#2022

Cheongju’s administration has reached out to seven South Korean crypto exchanges, including Upbit and Bithumb, to investigate the holdings of around 8,520 individuals who owe a minimum of 1 million won ($750) in local taxes. After the investigation, authorities in Cheongju aim to seize cryptocurrency assets from such tax evaders. Crypto have increasingly been used for hiding assets in South Korea. Over the span of 2021 and 2022, a total of around $180 million worth of crypto were seized by the South Korean government from individuals who evaded their taxes.

In October 2022, a user purchased NFT BAYC #8585 for 777 ETH but recently sold it for 153 ETH, experiencing a loss of over 80% of the original value. This NFT is considered very unique due to the rare fur and gold crown features. The new owner, on the other hand, boasts of his new acquisition, though he already has a wide variety of NFTs in fifteen different collections.

The Federal Reserve enforced the closure of Farmington State Bank, a lender that has ties with both FTX and Alameda Research. But what led to this? The bank's silent move towards a digital-centric strategy without keeping the Federal Reserve in the loop. To thicken the plot, Farmington had previously, in March 2022, secured a substantial $11.5 million funding from Alameda Research.

Kaiko Research’s data highlights reduced engagement in prominent tokens: “AXS, the governance token of the Axie Infinity ecosystem is down more than 90% since early 2022 and SAND, MANA and GALA tokens have seen a a similar drop in value.” Analysts point out that monetary incentives were a primary motivator for users, but these platforms faced challenges in maintaining their user base due to diminishing in-game rewards.

Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, a husband and wife duo of crypto hackers, have pleaded guilty to federal money laundering conspiracy charges related to the 2016 hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. Their guilty plea comes after a year and a half since their arrest and charges in February 2022 and seven years after the initial hack. According to the government’s allegations, Lichtenstein hacked into Bitfinex and stole 119,754 bitcoins, which were valued at $72 million at the time and are now worth approximately $3.5 billion, for his personal benefit.

NFT royalties on Ethereum hit an eye-popping 699,816 ETH, roughly translating to $1.8 billion. However, data analytics firm Nansen's deep-dive analysis points to an unsettling trend. Despite sustained NFT volumes in 2023, royalties for this year only constitute 9.4% of the total payout, a stark contrast to 2022, which accounted for over 64% of the total ETH paid. The culprit behind this disparity is the downward trend in effective royalty rates, which fell from 2.5% in 2022 to a scant 0.6% by July 2023. Some NFT projects such as Yuga Labs, behind popular initiatives like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), are among the few benefiting, receiving 9.4% of all royalties.

Contrary to forecasts, the value of Salvadoran bonds rose by 62% after Fitch downgraded the country's credit rating in September 2022. Perhaps the 79% surge in BTC during the same period played a role in this unexpected turn of events. In 2021, El Salvador declared Bitcoin as legal tender and currently holds 2546 BTC. Despite skepticism from the IMF, the country also allocated $1 billion for the construction of a mining farm with a capacity of 241 MW.

The Central African Republic (CAR) is expanding its Sango blockchain initiative to include the tokenization of land and natural resources. Recently, the CAR National Assembly passed a law, receiving unanimous approval, that facilitates online business visa applications and simplifies the process for both locals and foreigners to establish businesses in sectors like real estate, agriculture, and forestry. This move follows CAR's earlier efforts in the crypto space, including the launch of Project Sango in May 2022 and its brief adoption of Bitcoin as a national currency.

Statistics from Coinglass indicate liquidations of $1 billion in the last 12 hours, with $483 million in BTC and $300 million in Ethereum. Some market analysts are identifying potential incidents that may have instigated this downfall: The Wall Street Journal has noted that SpaceX liquidated $373 million in Bitcoin across 2021 and 2022, and Tesla has divested more than 30,000 BTC (75% of its stake) for $936 million in Q2 of 2022. The investment holding company China Evergrande Group has filed for bankruptcy. It was rumored that Tether had backed a portion of its USDT using commercial papers from this entity. Sellers sprang into action shortly after. With Bloomberg announcing that the SEC is slated to approve the first-ever Ethereum-based ETF futures by October, Ethereum's market value promptly surged by 11%.

As he awaits his trial scheduled for October 2nd, Sam Bankman-Fried finds himself in the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, notorious for its unsafe and unsanitary conditions. In the past two days, two notable developments have emerged: Yesterday, his legal team sought approval from a federal judge to allow him access to antidepressants while in detention. According to a letter from his doctor, Sam has been receiving psychiatric treatment since February 2019 and “has a history of Major Depressive Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).” Meanwhile, federal prosecutors claim that Bankman-Fried used funds taken from FTX customers to contribute more than $100 million to political campaigns before the 2022 U.S. midterm elections. Antidepressants won’t help here either.

Arkham Intel Exchange has launched a new search, offering 100,000 ARKM to anyone who can provide crucial details about the culprit behind the last year’s exploit. The FTX hack occurred in November 2022, resulting in an approximate loss of $415 million in cryptocurrency.

Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO of MoonPay, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, ended up entangled in a minor scandal. It turns out that in late 2022, the MoonPay chief funnelled $500,000 into Suarez's electoral campaign via a Political Action Committee, or PAC. The twist is, Soto-Wright made the transfer from the account of another company under his belt - PassionForest. Now, that's also the name of a Chinese floral business, which led to some legal headwinds. When it was revealed that there were no ties between PassionForest and the Chinese venture, the controversy cooled down. Meanwhile, Miami's mayor, Francis Suarez, also quashed any whispers of potential Chinese backing. On a side note, Suarez is an avid crypto enthusiast who accepts his mayoral paycheck in Bitcoin.

On the morning of July 13, Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of the now-bankrupt crypto lender Celsius, was reportedly arrested. The news broke minutes after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against the crypto lender on the same day. The company’s token dropped 6% upon hearing the news. The former CEO was arrested following an investigation into the company’s collapse. Celsius Network initiated the process of filing for bankruptcy on July 14 of the previous year. Investigators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission found Mashinsky guilty of breaking numerous U.S. regulations prior to the company’s implosion in 2022. The investigation into the troubled crypto lender began after the New York Attorney General sued Mashinsky on January 5. The lawsuit alleged that the former CEO misled investors and caused billions of dollars in losses.