New data released on cryptocurrency market growth
CoinGecko recently published its 2023 Annual Crypto Industry Report. According to the report, โthe cryptocurrency market experienced an increase in anticipation related to ETFsโ and continued to grow due to optimism surrounding their approval. The report highlights six key findings about the 2023 crypto market:
- The total crypto market capitalization increased by 108.1 percent, from $829 billion to $1.72 trillion.
- Bitcoin's market capitalization grew by 155.2 percent.
- Ethereum's market capitalization increased by 90.5 percent.
- Solana's market capitalization grew by 917.3 percent.
- NFT trading volume decreased to $11.8 billion, down 44 percent from 2022.
- Cryptocurrency trading volume reached $10.3 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
According to another recent report, the market capitalization of a major American fintech company's stablecoin, PYUSD, has continued to grow since its launch in August with a market capitalization of $43.3 million. In the last five months, the market capitalization has increased to $290 million. Much of that growth would have come in the last month, with an increase of 70 percent, from $170 million to $293 million. Reports indicate that the main drivers of PYUSD growth are โadoption of centralized exchangesโ and โintegration into decentralized financial protocols.โ
Other recent reports have noted that the launch of Bitcoin ETFs appears to have resulted in the price of Bitcoin becoming more aligned with the US stock markets and the US Dollar Index. Authorization of Spot Bitcoin ETFs Has Caused Bitcoin to โRiseโ According to a Report[] to the status of second largest commodity in the US by assets under management (AUM)โ with a combined value of $27.9 billion.
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Reports Address Bitcoin Mining Industry ESG and Impact of Bitcoin Halving
By Keith R. Murphy and Robert A. Musiala Jr.
According to recent reports, Bitcoin network mining using sustainable energy reached an all-time high of 54.5 percent and increased by 3.6 percent during calendar year 2023. The report further notes that Bitcoin miners are using sources alternative off-grid energy sources, including methane gas and hydroelectric power. in an effort to use more sustainable energy.
Other recent reports addressed the expected impact of the upcoming โBitcoin halving,โ which is expected to occur in April 2024 and will result in block rewards falling from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. According to a report, Bitcoin miners have recently sent over $1 billion worth of BTC to exchanges, which may indicate increased capital expenditures as miners make upgrades to prepare for the Bitcoin halving. Bitcoin. Another report noted that after the Bitcoin halving, โmost miners will face challenges due to high selling, general and administrative costs, requiring cost reductions to remain profitable.โ The report predicted that after the Bitcoin halving, โonly a handful of miners are expected to operate profitably if Bitcoin prices remain above $40,000.โ
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Reports Detail FINRA Crypto Violations and Data on SEC Crypto Enforcement in 2023
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently published the results of its 2022 targeted examination โto review the practices of certain member firms that actively communicate with retail clients in relation to cryptoassets and cryptoasset-related services.โ In the specific examination, FINRA reviewed retail communications for compliance with FINRA Rule 2210, which requires that communications between brokers and dealers with the public be fair and balanced and provide a sound basis for evaluating the facts relating to any product. or service discussed, and prohibits statements that are misleading or that omit material facts. According to a press release, โFINRAโฆ identified potential violations of FINRA Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public) in 70 percent of the cryptoasset communications it reviewed.โ FINRA's press release and report include details about the material violations identified by FINRA in its examination.
A recent report from Cornerstone Research provides an analysis of cryptocurrency enforcement actions in 2023 by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Among its many findings, the report noted that (1) in 2023 the SEC pursued a total of 46 cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions, up 53 percent from 2022 and representing a new record; (2) 2023 monetary sanctions against digital asset market participants amounted to approximately $2.89 billion, of which $281 million represented settlements reached in 2023; and (3) the most frequent SEC allegations continued to be fraud and unregistered securities offerings, with 57 percent of SEC enforcement actions alleging fraud, 61 percent alleging unregistered securities offering violations, and 37 percent claiming both.
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Cryptocurrency Scheme Executives Face Jail Sentences
According to a recent press release from the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the owner of a cryptocurrency exchange business in Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty to operating a money transmission business without a license. The owner converted cash into cryptocurrency for a fee using the LocalBitcoins.com platform and reportedly exchanged more than $5 million in cryptocurrency between the years 2016 and 2022 for clients including a drug trafficker and a money launderer. professional. He faces up to five years in prison, as noted in the press release.
Another recent press release from the Department of Justice announced the first criminal charge against a commodities trading advisor and a commodity pool operator in connection with an alleged โcherry pickingโ scheme. The scheme executed by the CEO involved cryptocurrency futures contracts, in which the CEO executed trades for pool participants along with those on behalf of his own accounts, and then allocated losses to the investors instead of his own accounts, according to the press release. The CEO also misrepresented to his clients that his investment firm employed trading strategies focused on cryptocurrency futures contracts and currency futures contracts, but in practice, about half of the trades in each group involved index futures contracts. stock exchanges, which resulted in a deprivation of profitable operations. , as noted in the press release. The executive director was sentenced to two years in prison followed by 18 months of house confinement, in addition to confiscation.
A third press release from the Department of Justice announced the sentencing of a CEO for his role in a large-scale cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme. The CEO's company was a supposed cryptocurrency mining and trading company, but in reality the company was not engaged in any mining or trading, but instead used victims' funds to pay other victims and to finance the personal expenses of the victims. promoters of the company, according to the press release. Victims were allegedly shown โprofitsโ in their accounts, but most were never able to withdraw funds and ended up losing all of their investments. As noted in the press release, following complaints from victims, the company and its promoters began offering proprietary cryptocurrency tokens for sale, claiming they would be valuable once adopted for payment for goods and services by other companies, but the tokens were essentially worthless and caused additional losses to the victims. The CEO was sentenced to five years in prison, according to the press release.
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Hardware wallet user information has been breached; Cryptocurrency hacking on the rise
By lauren bass
A crypto hardware wallet maker reportedly suffered a security breach earlier this month that exposed the contact information of nearly 66,000 of its users. In a blog post posted on its site shortly after the incident, the manufacturer assured users that only email addresses and names had been accessed and, more importantly, that neither the digital assets nor the seed phrases of recovery wallets had been accessed or compromised in the breach.
In related news, according to a recent report published by a blockchain analysis company, cryptocurrency attacks continued to increase throughout 2023, with the number of individual incidents increasing from 219 in 2022 to 231 in 2023. Despite this growth , total funds stolen through attacks in 2023 apparently decreased by 54.3 percent, going from $3.7 billion in 2022 to $1.7 billion in 2023, a trend the company attributes to a drop in DeFi hacking .
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