The collapse of a major crypto exchange FTX cleared the market of “toxic leverage” and showed investors the importance of self-storage of digital assets

Analysts at investment firm Bernstein believe that the collapse of FTX was the catalyst for a new bullish cycle in cryptocurrency markets, CoinDesk reported, citing a report from their company. The collapse of a major crypto exchange cleared the market of “toxic leverage.” And showed crypto investors the importance of decentralization and self-storage of digital assets.

Macroeconomic factors are supporting Bitcoin. Such as the weakness of regional U.S. banks and the continued outflow of deposits to money market funds. And the “big four” U.S. banks (Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase) reflect investor concerns about the “centralization of money,” according to Bernstein.

“Any potential shocks, in the credit sector or from the government <…> make Bitcoin an ideal safe haven asset alongside gold,” the analysts wrote.

Since the beginning of the year Bitcoin’s rate grew more than 80% – from $16.5 thousand to $29.8 thousand only in March on the background of bankruptcies of American banks (Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank) price of the first cryptocurrency grew from $23 thousand to $28 thousand.

Bernstein’s experts also pointed out that fees on the Ethereum network tripled after the FTX collapse. Which reflects the growth of user activity and interest in the asset itself. Ethereum has risen 75% since the beginning of the year, from $1,200 to $2,100.

Our experts note that at the end of March, analysts Bernstein noted that now there are “ideal conditions” for the growth of the crypto market. Problems in the U.S. banking sector could lead to a decentralized financial system as an alternative to traditional banks.

Our experts talked about the likely scenarios for resuming the business of bankrupt exchange FTX and prospects for its native token. Review by Crypto-Upvotes experts

The bankrupt crypto exchange FTX may reopen. The platform’s new CEO, John Ray, told The Wall Street Journal that he considers that a possibility.

When FTX collapsed in November 2022, triggering the collapse of the crypto market and a series of new problems for major industry players. John Ray then took over the company and began the bankruptcy process, while examining its surviving assets. He says a task force under his leadership is now looking into the possibility of restarting FTX.

When restarting business exchange affected customers can expect to return funds in a larger amount than in the case of the liquidation of its assets or the sale of the platform. This week, FTX lawyers disclosed $3.5 billion in surviving liquid assets of the exchange.

Confidence in this exchange is lost, but how to get it back?

Our experts doubt in reality of FTX relaunch, because its reputation is the worst. But the cryptocurrency market has seen more than that, they say, remembering the relaunch of exchange BTC-e under new brand WEX in 2017. According to our expert, FTX will need new investors to revive its business. Who will help avoid bankruptcy and invest in a marketing campaign to attract users.

A system of incentives for those who have a lot of money on FTX, will also be needed. FTX could issue new tokens corresponding to deposit debt. Which will be gradually redeemed as the exchange has funds.

A similar experience took place on the Bitfinex exchange with its BFX debt tokens. Which were accrued to affected users after a major hacking attack in 2016. Such a move helped Bitfinex fully pay off its debts to customers a year after the incident.

FTX may take a year to two years to recover until all liabilities are paid. FTX relaunch can only happen for the U.S. market, and only with full compliance with local regulators, says our expert.

As Bitfinex experience shows, user trust and trading volumes can be restored, but only partially. Bitfinex was once the largest crypto exchange. But after hacking and the emergence of a major competitor in the form of Binance, this platform has long been not even in the top 3 in global leaders. FTX may indeed be back in the game, but it is unlikely to regain its former credibility. New team of exchange will first of all have to pay debts to users. And prove that it does not use the same scam methods as the old team.

The collapse of FTX put the brakes on venture-backed activity, but analysts expect funding for blockchain startups to grow this summer. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency industry fell to its lowest level in nearly two years in the fourth quarter of 2022. According to PitchBook analysts, $2.3 billion was invested in crypto startups in the last three months of last year. And that’s 75% less than the same period last year.

The last time less money was invested in the crypto industry was in Q4 2020. At that time, it was $1.4 billion. Since then, investments in the crypto industry have been growing, from Q1 2021 ($3.5 billion) to Q1 2022 ($12.1 billion). Between April and June of last year, $7.4 billion was invested in the industry. Аnd between July and September, $4.9 billion.

In all, a record $26.7 billion was invested in blockchain startups last year. Аnd most of that came in the first half of the year. Ventures then began to slow their investment activity. But the collapse of FTX in November prompted them to slow down even more, according to PitchBook crypto analyst Robert Le. According to him, investors are trying to figure out what will happen next and are in no hurry to place capital.

FTX Group’s departure from market, which lacked strict controls and due diligence when investing, also changed the situation for investing in the crypto business. According to Le, FTX had a reputation for making deals and writing big checks. While asking founders only a few questions during the quick approval process. And it often crowded out other venture capitalists.

Immediate prospects

Not having FTX will make for a better market for other crypto investors. Because now they can get back to properly evaluating projects and the necessary prudence. The analyst still expects venture capital investment in the crypto sector to grow in the summer of 2023. That’s partly because many crypto funds are required to use the capital they raised during the digital asset boom.

Mazars and Armanino have suspended the practice of providing services to crypto-industry platform. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Auditing firms have begun to refuse to work with companies in the cryptocurrency industry. For example, Mazars, which recently audited Binance reserves, has suspended its audits of cryptocurrency companies. The firm Armanino, which worked with FTX, is also discontinuing its crypto audit practice and turning away clients.

Mazars Group, the French accounting firm that Binance, KuCoin, Crypto.com and other major industry players turned to to verify their reserve assets, stopped all work with cryptocurrencies. That’s because markets don’t trust its “reserve proof”.

A Mazars official said the company would make a statement in due course and declined to comment further. The website where Mazars reports to cryptocurrencies is currently down.

Another auditing company, Armanino, which has been working in the crypto industry since 2014, is also discontinuing its crypto-audit practice. And is giving up on clients, Forbes writes, citing sources familiar with the matter. According to their information, the firm’s cryptocurrency division may be winding down under pressure from Armanino’s non-cryptocurrency clients. These clients are concerned that the reputational risk to the firm would cast doubt on their audits.

Armanino, which had previously inspected OKX and Gate exchanges, was named a defendant in a collective lawsuit in November 2022. For failing to find irregularities at FTX.US after auditing the exchange last year. Collective action was filed by Stephen Pierce, an FTX customer who he claims lost $20,000.

Many accounting firms are afraid to work with cryptocurrency companies. Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s CEO, said this in an interview with CNBC on Thursday. When asked why Binance has not engaged an auditor from the “big four” (PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG). He replied that such firms “don’t even know how to audit crypto exchanges.”

The Mazars audit report on Binance’s reserves, published on December 7, drew criticism and sowed some panic in the cryptocurrency community. Customers of the exchange started withdrawing funds and the value of the BNB token started falling. Changpeng Zhao warned employees that a difficult period was coming. And urged to ignore the rumors and assured that the exchange “will survive any crypto winter.”

Former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried is sent to the only prison in the Bahamas. There, due to a shortage of space, some inmates just awaiting trial end up in high-security wings. Review of Crypto-Upvotes experts

Former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried is headed to the notoriously poor conditions of the Bahamas’ Fox Hill prison. After a court ordered him into custody and denied him bail, Business Insider reports.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, was detained in the Bahamas on Dec. 12 upon official request from the U.S., where criminal charges were filed against him. Bankman-Fried is charged with several counts. These include scam, money laundering and campaign finance violations.

While awaiting extradition to the U.S., Sam Bankman-Fried will spend time in the Bahamas’ only prison. Fox Hill Prison, notoriously overcrowded and unsanitary. A judge has ordered that he be sent to that prison. Where he will first be held in the medical ward.

The Bahamas has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Thus, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2020 Human Rights Report, there were 409 prisoners per 100,000 people. The University of Lausanne calculates that the average for the Council of Europe’s 48 prison administrations as of January 2020 was just over 103 inmates per 100,000.

Conditions of confinement at Fox Hill prison

Due to the large number of prisoners in the Bahamas, Fox Hill is overcrowded. As a result, conditions are declining. Lack of space and overcrowding have led to some inmates simply awaiting trial being placed in a maximum-security unit. Local attorney Romona Farquharson told The Wall Street Journal.

Inmates are supposed to go outside for an hour a day, the lawyer said, but because of staff shortages, there are periods when inmates see only 30 minutes of sunlight a week.

The U.S. State Department’s Human Rights Report on the Bahamas. Which was published in 2021, reports that, according to Fox Hill inmates. They had to scavenge with buckets and were forced to lie on the hard ground for long periods of time.

The report says there is an infestation of rats, maggots and insects in the small cells of the high-security unit. They have no mattresses, no toilets, and can hold up to six inmates at a time. Detainees complained of poor food and denial of prompt medical care.

Sam Bankman-Fried applied for bail Dec. 13. But a justice of the peace in the Bahamas denied the request. The trading platform founder was deemed a flight risk and detained until at least Feb. 8, 2023, when his case will resume.

Goldman Sachs, one of our largest investment banks, plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to buy crypto platforms. Or invest in them after the collapse of FTX exchange lowered prices in crypto industry. Crypto-Upvotes expert review

Goldman Sachs has launched a “hunt” for cryptocurrencies that have fallen in price since the collapse of FTX, Reuters reported. According to the publication, one of the world’s largest investment banks plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to buy or invest in cryptocurrencies.

The FTX collapse reinforced a need for more reliable, regulated cryptocurrency companies. And big banks see an opportunity to get into business, said Matthew McDermott, head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs. Without revealing details, he specified that the bank is now conducting due diligence on a number of different crypto firms.

The bank sees some really interesting opportunities at a much more reasonable price, McDermott said. FTX was a role model, he said. And its collapse backfired on the market “in terms of sentiment.” That said, McDermott stressed that the underlying blockchain technology continues to work.

Goldman Sachs has already invested in 11 digital asset companies. And it has partnered with MSCI and Coin Metrics to launch Datonomy, a digital asset classification service. According to McDermott, the investment bank is also developing its own private distributed ledger technology.

Goldman Sachs’ willingness to continue investing in the crypto sector in the face of shocks. Shows that bank sees promise in the industry. According to McDermott, Goldman is also looking at hiring opportunities as cryptocurrency companies cut staff.

Singaporeans suffered big losses from FTX collapse due to switching to it after Binance was banned in that country. MAS explained why there were restrictions on Binance and no restrictions on FTX

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a statement explaining why crypto-exchange FTX – in advance of its collapse – was not included in the document. Which warns investors about the illegality of this company’s activities on state territory.

Singapore was the second hardest hit by the FTX crash. According to a CoinGecko report, Singapore accounted for 5% of global traffic to FTX.com. That is, on average, more than 241,000 unique users per month. Analysts attribute this to the fact that the ban of Binance exchange in 2021 in Singapore led to. That users of the exchange Binance moved to FTX.

The MAS, which serves as the country’s central bank, maintains an Investor Alert List (IAL). This list includes those companies that could be mistakenly perceived as licensed or permitted by the regulator. On September 2, 2021, Binance.com was included in this list.

In a November 21 statement, MAS explains why it treated Binance differently than FTX. And included Binance in the IAL list, while FTX did not. Despite the fact that both Binance and FTX are not licensed in Singapore. But Binance actively attracted users in Singapore and offered products in Singapore dollars. FTX did not, according to the MAS report.

In addition, Binance has received complaints about unlicensed customer referrals on its part. Binance was also investigated for possible violations of the Payment Services Act.

Regarding FTX, the regulator said there was no evidence that it attracted Singaporean users. And this platform did not offer products in Singapore dollars.

Conclusions from FTX fiasco

MAS also said that there are hundreds of such exchanges and thousands of other offshore organizations. Which accept investments. MAS does not have the ability to put them all on the IAL list. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to deal with such organizations.

According to regulator, the most important lesson from the FTX fiasco is that transactions with any cryptocurrency on any platform are dangerous.

Our experts conclude that MAS was somehow interested in FTX. Because the blocking of Binance was done and the second top exchange, as if they did not notice. In any case, we agree with them that operations with any cryptocurrency on any platform are risks.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts have analyzed situation on cryptocurrency market. And told how Bitcoin price can change in the next few days

Last week, from November 14 to 20, trading on the crypto market was relatively quiet. Increased volatility was observed on the first day of the week. Bitcoin/USDt jumped from $15.8 th. to $17.1 th. (+8.69%). Growth in quotations was caused by the head of Binance, Changpeng Zhao. He said he will launch a fund to rebuild the industry and help promising companies. He did so to reduce the negative impact from collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

After updating the weekly high price stabilized in the range of $16 thousand – $17 thousand Investors are in no hurry to buy Bitcoin because they took a wait-and-see attitude. Because of fears of the next wave of sales on the background of new bankruptcies of companies related to the collapsed exchange FTX.

For ten days, market is in the phase of rest after a recent collapse. Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P500 Index has turned negative at 0.62. Crypto market has stopped reacting to the dynamics of dollar and stock indices. Investors are busy transferring tokens from centralized exchanges to cold wallets. They are doing this to protect their cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin price is at $16,000 waiting for a new batch of news about crypto industry. As buyers have failed to quickly get the price back above $18,500. A level of $12k is still flashing green for sellers below, signaling a lack of resistance. Because of a collapse in FTX, events could begin to unfold in a worst case scenario for Bitcoin and crypto investors. Buyers need to consolidate above $18.5k. Without consolidation, bearish sentiment will not be offset.

There is a threat of new bankruptcies, and continued collapse of crypto market

So far, the ratio of long and short positions on futures market does not have any bias. Therefore, we do not expect a sharp change in the situation in the next few days.

On-chain parameters also speak in favor of absence of preconditions for fall. There is also growing interest in cold wallets, amid outflow of capital from CEX exchanges because of scandal with FTX.

Most likely scenario is a continuation of current levels. Accordingly, expected range of BTC price is about $16-17 thousand.

Among stability risks, there is a threat of new bankruptcies followed by an avalanche of liquidations. There are no guarantees that it will not happen this week. But the probability is not high either. And statements of major players about creation of crypto-business support funds to prevent exactly such chain reactions in the market. Should add optimism and confidence in protection of crypto industry from collapse.

Of important – it is worth to highlight protocol of November meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which will be published on November 23. Bitcoin is detached from risky assets, so it may ignore investors’ reaction to the publication of these protocols.

Daily futures trading volume on DeFi platforms reached $5 billion. This is the biggest amount since Terra collapsed in May of this year. Crypto-Upvotes expert review.

DeFi platforms increased revenues amid the outflow of funds from centralized exchanges that occurred due to the collapse of FTX. On-chain data showed an increase in activity on decentralized futures trading platforms and an increase in revenue for DeFi protocols, Cointelegraph reported.

However, not all decentralized applications (DApps) and protocols show such a trend. Because some of them have financial ties to FTX and Alameda. But data on DeFi projects’ revenues show that at least three protocols have exceeded $1 million in the last seven days, including Ethereum and OpenSea Marketplace.

Decentralized futures trading platforms have increased their trading volumes to record levels. Their daily turnover reached $5 billion, the highest since the Terra token crash in May of this year.

Despite the increase in trading volume, the total value of locked-in assets (TVL) at DeFi only increased at seven networks. Gains Network, a futures trading platform on the Polygon network, showed the biggest increase. Its TVL increased 17.3% over the week. And inter-network protocol Ren saw its TVL drop by 50%. This is because Ren worked closely with Alameda. And received quarterly funding and stored its funds directly on FTX.

Blockchain’s profit growth comes on top of an unchanged number of daily active users. Compared to previous weeks, the daily profits of leading blockchains have increased by more than 300%. This suggests that transactions among existing users are occurring more frequently.

Despite growth in profits, only Ethereum made profits among PoS-based blockchains. Other leading networks such as Polygon, BNB Smart Chain and Optimism did not profit. Holders of these tokens suffered inflationary losses.

Binance also plans to take a lead in setting global industry standards in wake of bankruptcy of FTX. Crypto-Upvotes expert review.

The Binance exchange will create a relief fund for crypto projects that are strong at the core but face a liquidity crisis, head Changpeng Zhao wrote on his Twitter page. According to him, this fund will be created to reduce negative impact of the FTX collapse on industry.

Head of Binance urged other participants of cryptoindustry to join this project as well. Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun was the first to respond, telling Binance that Tron, as well as Huobi Global and Poloniex exchanges, would support this project. A little later, developers of Ethereum Pow responded to this call.

In addition, Binance plans to take a lead in setting global standards in this industry. Zhao said this, speaking at a conference in Indonesia, according to Blomberg. Binance’s chief executive said there was a need for greater transparency in industry and close cooperation with regulators around the world.