Here are some developments in the crypto world over the past few days.
Bitcoin surged to over $40,000, the first time since May 2022, on the back of interest rate cuts and growing anticipation in the exchange-traded funds sector. Rising by 2.9 per cent, reaching $40,867, the cryptocurrency showed a 146 per cent surge in 2023, Business Standard reported. This surge resurrected Bitcoin to levels last seen in April 2022, before the TerraUSD stablecoin collapse that contributed to a $2 trillion rout in digital assets, the report said.
Investors are increasingly convinced that the Federal Reserve is done with rate hikes as inflation cools, turning the focus to the likely extent of cuts next year. The changed backdrop has fuelled a rally across global markets.
The crypto industry is also awaiting the outcome of applications from the likes of BlackRock Inc. to start the first US spot Bitcoin ETFs. Bloomberg Intelligence expects a batch of these products to win Securities & Exchange Commission approval by January.
A flurry of new meme tokens were created and floated in the crypto market in response to Elon Musk's recent controversial statements, with some hitting market capitalizations exceeding $25 million. The notable token 'GFY' (short for "go f--k yourself"), was created after Musk made the same comment to advertisers withdrawing from his social network X, Coin Desk said in a report.
Over 250 GFY tokens have since been issued on several networks, mainly on Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain and Arbitrum. The market capitalizations of these vary from under $15,000 to more than $25 million – with the largest one attracting $19 million in trading volumes in the past 24 hours from some 4,000 holders.
Popular football player Cristiano Ronaldo is embroiled in a $1 billion lawsuit in US Florida, accused of promoting the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, allegedly involved in selling unregistered securities and illegal operations in the US. The lawsuit alleges that Ronaldo utilised his celebrity status to drive investments to the platform, Decrypt said in a report.
"The binding law... across the country, regarding mass promotion of cryptocurrency and unregistered securities. was recently clarified and reversed," wrote plaintiffs' attorney Adam Moskowitz. He argued that under the new standards, "promoters like Cristiano Ronaldo, with a financial incentive for themselves or the financial benefit of the securities issuer (Binance), can be held liable under securities laws for using the internet and social media for mass solicitations of cryptocurrency.”
The lawsuit cites Binance's extensive alleged violations, including operating an unregistered exchange and clearing agency, failing to file suspicious activity reports, and not implementing anti-money laundering controls. Earlier in November, Binance paid over $4 billion in penalties related to these activities.
The plaintiffs meanwhile argue that Ronaldo benefited financially from driving traffic to Binance and should have known his promotions were potentially illegal. They claim that over 100 million Binance users were exposed to Ronaldo’s advertisements, including on TV and social media