded not guilty having an army of anti-supporters, proofs, and even co-conspirators against him. As for Do Kwon's fate, he is already in prison, and his last attempt to have the case dropped failed. This attempt will also fail. Don't forget that the court in South Korea is waiting for him anyway and will certainly not play any games.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #35

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $34,114; ETH is at $1,788.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 53.04%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.4T

😲 Fear and greed index: 70 (Greed)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• FLOKI (FLOKI) +115.58%

• Pepe (PEPE) +85.00%

• Mina (MINA) +63.66%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Bitcoin SV (BSV) -15.15%

• Maker (MKR) -2.47%

• Stacks (STX) -2.25%

Before you dive into this week's news, it's vital to read last week's edition:

🏓 This is Rektober

Hey TC folks. Cointelegraph has lost it, but Bitcoin remains. SEC has lost the battle with Ripple and Grayscale, but Coinbase and Binance are still holding on. How are you holding up? Hopefully today's edition will bring something. As always, free of Fake News and with lots of humor.

digest.tradecrypto.com/p/rektober

Bitcoin climbed above $35,000 on the night of October 24, posting an 18% gain at one point. Since then, it has hovered between $33l and $35k. I realize that's a big gap and a big jump from last week, let alone the previous week. So what's the reason for that?

First, the price was hyped on news that a court has finally ruled that the SEC must review Grayscale's spot bitcoin ETF application. Note that "review" and "accept" are two different things 🧐

As if that wasn't enough, rumours started piling up that BlackRock is getting a ticker for its ETF, IBTC, and that the fund will soon be able to raise money. It was made out as if the ETF had already been approved and BlackRock was already buying BTC. In reality, that doesn't mean anything yet 😇

BlackRock's bitcoin ETF ticker initially disappeared and returned to DTCC's website, but already marked N - "not launched". Interestingly, DTCC added the IBTC ticker back in August but didn't draw attention to the story until the night before last.

Again, it has no impact on bitcoin ETF approval 😳

To add: BTC F&G index has risen to 72; and this is the highest greed score since the fall of 2021. But the altcoin season index shows only 12 points, because the main capital is directed to BTC, and its market share has already grown to 53.2% 🤑

Perhaps tomorrow no one will remember this news.

⚡️ The U.S. Department of Justice is urged to investigate Binance and Tether

▪️ Congressmen have sent a request to the Department of Justice.

▪️ Binance and Tether are suspected of engaging in "illegal activities related to terrorism"

First Binance was said to have frozen accounts of Hamas terrorists, now congressmen claim Binance supports Israeli attackers. Tether is also implicated, but only recently froze 32 addresses in Israel and Ukraine controlled by Hamas and Russia-linked organizations, lawmakers said, citing a Financial Times report. 🤡

Breaking 🚨 Someone has decided to play a stupid card.

Sam Bankman-Fried thought it was legal to take FTX deposits through Alameda. SBF took the stand first time in this criminal case. The jury was not present, so it is not entirely clear why he said he did not know he was breaking the law when he used customer funds.

Bankman-Fried testified that he spoke with Friedberg, the law firm Fenwick & West and former FTX general counsel Can Sun about the funds he took.

“I thought only to futures trading,” Bankman-Fried said when asked if he believed parts of FTX’s terms of service involved using customer funds. “And Alameda had the authority to do that.”

Conclusion: So did you buy BTC long? What are you waiting for if not? Of course you should have open positions for short, you know how fast things change in the market. But even with the Fake News, BTC is growing, and growing well, with some hiccups, but steadily. ETF approval is undeniable. We're sure, are you?

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #34

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $29,284; ETH is at $1,584.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 51.48%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.11T

😲 Fear and greed index: 53 (Neutral)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Bitcoin SV (BSV) +59.20%

• Stacks (STX) +36.88%

• MX TOKEN (MX) +24.52%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Conflux (CFX) -8.07%

• Sui (SUI) -7.04%

• Bitget Token (BGB) -5.74%

On 16 October, Cointelegraph has lost it big time. News that SEC had approved BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF caused a craze.🤑 This news drove the BTC up (< 30k) as everyone thought that bitcoin would skyrocket after the ETF was approved. However, The Block denied the information, citing a source within BlackRock. The company has not yet received any notification from SEC whatsoever. 😰

Then that happened: Cointelegraph admitted its mistake and apologized. They said that it was their intern who posted the message to be the fastest of all. He, of course, was fired after this epic mistake. 🤡

⚡️Then the CEO of BlackRock came forward and said that despite the fake news, it was a great culmination of the actual high and unmet demand for Bitcoin.

🚨Someone made money out of it. Most lost it. And we've seen once again how susceptible the cryptocurrency market is to fake news, especially now when trading volume is at an all-time low.

That fake pump earlier in the week was pretty painful. Yet do you see where Bitcoin is now? The explanation is yet to come. 🔎

When this whole fake news happened, SEC said once again that the market is full of shit and you can’t believe anything you’re told, but only believe official pronouncements from reputable sources. Such as SEC. 👹

Then SEC lost in court to Grayscale, so Grayscale is free to file an ETF application. They did that yesterday. A new application to convert GBTC into a spot bitcoin ETF! 🚀

Then BlackRock renewed their application to avoid being rejected. Fidelity's renowned application followed this.

Market confidence in Bitcoin grew as it was not dumped due to fake news but supported by major trading players. 👀 All eyes are now back on the applications.

🔸 Stuart Alderoty: "This is a surrender on the part of SEC!"

🔸 James Seyffart: "The SEC is no longer specifically after Ripple executives"

🔸 Eleanor Terrett (FOX): "Ripple will likely be able to reduce the fine, but the SEC will still ask for a significant amount so there will be a reason to brag... Lawyers say they 'expect a big fight'"

🔸 Eleanor Terrett (FOX): "This is a big win for Ripple and the crypto industry as a whole, and another defeat for SEC."

$XRP to skyrocket? 👍 👎

(Seems like someone is losing the war…)

😃 Arthur Hayes took part in developing an obscure token with the great name REKT.

It promises to be a mixture of gaming, Telegram, and Unibot.

"Welcome to the pain train! This is REKTober!" 😆

Check this out for yourself:
https://t.me/REKTgame/4473/4879
https://rekt.games/

Conclusion: How do you hold it there? It's Rektober. When there's no more energy, something good happens, like trade today. Is it just me, or is SEC losing the war? And the next thing we will hear is that they lost it to Coinbase. And what about Binance?

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #33

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $26,905; ETH is at $1,551.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 50.04%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.05T

😲 Fear and greed index: 44 (Fear)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Loom Network (LOOM) +60.19%

• Klaytn (KLAY) +4.89%

• Tether Gold (XAUt) +2.84%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Mantle (MNT) -14.69%

• Avalanche (AVAX) -12.60%

• THORchain (RUNE) -12.33%

Since FTX and SBF, Binance and CZ, Coinbase and Brian Armstrong are in the spotlight rn, I decided to give more space to these topics.

So today I'm featuring Binance and SBF blocks - more data that gives insight into what's happening. 🔥

But the industry doesn't stand still. Other important events and personas will be covered as well. Just in a nutshell. ⚡️

Let me know how you like these changes.

Start with a light foot. 🦶

1) Binance has published a new proof-of-reserves: all assets are +100% secured 💰

A lot of FUD around Binance lately. Some may argue that this PoR means nothing as it is self-verifying. Just look at these numbers and decide for yourself:

(Apparently it's not about the money, but the regulatory status)

2) The Industry Recovery Fund fiasco. 🤡 Remember this domino effect right after the FTX collapse, when one company after another became insolvent. Then CZ came in shining armour, claiming to save the industry with a $1 billion fund. The promise was huge, and many bought it (because some invested quite a lot right after the news).

But the plan to save everything was never fulfilled. Only $64 million was raised, and each company used the funds as they saw fit 🤷

3) Brazil has accused Changpeng Zhao and some regional managers of fraud. A 500-page report 🥹 was released accusing them of fraudulent management practices, acting without authorization, and illegally offering securities.

Who’s next? 💪

Sorry, I have nothing to make light of. 🥹 I was talking to my fellow designer and we were a little irritated about a story that is playing out in court. How SBF has become so... clichéd. What’s next...? 99% the same story as Anna Sorokin or Pharma Bro.🤡 Before several people will make series and films, one has already published a book. Pretty fast, isn't it?

1) According to Caroline Ellison, head of Alameda and ex-mistress of SBF, who has already pleaded guilty and appeared as a witness for the prosecution, Bankman-Fried not just planning to bribe Donald Trump before the US presidential election. He planned to become president himself. 😃

2) At the direction of SBF Allison sent the company's financial statements to banks to make Alameda appear more solvent. FTX hid Alameda's virtually endless line of credit from investors and auditors. 😎

3) Allison took notes on FTX and Alameda that were read in court. She said that sometime before the bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried was obsessed with getting regulators to take action against Binance, the largest crypto exchange, which he saw as a dangerous competitor. 😟

According to Ellison, the collapse of Binance would have increased FTX's market share.

🔥 Rumor: The Winklevoss twins secretly withdrew $280 million in assets before the collapse of Genesis.

Gemini Earn's clients are crying in the background as $900 million has been frozen since Nov. 16.

🍿 Fun Fact: TerraForm Labs is still pointing fingers at others for the USTC 2022 collapse.

Now TerraForm Labs has asked a court to deal with Citadel Securities because they had a large stake in USTC before the collapse and intentionally shorted the stablecoin. 🔎

Terra says: It wasn't our fault. Not an INSTABILITY OF THE ALGORITHM. 🤡

😱 Stablecoin USDR collapsed by ~50% 🚨

USDR is a stablecoin on Polygon that offered high yields of up to ~20% APR like UST once did.

The founders claim that this happened because they withdrew all liquid DAI from the USDR treasuries.

This led to panic and a fall in the share price. 🥹

“The company is working on a solution to this problem and has no intention to cease operations.”

I’d add: Don't step on the same rake 😬

Conclusion: I'd appreciate comments on the slightly different format. And I repeat: don't step on the same rake + draw your own conclusions. You need to find that balance. And one more funny thing: BTC investors have forgotten about spot ETFs and are now betting on the upcoming halving. The BTC dominance is at 50.04%, I guess that's the first and foremost cryptocurrency after all.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #32

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $27,541; ETH is at $1,627.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 49.62%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.08T

😲 Fear and greed index: 50 (Neutral)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Trust Wallet Token (TWT) +21.37%

• Solana (SOL) +16.06%

• Render (RNDR) +15.29%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Pepe (PEPE) -13.37%

• Frax Share (FXS) -12.03%

• ApeCoin (APE) -11.60%

A loss for SEC. The crypto community was gloating. On October 4, a federal judge rejected the SEC’s appeal of an earlier decision to dismiss the agency’s lawsuit against Ripple. It’s not a complete defeat for the regulator. Even if the crypto community would like to think so. The judge only said that SEC failed to prove itself this time, and another trial is scheduled for April 2024. The XRP price increased by 5% after this news. The funny thing is after the announcement of the so-called ”final" victory for Ripple, the XRP price is the same as before the first victory in July. Draw your conclusion.

Imagine the face of Arthur Hayes (Bitmex founder and great writer who used a lot of black humour to bring up things against SU Zhu and 3ac for owing money and letting down the industry). Su Zhu, the founder of bankrupt 3ac, was arrested at Changi Airport. He was sentenced to 4 months in prison. Kyle Davies was also sentenced to 4 months, but his whereabouts are unknown. You won’t ask why if you read our digest for a while. For all you newbies, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies delibarelely failed to comply with court and Teneo, the liquidator of 3ac. Meanwhile, they even managed to open another crypto exchange OPNX. I do suggest you read more stories about 3ac, Kyle and Su. Use a search on our website and the digest’s site.

Coinbase has filed a motion in court to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit against the exchange which alleges Coinbase of all the sins of securities violations. Probably afraid of Ripple's second victory, SEC went to court to object to Coinbase’s motion. As you can imagine judge might rule in favor of Coinbase. Even if the judge grants the motion, the very lawsuit could come out in favour of Coinbase.

Promised sequel 🍿The highly anticipated trial has just begun. What happened NOT in court: the FTX exploiter (the one who stole $600 million when FTX collapsed) unexpectedly returned a part - $36.8 million as soon as the trial started. 🤯 

What else? A former FTX employee knew about a backdoor in Alameda's $65 billion line of credit months before the platform collapsed. The employee who discovered the loophole informed his supervisor of the discovery, but instead of fixing the problem, the team member was fired. 🤡 To learn what has happened in the courtroom since October 3, I recommend the Coindesk SBF Trial Newsletter. The trial will last about 6 weeks, and we can’t give SBF that much space to report only the most important details. 😎

Conclusion: Look again at the cover of this digest again. I can’t stop gloating. I don’t mean to sound mean, but these guys who open other businesses while willfully ignoring their other business' bankruptcy proceedings deserve justice and jail time. As of jail, all eyes are on SBF. If you don't care about this stuff (then why do you subscribe?), the market is now nice for trading. Good luck!

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #31

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $26,961; ETH is at $1,651.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 49.01%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.07T

😲 Fear and greed index: 49 (Neutral)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Compound (COMP) +24.40%

• Pepe (PEPE) +21.11%

• Maker (MKR) +20.37%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Immutable (IMX) -12.96%

• UNUS SED LEO (LEO) -6.22%

• Render (RNDR) -5.42%

With a twist. Binance sold its Russian business to a local company CommEX with no buyback option. The shutdown process will take about a year. The sale was cause of DOJ's pressure on Binance sanctions violations. Rumors have been circulating since then.👂 No one knows who is behind CommEx, and the company is only a few days old. It looks and feels like Binance. What if Binance or CZ are behind it? Zhao said that CommEx's UI is similar to Binance's for simplicity and that several former employees of the exchange have moved to CommEx. Which is completely normal. 👌

Emotions are running high. During a hearing before Congress, Gary Gensler said that Bitcoin is not a security. 🔥 However, he declined to specify whether it is a commodity. Gary Gensler could be sued! The reasons: Gensler failed to produce documents requested by Congress seven months ago. He also discloses information about his relationship with FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried. Moreover, Gensler does nothing to bring clarity to crypto regulation. Some members of Congress want Gensler in jail, others just want him out of a job.

👉 Meanwhile, SEC has postponed its decision on Ethereum- ETF ARK 21Shares. The new deadline is set for December 26. They can do this indefinitely.

Thanks for the Meme of the Week (Winks to Coinbase and Stand for Crypto Day on September 27) 🎉 

LUNA founder Do Kwon is glad he was arrested in Montenegro, because now he won't be interrogated in the U.S. on October 13 by SEC 😊 And he will remain in custody there for passport fraud at least until the end of the year. Kwon is wasting no time: he has asked a federal court to reject SEC's request for extradition to the United States. It would be "impossible" to bring Kwon to the U.S. because it is not clear how long the Montenegrin punishment will last. His lawyers also cannot provide written testimony to SEC, as that would violate his rights.

CoinDesk has even created a newsletter dedicated to ex FTX CEO - Sam Bankman-Fried. That's because the most anticipated trial is about to start - on October 3. 😳 The media has been full of headlines that SBF will spend 115 years in prison - however, the court will give more like 20+ because some charges are similar. In the meantime, SBF's lawyers are trying to get him out of prison to better prepare for his defense. But that is a luxury. 👑 And the judge seemed to be a little lenient in allowing SBF to use an air-gapped laptop for notes. Anyway, we should keep an eye on the story, because the latest word is that the Justice Department has 50 new witnesses. We may learn more details that are even more crisp than Sam’s parents being involved in his dirty dealings.🍿

Conclusion: Sentiment is neutral, market is green. Green light or too early? As mentioned earlier, Bitcoin Ethereum ETFs decisions may be on hold indefinitely. But the possibility of Gary Gensler leaving SEC remains. Still, it looks more like a gamble. Surely so much irritation doesn’t really put him out of a job? Anyway, next week will probably be all about SBF. Get your popcorn ready.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #31

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $26,606; ETH is at $1,591.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 49.21%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.05T

😲 Fear and greed index: 43 (Fear)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Immutable (IMX) +34.10%

• Toncoin (TON) +20.58%

• Aave (AAVE) +16.11%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• IOTA (MIOTA) -11.29%

• Klaytn (KLAY) -8.52%

• Gala (GALA) -8.13%

SEC has long accused Binance of refusing to cooperate with investigations.😎The regulator stressed that Binance.US's BAM Trading had provided only provided 220 docs as part of the disclosure process. However, most of these docs are screenshots and documents without dates or sigs. SEC added that BAM refused to call key witnesses and instead interviewed only four witnesses of its choice. 🥶

Then SEC wanted to force Binance.US to show what’s under the rug. But the court has so far denied SEC access to Binance.US's software because it found the regulator's arguments unconvincing.🤬 Nevertheless, the court asked the exchange to better cooperate with the investigation and gave SEC the opportunity to present new arguments for the need to disclose the data 🧐

SEC will not stop at Coinbase and Binance. It plans to file new lawsuits against other cryptocurrency exchanges and DeFi projects that violate securities laws. This is what SEC's chief David Hirsch said. 📢

According to Hirsch, SEC is already investigating several crypto companies that failed to register with the regulator or adequately inform investors about their activities and risks.🤡 These may not only be exchanges, but also brokers, dealers, clearinghouses or other market participants.

✋🏻 One hand: SEC, just calm down. We know you have the power. Everyone is in danger. Obey.

🤚 Other hand: Why stop? Pretty expected move. If you’re against a public company, why not against smaller companies?

Grayscale has applied to the SEС to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that will track the price of Ethereum via futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). 🤔

If the SEC approves the application, the Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust will be the first Ethereum ETF in the United States. Futures ETFs are somewhat easier to file than spot ETFs because they avoid some of the regulatory hurdles associated with holding and transferring digital assets. 🥹

📈 📉 In the meantime, traders are like: what to do, short or long?

Stanford University has decided to return donations received from FTX. $5.5 million was transferred to the University by Sam Bankman-Fried's father.😎

As it happened, FTX filed a lawsuit against SBF's parents. 🤡 The exchange's current management accuses them of misappropriating customer funds. Specifically, the lawsuit seeks $5.5 million that Joseph Bankman transferred to the University in donations between November 2021 and May 2022.

Conclusion: It seems that the message shrinks several players. Bored? Don’t be, because new battles against DeFi are coming up. How do you trade and what should be your support system - a tough question. The f&g index is slowly getting smaller. Stay informed and don’t get caught up in the hysteria.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #30

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $26,584; ETH is at $1,629.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 49.10%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.06T

😲 Fear and greed index: 45 (Fear)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Bitcoin Cash (BCH) +11.80%

• VeChain (VET) +9.15%

• THORChain (RUNE) +7.97%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• ApeCoin (APE) -17.57%

• Astar (ASTR) -16.40%

• Pepe (PEPE) -16.09%

First, I will talk about the former FTX, especially the state of affairs for SBF and his inner circle. Then I will talk about the current FTX and what exactly has shaken the entire alt market this week.

Ryan Salame, the former FTX manager, will plead guilty, primarily to massive political donations from user funds. With that, he joins the group of culprits of Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang. As a reminder, SBF has pleaded not guilty and is not willing to cooperate with the government. 🤡

This week, a juicy rumour came to light: It turns out that SBF’s parents, Stanford law professors, were actively involved in building the FTX empire. Whether they will be held accountable is now unclear. 🤔

FTX now: The company received court approval to liquidate $3.4 billion in assets. The markets went crazy as if FTX was dumping everything at once. 🥶 The Solana community in particular took a hit, as FTX held ~$1 billion in SOL. In fact, FTX's limit on sales is $50 million for the first week is $50 million, and $100 million thereafter. You know, when the F&G index is on Fear for several weeks, this crazy reaction was just right. Now it has stabilized anyway. 🤔

Yes, if people changing jobs, that’s perfectly fine. But in 2023, more than 10 executives left Binance.🥺 Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says the departure of key executives is irrelevant as they continue their careers outside the company. The latest on the list of fugitives are the Binance US Chief Risk Officer & Head of Legal and Binance US CEO. To be fair, we should have compiled a similar list with other large companies and looked at what happened there during the same period. And Binance is really very large.🤔 And some things are just out of control. But given the regulatory pressure, this exodus of executives is kind of scary.

Coinbase wants to make it big outside the United States. The reason is the same: more adequate cryptocurrency regulation. SEC chair Gary 🤡 says crypto companies are not compliant with laws and are full of flaws. Scammers, in short.

Nana Murugesan and Tom Duff Gordon, vice presidents of global business and international policy at Coinbase, specifically named the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Singapore, and Australia as "near-term priority markets" These countries "enact clear regulations" and Coinbase will focus on "acquiring licenses, registering, building, and expanding operations" in these. 😎

Conclusion: We do the best we can. Fear is normal, but you shouldn't panic and make decisions based on that feeling. 💪 At least look at how Binance is holding up, and what Coinbase is saying and acting. Regarding FTX - no comment. I definitely advise you to look into the rumours of SBF dad's involvement, but that will bring nothing but unpleasant feelings. The only healthy conclusion is that the fraud did not happen in a vacuum, but that the inner exec circle and maybe family knew.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #29

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is flat. BTC is trading at $26,226; ETH is at $1,645.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 48.38%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.05T

😲 Fear and greed index: 46 (Fear)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Synthetix (SNX) +15.11%

• IOTA (MIOTA) +14.18%

• Render (RNDR) +9.49%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Gala (GALA) -15.23%

• dYdX (DYDX) -7.91%

• Mantle (MNT) -7.15%

Oops, the court did it again. 🤤 A New York court has ruled that ETH and BTC are commodities and dismissed a class action lawsuit against Uniswap. In April 2022, a group of investors claimed Uniswap and its founder Hayden violated U.S. securities laws by failing to register as a securities exchange or broker-dealer. Uniswap is responsible for causing investors to lose money through "fraudulent tokens" issued on the platform, it said. The tokens named in the lawsuit are ERC-20, EMAX, BEZOGE and AWF. The court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the true defendants in this case are the issuers of the "fraudulent tokens," not Uniswap. 🫡

Disappointment for Grayscale. 😤 They beat SEC so soundly in court so soundly that now don't know whether to wait for a new decision from the regulator or file a new application. And they won't know for another 45 days. But they are not discouraged: On Sept. 5, Grayscale's lawyers sent a letter to SEC asking for a meeting to discuss next steps. They wrote to SEC: We believe the nearly one million investors in the fund deserve this fair outcome ASAP.🤬 Oh yes, SEC, we really all believe that matters need to be resolved sooner rather than later.

Update on crypto ad, including NFT games! Starting September 15, advertisers offering non-gambling NFT games will be able to promote via Google Ads. 🔥 Google banned crypto ads in 2018, but relaxed its policies in 2021 to allow ads for crypto exchanges and wallets in the U.S. as long as they are registered with financial authorities and comply with the law. However, Google continues to ban ads for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), decentralized financial protocols (DeFi), and any ads related to crypto gambling. 🤫

Roman Storm, that just recently released on 2 million bond bail and with travel restrictions in the U.S., pleaded not guilty to all charges.😮‍💨 The charges are: Money Laundering, Sanctions Violations and Embezzlement of Unlicensed Cash Transfers. We had expected this move, as Alexey Pertsev, the Tornado Cash dev who was arrested on the same charges in 2022, was recently released from prison and denied any ties to Lazarus Group. As we said before, it seems that the US is conducting a witch hunt, while the crypto world does not see Tornado Cash as black as the government. 😤

Here’s the joke about Celsius and how things went south. Let's not gloat too much, that's what Celsius’ creditors are for. 😉 Just a reminder, Alex was arrested on July 13 on criminal and civil charges and released on $40 million bail pending trial. Now, no money can leave certain bank accounts, and real estate is also closely monitored. No way out. Is there any chance he can get away with ripping off billions? 🤡

Conclusion: As the last image shows: The sweet taste of justice. This week, you can sit with a similar cup of tea and watch the charts change from red to green with no clear signs. The court decides everything in the U.S., not the regulators. And while the surface of things may be a little scary, things like Google being allowed to run NFT ads are something of a warm glow.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #28

🔥 TRADERS ALERT: 10 Best crypto Telegram groups

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $25,986; ETH is at $1,644.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 48.38%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.05T

😲 Fear and greed index: 40 (Fear)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Toncoin (TON) +22.40%

• Maker (MKR) +14.65%

• XDC Network (XDC) +8.22%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Hedera (HBAR) -14.08%

• Astar (ASTR) -12.61%

• WOO Network (WOO) -9.48%

Grayscale wins in court against SEC to launch spot ETF. The market immediately went through the roof. 🚀 The industry was celebrating as it was everybody's victory. The court said, "Grayscale has presented undeniable evidence that there is a 99.9% correlation between the spot market and the CME futures price." Add to that the fact that SEC actually did not explain why it approved the listing of the two futures funds but not Grayscale’s. What a candle we saw in Bitcoin. Yet it went down and now is trading at $26,000. 🧐

Binance will discontinue its BUSD stablecoin in 2024. In fact, they have already kinda removed it, as Paxos stopped minting new BUSDs earlier this year under pressure from regulators ❌ No worries if you have some BUSDs, you still convert it into other stables. In the background, SEC has filed 35 pieces of evidence against Binance under seal. Rumors are circulating everywhere, to the point that the SEC has kept the evidence under wraps so as not to let the crypto market collapse 😳 

The token just plummeted 24%.📉 More than 16 trillion coins were sent from the project team's wallet on CEXs: Bybit, Binance etc. Someone took notice and the charts bled. The team then explained the token outflow - there are disagreements and disputes within the team, some of its members stole PEPE 16 trillion and drained it through the market, then they removed themselves from multi-sig and deleted their social media accounts. As officially announced on Twitter, everything is fine now and they are terribly sorry for your losses. ☹️

My personal fav saga continues (GenesisxGeminixDCG). Genesis' bankruptcy had been controversial for months because of DCG. DCG agreed to repay Genesis $600 million in May 2023 and $1.1 billion in 2032. That didn’t satisfy any of Genesis' creditors, who say that doesn’t even cover the undisputed amounts.🤬 They also disagreed that DCG and Barry Silbert (DCG's CEO) would be released from future legal claims. And then Gemini, who held on to this bankruptcy (because of the famous Earn program) and DCG despite the obvious bad relationship with Barry, called the bankruptcy plan woefully inaccurate. 🤡

"Debtors have repeatedly promised that a plan that resolves claims against DCG is right around the corner, as they seek extension after extension of mediation periods, hearing dates, and bid deadlines," the Gemini filing said. The harm to Gemini is made worse, it added, as DCG "has "not paid any of the approximately $630 million in loans that were due to the Debtors in May 2023."

⚡️ Disclaimer: Just go through all of our digests and Trade Crypto news via search to refresh how this story unfolded.

Conclusion: I do hope you enjoyed the candle and didn’t lose much on BTC this week. I was hoping the price wouldn’t fall back to where it was, but yeah, Grayscale’s win doesn’t necessarily mean bitcoin ETFs will be approved soon. And SEC has delayed filings for all spot BTC ETFs until mid-October... So buckle up and read our list of Telegram groups for traders.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #27

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $26,035; ETH is at $1,652.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 48.37%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.05T

😲 Fear and greed index: 39 (Fear)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) +14.40%

• Sui (SUI) +13.42%

• WOO Network (WOO) +11.83%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Pepe (PEPE) -20.72%

• Curve DAO Token -11.06%

• Maker (MKR) -8.51%

Relatively peaceful times just come to an end for Tornado Cash. While one of the developers (Alexey Pertsev) was released on bail pending trial in Amsterdam, the US government let the dogs loose on the founders - Roman Storm and Roman Semenov. The charges are not new - they are accused of laundering a billion and violating sanctions (Wink to Lazarus Group). As you know, the mixer is banned in the US, and since Lazarus is so elusive, I guess they'll just have to convict someone. 🤡 Tornado Cash, in that regard. I won’t even get into why privacy software developers aren't responsible for illegal activities. But there's going to be a fight. The lawyer already helped Roman Storm get out on bail, expressing disappointment that Storm was convicted of something he had nothing to do with. 💪

Binance suspended euro deposits and withdrawals for the EU due to issues with payment providers. Then UK digital payment platform Checkout stopped working with Binance due to regulatory issues. Then OpenSea stopped working with BNB. As you may have heard, the DOJ is investigating Binance for possible US sanctions violations against Russia.🧐 On this news, BNB fell to its lowest level in a year. To make matters worse, Mastercard and Visa no longer want to do business with Binance. Visa stopped issuing the new Binance Card, and Mastercard ended cooperation in 4 countries (starting September 22): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bahrain. Just briefly, Binance is so big that the number of bad news is well proportioned to the positive. Your bets? 😉

The lawyers of Sam Bankman-Fried complain about the conditions of detention in prison. According to them, the businessman suffers from terrible deprivations, especially due to the fact that the prisoners' menu includes meat products. Bankman-Fried, who is a vegan is forced to eat bread with peanut butter. In addition to dietary problems, he has not received medication for his diagnosed ADHD since arriving at the prison.😮‍💨 Not a coincidence, SBF has requested a leave for legal work. As a reminder, he got into prison earlier for violating his bail conditions - he talked to the press and messed up the evidence. Prosecutors alleged Bankman-Fried shared the documents with reporters to portray Allison as a "jilted mistress" working alone. And again, he awaits trial in one of the worst prisons - MDC at Brooklin. Gloating? 👿

While Coinbase is battling with the SEC accusing the exchange of everything bad, the CFTC, another major federal agency in the U.S., has granted Coinbase approval for futures trading.⭐️ Contradictions? This approval is an important precedent and gives Coinbase the right to join the two major derivatives exchanges - CME and CBOE. 💪

“Since the global crypto derivatives market can be three to four times larger than spot market, this approval increases Coinbase’s total addressable market,” Dan Dolev, an analyst at Mizuho Securities, wrote in an Aug. 16note, as reported by Barron’s.

Conclusion: It's hard to single out a highlight. Except for one - the market is caving in. Red is not my favourite colour. Tighten the belt or buy the dip?

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

According to Adam Cochran’s investigative efforts, the respectable investor and Sherlock Holmes’ crypto cousin 🔍 alleges that the Huobi exchange holds only $90 million of USDT and USDC assets - much less than the $630 million reported in Huobi’s Merkle Tree Audit. The difference is allegedly due to Justin Sun - a member of Huobi’s Global Advisory Board and the exchange’s de facto puppet master - utilizing users’ funds for funding his DeFi applications. What’s more, Cochran also says users’ ETH holdings were converted into sETH without their knowledge or consent, and Sun’s got his paws on half of the 141,000 total. And even when Sun’s DeFi apps are considered, Sun’s using Huobi as a personal piggy bank, as only half of Huobi’s obligations are accounted for. Despite Huobi’s assurance that operations are normal, Cochran says that, while people lie 🤥, blockchains don’t.

Conclusion: While Huobi’s facing rumors of insolvency and checking its pockets for spare change, the overall outlook is bright. Stablecoins could be the backbone of the payments system. And SEC will likely start singing a different tune and stay current with innovations in the financial sector. It’s still too early to pop the champagne, but there’s a reason for optimism.

Let us know how you would rate today's digest:

• 😍 Loved it

• 🤨 Could have been better

• 🤮 Better luck next time

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #25

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $29,149; ETH is at $1,830.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 48.73%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.16T

😲 Fear and greed index: 54 (Neutral)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• XDC Network (XDC) +42.88%

• Bone Swap (BONE) +24.12%

• Optimism (OP) +17.06%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Curve DAO Token (CRV) -20.60%

• Compound (COMP) -18.49%

• Synthetix (SNX) -13.08%

The new meme coin BALD made almost x30,000% in 24 hours. And then it SCAMmed. BALD is a meme token launched on Base, a new blockchain platform developed by Coinbase. Base is an L2 network for Ethereum that offers high speed and low transaction costs. BALD is traded on LeetSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Base. The scheme looked like this: you buy ether, then buy BALD on the BASE chain, fix the profit and have the choice to buy a new token or stay with ether.🤪 The money doesn't come out of the blockchain, it just flows in. People don't fix. They keep trading. And so it spirals after spiral until the pyramid collapses. At some point, the token's creators decided they had enough and pulled out all the liquidity, earning $23 million. Beware, lovers of quick profits. 🤬

The story didn’t stop there.

Blockchain investigators decided to look into the BALD developer's past. There they found a link to SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried, ex-FTX CEO).🤡 Cause thousands of ETH were transferred from wallets associated with FTX and Alameda Research to the Ethereum wallet associated with the launch of the BALD token. Just a reminder, SBF is under strict bail and doesn't have an internet connection, so those rumours are just conspiracy theories.😵‍💫 But someone from the past FTX may have a buddy who created this BALD token. This theory fits better if you ask me.

U.S. Department of Justice plans to charge Binance for fraud. Charges against Binance could result in the bankruptcy of the American branch. CZ posts “4”. If indictments are filed, a compromise is still possible - fines, a deferral agreement, etc. Is it a FUD that will fade away in a few days?🤟 Semafor added to the story, saying that the DOJ is looking at other options because they are afraid of a bank run. Subtext: we want and we are sure, but we care about crypto users. On the same day, Binance celebrated a milestone: they onboarded 150 million users. FUD aside, Binance has added 30 million new users since 2022, showing a 25% increase. 📈

Why do you see these clickbaits everywhere? Curve Finance founder's $100 million debt could trigger DeFi's collapse. While Curve Finance still suffers from the recent $47 million hack, another issue directly affects CRV holders. On Aug. 1, Delphi Digital tweeted a detailed report that Egorov, the founder of Curve, has about $100 million in loans under various lending protocols secured by 427.5 million CRVs. On the Aave platform, Egorov has 63.2 million USDT in loans secured by 305 million CRVs. Delphi Digital stated that this position could be liquidated at a token price of 0.3767 USD. At the moment, CRV is trading at about $0.57. 😵‍💫 Egorov also has 59 million CRV on the Frax Finance platform, securing a debt of 15.8 million FRAX tokens. The loan is currently 100% utilized, resulting in the interest rate on the loan doubling every 12 hours. Delphi Digital has stated that it could rise to 10,000% in just 3.5 days. 😰 This will lead to liquidation regardless of the price of the CRV token.

And here it is. Again, the comparison with SBF. 🤡

Conclusion: Such a crazy week: possible death of DeFi, crazy scam token, another FUD for Binance. And lots of things in the background. For example, Gary Gensler’s interview where he said he doesn’t like cryptocurrencies and he is one of 5 people reviewing BTC EFT applications. By the way, 6 companies applied for ETH ETFs. But other events have overshadowed this news. Should you be concerned? Let’s talk about it next week and see how this CRV thing plays out.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #24

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $29,180; ETH is at $1,859.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 48.19%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.18T

😲 Fear and greed index: 52 (Neutral)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• XDC Network (XDC) +39.30%

• Casper (CSPR) +12.34%

• Immutable (IMX) +8.66%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Injective (INJ) -14.83%

• Pepe (PEPE) -13.13%

• Gala (GALA) -13.08%

According to the complaint filed by the CFTC in March, Binance offered derivatives trading to U.S. citizens as of July 2019 and its compliance program was ineffective. 🤔 In addition, the exchange and its employees informed U.S. VIP customers of best practices to evade laws. The Commission is seeking fines and injunctions against the company and its management. The whole story could cost Binance a hefty sum. That's why they filed two separate motions and asked the judge for permission to exceed a 15-page limit for the brief, since they have much to say. 💪

Remember the grumpy face of SEC chain Gary Gensler 😡 when the judge ruled in favor of Ripple? Now SEC signalises the possible appeal in a separate case against Terra. XRP fans are not worried as if filed, it will take a few more years, but the price has fallen to $0.70. Ripple's legal counsel Stuart Alderoty believes that if SEC sends the case to appeal, the court will take steps to cement Ripple Labs' victory over SEC. The media actively echo this opinion. Bets? 💪

Worldcoin, backed by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, debuted this week and there were long lines of people willing to scan their irises 👀 to get a World ID with 25 free $WLD or about $56. Let’s look at what Worldcoin is all about: there is hardware that scans eyeballs, a Worldcoin wallet and a crypto token $WLD. Most of this is being launched on l2 Optimism. Why such a fuss? Your iris is proof that you are human.🫣 It’s an alternative way to access crypto (parallel financial systems, etc.) if you can’t or don’t want to reveal your ID, address, name, etc. Some say scanning eyes is creepy, while others praise it for being the closest thing to inclusion (one of the biggest promises of the Web3) and a great tool in the age of AI (with a nod to Sam Altman).👻 While there’s general support for the project by prominent crypto players (like the biggest crypto exchanges, which have strict KYC controls), some say that Worldcoin struggles to find new users, especially compared to the 2 million signups before launch. Remember, the idea behind this is to get all of humanity involved. Who knows which way it will go because it’s still early, and Worldcoin isn't quite there yet. 🤔

Two lines: Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) donated $93 million in stolen customer funds to U.S. politicians. What is the U.S. government doing? They dropped a political campaign criminal charge against SBF. 🤡 If they don’t prosecute him for this, how would the current FTX return the funds to users? Of course, they may win in court, as they filed a similar lawsuit against SBF last week. Meanwhile, a US judge is considering putting Sam in jail for violating bail conditions when he released some evidence to the media. I think the court will not be as soft as the US government. 🫠

Conclusion: There is a constant battle between crypto and regulators. Sometimes we wonder where those regulators were when something terrible was happening. Like with Terra and FTX. And did it affect the scrutiny of other crypto players? The shape of regulation remains unclear.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

We work pretty hard, and from time to time we need to relax. Recently we got a ping pong table to complete our chill zone. As you all know, our biggest hobby is crypto, and even when we play, we don’t shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, and gossip happen – we collect them and share them with you. We like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest.

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #23

In case you’ve missed our guide on crypto marketing:

Compatibility test: how to find crypto marketing agency

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is flat. BTC is trading at $29,863; ETH is at $1,890.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 48.27%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.2T

😲 Fear and greed index: 50 (Neutral)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Synthetix (SNX) +30.69%

• XDC Network (XDC) +24.73%

• Maker (MKR) +22.91%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Rocket Pool (RPL) -20.38%

• Fantom (FTM) -18.06%

• Lido DAO (LDO) -14.38%

Binance turned 6 🥳, but the celebration was spoiled by a price drop on Binance US due to low USD liquidity and FUD in the media about the layoff of 1,000 employees. But on the other hand the exchange didn't leave any country for the second week in a row. 😎

Local regulators found leverage on the exchange, which the SEC couldn't.😡Now staking isn't available in California, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Wisconsin until further notice. In other states, staking is available as usual. Coinbase's other service, Borrow, which allowed users to obtain fiat loans up to $1 million against 30% of their bitcoins, will be discontinued in November 2023. Although the latest decision has nothing to do with the lawsuits filed by SEC and the states, as Coinbase announced in May that it would reevaluate its services, the situation seems tense. 🥲

SEC officially... (admittedly, I cringe every time I see a message begin with those three letters)..has accepted updated spot bitcoin ETF applications from BlackRock, VanEck, Invesco, Galaxy, Fidelity, WisdomTree and Bitwise.💪 Of course, the review of applications can go on for a long time. Don't forget Grayscale, which has long been battling SEC for a Bitcoin ETF license. Grayscale GBTC has generated $183 million in daily trading volume this year. GBTC's price discount has been 25% at times - a low since the spring of 2022. Institutional players are also reading the news and returning to trading bitcoin. 🤑

Arthur Hayes’s essay on bitcoin-backed stablecoin NakaDollar has led the developers of Portugal to create a startup called Ethena to create an algorithmic stablecoin (nothing like Terra, exhale, my friends)😎 backed by Ethereum. This coin will keep its value by using the collateral of its users. To keep its price stable, it'll use this collateral to make a kind of bet against Ethereum with a tool called perpetual swaps. So far, $6 million has been raised, led by Arthur Hayes, his family office Maelstrom, Dragonfly and some crypto exchanges. The token is scheduled to launch in 2023 Q3. And as some have said, we're about to enter a golden era of decentralized stablecoins. 💡

How many trials did you count for Sam? Add another one! We recently told you that FTX had collected $7b (out of $8.7 billion) and was ready to relaunch. But there's still a hole in the debt. FTX is suing founder Sam Bankman-Fried and other former cryptocurrency exchange executives to recover more than $1 billion they allegedly misappropriated before FTX went bankrupt.👹 FTX claims that SBF and co. used the money for things like fancy apartments, money for politicians, risky deals and other pet projects. According to FTX, this is one of the biggest money scams ever. 🤡

Conclusion: The market has calmed down a bit, and the general sentiment has dropped to 50 neutral. The focus is still on the same names. It's like a thunderclap is about to happen. Ethena deserves attention, the vector further from banks remains. Is cryptocurrency getting stronger?

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

TC lads here are working quite hard and from time to time we gotta chill. Recently, we got ourselves a ping pong table to complete our lazy-bag-stuffed chill zone. As you all know our main hobby is Crypto, so even while we play we don’t really shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, gossips naturally come about – we collect them and share them with you in this interstellar space on our site we like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #22

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $31,322; ETH is at $2,006.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 48.46%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.26T

😲 Fear and greed index: 60 (Greed)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• XRP (XRP) +69.14%

• Stellar (XLM) +57.74%

• Solana (SOL) +42.83%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• eCash (XEC) -15.05%

• BitcoinSV (BSV) -6.24%

• Maker (MKR) -5.16%

UK's Jacobi Asset Management is finally opening the first-ever bitcoin spot ETF in Europe after getting the green light from regulators back in October 2021. Everything was great then, but the collapses of Terra and FTX made Jacobi wait.🤡 Now, because of the bitcoin craze started by the US TradFi, they're finally opening through the Euronext exchange in the Netherlands. 🎯The Jacobi Bitcoin ETF is a centralized crypto-backed financial instrument that differs from the traditional exchange-traded notes (ETNs) that dominate the European market. ETF shareholders own a portion of the fund's underlying assets, while ETN investors own debt securities.

Elon has just started a company called xAI. Not much is known about it except that this new company has great talent, will work closely with Elon's other companies, and was founded to "understand the true nature of the universe." The mainstream media called xAI a competitor to ChatGPT because Elon once wanted to create TruthGPT, an AI maximum truth-seeking chatbot. 🤔 We won't get far in analyzing whether Musk entered the game. As always, the crypto community reacted to the news. AI-related tokens like AGIX and FET were bounced and have been rising ever since. There was a similar sentiment like this in late May when Nvidia announced that it was bullish on AI. 🚀

The first hearing in the Coinbase x SEC fight happened on Thursday. Everyone should keep a close eye on it because it may set a precedent for the entire crypto space. That's not an exaggeration, considering how many tokens are designated as securities by SEC.👊 The judge asked several interesting questions, such as how SEC first approved Coinbase's S1 (when Coinbase went public), was trading assets, and then SEC sued them, saying some of the assets Coinbase traded were securities. SEC said that an ICO isn't a blessing. When asked if bitcoin or ether are securities, SEC said that BTC obviously isn't, and they didn't mention ether in their lawsuit. The hearing ended with the judge encouraging both parties to be brief and reasonable. 👌

🤡…SEC’s motto: better late than never. But now it's clear how they missed the FTX fraud. The company is accused of raising money through illegal and unregulated sales of "cryptocurrency securities," repeatedly misleading investors about its financial condition, and influencing the price of the native token CEL. The former CEO of Celsius, Alex Mashinsky, was arrested and charged with crypto fraud by three US authorities. They alleged that Alex looted up to $42 million. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. He'll be released on $40 million bail, with travel restrictions, of course. The CEL token was down only 6%, because it simply can't get any worse. 📉

Last night, an unprecedented event occurred in the crypto industry. Ripple won a court case against SEC, proving that XRP isn't a security.🎉 The judge ruled, "XRP, as a digital token itself, isn't a 'contract, transaction, or scheme' that meets the Howey test for an investment contract." With that, the litigation, which had been ongoing since December 2020 and was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ended on July 13 in Ripple's favor. The XRP price rose by over 70%.🚀 Beware of XRP scams amid SEC-induced hype.

Conclusion: First, a Ripple victory could kick off the alt-season we've been waiting for. Bitcoin dominance has declined and now stands at 48.46%. Also, did you notice that ETH broke the 2k mark? The judge in the SEC x Coinbase hearing seemed to be more on Coinbase's side, but it's too early to draw conclusions. As for AI tokens, Doom Cat has generally spoken out. Well, and Celsius couldn't do worse.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

TC lads here are working quite hard and from time to time we gotta chill. Recently, we got ourselves a ping pong table to complete our lazy-bag-stuffed chill zone. As you all know our main hobby is Crypto, so even while we play we don’t really shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, gossips naturally come about – we collect them and share them with you in this interstellar space on our site we like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #21

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $30,138; ETH is at $1,855.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 49.94%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.17T

😲 Fear and greed index: 55 (Greed)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Maker (MKR) +40.00%

• BitDAO (BIT) +19.70%

• Flow (FLOW) +16.40%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• ApeCoin (APE) -16.80%

• Fantom (FTM) -12.57%

• Synthetix (SNX) -10.02%

Arthur Hayes gasped when he heard this. Kyle Davies said in one of the Twitter spaces that they'll donate "future savings" to creditors who lost money last year. In the spirit of karma. 😬That's right, the same guys who have long ignored the bankruptcy trustees actually believe in karma and are now planning a "shadow recovery plan." We can confidently point out that he mentioned in his speech that this plan calls for "donating" money over time. Not now. Maybe that's "karma" in Kyle's eyes.👽

Our favorite story. Nothing has changed since Gemini, Genesis, and DCG were under our active watch. Cameron Winklevoss is still writing letters to Barry Silbert 😑 complaining about delays in repayments to Earn customers. He also complains that Barry owes Genesis and that he hasn't provided a plan for repayment to Genesis customers. In the letter, Winklevoss stated that DCG and Silbert could be dragged into court if Barry doesn't agree to "this deal" before the deadline (which was July 3). So what do you think? Nothing happened. Cameron also invited Barry to discuss the plan on the Twitter spaces, without lawyers, etc. He probably won't respond again. 🤡

Not that they did anything wrong. 🥱The large-scale trend of declining interest in NFTs is evident. Other collections such as MoonBirds, Azuki, and Doodles are also declining. According to CoinGecko, the BAYC floor price fell to 27.4 ETH, about $53,000. Last time BAYC's floor price was below 30 ETH was in October 2021, just before the price soared to new record highs during the NFT craze. You asked who bought BAYC at the time of the NFT craze? Justin Bieber. But we're sure BAYC is planning to hit new highs again. 🤑

SEC found applications "inadequate" 🤒 last week because many of them hadn't filled in the name of the partner in bitcoin spot ETFs. Blackrock and others refiled naming Coinbase as one. As strange as this decision may seem from the outside, given that the SEC is investigating Coinbase's "crimes," there is actually nothing strange about it. Coinbase represents up to 56% of dollar-to-bitcoin trading on US platforms this year. What will SEC say this time? 🤔

New day, new FUD about Binance. Binance's Chief Strategy Officer, Senior Vice President of Compliance and General Counsel have left the company. CZ says "4" in his Twitter, as usual.😎 Yes, there are employee departures (as in any other company). But the reasons given in the news are completely false. They continue to BUILD and continue to hire. Again, we admire Binance's stand before the face of the apparent failure of PR. 🫡

Conclusion: Same old same gold. Despite the fruitful week of events, it feels like a broken record. Really sorry for Gemini, and we're inspired by Binance's high posture. BTC is holding at 30-31 and has even broken its correlation with U.S. stocks. Amid the ETF craze, crypto market trading volumes rose for the first time in 3 months. Still, everything is a bit boring. However, this only means that we'll soon feel an urgent change in sentiment.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

TC lads here are working quite hard and from time to time we gotta chill. Recently, we got ourselves a ping pong table to complete our lazy-bag-stuffed chill zone. As you all know our main hobby is Crypto, so even while we play we don’t really shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, gossips naturally come about – we collect them and share them with you in this interstellar space on our site we like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #20

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is green. BTC is trading at $30,747; ETH is at $1,881.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 50.16%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.19T

😲 Fear and greed index: 56 (Greed)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Bitcoin Cash (BCH) +114.76%

• Compound (COMP) +81.40%

• Bitcoin SV (BSV) +40.77%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• Conflux (CFX) -19.23%

• Sui (SUI) -12.71%

• BitDAO (BIT) -10.02%

Unexpectedly for mere mortals, the SEC has accepted and approved Volatility Shares' application for 2x ETF. It's the first leveraged fund in the US and trading began this Tuesday. 📈 A 2x leveraged ETF (BITX) allows customers to profit from bitcoin by investing only half of its value. Despite Wall Street's enthusiasm and obvious attention to bitcoin, there weren't many buyers and sellers on the first day BITX opened. Compared to the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which was the first to trade bitcoin futures contracts in the U.S., there was only about half a percent of activity. BITO was launched in October 2021 and saw many more trading participants. 🥹

Binance has pulled back from many places this week. Let's count on our fingers: Cyprus, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Austria.🥹Then the exchange was canceled for registration in Germany. Then it said it'll change its euro banking partner. By the way, the lawsuit against Binance in the US is still ongoing. To clarify FUD, we add that Binance apparently needs only one country in the EU to operate throughout the Union in times of the upcoming MiCA.😎 Whether you need to worry or not is up to you.

Rumors aside, Fidelity has officially applied to register a bitcoin spot ETF. The company manages 4.3 trillion in assets.😎 Last week, Fidelity and co. also launched the EDX crypto exchange. Handy. Two weeks after Blackrock, then WisdomTree, VanEck and Invesco. However, WisdomTree's application has already been denied. And let's not forget Grayscale, which is in dispute with SEC because the regulator rejected its application. And 2 weeks ago Bitcoin was trading at only $26,000, now it's at $30,700. 🧨

Cathie Wood's company, ARK Investment Management, claims it could be the first to receive approval to create a new bitcoin spot ETF.🚀 Some believe another firm, BlackRock Inc, could get approval first. But ARK has made changes to its application, including a deal between the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and likely Coinbase. These changes make ARK's application similar to BlackRock's, and ARK could be approved first because it applied earlier, in April. 🤓

Just as we were cleaning up the news that FTX had already returned about $7 billion (out of $8.7 billion) in liquid assets to customers, more came in. FTX is officially in talks to relaunch as an international crypto exchange. In this way, John Ray III hopes to compensate some customers by offering them a stake in FTX 2.0. FTT token +39%.🤪 Opinions differ, of course, especially considering how badly the crypto market was screwed up by ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Meanwhile, the court has denied Sam's application to dismiss most of the criminal charges. So if he's convicted on all counts, he'll have to serve more than 100 years. 🥶

Conclusion: Bitcoin the dominator dominates the market with 50.16%. There are a lot of predictions, a lot of attention from TradFi, but we have a feeling that something will happen and bitcoin will lose its position. Although the market is quite stable. In our opinion, it's now very interesting to follow the fate of Binance. The exchange is very firmly holding its PR position despite not very positive news and the lawsuit.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

TC lads here are working quite hard and from time to time we gotta chill. Recently, we got ourselves a ping pong table to complete our lazy-bag-stuffed chill zone. As you all know our main hobby is Crypto, so even while we play we don’t really shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, gossips naturally come about – we collect them and share them with you in this interstellar space on our site we like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest

Weekly Digest From TradeCrypto.com #19

Hot news:

🧨 BlackRock’s unit iShares files for spot bitcoin ETF

🔮 SEC and Binance.US reach agreement on asset freeze

💸 Deutsche Bank applies for digital asset custody license

Daily statistics update:

Today's market is red. BTC is trading at $29,998; ETH is at $1,878.

💪 Bitcoin dominance: 49.77%

📉 Total Crypto Market Cap: $1.17T

😲 Fear and greed index: 65 (Greed)

🚀 7d Gainers (Top-100)

• Pepe (PEPE) +67.35%

• Stacks (STX) +43.22%

• Conflux (CFX) +37.16%

 😭 7d Losers (Top-100)

• BitTorrent (New) (BTT) -7.94%

• KuCoin Token (KSC) -5.37%

• Tether Gold (XAUT) -2.02%

Terra's founder caught at Podgorica airport with forged docs is sentenced to 4 months in prison. During the hearing, however, he denied his guilt, saying that the docs were prepared by an agency in Singapore and that he didn't know they were forged. Well, he knew, of course, that he was wanted by Interpol and South Korean authorities, so the court in Montenegro court didn't find those words convincing enough.🤥 The time he has already spent behind bars will be counted. So in about 1.5 months, he'll be released and then probably sent to the U.S. for hearings and then to South Korea to serve his sentence for draining markets for $40 billion. 🥵

Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab and Citadel Securities have launched a new crypto exchange. All want their piece of the pie.🥧 EDX Markets CEO Jamil Nazaral said the exchange's goal is to bring the same level of TradFi services to crypto. What makes EDX Markets special is that the exchange doesn't hold client funds, as Coinbase does, for example. They'll act as a financial intermediary, just like the NYSE or Nasdaq. The announcement stressed the post-FTX era 🤡, where customers simply need someone they can trust. So far the exchange only offers BTC, LITE, BHC and ETH as regulation in the US is unclear.

Asset managers Invesco ($1.5 trillion) and WisdomTree ($87 billion) have jumped on the same bandwagon as BlackRock.🚀 However, both tried to open shops in 2021, but SEC refused to fill them, saying crypto was a scam. Perhaps this time will be different, as the world's largest asset manager did so last week. As stated before, all want a piece of the pie. Some speculate that TradFi is dying. Others simply say that the demand for cryptocurrencies is growing among their clients. 💰

In a recent hearing before the House Committee, Fed chair Jerome Powell said stablecoins are money and that the agency should play a more active role in regulating these assets.🧐 SEC chair Gary Gensler choked on this point. That's sensational, yet the point of the speech was that the Fed believes it's its job to oversee stables, not another agency. On the CBDC account, he said that they're far in the future and that CBCDs will be intermediated through the banking system, not the Fed, because of security concerns. 🫣

Congress is finally taking the leap to bring clarity to the wild west of digital assets. The House Financial Services Committee is drawing up the playbook to make it easier🙏 for digital assets to move from securities to commodities. They haven't forgotten about stablecoins either and are working on a roadmap for them. Both will be voted on in July. Let's see if they make it past the Senate and President Biden. 🚀

Conclusion: While Gary Gensler smokes in the background, all the high-weight bodies are changing the situation. Especially for bitcoin, gaining a lot on the news. TradFi too, one giant after another is filling up for spot bitcoin ETFs. While speculative theories abound, the motivation is simple: there is customer demand for cryptocurrencies, and serving that demand is a lucrative opportunity for these institutions. Everyone, of course, sees opportunity and money.

What is Crypto Ping Pong digest?

TC lads here are working quite hard and from time to time we gotta chill. Recently, we got ourselves a ping pong table to complete our lazy-bag-stuffed chill zone. As you all know our main hobby is Crypto, so even while we play we don’t really shut up about it. Ever.

So memes, leaks, gossips naturally come about – we collect them and share them with you in this interstellar space on our site we like to call Crypto Ping Pong digest