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  Source: Adobe/prima91 Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news. __________ Investment news PayPal held a total of $604 million in crypto for its customers as of December 31, according to a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Almost 90% of the amount was held in bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH): $291m in BTC and $250m in ETH. The remaining $63m was held in litecoin (LTC) and bitcoin cash (BCH). Sesame Labs , a Web3 marketing platform, announced its launch and $4.5M seed round led by Patron and Wing Venture Capital , with participation from South Park Commons , Script Capital , DoubleJump , Forte , MoonFire , Samsung , Twin Ventures , and angels including Balaji Srinivasan, Robin Chan, Ryan Spoon, and others. “We have developed a web3 marketing platform in collaboration with Polygon and leading web3 g...

Source: AdobeStock / Thomas Dutour A former employee of major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has pleaded guilty to insider trading, marking the first crypto-related insider trading case in the US. Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase product manager, has pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to commit insider trading in cryptocurrency assets by using confidential information about cryptocurrencies scheduled to be listed on the platform, the DOJ said in a press release Tuesday.  As reported, the charges against Wahi were first filed in July last year in federal court in the Southern District of New York. "Wahi is the first insider to admit guilt in an insider trading case involving the cryptocurrency markets," Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said, adding: "Whether it occurs in the equity markets or the crypto markets, stealing confidential business information f...

Physical Dogecoin. Source: Adobe Dogecoin (DOGE), the cryptocurrency that powers the Shiba Inu meme-inspired layer-1 Dogecoin blockchain, was last trading higher by about 1.5% this Tuesday just to the north of the $0.09 level. Dogecoin has now rallied just shy of 3% from Monday’s lows just under $0.09, with buyers seemingly having come in to support the token as it retested its 21 and 100-Day Moving Averages. Near-term price predictions thus remain modestly upbeat.  Dogecoin's performance over the last month. Source: CoinMarketCap The 21DMA has consistently provided good support in recent weeks, while Dogecoin also appears to have derived support from an upwards trend channel that has been supporting the price action going all the way back to late December 2022. The bounce on Tuesday comes despite a long-dormant Dogecoin wallet address containing 2,043,137 DOGE being activated for the first time in 9.1 years. 2,043,137 DOGE is worth just shy of $190,000 at...

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) both managed to remain stable at around $23,000 and $1,600 respectively. Previously, BTC went on to reach a record-high of more than $24,000 following the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. Later today, the US January Nonfarm Payrolls are expected to be released today, which could have a major impact on the prices of BTC and ETH. The cryptocurrency market has been strongly affected by the recent US Federal Reserve policy. After the Fed announced that it would reduce interest rate hikes to 25 basis points, Bitcoin and other digital assets saw an increase in value.  On Thursday morning, BTC prices reached a 6-month high as it briefly broke the $24,000 threshold. Following this trend, Ethereum has witnessed a significant rise and is currently trading at $1,641. Additionally, traders are hesitant to make any strong bids as the upcoming Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) data, scheduled for today, will likely ...

After a period of challenging downwards price action, there are signs of life in Terra Classic (LUNC). Our analysts have identified clues that a major breakout rally could be inbound. Currently trading at $0.00016 - LUNC has been on a continued uptrend from a local bottom of $0.00012. Luna bulls ignited the impressive ongoing 42-day rally on December 21. So far carrying LUNC up a whopping 40% over the past month - smashing back into the key price level between $0.00016 - $0.00018 multiple times. Source: TradingView Resistance at $0.00016 finally flipped to become an area of support on January 9. It's clear LUNC bulls became emboldened by market sentiment. This flip correlates to strong macro support from Bitcoin's (BTC) major 25% rally from $16,850 to $21,350 the same week. We have seen the vital support between $0.00016-$0.00018 before, in November LUNC clung to this range for over a month. Downwards price exploration bouncing hard off $0.00012 gives us two...

Katherine Dowling. Source: a video screenshot, CoinDesk / YouTube Katherine Dowling, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at the crypto index fund provider Bitwise Asset Management , argued that US Congress would move to regulate stablecoins this year - as the first step towards the crypto industry regulation.  California Republican Kevin McCarthy was chosen to serve as the new House of Representatives speaker in early January in an election that had unfolded for several days. Also, the 118th United States Congress, which is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives, convened on January 3, 2023. A shift in US politics is bound to reflect on the regulation of the crypto industry and its different sectors.  Answering a question about how soon there would be some action on stablecoin regulation, Dowling said to CoinDesk TV that, "I think we are going to see renew...

Disclaimer: The Industry Talk sectio n Features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com . RobotEra is much more than just a metaverse-themed game. With different applications and earning opportunities, this platform is set to become the future of virtual socialization. This new crypto project has raised over $744,000 in its first presale stage, demonstrating a huge investor interest in the project and the TARO token. What Is RobotEra?  Launched in 2022, RobotEra is a metaverse gaming platform designed to provide players with multiple ways to earn while engaging them in an interesting gameplay model.  The storyline for RobotEra takes place on a distant planet many years in the future. Taro, the planet, saw a massive battle between an army of invading robots and its inhabitants, which ended with the robots winning and being stranded on the planet. Now with human feelings, these robots are tasked with r...

Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section Features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com Calvaria's native token, RIA, has raised over $2.83 million from its presale, with only 8% of the tokens left to be purchased. The presale is finishing soon, and interested investors can still purchase it before it ends. How Calvaria Works  One of the most revolutionary blockchain gaming platforms, Calvaria, is looking to combine multiple Web3 concepts in a simple and engaging gameplay. The game takes players into an afterlife-themed metaverse where they can choose from myriad characters, each with unique traits and characteristics.  In Calvaria, each character is represented by a non-fungible token (NFT). Players are tasked with using these NFT trading cards to build decks and essentially use them to battle against other players. They employ complex strategies and tactics to obtain rewards and various upgrades to ...

SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Source: a video screenshot, Yahoo Finance / YouTube The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought charges against major crypto exchange Gemini and the troubled crypto lending and trading firm Genesis .  Per the press release issued by the regulator on January 12, "The [SEC] today charged Genesis Global Capital, LLC and Gemini Trust Company, LLC for the un registered offer and sale of securities to retail investors through the Gemini Earn crypto asset lending program."  The regulator alleged that through this un registered offering, the two companies raised "billions of dollars" worth of crypto assets from "hundreds of thousands of investors."  The complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and prejudgment interest, as well as civil penalties. The SEC’s complaint alleges that the Gemini Earn program constitutes an offer and sale of securities and that it should have...

Source: AdobeStock / gguy Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced its third round of layoffs amid the ongoing bear market, reducing its headcount by a total of 950 employees, or 20% of its workforce.  In a letter to employees today, CEO and Co-Founder Brian Armstrong said they made the decision in order to make sure they "have the appropriate operational efficiency to weather downturns in the crypto market." He added that the decision will help the company reduce operating costs by 25% compared to the latest quarter.  Armstrong said he reached the decision after examining different scenarios for the crypto market in 2023, including bull, base, and bear. Subsequently, the crypto boss said they had to let go of some of their employees. He said: "As we examined our 2023 scenarios, it became clear that we would need to reduce expenses to increase our chances of doing well in every scenario. While it is always painful to part ways with our fel...

With the introduction of CME Group's reference rates and real-time indexes for three metaverse crypto assets, investors will be able to keep better tabs on pricing data using a technique that is more familiar to the world of traditional finance. It will let investors track price data more accurately by using a method created by CME Group, a marketplace for derivatives, to set reference rates and real-time indexes used in traditional finance. Three New Metaverse Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices CME Group, the largest derivatives marketplace, and CF Benchmarks, the leading cryptocurrency benchmark indices provider, announced three new Metaverse reference rates and real-time indices on January 4. CF Benchmarks will calculate and publish these indices daily starting January 30.  The CME CF Benchmark family of reference rates and real-time indices uses pricing data from the top cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms for these new Metaverse benchmarks. Re...

Source: Mehaniq41/Adobe A South Korean hacker stole $6.7 million from crypto wallets belonging to the deceased CEO of a business empire that included the crypto exchanges Korbit and Bitstamp. Yonhap reported that a branch of the District Court in Eastern Seoul sentenced an unnamed 39-year-old man to six years in prison after finding him guilty of hacking the wallets of the NXC founder Kim Jeong-ju. Kim died earlier this year at the age of 54. The hacker was also fined $89,000. Kim’s business empire included the South Korean gaming giant Nexon, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. A keen crypto advocate, Kim also oversaw the purchase of Korbit. The platform is South Korea’s first crypto exchange – and is still one of its largest. He also bought Europe’s oldest crypto trading platform, Bitstamp. In addition to his business activities, Kim was also an avid private crypto investor, and had built up a portfolio of coins that included bitcoi...

Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section Features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com. Miami, United States, 21st December, 2022, Chainwire The highly anticipated digital collectible experience is coming on January 10, 2023, with additional releases to follow. Earlier this fall, Nifty’s, the platform for NFT-powered fan communities, and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products announced its most recent partnership: Game of Thrones: Build Your Realm, bringing fans of the global phenomenon into the world of digital collectibles and experiences. Today, the partnership is excited to share the details of the Game of Thrones: Build Your Realm Hero Box. This will be the first look into the digital collectible experience, highlighting some fan favorites from the beloved series.  “The Game of Thrones experience has been a long time coming,” said Jeff Marsilio, CEO and Co-founder of Niftys...