After the catastrophic collapse of the world's second largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, the SEC's Chairman, Gary Gensler, has signaled that his commission will be taking a harder line on cryptocurrency exchanges, tokens, hedge funds, and broker-dealers. Gensler made the comments about cryptocurrencies in an interview with Yahoo! Finance. When interviewer Jennifer Schonberger asked Gensler why the SEC didn't enforce the rules on the books regarding the collapse of FTX, Gensler responded: We are enforcing. The Securities and Exchange Commission, I couldn't be prouder. And it started under … [Read more...]

The fall of crypto exchange FTX is a brutal lesson in fear and greed. Not the fear of losing but the fear of missing out or FOMO. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBM) said this on the podcast “Odd Lots” describing how venture capitalists pick investments (highlighted by Jason Zweig in his WSJ column the “Intelligent Investor”): You get a bizarre f—ing process that does not look like the paragon of efficient markets that you might expect. [Venture capitalists] see what all their friends are chattering about, and their friends keep talking about this company…and they start FOMOing [feeling the … [Read more...]

It never ceases to amaze me how investors find new ways to lose money. They tell you about their wins and can’t believe it when they lose. If they're rolling in cash, where are they when it comes to helping pay for dinner? Do they get alligator arms? Did they brag about how well they’re doing while picking up the next round for everyone at the bar? Crypto is this generation's reality check that markets are cruel. Maybe schools should teach that instead of the other nonsense being taught. This week, cryptocurrency owners using FTX to hold their coins are facing disaster, as the firm attempts to … [Read more...]

The imminent purchase of cryptocurrency exchange FTX by rival firm, Binance, has sent shivers through the cryptocurrency market as it is revealed that FTX was facing a liquidity crunch. Forbes reports: Bitcoin fell to a two-year low and the crypto market slid after a shocking run on billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX cryptocurrency exchange and subsequent pact for an acquisition from rival Binance, as the crypto industry shook from the collapse of one of its foremost institutions. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced early Tuesday that his company signed a letter of intent to acquire FTX … [Read more...]

After nearly two decades of Wild West-like freedom, the Senate is coming for the cryptocurrency market. This isn't the first time legislators have tried to tame the crypto market. The latest effort is led by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and John Boozman (R-AR), the two senators who lead the Senate Agriculture Committee. The bill would allow cryptocurrencies to avoid regulation by the SEC and instead fall under the authority of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The crypto industry desperately wants to avoid oversight by the SEC, and would likely consider regulation by the CFTC … [Read more...]

Has the long-foretold cryptocosm arrived? It's hard to say given the stop/start tendencies of the recent crypto-collapse, but one scary thing is for certain, many crypto lenders are blocking access to customer assets. Kyle Barr reports at Gizmodo: The number of crypto lending platforms that actually let users take their crypto home with them is getting progressively smaller. One company even reported its users were draining their accounts of close to $198 million in total over the past three weeks. CoinLoan announced Monday it was putting a big hold on users’ abilities to withdraw most of … [Read more...]

You know that crypto speculators have been suffering. Big drops in the value of cryptocurrencies have exposed some of the firms that were swimming naked when the tide went out. Now, the founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, a mega-crypto owner, says that there are certain crypto exchanges that are already operating in insolvency. Forbes's Steven Ehrlich reports: The question on everybody’s mind in the crypto world is whether we’ve reached the market bottom. Nearly $2 trillion in crypto market value has evaporated since November. Two bellwether digital assets Luna, a $40 billion crypto asset … [Read more...]

Many cryptocurrency speculators are just now waking up to the extreme levels of risk they assumed when buying their crypto assets. Prices for cryptocurrencies across the board have fallen dramatically, as can be seen in bitcoin's fall of -51.25% year-to-date, and -66.6% since its peak in November 2021, only eight months ago. Now crypto speculators have to calculate how much it will take to get them back to even. It's not a small amount. Even the volatility of crypto might not be enough to get them there soon. A 70% loss in crypto, which for peak investors is only a hair's breadth … [Read more...]

Bitcoin prices dipped again last night as speculators continued to flee cryptocurrencies. The drop is causing trouble for some hedge funds, which apparently weren't hedged enough. The Wall Street Journal reports: Cryptocurrencies extended their slide Wednesday, with bitcoin on the verge of falling below $20,000 for the first time since December 2020. Bitcoin’s price fell to around $20,526.57 in early U.S. trading. That marks a 6.7% drop from Tuesday’s 5 p.m. ET price and a 70% plunge from a high of $68,990.90 reached in November 2021, according to CoinDesk. The rout in cryptocurrencies … [Read more...]

No shock this house of cards is under pressure again. Teachers, police officers, and firemen are in the fray thanks to bad decisions by so-called experts. Innocent investors shouldn't have to suffer like this. Celsius, one of the world's largest crypto-lenders has informed its users that it is pausing all withdrawals, swaps, and transfers due to "extreme market conditions." Vicky Ge Huang reports for The Wall Street Journal: “We are taking this necessary action for the benefit of our entire community in order to stabilize liquidity and operations while we take steps to preserve and protect … [Read more...]