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An obscure exchange with curious ties to Justin Sun, WhiteBIT, is currently advertising a nose-bleeding APY of 24.8% to customers who deposit Tether (USDT) for a year on its lending platform. Tether has been interchangeable for $1 worth of bitcoin for over eight years.  Although that 24.8% is five times the average USD money market rate — a red flag if there ever was one — WhiteBIT has a variety of connections to Justin Sun and his Huobi exchange. Funds flow frequently between WhiteBIT and Huobi. Those connections make that APY figure slightly less remarkable, although no more reassuring. Justin Sun has a long history of advertising stratospheric returns on dubious stablecoins. He’s advertised 150% to 392% on his USDD stablecoin, 2,366% on USDJ, 30% on USDC, and 23% on TUSD. Sun controls vast quantities of, and decision-making powers over, most of those stablecoins. On-chain data shows Justin Sun controls virtually all stUSDT Read more: Justin Sun ’s stablecoin...

Crypto exchange FTX , founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, is suing former executive Daniel Friedberg for allegedly paying off whistleblowers. Friedberg served as FTX’s chief regulatory officer, as the chief compliance officer for FTX US, and was part of Alameda Research’s general counsel. The new CEO of FTX, John Ray III, took over to guide it through the bankruptcy process. Under Ray’s leadership, FTX now alleges that Friedberg often “fixed” problems for Bankman-Fried — such as silencing at least two whistleblowers with hush money before they could broadcast FTX’s problems. Those problems included regulatory issues and closer ties between FTX and Alameda Research than Bankman-Fried wanted to admit. FTX wants Dan Friedberg’s salary and stake The lawsuit includes eleven civil counts, including breach of fiduciary duty and approval of fraudulent transfers and “loans” to FTX executives. FTX is asking to receive Friedberg’s compensation during his time at the firm, including...

Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Since the advent of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, there has been a paradigm shift in the world’s financial ecosystem. Without much ado, let me quickly share a little backstory about my sojourn into the crypto space so that you know where my advice is coming from. I have always had it in mind to invest, starting from the traditional markets, but my investment attempts fell short. While the crypto ecosystem is vast, I have learned to navigate and survive there since I started a crypto business. The moment Bitcoin hit the market, I started researching to gain more knowledge about the asset. I love game theory and statistics, which informed my decision to invest in Bitcoin. Through small plays and craftiness, I was able to increase my portfolio. However, I didn’t know some issues back then and couldn’t foresee the possible consequences, hurting my crypto business down the line. T...

Eugene Wong, Cobo Global Original article here Hong Kong has made remarkable strides in establishing a legal and regulatory framework of virtual asset operations over the past year. In October 2022, the Hong Kong Government issued a policy statement setting out its support for virtual assets and commitment to fostering sustainable development of the industry in all aspects. On June 1st this year, the licensing regime for Virtual Asset Trading Platform (VATP) issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) came into effect, mandating VATPs to obtain a license to continue its operations in Hong Kong. Existing VATPs seeking a license must submit their applications to the SFC within 9 months, by February 29th, 2024. Failure to do so will require them to cease operation in Hong Kong by May 31st, 2024. As of today, several virtual asset exchanges have publicly expressed their intention to apply for the VATP license in Hong Kong. According to market sources, there are curre...