• Court filings have revealed that Alameda Research had a $65 billion artificial credit line with FTX.
• Thailand has established rules for crypto exchanges and digital wallet management.
• Other news includes Polygon’s hard fork, Ethereum’s rising gas expenditure, a decline in Kazakhstan’s mining hashrate, and Silvergate’s $1 billion loss.
Cryptocurrency news was abuzz today with the reveal that Alameda Research had a $65 billion artificial credit line with FTX. Court filings in the FTX bankruptcy case made this information public and included a deck detailing the current findings relative to FTX group funds. The deck included an illustration of the FTX liquidation process alongside a code sample that allegedly represented the Alameda backdoor.
According to the filing, Alameda was exempt from auto-liquidation and wasn’t required to post any real collateral for trades. This means that Alameda was allowed to trade with artificial credits, which was 43,000% more than the credit line available to FTX market makers. This news has sparked debate and controversy in the crypto community as many are questioning the ethics and legality of this kind of transaction.
In other news, Thailand has established rules that will require all crypto companies to have a digital wallet management system. This mandate has been put in place in order to ensure that crypto exchanges and wallets operate in compliance with local regulations. The new system will also facilitate greater control and transparency in the Thai crypto market.
Polygon has completed its hard fork and is now fully launched on the Ethereum mainnet. The hard fork was necessary for the implementation of Ethereum 2.0 and has been welcomed by the crypto community.
Ethereum’s weekly gas expenditure has been on the rise, a sign that the network is becoming increasingly active. This is due to the increasing number of transactions occurring on Ethereum’s blockchain.
Kazakhstan’s mining hashrate has seen a decline over the past few weeks, likely due to the increasing difficulty of mining. This could be a sign that miners are becoming less interested in the Kazakh market, potentially due to the recent regulatory changes.
Silvergate has posted a $1 billion loss due to an “accounting error”. The company has stated that the loss was due to an “accounting error in the first quarter of 2021” and that the error has since been rectified.
Finally, research on mining company holdings has indicated that the bitcoin halving has caused a significant shift in the industry. The halving has caused miners to shift their strategy from short-term profits to long-term investments. This shift has been reflected in the holdings of major mining companies, which now have a higher percentage of their funds invested in cryptocurrencies.