External news feeds 2173/2253

Chinese Zhejiang Province Aims to Build a $28.7 Billion Metaverse Industry by 2025

Zhejiang, a coastal province of China, has presented a metaverse development plan that seeks to build a metaverse hub in its territory. The plan aims to entice the creation of a $28.7 billion metaverse industry and construct an ecosystem of several…

Web3 Privacy Layer Aztec Raises $100 Million in Series B Funding Round to Produce an Encrypted Version of Ethereum

Aztec, a Web3 privacy layer, has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round led by the Andreessen Horowitz subsidiary a16z crypto. The organization, which already offers privacy-based services for a slew of Ethereum-based apps, will now focus…

Government Agencies Need Crypto Wallets and Access to Exchanges, Russian Prosecutors Say

Russian authorities are finding it hard to cash out digital assets they have gotten hold of, prosecutors have warned. They have also urged the government to recognize cryptocurrency as property, allow departments to have digital wallets and use…

SEC Chairman Says Important to Regulate Crypto Issuers and Intermediaries

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has stressed the importance of bringing “intermediaries and issuers of crypto securities” into compliance. In addition, the U.S. Treasury…

Shark Tank Star Kevin O’Leary Defends Support of Crypto Exchange FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has defended his support of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). “This is America. The justice system provides the presumption of innocence…

Federal Prosecutors Probe Democrats Over Donations From Sam Bankman-Fried

Several members of the U.S. Democratic Party and campaign committees are reportedly being probed by federal prosecutors over donations from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and another executive of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange…

New FTX CEO Told Members of Congress SBF’s Family ‘Certainly Received Payments’ From the Business

According to multiple reports, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents face scrutiny over their reported involvement with their son’s business operations. The two Stanford professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried have not been charged with…

While Miners Deal With Low BTC Prices, Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Target Expected to Increase 3% Higher

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty target is expected to increase on Dec. 19, 2022, after printing the largest reduction recorded in 2022 on Dec. 5, at block height 766,080. During the last 2,016 blocks, Bitcoin’s hashrate has been around…

Gemini Forms Creditors Committee With Houlihan Lokey to Resolve Genesis Liquidity Issues

Roughly two weeks ago a report from the Financial Times (FT) claimed Genesis Global Capital owed $900 million to Gemini customers and the publication’s sources noted that the exchange was attempting to recover the funds by creating a creditors…

Donald Trump Trading Card NFTs Skyrocket in Value Despite Being Mocked for His ‘Major Announcement’

After the former 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump revealed his non-fungible token (NFT) trading card collection, Trump’s NFTs sold out within hours after the announcement. Statistics from Opensea, three days after the sale…

Onecoin Co-Founder Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges in US

Karl Sebastian Greenwood, a co-founder and operator of Onecoin, has pled guilty to his part in building the notorious crypto pyramid. The fake cryptocurrency’s “global master distributor” has been in custody since 2018 when he was arrested in…