Paxos’ $500K Bitcoin fee, FTX tokens sales set to begin and other news: Hodler’s Digest, Sept. 10-16

This week's featured stories

Paxos confirms it is responsible for paying a $500,000 Bitcoin transaction fee

The Bitcoin miner who received 19.8 BTC in fees of blockchain infrastructure company Paxos has returned the funds following Paxos' claim that it made a mistake by paying more than $500,000 in transfer fees. On September 10, Paxos paid the six-figure fee to move $2,000, with the average network fee being around $2. The company later acknowledged the error and confirmed that the transfer came from its servers. Almost a day after Paxos' claims, the Bitcoin miner who received the funds visited X (formerly Twitter) to express frustrations after agreeing to refund the amount to Paxos. The funds were returned on September 15.

Court approves FTX digital asset sale

a bankruptcy court has approved the sale of FTX digital assets in weekly batches through an investment advisor and under pre-established guidelines. The sale does not include Bitcoin, Ether and "certain insider-affiliated tokens," which may be sold by a separate decision by FTX after 10 days' notice. FTX sales are not expected to have a major impact on the markets. According to a recent shareholder update, the bankrupt exchange has $833 million worth of Bitcoin and Ether. A total of $3.4 billion is in Digital Assets A (the top 10 assets the company owns), which include Solana, Bitcoin, Ether, Aptos, and others.

Gemini Earn users could recover all funds in the new DCG remuneration scheme

Digital Currency Pool has proposed a new agreement plan for the creditors of the now bankrupt Genesis Global. The plan estimates that unsecured creditors will receive “a 70 to 90% recovery with a significant portion of the recovery in digital currencies.” Additionally, the compensation plan says the recovery of Gemini Earn user claims would be projected to be “approximately 95% to 110%” without any contribution from Gemini. According to the filing: "If Gemini were to agree to provide $100 million to Gemini Earn users under the proposed settlement, as it did previously, there would be no doubt that Gemini Earn users would receive more than a full recovery."

Franklin Templeton Files for Bitcoin Spot ETF

Franklin Templeton Asset Manager applied before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to the application, the fund would be structured as a trust. Coinbase would custody the BTC and Bank of New York Mellon would be the custodian and administrator of the cash. Franklin Templeton has $1.5 trillion in assets under management and joins a long list of asset managers awaiting regulatory approval. The SEC recently delayed decisions on spot ETF applications from WisdomTree, Valkyrie, Fidelity, VanEck, Bitwise and Invesco to August 31.

Two More Top Executives Leave Binance.US Amid Layoffs and SEC Actions

The exodus of executives from the Binance crypto exchange has arrived at the company's subsidiary in the United States, as at least three top employees have left Binance.US in recent days. This week's departures included the CEO of the stock market, Brian Shroder, along with chief legal officer Krishna Juvvadi and chief risk officer Sidney Majalya. The mass outflow is believed to be linked to the ongoing US investigation into Binance and Binance.US. The SEC sued Binance.US, Binance, and CEO Changpeng Zhao in June for allegedly engaging in unregistered securities trading and other irregularities. On August 28, the agency requested to produce sealed documents in the case, raising concerns about a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (btc) I sat down $26,465Ether (ETH) in $1,628 and XRP in $0.50. The total market capitalization is $1.05 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoins winners of the week are Toncoin (TON) at 21.30%, VeChain (VET) at 11.94% and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) at 11.36%.

Top Three Altcoin Losers of the Week Are ApeCoin (BUN) and -16.82%, Astar (ASTR) at 14.47% and flare (FLR) at 12.61%.

To learn more about cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph Market Analysis.

Most memorable quotes

"I think my generation and those younger than me are the ones who are really going to change that narrative around investing, whether it's cryptocurrencies or other investments in the future."

James ScottAustralian snowboarder

“The only country I wouldn't encourage you to start a business in right now is the United States.”

Brad GarlinghouseCEO of Ripple

"We are still in the fax era of global payments."

David Marcosformer PayPal executive and Lightspark co-founder

"I don't think everyone in DC realizes how powerful the crypto voting community bloc is."

Brian ArmstrongCEO of Coinbase

"You can't get 100% transparency and 100% privacy."

Alex SvanevikCEO of Nansen

“Climate change remains a systemic threat to our species. “I think as a society we owe it to ourselves to do everything we can.”

Marek OlszewskiCEO of Celo

Prediction of the week

Bitcoin Price All-Time High Will Precede Halving in 2024: New Prediction

bitcoin has a goal of $250,000 for after its next block subsidy is halved, but new all-time highs will arrive before then, according to the latest BTC price prediction from BitQuant, a popular social media commentator who sees a promising future for the largest cryptocurrency.

On September 15, the pseudonymous “central banker and Bitcoiner” revealed a pre-halving target above $69,000. “No, Bitcoin will not peak before the halving,” he wrote in part of the comment.

Bitcoin has just over six months before the halving, the event that reduces miner rewards earned per block by 50% every four years. “No, BTC is not going to reach $160,000 because the magnitude of each pullback is large,” he wrote, adding that “this means it will peak after the halving, in 2024. And yes, the price goal is around $250,000."

FUD of the week

SEC accuses company behind Stoner Cats NFT series of selling unregistered securities

Stoner Cats 2 LLC (SC2), the company behind the stoner cats animated web series, has accepted a cease and desist order and other measures imposed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission after being accused of making an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFT). According to the SEC, SC2 sold more than 10,000 NFTs for about $800 each. The sale lasted 35 minutes and occurred on July 27, 2021, with the proceeds used to fund the series. In addition to agreeing to the cease and desist order, SC2 will pay a $1 million civil penalty.

OneCoin co-founder Greenwood receives 20 years in US prison for fraud and money laundering

Karl Greenwood, co-founder of OneCoin with Ruja Ignatova, He was sentenced in the United States to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $300 million on September 20. Ignatova remains free. Greenwood, who is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Sweden, was sentenced in a New York court. In a statement from the Department of Justice, US Attorney Damian Williams called OneCoin "one of the largest fraud schemes ever perpetrated." Multi-level marketing and the Ponzi scheme reaped 4 billion dollars from 3.5 million victims, the statement said. Ignatova has not been seen since October 2017 and is on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's ten most wanted list.

North Korea's Lazarus Group Responsible for $55 Million CoinEx Hack

The attack on the CoinEx cryptocurrency exchange, which drained at least $55 million, was carried out by the North Korean hacking group Lazarus, according to blockchain security firm SlowMist and pseudonymous on-chain researcher ZachXBT. The hacking group was identified after it inadvertently exposed its address, which was the same one used in the recent Stake and Optimism attacks. On September 12, CoinEx experienced large outflows of funds to an address with no history. Security experts immediately suspected the exchange had been breached, with initial estimates reaching approximately $27 million.

Are DAOs overrated and unviable? Lessons from the front

Many argue that DAOs They haven't delivered on their promises, but developers are coming up with novel solutions.

Six questions for Kei Oda: from Goldman Sachs to cryptocurrencies

Kei Oda spent 16 years trading bonds for Goldman Sachs, a life that eventually bored him. That's when he turned to cryptocurrencies.

Web3 Gamer: PUBG Developers' Web3 Project, Animoca Raising $20 Million, Shardbound Review

The company behind PUBG announces new Web3 platform, Web3 monetization and more.