📉 Bitcoin recedes on Fed news

Markets

Bitcoin Recedes to $27K as Fed's Mester Favors Unabated Tightening (2 minute read)
Bitcoin encountered a bit of a dip on Wednesday when a prominent Federal Reserve (Fed) official expressed her belief that there was no urgent need to put a halt on the reduction of liquidity. This firm stance from the Fed has caused some turbulence in the market, affecting various risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. Fed Bank of Cleveland President, Loretta Mester, shared her perspective in an interview with FT, stating that she didn't see a strong justification for pausing the tightening process. She even hinted at the possibility of raising interest rates and maintaining them for a period until there is greater clarity about the direction of the economy. Following the publication Bitcoin, which is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in dollar liquidity, experienced a minor dip of approximately 2%, with its price dropping to $27,021.

Crypto firms jockey for Hong Kong licenses ahead of June 1 retail opening (2 minute read)
Get ready for a race to capture the attention of Hong Kong retail crypto traders as multiple cryptocurrency companies gear up to apply for licenses starting from June 1. CoinEx, a Hong Kong-based crypto exchange, has announced its entry into the city with the launch of BitHK, a local platform that will seek a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license by submitting its application to the securities regulator on June 1. Not to be outdone, Huobi also joined the competition by tweeting that its Hong Kong entity is now offering crypto trading services to local retail traders, having already submitted its VASP application to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) on May 29.

Misc

MoonPay insiders pocketed $150 million weeks before CEO bought $38 million mansion (2 minute read)
It has been revealed that insiders at MoonPay, the crypto payment startup, received a hefty sum of $150 million during the company's Series A funding round in November 2021. The report, sourced from The Information and an anonymous individual, highlights that the funds were not allocated to the company itself, but instead used to buy shares from existing shareholders, including co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright. MoonPay managed to secure an impressive $555 million during the Series A round, with a valuation of $3.4 billion and notable investors such as Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management participating.

Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great (2 minute read)
Amidst the rollercoaster ride of cryptocurrencies, one number keeps climbing: the Grift Counter on Molly White's blog, aptly titled "Web3 Is Going Just Great." With each instance of someone falling victim to a crypto scam or hack, the counter spins upward, recently surpassing a staggering $12 billion. White launched the blog in December 2021, fueled by frustration with mainstream coverage that focused too heavily on success stories rather than exposing the industry's darker side. As a software engineer, White built Web3 Is Going Just Great in just a few weeks as a personal and entertaining side project, never expecting it to gain traction.

Blockchain Analytics Firm Nansen Cuts Workforce By 30% (3 minute read)
Nansen Research, the blockchain analytics firm, has revealed that it will be downsizing its workforce by 30%. CEO Alex Svanevik addressed the challenging decision on Twitter, emphasizing the company's commitment to providing support and severance packages for those affected. Unfortunately, layoffs have become a common occurrence in the crypto industry this year, affecting not only exchanges but also payment companies and various sectors within the Web3 landscape. It seems that navigating the ups and downs of the crypto space extends beyond the digital realm and into the job market as well.

SEC settles with former Coinbase employee over insider trading charges (3 minute read)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a settlement in a case involving insider trading with a former Coinbase product manager and his brother. The SEC announced on Tuesday that Ishan Wahi, the ex-Coinbase employee, and his brother Nikhil Wahi were involved in a scheme where they traded ahead of announcements related to the availability of nine crypto asset securities on the Coinbase platform. The charges were initially filed by the SEC on July 21, 2022.

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