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Republic First Bank has officially collapsed and has been seized by regulators. The FDIC announced Friday that the Bank was closed by Pennsylvania state regulators. The collapse of RFB is the first US Bank failure this year. JUST IN: Republic First Bank officially collapses and seized by regulators. — Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 26, 2024 “Philadelphia-based Republic First Bank (doing business as Republic Bank) was closed today by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ( FDIC ) as receiver. To protect depositors, the FDIC entered into an agreement with Fulton Bank, National Association of Lancaster, Pennsylvania to assume substantially all of the deposits and purchase substantially all of the assets of Republic Bank,” the FDIC said in a statement. In addition, the statement continues by explaining the future of the 32 current Republic First Bank locations. Their branches in New Jersey, ...

CoinGecko has acquired the NFT data infrastructure platform Zash as the firm remains bullish about the NFT market. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Major cryptocurrency tracking website CoinGecko is scaling its data offering by acquiring the nonfungible token (NFT) data infrastructure platform Zash. CoinGecko plans to integrate Zash’s NFT data into its Application Programming Interface (API) by the second quarter of 2024, the firm announced on Nov. 21, though the deal terms have not been disclosed. “API users will be able to enjoy a unified crypto data offering, where they can access fungible and nonfungible token data seamlessly and enjoy enriched crypto market insights,” CoinGecko co-founder and chief operating officer Bobby Ong told Cointelegraph. According to the exec, front-end users of CoinGecko’s web and mobile app will also be able to access the on-chain NFT data through the NFT floor price tracker next year. CoinGecko didn’t disclose the cost of the Zash acquisi...

In September 2023, Tether also invested an undisclosed amount in Northern Data in a move backing AI initiatives. Tether (USDT) stablecoin issuer is raising the bet on Bitcoin (BTC) mining by issuing a major debt facility to German-based BTC mining company Northern Data AG. Northern Data AG has secured a 575 million euro ($610 million) debt financing facility from Tether to drive further investments across its businesses, according to an announcement on Nov. 2. The debt capital specifically aims to enable Northern Data Group to invest in its three business lines including its artificial intelligence cloud service provider Taiga Cloud, Ardent Data Centers and Peak Mining, the company’s mining business. The focus of these investments will be on the acquisition of additional hardware and scaling Bitcoin mining operations with liquid-cooling mining technology, the announcement notes. According to the announcement, the debt facility is unsecured, at standard market conditions and has a ter...

SBF attorneys have made several requests over the course of the past few months ranging from requests for early bail before trial to vegan food and prescription drugs. The attorneys representing former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have written another letter to the judge , seeking changes to the jury instructions; in the letter addressed to Judge Kaplan, the defense attorneys requested that the jury consider the role of English law in governing FTX’s terms of service. The proposal calls on 12 jurors in the case to consider that for misappropriation to have occurred, there must have existed a trust, fiduciary relationship, or a similar relationship between FTX and its customers. However, the firm’s terms of service have made it clear that there was no such relationship between the two parties. The defense attorneys' proposal read: “Under English law, the Terms of Service do not create a trust relationship or similar fiduciary relationship between FTX and its customers. Nor, under En...

Unfortunately for those watching closely for new spot Bitcoin ETF filings, ARK Invest and 21 Shares’ joint spot Bitcoin ETF has not been listed. Despite swirling rumors on social media, ARK Invest’s spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) does not appear to be listed on the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) website. On Oct. 25, numerous high-profile crypto accounts on X (Twitter) including Mike Alfred, Bitcoin News , Simply Bitcoin, Crypto News Alerts and others posted tweets and screenshots claiming ARK Invest and 21 Shares’ joint spot Bitcoin ETF had been listed on the DTCC’s site. BREAKING: CATHIE WOODS’ ARK SPOT BITCOIN ETF IS NOW LISTED ON THE DTCC WEBSITE WITH TICKER AND CUSIP — Mike Alfred (@mikealfred) October 25, 2023 However, none of the screenshots showed the correct ticker for the spot Bitcoin ETF, instead showing tickers related to futures products. The most recent amended filing for Ark’s spot Bitcoin ETF from Oct. 11 shows that the fund wi...

ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin has been named in a new lawsuit filed in New York by over two dozen former ConsenSys employees. Over two dozen former employees of Ethereum infrastructure firm ConsenSys have filed a fresh lawsuit against the firm’s founder and CEO, Joseph Lubin, over claims he diluted employee equity shares against earlier promises. The former staff allege that Lubin — who is also a co- founder of Ethereum — breached this “no-dilution promise” made in 2015, according to the plaintiff’s Oct. 19 filing in a New York Supreme Court. The plaintiffs allege Lubin lured in “smart and motivated” colleagues to work for ConsenSys in late 2014, claiming the firm would become the “future of cryptocurrency” and the “crypto Google.” Around that time, Lubins allegedly stated in a document that he wouldn’t dilute employee equity shares; the plaintiffs allege he later broke that promise. “It is my intention that the percentage ConsenSys members receive will not be diluted by additio...

Reddit will shutter its Community Points feature by Nov. 8, citing scalability issues. Reddit has said it will soon shutter its long-running, blockchain -based rewards service “Community Points,” citing scalability concerns.  In an official Oct. 17 announcement in the r/cryptocurrency subreddit, a Reddit team member said while the platform saw “some future opportunities for Community Points, there was no path to scale it broadly across the platform.” The Community Points service , including the special memberships feature, will be wound down on Nov. 8. “At that point, you’ll also no longer see Points in your Reddit Vault nor earn any more Points in your communities,” the Reddit team member wrote. Reddit’s Community Points will be shuttered on Nov. 8. Source: Reddit First launched in May 2020, the community points feature rewarded users with points for positive engagement in certain subreddits and was designed to incentivize higher-quality content on the platform. The points were Eth...

The coalition includes Google sibling company SandboxAQ and the University of Waterloo. IBM Quantum and Microsoft have formed a coalition to tackle post-quantum cryptography alongside not-for-profit research tank MITRE, U.K.-based cryptography firm PQShield, Google sibling company SandboxAQ, and the University of Waterloo. We’re proud to be a part of a new community of cybersecurity organizations to accelerate adoption of post- quantum cryptography in commercial & open-source technologies. Learn more about the #PQC Coalition. https://t.co/pSrFX1qPPB | #QWC2023 #UWaterloo pic.twitter.com/vXG6CilQVx — University of Waterloo (@UWaterloo) September 26, 2023 Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) addresses the potential threat posed by quantum computers of the future. Current cryptography schemes rely on mathematical problems to stymie decryption attempts. Cracking or bypassing such encryption with a classical computer would be close to impossible. Some experts estimate that it would t...

According to a customer email, Chase Bank is set to stop Crypto -related debit card payments and bank transfers for UK clients next month. As reported by CoinDesk, Chase will become the latest in a long line of UK banks to impose such measures as financial institutions in the country seek an effective way to tackle the rising rates of crypto-related fraud. The new measures will reportedly come into effect on October 16.  In the email, Chase says, “If we think you’re making a payment related to crypto assets, we’ll decline it.” It went on to tell customers that they’re welcome to take their business elsewhere. A spokesperson for Chase said, “ We’ve seen an increase in the number of crypto scams targeting UK consumers , so we have taken the decision to prevent the purchase of crypto assets on a Chase debit card or by transferring money to a crypto site from a Chase account,” (via CoinDesk). Despite the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) seeking to open ...

Thevamanogari Manivel was sentenced to 18 months of community corrections with six months of unpaid community work while her husband will face a plea trial in October. The Melbourne couple who accidentally received 10.5 million Australian dollars (AUD), or almost $6.6 million, will be facing a plea trial in October for a theft charge after spending the funds that they received by mistake in 2021.  In May 2021, Thevamanogari Manivel transferred funds to her partner Jatinder Singh’s Crypto.com account. However, the exchange detected that the bank account did not match the exchange account. Therefore, a refund was issued, but instead of refunding the 100 AUD that the couple tried to put in, the exchange mistakenly sent 10.5 million AUD to Manivel’s bank account. The mistake was not discovered until December 2021, when the exchange conducted its annual audit. After the exchange filed a lawsuit in the Victoria Supreme Court, the judge ruled that the funds should be given back to the cr...

The former U.S. President returned to X for the first time since January 2021 to post his mugshot, which has now been thoroughly manipulated for memes by many users. The price of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) featuring Donald Trump surged after news outlets released a photo of the former United States President as part of his criminal case in the state of Georgia for allegedly attempting to subvert the will of voters in the 2020 election. According to data from NFT marketplace OpenSea, the floor price of Trump’s line of digital trading cards first released in December 2022 increased more than 62% from 0.138 to 0.224 Ether (ETH) on Aug. 24 shortly after the former president’s mugshot became public. The image, which shows Trump looking angrily at the camera amid his surrender at the Georgia Sheriff's Office in Fulton County, has gone viral as the first mugshot of a current or former U.S. President facing criminal cases. Trump, who has largely restricted his social media activity to...

The SEC's interlocutory appeal comes nearly a month after Judge Analisa Torres laid out her non-final ruling. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a letter of intent to request an interlocutory appeal to Judge Analisa Torres’ July 13th summary judgment in its ongoing legal battle against Ripple Labs. In an Aug. 9 letter to Judge Torres, the SEC explained it believed her decision warrants a fresh look by an appellate court. “Interlocutory review is warranted here. These two issues involve controlling questions of law on which there is substantial ground for differences of opinion as reflected by an intra-district split that has already developed," the SEC wrote. The SEC added a "timely appellate review' is warranted given the number of actions currently pending that may be affected by how the Court of Appeals resolves the issues at hand. The filing comes nearly a month after Ripple scored a partial victory over the regulator over the legal ...

Curve Finance pools were targeted by hackers in a reentrancy attack on July 30, sending shockwaves across the DeFi ecosystem. Cointelegraph compiled the week's events. The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has experienced a challenging week after a seismic security incident led to over $61 million being stolen from Curve Finance’s pools, leaving several protocols facing broader contagion risks. This attack exposed vulnerabilities across DeFi projects and sparked efforts to recover stolen funds over the past few days. As the community navigates the aftermath of this exploit, Cointelegraph compiled the week’s events, presenting a timeline of what happened since the hack on July 30. The hack: Curve Finance pools are exploited for over $61 million due to reentrancy vulnerability Several stable pools on Curve Finance using the Vyper programming language were exploit ed on July 30, with losses reaching over $61 million (total losses were initially estimated at $47 million). The vul...

The on-chain sleuth ZachXBT claims to have found an additional $37 million in losses suffered from the unconfirmed attack. The alleged Alphapo payment s provider hack of July 23 is now estimated to have caused losses exceeding $60 million, according to a July 25 report from on-chain sleuth ZachXBT. The loss was previously reported at roughly $31 million. Hack update: An additional $37M stolen on TRON & BTC from this hack has been located. This now brings the total amount stolen to $60M. This hack appears to likely have been done by Lazarus as they create a very distinct fingerprint on-chain. pic.twitter.com/ACGSXiDwW3 — ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 25, 2023 Alphapo is a centralized crypto payment provider for e-commerce subscription services, gaming sites, and other online businesses. It's known as the provider for mystery box platform HypeDrop and gambling sites Bovada and Ignition. On July 23, security experts began reporting that the site’s hot wallets appeared to have been...

After 16 consecutive months of decline, the stablecoin market dominance has fallen to 10.3% of the total crypto market capitalization. The market capitalization of stablecoins has hit the lowest level since August 2021 coming on the back of 16 consecutive months of decline, a new report says. Cryptocurrency analytics platform CCData released a report on July 20 saying the stablecoin market cap fell 0.82% from the start of the month until July 17, taking the sector's market cap to $127 billion. Stablecoin market dominance took a slight fall and is currently at 10.3%, dropping from 10.5% in June. Our latest Stablecoins & CBDCs Report is now live! Key Highlights: ️16-month fall in stablecoin market cap, now at $127bn ️ $USDT at $0.73, $USDC at $0.82 on #Binance.US ️ $USDP's largest cap drop since 2020, now at $593mn Full Report https://t.co/A9rFx6pbJx — CCData (@CCData_io) July 20, 2023 Of the top ten stablecoins, Pax Dollar (USDP) was hit hardest, falling 43.1% to $56...

The deal was announced in April and approved by the bankruptcy judge on May 4. The Miami International Securities Exchange (MIAX), owned by Miami International Holdings, has completed the acquisition of LedgerX, which was one of the FTX assets court-approved for sale in January. LedgerX is an exchange and clearinghouse regulated by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).  The acquisition of LedgerX was “an important part of our growth strategy, expanding our ability to offer new and innovative products to the swaps and futures industry," CEO of Miami International Holdings (MIH) Thomas Gallagher said in a statement. MIAX is one of a suite of financial companies owned by MIH. Leslie Lamb, the CEO of OPNX, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founders Kyle Davies and Su Zhu and Coinflex, claimed MIAX was an investor in that firm as well in an April 21 tweet. The parties entered into a purchase agreement for MIAX’s acquisition o...

In the event of a conviction for wire fraud, Nevin Shetty could face up to 20 years in prison. Nevin Shetty, a former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at a Seattle start-up company, was indicted on May 17 in the U.S. District Court in Seattle on charges of wire fraud.  The indictment alleges that Shetty, 39, diverted approximately $35 million from the start-up company's coffers to a cryptocurrency platform under his personal control. Shetty reportedly established this platform, known as HighTower Treasury, in February 2022, shortly before being notified of his impending departure as CFO due to concerns regarding his performance.  During the period from April 1 to April 12, 2022, Shetty allegedly transferred a substantial amount of $35,000,100 from his employers to an account linked to HighTower, without the knowledge of any other individuals within the company. The alleged purpose behind this transaction was for HighTower to allocate the funds towards investments within the decentra...

The collaboration will have both parties researching the offline capabilities of the CBDC issued by South Korea’s central bank. Tech giant Samsung Electronics has reportedly partnered with the South Korean central bank to conduct research on central bank digital currency (CBDC) for offline payments . On May 15, South Korea’s central bank — Bank of Korea (BOK) — and Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for research on offline CBDCs, according to local media KBS World. The collaboration will have both parties researching the offline capabilities of CBDC issued by South Korea’s central bank. Samsung had also participated in the second phase of BOK’s 10-month CBDC simulation experiment research work, which dealt with retail CBDCs. The first stage of BOK’s CBDC research tested basic functions such as CBDC’s issuance, distribution, and redemption. Samsung Electronics and Bank of Korea sign a MoU for CBDC research on offline payments. Source: samnews24.com The latest MOU is...

Cointelegraph analyst and writer Marcel Pechman explains how lowering the interest rates in the U.S. will ultimately benefit Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market. Macro Markets, hosted by crypto analyst Marcel Pechman, airs every Friday on the Cointelegraph Markets & Research YouTube channel and explains complex concepts in layperson’s terms, focusing on the cause and effect of traditional financial events on day-to-day crypto activity. Today’s show starts by discussing the economic crisis in Argentina, a Latin American country that is experiencing hyperinflation. After years of populist measures, its local currency, the peso, saw its value go down by 70% in two years. The government’s overspending caused another issue: a lack of United States dollars for the government and companies to pay for imports and remittances. But what does that mean for the U.S. dollar, Bitcoin (BTC) and gold? According to Pechman, gold poses serious problems, as there is no easy way to ensure whether o...

The Terra crash anniversary sparks reflections on the importance of liquidity, transparency and user protection in the crypto industry. On the anniversary of the Terra collapse, the cryptocurrency community reflected on the lessons learned from the event that wiped out the $40 billion ecosystem and caused Bitcoin (BTC) to drop from $28,000 to $19,000. While the incident was undoubtedly painful for those who lost money, it also served as a wake-up call for the industry to focus on liquidity, transparency and user protection.  Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao shared Bitcoin’s price movement history in a tweet on May 11, recalling the Terra crash one year ago and stating several valuable lessons to be learned from the event. Following the crash, CZ emphasized, through his messaging, the importance of transparency and safeguarding users, including his “poor again” tweet. To prevent governance attacks after the significant devaluation of the network’s Terra (LUNA) token, validators of th...