Crypto Flipsider News – FTX Criminal Investigation; wETH Loses Peg; Celo Rallies 16%; Bitcoin Outflow; Elon Goat Statue

Read in the Digest:

The Bahamas launches criminal investigation against FTX, slams new CEO

wETH loses peg, Sun and Buterin to invest $2b into WEF to recover funds

Celo (CELO) rallies 16% and becomes the biggest gainer in the last seven days

Bitcoin outflows from exchanges reach ATH, smallholders add 96.2k BTC

Founders of Elon GOAT Token (EGT) deliver $600,000 goat statue to Musk

The Bahamas Launches Criminal Investigation Against FTX, Slams New CEO

In a national statement, Ryan Pinder, the Bahamas Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs stated that there is an active criminal and civil investigations against the collapsed crypto exchange, FTX.

According to the statement, the Securities Commission, the financial intelligence unit, and the financial crimes unit of the Royal Bahamas Police are also investigating FTX.

The AG also notes that they were collaborating with several specialists and experts. Pinder also slammed the reckless remarks of John Ray III, the new FTX CEO. Pinder said his recent statements were “regrettable” and misrepresented action.

The Bahamas AGF also alleges that the prospect of “multimillion-dollar legal and consultant fees is driving both their legal strategy and the intemperate statements.”

Flipsider:

Alameda Research can be subjected to the laws of the region as it was not a legal entity in the Bahamas like its sister firm, FTX.

Why You Should Care

The comments add more tension to the escalating fight between agencies from different regions looking to claim the remains of the failed crypto empire.

wETH Loses Peg, Sun and Buterin to Invest $2b into WEF to Recover Funds

Over the weekend, wETH, the wrapped version of Ether, was rumoured to have lost its peg to the ETH, after blockchain and ERC-721A developer ‘cygaar’ tweeted that the asset would soon be insolvent.

Crypto Twitter, failing to understand cygaar’s joke, began to panic. Justin Sun and Vitalik Buterin, founders of Ethereum and Tron, were among other top crypto influencers who joined the insolvency joke.

Sun, reacting to the claims of a peg loss, said he had been in talks with Buterin to invest $2 billion into WEF to recover all the funds lost in the wETH depegging. WEF, which actually means World Economic Forum, is not an existing crypto project.

Some Twitter users asked Buterin, Ethereum co-founder if “we’re buying WEF Coin?” Reacting to the posts, Buterin said he was surprised that no one has yet noticed “how WETH and WEF sound so similar.”

Flipsider:

Cygaar has confirmed that wETH will not be unpegged and will always be redeemable 1:1 to ETH and it was a “sh*tpost” to see who was reading his content.

Why You Should Care

The de-pegging claims of WETH show how easily the crypto market reacts to news and the effect crypto influencers have on the market.

Celo (CELO) Rallies 16%, Becomes Biggest Gainer in the Last 7 Days

CELO, the mobile-focused blockchain project, has continued to outperform the global crypto market, rallying by 16% while Bitcoin and other altcoins retreat over the last 24 hours.

The 24-hour price chart of Celo (CELO). Source: CoinMarketCap

In the last seven days, CELO is also the biggest gainer, rising by 45% in the period. CoinMarketCap now ranks CELO 90th, as its value breaches $0.63 and a live market cap of $321 million.

The 7-day price chart of Celo (CELO). Source: CoinMarketCap

The bullish outbreak of Celo comes amidst the launch of Curve.Finance on the Celo network to promote real worlds adoption of crypto. Curve connects to the largest decentralized exchanges, Uniswap v3, via Celo (DEXs).

Celo also announced a partnership with Ethereum software firm ConsenSys last week. As part of the partnership, Celo will integrate with ConsenSys’ Infura infrastructure.

Flipsider:

Moola Market, a DeFi platform on Celo, was recently drained of over $10 million in a market manipulation attack.

Why You Should Care

Celo is a mobile-based blockchain platform that promises to push to make DApps and crypto payments accessible to smartphone users across the globe.

Bitcoin Outflows from Exchanges Reach ATH, Small Holders Add 96.2k BTC

The implosion of FTX, one of the biggest crypto exchanges, sent ripples through the crypto industry, with Bitcoin, its leading asset falling to a two-year low. However, investors did not stop accumulating the original cryptocurrency.

Leading blockchain analytics Glassnode has reported that Bitcoin shrimps accumulated 96.2 BTC despite the FTX collapse. This is an all-time high balance increase, bringing their total to over 1.21 million BTC, more than 6.3% of BTC’s circulating supply.

Similarly, Bitcoin crabs (holders with less than 10 BTC) saw a “convincing all-time high” in accumulation as they added 191.6k BTC to their holdings, surpassing a previous record of 126k BTC in July.

The accumulation coincides with the record Bitcoin outflow from exchanges. CryptoQuant reported the withdrawal of Bitcoin from exchanges soared to reach its highest historical level last week.

Flipsider:

Despite the increased accumulation, Bitcoin miners have been forced to sell their stakes as mining revenue has fallen to its lowest level in two years.

Why You Should Care

The on-chain data shows that Bitcoin holders have refused to panic in the wake of the FTX collapse, as smaller holders continue to accumulate BTC.

Founders of Elon GOAT Token (EGT) Deliver $600,000 Goat Statue to Musk

A team of crypto entrepreneurs has delivered a 30-foot, 12,000-pound statue of Elon Musk to Tesla’s Austin headquarters as part of a crypto market stunt for the memecoin, Elon GOAT Token (EGT).

The behemoth statue costing $600,000 features the head of Elon Musk on the body of a goat riding a rocket, with a Dogecoin (DOGE) token attached to his collar. The statue was paraded around Texas before being delivered to Musk.

According to the EGT website, the aim of the project is to do “something no other Crypto project has dared to do” to gain recognition and legitimacy for their project with an acknowledgment from Musk.

Ashley Sansalone, Alec Wolvert, and Richie Latimer of the EGT project describe themselves as Elon’s superfans. They also invited people to attend the claim of this “historical gift.” However, Elon Musk has failed to respond to the gift.

The 24-hour price chart for Elon GOAT Token (EGT). Source: CoinMarketCap