• Bitcoin (BTC) falls to two-year low at $15.8k, Ethereum (ETH) & DOGE decline

• FTX owes $3.1 billion to its 50 largest creditors, asks other exchanges to help

• Examiner says Celsius had ‘insufficient’ accounting and operational controls

• EMURGO to launch Cardano’s first regulated stablecoin, USDA, by 2023

• Grayscale refuses to share proof of trust reserves, cites security concerns

Bitcoin (BTC) falls to two-year low at $15.8k, Ethereum (ETH) & DOGE decline

As the full effect of the FTX implosion slowly comes to light, the crypto market suffered another sharp decline. On Sunday, November 20th, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) tanked by more than 5% to drop under $15,800.

Bitcoin’s drop under $15.8k is the first time the asset will drop under the zone in two years. However, Bitcoin has recovered slightly, now trading at $16,060 with a 3% decline over the last 24 hours.

The 24-hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap

Ethereum’s (ETH) decline was even steeper, with an 8% loss sending ETH below the $1,180 and $1,170 support levels. ETH bottomed out at $1,110 and now trades at $1,120, with many expecting further declines.

The 24-hour price chart for Ethereum (ETH). Source: CoinMarketCap

Dogecoin (DOGE) suffered the steepest decline of 20 cryptos ranked by market cap. The losses follow DOGE’s resistance to the FTX collapse. DOGE remains down by 8% in the last 24 hours, trading at $0.07565 from yesterday’s high of $0.08568.

The 24-hour price chart for Dogecoin (DOGE). Source: CoinMarketCap

Flipsider:

• Despite the ongoing market crash, Satiment reported that Bitcoin’s address activity hit a six-month high over the weekend.

Why You Should Care

The decline in major crypto can be linked to the collapse of FTX, as it crashed after the FTX hacker converted stolen crypto to BTC and ETH.

FTX owes $3.1 billion to its 50 largest creditors, asks other exchanges to help

In its documents filed Saturday in a Delaware bankruptcy court, beleaguered crypto exchange FTX has announced that it owes its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1 billion, despite being valued at over $32 billion earlier this year.

According to FTX, its top ten creditors have more than $100 million each in unsecured claims, amounting to $1.45 billion combined. The largest creditor is owed over $276 million and its fiftieth-largest creditor is around $21 million.

In its filing, FTX notes that the debt does not involve anything owed to company insiders. FTX has also called on other exchanges to step up and help track funds that were transferred “without authorization” from the exchange last week.

The funds are said to be in excess of $650 million. FTX has asked exchanges to “take all measures” necessary to secure the funds so that they could be returned to the estate overseeing its bankruptcy.

Flipsider:

• FTX explained that its debt may not be entirely accurate. There could be payments that have already been made out to creditors that have not been reflected on their books.

Why You Should Care

The filing could only be scratching the surface of the amount FTX owes creditors. The company last week revealed that it could have more than one million creditors.

Examiner says Celsius had ‘insufficient’ accounting and operational controls

The independent examiner in crypto lender Celsius Network’s bankruptcy, Shoba Pillay, has reported that the company failed to set up “sufficient” accounting and operational controls in its handling of customer funds. 

Celsius had operated two programs, Custody and Withhold, both requiring separate infrastructure. However, according to the report, Celsius failed to develop a separate infrastructure for the Custody program.

According to Pillay’s interim report, Celsius continued to mix deposits in the Withhold accounts with the rest of its funds. This allowed for shortfalls in Custody wallets to be funded from its other holdings.

Pillay explains that the Custody wallets became underfunded on June 11th. 

She adds that due to the co-mingling of funds "customers now face uncertainty regarding which assets, if any, belonged to them as of the bankruptcy filing.”

Flipsider:

• The New York bankruptcy court has ordered Celsius customers to file claims against Celsius by January 3rd, 2023, to be eligible for distributions from the case.

Why You Should Care

The report provides insight into how the court will advance discussions around Celsius’ Custody and Withhold accounts in the next meeting.

EMURGO to launch Cardano’s first regulated stablecoin, USDA, by 2023

EMURGO, the official commercial arm and a founding entity of Cardano (ADA) has announced the launch of USDA – the first fully fiat-backed, regulatory-compliant stablecoin for the Cardano ecosystem.

USDA is being developed by EMURGO as the first product in Anzens. The Anzens suite of products designed by EMURGO aims to bridge the gap between “traditional financial institutions (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.”

According to EMURGO, the stablecoin will be backed by the U.S. Dollar and will be launched before the end of the first quarter of 2023. USDA will combine Cardano’s low-cost, fast and resource-efficient infrastructure with the stability of the USD.

EMURGO also revealed it has formed a partnership with a U.S.-based regulated financial services company in order to make cash deposits for USDA backing in a regulatory-compliant manner.

Flipsider:

• The Anzens suite will also include lending and borrowing services, crypto-based card payments, and bridges between traditional markets and dApps.

Why You Should Care

The introduction of USDA could help bolster Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem by making it more sustainable, robust, and flexible.

Grayscale refuses to share proof of trust reserves, cites security concerns

Grayscale, the issuer of the world’s biggest crypto fund, has decided to not follow the trend by publishing a proof of reserves or a wallet address showing the underlying assets of its crypto products.

According to Grayscale its decision to not publish a proof of fund reserve is due to security concerns. However, the fund noted in a Twitter thread that all crypto underlying its investment products are stored on Coinbase’s custody service.

Grayscale further explained that Coinbase is the only regulated and publicly traded crypto exchange in the U.S. Regulations biding Grayscale crypto trusts and also preventing underlying assets from being sold, loaned, or otherwise transferred.

The move comes amidst increased pressure from the community for exchanges to publish proof of reserves following the meltdown of FTX. However, Grayscale has assured investors that their funds are safe.

Flipsider:

• Grayscale’s decision has been met with greater FUD and criticisms, with some saying that the move contradicts Satoshi’s original plan for Bitcoin.

Why You Should Care

Grayscale explained to its investors and the crypto community that the regulations that apply to its entities make an FTX-like scenario nearly impossible.