Coinbase fined $100M for compliance failures; Logan Paul wants to sue Coffeezilla

The biggest news in the cryptoverse for Jan. 4 includes the World Economic Forum outlining its future vision for crypto, the US DOJ taking control of Robinhood shares under dispute by FTX-related parties and CryptoSlate’s analysis of Bitcoin UTXOs.

CryptoSlate Top Stories

Coinbase had “inadequate” AML measures; settles for $100M with NYDFS

Coinbase will pay a penalty of $50 million for failing to comply with the New York Banking Law and other state regulations, according to a press release on Jan. 4.

The largest crypto exchange by trading volume will also invest another $50 million over the next 2 years to update its compliance systems as per a plan approved by the NY regulators.

India’s crypto tax could cause CEXs to lose $1.2T trading volume by 2026

Indian crypto exchanges lost around 97.1% of their trading volume between January and October 2022, according to recent research.

The report by Indian technology policy think tank Esya Centre studied three major Indian exchanges, including WazirX, CoinDCX, and Zebpay. The study bears significance since it provides the first monetary estimate of the impact of India’s crypto tax.

Logan Paul threatens to sue Coffeezilla over CryptoZoo scam accusations

YouTuber Logan Paul responded to Coffeezilla, aka Stephen Findeisen, over accusations that he scammed CryptoZoo investors.

World Economic Forum discloses its future vision for crypto

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently published an article outlining its future vision for crypto.

It mentioned JPMorgan and other “major financial institutions” in the context of 180’ing from their initial skepticism on digital assets. While also advocating for “breakthrough technologies” to be handed over to “responsible actors.”

DOJ will seize FTX’s disputed Robinhood shares

U.S. authorities will take control of Robinhood shares that are under dispute by FTX-related parties, according to various reports on Jan. 4.

Those reports indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) either has seized or is currently seizing Robinhood shares related to FTX.

Judge rules $4.2B belongs to Celsius

A new update regarding the Celsius bankruptcy case came on Jan. 4 as Judge Martin Glenn ruled that the funds deposited to Earn Accounts, which amount to $4.2 billion, are the property of Celsius, not the investors.

Research Highlight

Research: Bitcoin UTXOs grow despite bear market

CryptoSlate’s analysis of Bitcoin Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs) showed that there has been continuous growth in the total number of UTXOs since 2018.

The rising number of unspent outputs defied every instance of price volatility and continues to grow through the ongoing bear market. Positive growth in the UTXO set indicates increased network usage, while negative values show a contraction in network usage.

Data from Glassnode showed that the total set of Bitcoin UTXOs reached its all-time high in the first days of January, counting over 136 million UTXOs.

Crypto Market

In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) rose 1% to trade at $$16,831.02, while Ethereum (ETH) was up 3.48% at $1,253.51.

Biggest Gainers (24h)

• XYO (XYO): +47.97%
• Ethereum Classic (ETC): +19.23%
• LUKSO (LYXe): +18.35%

Biggest Losers (24h)

• OKB (OKB): -3.57%
• Ribbon Finance (RBN): -2.92%
• APENFT (NFT): -1.65%