Hodder Law Weekly Newsletter - January 19, 2023
Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a great week! The price of Bitcoin as of Thursday, January 19 at 5:09 p.m. EST is $21,001.
Headlines.
Silvergate received a quasi-government bailout. Silvergate Bank, which services over 1,300 crypto businesses, received $4.3 billion from the Federal Home Loan Bank
Real crypto adoption needs better UX infrastructure. Several crucial upgrades are needed for crypto to take off in the mainstream. Tedious user experiences and risky blockchain bridges scare off the average user. Better decentralized wallets will draw people in, as will improved scalability with network transactions. More privacy-based blockchains are also necessary before sensitive supply chain networks navigate to the industry.
Republican lawmakers push crypto regulation with new house subcommittee. The new subcommittee on digital assets, financial technology, and inclusion will be chaired by Congressman French Hill (R-AZ). He claims his goals are, “increasing opportunities for all investors, expanding access to innovative financial products, or ensuring the safety and soundness of our financial system.” He is pro-CBDC.
DOJ Objects to FTX’s Choice of Lawyers, Citing Conflict of Interest. New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell are facing objections from the U.S. Trustee claiming a conflict of interest due to their previous connections to FTX.
Three Arrows Capital founders are raising $25M. In an unbelievably brazen partnership with CoinFlex, another bankrupt exchange, they are starting an exchange called GTX (because FTX +1 = GTX). Kyle Davies and Shu Zhu are currently being investigated for fraud. The exchange aims to create a bankruptcy claims market. Only in crypto!
Iran and Russia reportedly looking to launch a stablecoin backed by gold. This story is getting no mainstream media attention but could profoundly impact the global economic order. The primary purpose of the “token of the Persian Gulf” would be as a payment system for international trade now that Russia has been shut out of the SWIFT payment system.
Lazarus group moves 41,000 Ethereum stolen in the harmony bridge hack. The North Korean-based hacker group reportedly transferred $63.4 million in Ethereum using the privacy and anonymity system Railgun (similar to Tornado Cash) before depositing it on exchanges using 350,000 different wallet addresses. Thanks to online sleuths and security teams from Binance and Huobi, 124 BTC were frozen and recovered.
HODLCast
BLOCKFI UPDATE - Over 100 potential buyers to bid later this month. Blockfi published a presentation outlining its coming bankruptcy proceedings. It said it reached out to 106 potential buyers shortly after its first bankruptcy hearing and will seek the court’s approval for the bidding to begin on January 30, 2023. Full blog on the Hodder Law website.
The Federal Reserve simply does not have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in any way. – Janet Yellen, former chair of the US Federal Reserve
Make it a great week! Sincerely, Sasha Hodder Hodder Law sasha@hodder.law www.hodder.law
