Plus, Sam Bankman-Fried tapped Alameda Research to purchase shares of Robinhood Markets.
The latest moves in crypto markets, in context By Lyllah Ledesma, CoinDesk reporter Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. |
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Welcome to Wenesday! Here's what's happening in crypto today: |
- Crypto exchange Kraken is exiting Japan because of market conditions.
- Galaxy Digital bails out bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain.
- Sam Bankman-Fried borrowed from Alameda to buy Robinhood shares.
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Want our 5 p.m. ET market update? |
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CoinDesk Market Index (CMI): 785 −1.8%
Bitcoin (BTC): $16,661 −1.0%
Ether (ETC): $1,194 −2.0%
S&P 500 futures: 3,864.50 +0.2%
FTSE 100: 7,545.88 +1.0%
Treasury Yield 10 Years: 3.86% +0.1
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Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken said it will exit Japan and deregister from the Financial Services Agency as of Jan. 31. The decision was prompted by "current market conditions in Japan in combination with a weak crypto market globally," the company said in a blog post. Kraken users in the country have until the end of next month to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings, with the option of transferring crypto to another wallet or wiring Japanese yen to a local bank. |
Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain will avoid filing for bankruptcy protection, after it agreed to sell its Helios mining facility in Dickens Country, Texas, to Galaxy Digital for $65 million. The miner will also get a new $35 million loan from Mike Novogratz's crypto-focused financial-services firm, which will be secured by Argo's mining equipment. The transaction will help Argo bolster its balance sheet and avoid bankruptcy after it found itself in a precarious situation when a deal for $27 million in funding fell through in October. FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried borrowed from Alameda to buy Robinhood Market shares. Bankman-Fried borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from Alameda Research to purchase his stake in trading app Robinhood. In an affidavit provided to a Caribbean court before his arrest, Bankman-Fried said he and FTX co-founder Gary Wang together borrowed over $546 million from Alameda via promissory notes in April and May. They used that money to capitalize Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd., the shell corporation that in May bought a 7.6% stake of Robinhood. |
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Market Insight: Midas Shutters Platform
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Midas Investments, an investment firm that focused on DeFi (decentralized-finance) yields, is shutting down its platform following significant losses in 2022, according to a blog post from CEO and founder Iakov "Trevor" Levin. Levin wrote that this past spring, the Midas DeFi portfolio lost $50 million, or 20% of its $250 million in assets under management, and that after the collapse of Celsius Network and FTX, over 60% of the assets on Midas' platform were withdrawn. "Based on this situation and current CeFi market conditions, we have reached the difficult decision to close the platform," Levin wrote. |
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments. |
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