Category: Cryptocurrency

Here is a consolidated list of the best cryptocurrency exchanges with my comments:

Name of the Exchange	CoinSutra Comments	Overall CoinSutra Rating	No. of Trading Pairs
Binance	• It offers a mobile app and the world’s largest exchange. • If you need to pick only one, this is the best and #1 in 2022. • It offers max number of crypto pairs, basic and advanced trading. • A lot of exciting features, including Margin trading, Exchange coin (BNB), and many more	9.8/10	1292
Huobi Global	• One of the largest exchanges of the crypto market • High security and great customer support		910
Changelly	• Instantly convert any cryptocurrency to any of your choices. • Great for instant conversion.	8.7/10	747
Bitfinex	• High trading volume and liquidity		111
Coinbase	• A U.S.A. regulated exchange based out of California.	9.1/10	211
Kraken	• Based out of the USA, and secure crypto exchange, existing for the last half a decade.		346
KuCoin	• Simple and easy to use • Many low-cap gems available		325
1inchexchange	• Best decentralized exchange aggregators of the market • Custody of funds remains with the user		474
CEX	• Simple and easy to use		202
Bybit	• Very popular with high volume. • Ideal for margin trading. • Read Bybit review		–

Slowly and steadily, Bitcoin and altcoins are getting attention from more investors all around the world.

And why not? These cryptocurrencies are time and again proving themselves to be a safe haven against the government’s inflationary policies.

Not only this, but now people have a variety of products to earn substantial passive income on their crypto assets. Moreover, some people make good money by pure speculation with short-term trading (i.e., buy low, sell high).

And for those who are just starting and need answers to some basic questions like:

• Where do I buy such cryptocurrencies?
• What are the best cryptocurrency exchanges?
• Which crypto exchange is secure and user-friendly?

But before we talk about the best exchanges out there, I need to tell you that it’s not too late to get invested in cryptocurrencies. At the time of this writing, the Bitcoin and altcoin market is at a market cap of $1.18 Trillion. I believe we will cross the $3 Trillion mark in the next year.

So now that you know that you should invest, here’s where you need to go to do that.

Note: This list starts from easy-to-use exchanges and moves towards some of the advanced exchanges.

11 Best Cryptocurrency Exchanges for Trading Cryptocurrency

1. Binance

Binance is the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange that concluded its ICO on 21st July 2017 and raised $ 15 Million. In addition to being a blazing fast exchange, The platform is designed for traders of all levels, i.e., from a beginner trader to an advanced trader. 

The platform offers an inbuilt wallet which is ideal for storing Bitcoin for a short time. In addition, Binance has an Earn feature to deposit your crypto assets such as Bitcoin or USDT, and earn interest on your holdings.

Since its ICO to date, it has grown tremendously. It has become the leading cryptocurrency exchange globally in trading volume and availability of pairs of a token. It now has over 370+ altcoins listed on it, which are further provided in over 1300 pairs. Additionally, coin listing is increasing with every passing month.

Binance being a centralized exchange has taken a unique take to expand its business and provides a decent discount for day traders if they use BNB coins. BNB is the native currency of this platform, saving money on buying/selling any coin.

Binance is a global exchange that is ideal for everyone and has the highest liquidity. Users from the USA can signup for Binance.us. Use the table below to pick the ideal Binance exchange for your jurisdiction:

Binance Global	Sign up here (10% trading fees off)	For everyone (Users from all countries) except the USA
Binance USA	Sign up here (Get $15)	For the USA users

Binance’s fee structure is also unique.

It has a 0.1% standard trading fee that is already relatively less than its peers. You can even reduce your fee further if you pay your trading fee in BNB according to the below-shown structure.

To get started with Binance, you need to register using your email ID and the process is simple & fast. Binance is one of the few exchanges that offer mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Read: Binance Review: Features, Fees in 2022 (Beginner’s Guide)

Being using it for a while, I find it too easy to trade cryptocurrency while on the move. However, you can watch this video to learn how to use its mobile app.

They also have aggressive plans like multi-lingual support, mobile apps for both iOS and Android users, the Binance lending program,  and the Community Coin Per Month, etc for more adoption of their platform.

2. Huobi Global

Huobi is an international cryptocurrency exchange that originated in China but now has moved across the world to serve a maximum number of investors. It is based out of Singapore and has been operating in this space successfully for the last five years.

As we speak, it occupies the #2 spot on CoinMarketCap’s list of exchanges by volume and has 973 cryptocurrency pairs. Hence, you will never face liquidity problems on this exchange.

They also have a mobile app for Android and iOS for users who want to trade cryptos on the go.

Their registration process is also pretty simple, so go ahead and do the needful. Oh, and just so you know, the exchange fee is also pretty low. Have fun.

Do read Huobi Exchange Review: Pros and cons

3. Changelly

Changelly is one of the easiest ways to get ahold of various cryptocurrencies.

Changelly has a proven track record of consistently good products being put out into the crypto space.

One of the best things about Changelly is that you don’t need to go through any lengthy verification or registration process. It is a non-custodial exchange.

Currently, Changelly supports around 199 cryptocurrencies along with fiat pairs such as USD/EUR. It is one of the best and easiest to use crypto exchanges out there. 

When you use Changelly to exchange cryptocurrency, the matching engine connects in real time to some of the best and busiest cryptocurrency exchanges in the market to get you the best price.

Usually, when using Changelly, a crypto-to-crypto exchange takes 2 to 20 minutes.

The amount you see is the amount you get, so you don’t have to worry about any hidden fees or charges.

All you need to buy from Changelly is a VISA/MasterCard (credit/debit card) and a wallet where you want to receive your new coins.

The procedure is very simple.

Head toward Changelly, and follow the on-screen instruction to exchange your coins.

4. Bitfinex

Bitfinex is another one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges out there.

Based out of Hong Kong and operational since 2014, it gives its users the option to trade in 139 cryptocurrencies offered in 320 different trading pairs.

You can trade using USD (with a wire fee of at least $60). Also, users will need to pay a trade fee which varies from 0.1% to 0.2% (details here).

Also, whenever you withdraw or deposit anything, you are charged a certain fee:

On Bitfinex, if you are a pro-trader, you will find advanced trading tools such as limit orders, stop orders, trailing stop, fill or kill, TWAP, and others, along with different market charts.

And whenever you get bored with the web version or want to trade on the go, you can use Bitfinex’s Android and iOS mobile apps.

5. Coinbase

Coinbase is a U.S.-based crypto exchange that serves a global audience. The exchange offers excellent speed and reliability and is beginner-friendly.

Using Coinbase, you can quickly buy cryptocurrencies and trade at the same time. They have an app for iOS and Android, which gives you the comfort of exchanging cryptocurrencies from anywhere. The wire transfer feature is also available on Coinbase.

The security standard of Coinbase is enterprise-grade, and they have been around for many years. Coinbase is supported in almost all continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America)

The exchange has listed 72 cryptocurrencies which are offered in 232 different trading pairs. Coinbase also supports popular stablecoins such as DAI and USDC which is an important aspect of any popular cryptocurrency exchange.

6. Kraken

Kraken is one of the oldest crypto exchanges that has existed for over a decade now. Established in 2011, the exchange offers Bitcoin as well as a number of known altcoins. In total it offers 346 pairs of crypto tokens. Read more detailed review of Kraken.

The exchange has an interactive web version as well as mobile applications for Android and iOS users. The features of the platform can be fully explored by an advanced crypto user. 

Features such as take profit orders, take profit limit orders, etc. are some of the unique features of the platform.

Kraken also offers derivatives products on which margin is available up to 50x. Further, it has options to earn passive income such as staking.

You can use Kraken to deposit and withdraw funds to any bank account globally. In my experience of using Kraken, bank transfers is quick, and support is excellent.

7. KuCoin

KuCoin is another easy and hassle-free cryptocurrency exchange. KuCoin offers many popular and unique coins such as CHR, $KCS, and many others. Just like Binance, they offer a fully functional mobile app for Android and iOS.

To get started with KuCoin, you can deposit any crypto of your choice, ex: BTC, and start trading. I have been using KuCoin for the past two years, and they have constantly been adding extra features.

You can use Kraken to deposit and withdraw funds to any bank account globally. In my experience of using Kraken, bank transfers are quick, and support is excellent.

Overall, Kraken is one secure and trustable exchange that you should check out.

8. 1inchexchange

All the exchanges in my list are centralized exchanges. This means an exchange that has a record of your identity and holds your private keys for you. 

People who specifically want to trade anonymously and to keep custody of their funds should choose a decentralized exchange.

1inchexchange is the best DEX (Decentralized Exchange) aggregator which consolidates prices from various other DEXs and brings the best price for you.

The platform is very secure and provides better liquidity than any other Decentralized Exchange. I would suggest you much try this platform once to have a touch base of the Decentralized Financial eco-system.

9. CEX

CEX.io was established in London, United Kingdom in 2013. Originally the organization was a cloud mining service provider which handled a number of cloud mining pools. In 2015, the organization dropped the mining service business and focussed completely on the exchange services.

In 2017, the exchange was audited by a third-party audit firm which confirms its compliance company’s diligent approach towards crime prevention. In 2019, the company set up its offices in nine US states and has been expanding since then. 

The exchange has 80 different crypto tokens which are offered as 201 different trading pairs.

Features of CEX.io are as follows:

• Spot Trading and Margin Trading
• Derivatives Trading (in form of Contracts for Difference (CFD))
• Fiat to crypto transaction for 4 cryptocurrencies (USD, EUR, GBP, RUB)
• Options to earn passive income through staking and savings
• Crypto backed loans

In addition to this The exchange also offers a Demo Account for paper trading. The basic trading fee is 0.25% for a taker and 0.16% for a maker. 

The platform is secure and easy to use. Along with an interactive web application, it offers a mobile application for Android and iOS users.

Read a review of CEX.io exchange

10. Bybit

Bybit is a specialized spot and crypto derivatives market exchange. Established in March 2018, Bybit is one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency exchanges, with more than 3 million registered users.

Further, the exchange offers a margin on the above derivatives upto 100x. In case you are looking for an exchange for spot and derivatives trading, then Bybit is the best bet.

The platform is adding quality and trending coins every other day, and it might become the fastest growing crypto exchange of 2022. It is one of the best crypto exchanges which is secure and easy to use. It has an interactive web application and a mobile application for Android and iOS users.

For beginners, Bybit also has a feature of paper trading.

Read our full review on Bybit here.

What if a user needs some low market cap gems?

Using the above cryptocurrency exchanges will allow you to buy almost all of the cryptos you could ever want to buy.

However, there are a few more cryptocurrency exchanges that you should have an account with, as there are a few coins that are only available there. It’s a good idea to have an account on most of these, which will save time when you discover a winning coin.

So, here are some bonus exchanges which I am sure you would love.

11. MEXC Global

MEXC Global (formerly known as MXC) was established in 2018 in Seychelles, East Africa. The exchange has listed 518 coins which are offered as 887 different pairs.

You can use MEXC Global for spot, margin, and derivatives trading. In addition to this MEXC Global provides several features such as ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) Trading, staking, DeFi Farming, etc.

The trading fee on MEXC Global is 0.2% of the transaction value. This fee can be discounted by holding the in-house token of MEXC Exchange i.e. MX Token. 

The benefits of using MEXC Global Exchange are as follows:

• The platform has a very user-friendly interface
• The platform has an interactive mobile app that allows you to trade on the go
• You can earn passive income through staking and depositing assets in DeFi products

Please read our full review on MEXC Global Exchange here.

12. AscendEX (BitMax)

AscendEX (formerly known as BitMax) was established in 2018 in Singapore. Founders George Cao and Ariel Ling have substantial experience in investment banking and traditional stock markets.

The exchange provides the following services:

• Spot, Margin, and Futures Trading
• OTC (over-the-counter) Trading (for bulk purchases)
• Fiat to crypto purchase
• Staking (to earn passive income on your crypto assets)
• DeFi Yield Farming (to earn passive income on your crypto assets)

AscendEX has listed 186 tokens on the platform, which are offered as 299 pairs of tokens. The trading fee of the platform is 0.1% for large-cap tokens and 0.2 for altcoins.

The benefits of using AscendEX are as follows:

• Copy-trading feature for futures trading(you can copy trade settings of professional traders)
• Passive income earning options available (staking and DeFi Yield Farming)
• The exchange has a user-friendly interface

So that is it for my list of most reliable cryptocurrency exchanges. Now, with such an information overload there is a need to summarise this information. Let us understand how to choose the best crypto exchange for ourselves.

How to select the best cryptocurrency exchange for you?

Following are the crucial factors you should consider while choosing the best crypto exchange for yourself:

Almost all exchanges have a list of supported countries. Residents outside these jurisdictions should not use these exchanges.

Further, you should also check whether your native fiat currency is supported by that exchange or not. If not, then you need to figure out a way to transfer your funds to this exchange.

Security is the key factor for the sustenance of the whole crypto market. Before choosing an exchange for yourself, you should have an answer to these questions:

1. Who keeps custody of my funds?
2. Is there any security audit done on the exchange? What was the conclusion?
3. Where are the funds of the exchange kept? Is the place secure enough?
4. Does the exchange has any insurance in case of loss of funds due to a security breach?

Once you have answered the above questions, you will be able to judge the security of the said platform.

• Whether it is centralized or decentralized

Centralized exchanges need your personal details before they allow you to trade on their platform. Further, most of these exchanges keep custody of your funds.

This is not the case with a decentralized exchange.

Some exchanges although very good in product offerings have a very complicated user interface. This leads to confusion in understanding the product or method of transactions.

Thus, you should choose an exchange that has an interactive web application and a compatible mobile application.

• Liquidity and Trading Volume

If you want to purchase a token, you need to ensure whether people are interested in selling that token on the exchange. Thus, liquidity means the availability and scale of crypto funds on a particular exchange.

For this, you should check the number of trading pairs supported by the platforms and the 24-hour trading volume of the platform.

KYC stands for Know Your Customer. Almost all the centralized exchanges have a KYC Policy basis that collects information of user and enable them to use the platform.

What you need to check is the type of information collected as well as the time in which verification is done by the exchange.

On every transaction, a trading fee would be charged by the exchange. This trading fee is a cost to you and thus you should try and choose an exchange with the lowest trading fee.

• The reputation of exchange in the market

A crypto exchange is an intermediary between a buyer and a seller. Therefore, you need to ensure that an exchange is legit and does not have a bad reputation in the market.

For this, you should search for any possible scams that an exchange could have been a part of.

• Relationship of the exchange with the country’s authorities

Lastly, you should check whether a crypto exchange is in line with the regulations of your country. In case an exchange is banned by the authorities, you should not use that exchange in any case.

Conclusion – Best Crypto Exchanges 2022

Trust me, I have squeezed my 5 years of experience in the crypto markets in this single post. My objective is to bring you the most feasible products of the crypto markets and help you in earning life-changing money.

I will update this post as I find other trustable and feature-rich cryptocurrency exchanges. For now, you can consider joining our Telegram channel to stay updated with all the latest info.

I hope these insights help you in choosing the best cryptocurrency exchange for you to use.

But one word of caution:

Don’t use these exchanges as a wallet to HODL your cryptos. If you are storing cryptocurrencies on these exchanges for a few hours or even a few days for the sake of trading, then it’s probably OK. Otherwise, this is a bad practice.

Large-scale hacks like Mt. Gox can happen at any time. I would strongly recommend you to use the Ledger Nano S or a wallet like Atomic, where you can store a lot of different cryptos and control your private keys.

So now it’s your turn to tell me: Which one of these exchanges do you like the best? Also, what’s another great exchange that I haven’t listed here? Let me hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Here are a few hand-picked articles you should read next:

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16 November 2022 | ZebPay Trade-Desk

Bear markets can be difficult times for investors, who are often faced with declining values ​​of a majority of their holdings along with dwindling opportunities for profit. For some, the bear markets are troubling times that threaten to recoup all those returns achieved over the past few months, while for others it presents a plethora of opportunities that few with a risk appetite can capitalize on. 

Whatever your perspective is, one thing is certain: acting irrationally and failing to adequately mitigate risk can have catastrophic consequences. Therefore, it’s a good idea to take some time to understand how to protect yourself in a bear market, whether it’s from external threats, unknown risks, or even making bad decisions ourselves. 

How to Analyse your Portfolio

We all probably have a few assets in our portfolios that have little chance of returning to their former glory. However, you hold on to them because you don’t want to lock in your losses or because you’re still waiting for the chance that they’ll take off. Unfortunately, these are assets that trade well above their intrinsic value, rarely doing so for long. This is often seen when stocks trade well above their P/E for some time before returning to more reasonable levels, and when fundamentally weak crypto assets lose their enthusiasm and selling pressure begins to mount. 

With that in mind, it’s always a good idea to define an exit strategy for each asset you own and, if necessary, cut your losses as quickly as possible. You may want to automatically enforce your exit strategy by placing your limit sell orders just below key support points or simply selling in the market where liquidity allows. Selling at a loss can hurt, but keeping the assets you hold for losing, in the long run, can result in potentially devastating losses. You should be aware of the “selling effect,” which causes investors to hold assets when they know there is essentially no chance of recovery and sell assets with greater upside potential early to take profits. Without being too hasty, it’s a good ability to get out of losing positions early without getting too committed.

During a bull market, well-publicized crypto assets tend to command extraordinary market valuations, often dramatically exceeding their intrinsic value. Not surprisingly, this value typically plummets in a bear market, as crypto assets are far from their intrinsic value and begin to see their prices fall. The delta between the current market cap (calculated as token price * current supply) and fully diluted valuation (calculated as token price * total supply) is generally reduced over time as a larger proportion of the token pool is unlocked. If there is a big difference between market cap and FDV, this can be a red flag.

Best Practices for Getting Better at Investing

One of the best ways to improve your investing and trading performance is simply to become more educated. In practice, this means tapping into the right data sources and using the right tools to extract useful information. After all, a well-informed trader is often successful, doubly so in a bear market where consequences are exaggerated. Luckily, there is a wealth of information available to help you not only stay on top of the market but also gain insights that other people don’t see. From the dozens of analytical platforms available to the vast amount of research material available, it is now possible to be well-informed about most projects, markets and trends.

At ZebPay, we offer a wide range of tools and resources that you can use to keep up to date with new opportunities and monitor your favourite tokens. For example, you can:

• Create a portfolio and monitor your favourite crypto assets.
• Stay up to date with the best and worst crypto assets over the last 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days.
• Set alerts and monitor your investments.
• Check out our blogs to get more updates and information regarding the market and other aspects of the crypto industry. 

For those who want to take a more data-intensive approach to their investment strategy, several platforms offer analytics and chain tracking. Many have a free plan (or at least a free trial) that can be used to spot trends early and identify entry/exit points and potential red flags. 

Crypto has the potential to generate amazing profits or heartbreaking losses. As with any investment strategy, your goal is to ensure that your gains outweigh your losses. Diversification is one of the best ways to do this. Rather than putting all your eggs in one basket and hoping a single coin/token will go parabolic, it’s safer to hedge your bets by spreading your money across a variety of uncorrelated assets. Unfortunately, this is not so easy when it comes to crypto the majority of crypto assets follow bitcoin’s lead when it comes to price movements.

However, you can potentially reduce category risks by diversifying your investments across a variety of different sectors, for example, Defi, L1 coins, L2 solutions, governance tokens, metaverse assets, etc. With a diversified pool of assets, you can help your portfolio better absorb losses while gaining access to potential growth in a variety of uncorrelated sectors.

Some also decide to utilise a variety of investment methods and modalities to mitigate risk. For example, use derivatives to hedge risk on spot positions during periods of extreme volatility, or spread investments across a variety of platforms to mitigate risk from Black Swan events such as hacks, downtime, or exploits. The inversion landscape is becoming increasingly complex, and the number of potential attack vectors is increasing. It would be wise to take protective measures if your position is exposed to such risks.

How to Shield Yourself from False Information

Unfortunately, the crypto industry is full of self-proclaimed experts and scholars, many of whom genuinely believe they can predict the future and ensure their audience thinks the same. But while some are ethical and thoroughly discuss their limitations and fallibility, others have developed a seemingly cult following that buys essentially anything they promote with little to no additional research. Additionally, many influencers are paid simply to promote the next meme coin money or half-baked project and rarely make it clear that they are on the payroll. Under the popular slogan “it’s not financial consulting (N.F.A.)”. 

Many influencers praise specific projects in front of an often naïve and impressionable audience, many of whom buy and hope for the best. Not surprisingly, these users often get burned and most end up losing money. Remember, everyone’s an expert in a bull market. At the height of hysteria, it’s often hard to go wrong with a crypto investment. Because of this, you must take the time to do your research (DYOR), which means using primary data sources, data providers, and other analytics systems that you think can help you to gain an advantage.

Disclaimer: This report is not intended to be relied upon as advice to investors or potential investors and does not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation or needs of any investor. All investors should consider such factors in consultation with a professional advisor of their choosing when deciding if an investment is appropriate. The Company has prepared this report based on information available to it, including information derived from public sources that have not been independently verified. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is provided in relation to the fairness, accuracy, correctness, completeness or reliability of the information, opinions or conclusions expressed herein. This report is preliminary and subject to change; the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the reports to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Trading & Investments in crypto assets viz. Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum etc. are very speculative and are subject to market risks. The analysis by Author is for informational purposes only and should not be treated as investment advice.

The world’s second largest crypto exchange files for bankruptcy, and trading platforms provide proof of reserves to halt the liquidity crisis. Will the crypto market recover? These stories and more this week in crypto.

Crypto Exchange FTX Filed For Bankruptcy

After shocking the industry with a liquidity crisis, FTX has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. A statement detailed that FTX and around 130 affiliated firms have commenced voluntary proceedings to provide the FTX Group the opportunity to assess its situation and maximize recoveries for stakeholders. Sam Bankman-Fried has stepped down from the role of CEO.

Binance Walked Away from FTX Rescue

Just a day after Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao announced that he had reached a nonbinding deal to buy FTX’s non-U.S. businesses, Binance did an about-face and backed out of the deal, effectively forcing FTX to file for bankruptcy.

Millions of Tokens Blacklisted Following FTX Hack

Several wallet addresses linked to FTX were found transferring millions of dollars worth of cryptos without an official notice just a day before the bankruptcy filing. Within hours, FTX confirmed on Telegram that the fund transfers were part of an ongoing hack. Tether proactively blacklisted $31 million worth of USDT tokens linked to the transactions.

Crypto Exchanges Prove Reserves

To calm worried investors and prevent bank runs, crypto exchanges have started issuing proof of reserves to halt the outflow of assets from their platforms. Binance confirmed they have over $70Bn spread across Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB and stablecoins. Meanwhile, Crypto.com revealed that it holds 20% of its reserves in Shiba Inu – a highly speculative meme coin with no apparent utility.

FTX Investors Suffer

A long list of investors now suffer from the collapse of FTX, including the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock. Sequoia invested in a $420 million round in the company last year while other venture investors, even Canada’s Teacher’s Pension Fund, are among the entities that lost big in the collapse of the exchange.

FTX Supporters Plunge Into Losses

Over the past couple of years FTX had managed to attract a ton of celebrities. NFL quarterback Tom Brady and basketball star Steph Curry are just a couple of the high profile names of its former partners. Mercedes Formula One suspended its sponsorship with FTX prior to its upcoming race in Brazil. Binance chief Changpeng Zhao, has warned that more companies may fail in the coming weeks resulting from the demise of FTX.

The White House Weighs in on the FTX Collapse

The White House and the Senate Banking Committee have called for proper crypto regulation following the collapse of FTX. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre commented that it is crucial that financial watchdogs look into what led to FTX’s collapse, to fully understand the misconduct and abuses that took place.

Volatility Rises Following the FTX Crisis

Strategists at JPMorgan said in a note to clients that the FTX crisis injects significant volatility into the crypto market, calling it crypto’s “Lehman moment”, referring to the 2008 collapse of the investment bank. The strategists stated that this situation could be more problematic, as entities with strong enough balance sheets to be able to rescue low capital, high leverage firms in the crypto ecosystem are becoming harder and harder to find.

That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.

Key Takeaways

• FTX has been hacked.
• Over $400 million was drained from the cryptocurrency exchange early Saturday. Employees have moved remaining assets to cold storage.
• Some have suggested that the incident may be an inside job due to the ongoing FTX meltdown.

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FTX.US General Counsel Ryne Miller said that assets had been moved to cold storage “to mitigate damage upon observing unauthorized transactions.” 

FTX Suffers Major Hack 

FTX, the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange that’s been at the center of a rapidly developing drama this week, has been hacked. 

Hours after the embattled firm announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a number of on-chain sleuths took to Twitter to point out a series of suspicious outflows from the exchange to external wallets. Though the full scale of the damage is still unknown, over $400 million was moved to addresses on Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, and other crypto networks. “FTX has been hacked. All funds seem to be gone,” an admin going by Rey wrote on the exchange’s official Telegram channel. According to the admin, FTX’s app was also affected. “FTX apps are malware. Delete them,” they wrote. 

FTX.US General Counsel Ryne Miller addressed the incident on Twitter early Saturday, saying that some of the company’s remaining employees were “investigating abnormalities with wallet movements.” He later followed up by confirming that team members had moved assets on FTX and FTX.US to cold storage “to mitigate damage upon observing unauthorized transactions.” 

Following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings – FTX US and FTX [dot] com initiated precautionary steps to move all digital assets to cold storage. Process was expedited this evening – to mitigate damage upon observing unauthorized transactions.

— Ryne Miller (@_Ryne_Miller) November 12, 2022

Due to the nature of the hack, which saw the attackers gain free access to multiple areas of the exchange to drain hundreds of millions of dollars across different crypto networks, some have speculated that the incident may have been an inside job. “Multiple former FTX employees confirmed to me they do not recognize these transfers,” on-chain detective ZachXBT tweeted. 

Shortly after the hack, Tether froze $31.4 million worth of USDT transferred in the incident. Elon Musk also weighed in, noting that the hack was “being tracked in real-time on Twitter.” Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who helped start a bank run on FTX last week by announcing his plans to dump a large allocation of FTX’s FTT coin, also posted a tweet that appeared to allude to the incident, taking the opportunity to take a shot at former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. “What a sh!t show… And it’s going to be crypto’s fault, (instead of one guy’s fault)…” he tweeted. 

What a sh!t show… And it’s going to be crypto’s fault, (instead of one guy’s fault)… pic.twitter.com/XzOpV0iGjT

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 12, 2022

The hack news follows a week of chaos in the crypto market brought on by FTX’s collapse. This week, it emerged that the exchange was insolvent after former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried used billions of dollars worth of customer funds to bail out his trading firm, Alamada Research. The firm filed for bankruptcy Friday while Bankman-Fried stepped down. Alameda is also winding down. The FTX situation is still developing at a fast pace, and U.S. agencies like the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the events. 

This story is developing and will be updated as further details emerge. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned ETH, USDT, and several other crypto assets. 

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The biggest news in the cryptoverse for Nov. 10 includes SBF planning to raise funds to bailout FTX and make users whole, SEC chairman Gary Gensler advocating for more investor protection following FTX collapse, and  Sequoia Capital writing off its over $200M investment in FTX as worthless.

CryptoSlate Top Stories

Leaked slack messages show SBF plan to raise funds for FTX bailout

According to leaked slack messages reportedly sent to FTX employees, Sam Bankman-Fried plans to raise more funds to repay customers and investors affected by the collapse.

SBF added that FTX international may merge with FTX US to increase its liquidity and fund operations.

Sequoia writes-off over $200M FTX investment as ‘worthless’

VC firm Sequoia had earlier invested about $63.5 million into FTX and FTX US before the crypto exchange started struggling.

In light of the FTX collapse, Sequoia informed its investors that it was writing off over $200 million as bad debt to FTX.

SBF seeks to raise liquidity for FTX International; funds to go “straight to users”

FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) in a Nov. 10 tweet apologized for exceeding users’ deposit margin which caused the FTX collapse. As a result, FTX had a higher value of assets than user deposits.

SBF said he was exploring all possible options to raise funds and liquidate existing collateral so as to refund users affected by the collapse.

Crypto markets rocked as stablecoin reserves deplete, Curve 3pool concentrated by USDT, 60k BTC leaves Binance, Alameda shorts USDT

Following reports that Binance pulled away from saving FTX due to an $8 billion hole in FTX’s balance sheet, Binance published its Proof of Assets, which revealed that Binance held roughly $18.3 billion worth of assets in its reserve

However, the FTX collapse is posing some liquidity issues for stablecoins. The Curve 3pool became unbalanced, as the USDT, DAI, and USDC balances adjusted to 84%, 8%, and 8% respectively. Rumors also emerged that FTX’s Alameda was looking to sell off about $550,000 worth of USDT.

With the rising fear, uncertainty, and doubt rocking the crypto market, some Bitcoin holders moved to withdraw about 60,000 BTC from exchanges, indicating a sentiment to sell off their assets to avoid further contagion.

SEC’s Gensler says more investor protection is needed after FTX fiasco

The securities and exchange commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler told CNBC that he had warned crypto exchanges including Sam Bankman’s FTX that non-compliance with regulatory laws would undermine investor protection.

Gensler reiterated that the best way ahead will be for crypto exchanges to be duly registered with the regulators, so as to protect investors and prevent market crises caused by big players, who “co-mingle” to trade against their customers.

Solana postpones token unlock amid double-dip fears, developers unaffected

By design, Solana was supposed to unlock about 18 million SOL tokens between Nov. 9 and Nov. 10. However, due to the FTX ecosystem collapse, Solana has postponed the unlock date till Nov. 12, so as to reduce the sale pressure on Solana’s struggling token (SOL).

Counterintuitively, the staking unlocks for Solana developers were completed today, which saw about 353,687 SOL tokens released into the market.

Bitcoin spikes to $17,800 on better than expected CPI data

The FTX collapse of Nov. 9, saw Bitcoin fall to a 103-week low of about $15,600. Less than 24 hours later, Bitcoin spiked by 7.5% to trade at $17,800 in response to the release of October’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.

The market had expected a report of about a 7.9% rise in inflation, however, the October CPI data revealed that inflation sits at 7.7% year-on-year.

Kraken’s Jesse Powell says crypto community should ‘raise standards’ to put end to bad actors

Kraken‘s founder Jessee Powell in response to the FTX collapse said that the crypto community though open-minded and trusting should adopt strict standards in verifying crypto projects before promoting them.

Powell called on venture capital firms to be strict with their due diligence process before backing any project and endorsing them to the public.

The Kraken chair added that the U.S. regulators need to provide a clear regulatory framework for crypto businesses to operate and offer their services in a supervised manner.

Research Highlight

FTX, Alameda used Binance as intermediary for their parasitic relationship

On-chain data analyzed by CryptoSlate revealed that between November 2021 and November 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research transferred about $49 billion worth of tokens to FTX, with over $4.2 billion reportedly sent in September 2022.

From the chart, Alameda reportedly received about $25 billion worth of stablecoins and altcoins, with $7.1 billion coming from FTX and over $15.5 billion being sent from Binance wallets.

In line with the on-chain data, Binance played the middleman to facilitate fund transfers between Alameda and FTX, which caused the 9/11 crypto market collapse.

M2 money supply could be a better measure of inflation than CPI

Many Economists consider the M2 money supply (which includes cash and checking deposits, savings deposits, and money market securities) as a better measure of inflation than M1  which is used to track the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

According to the October CPI data, inflation sits at 8%, while the M2 figure stands above 25%. Many consumers believe that inflation may be nearing the 25% mark set by M2.

In addition, the M2 figure is seeing a growing interest from Crypto Analysts as it tracks Bitcoin price performance.

From the chart, during the periods of 2015, 2019, and 2022, the M2 figure saw a decline, which coincided with a fall in Bitcoin price.  Consequently, the global M2 is becoming a metric that plays a key role in determining Bitcoin’s price movement.

News from the Cryptoverse

Tron to assist FTX

FTX has announced that it is working with Tron to allow TRX, BTT, JST, SUN, and HT token holders to swap their assets 1:1 to external wallets.

For the first installment, about $13,000,000 worth of assets will be available for withdrawal with plans to deploy more assets in the coming weeks.

Iranian firms trade about $8 billion via Binance

Reuters reported that leading crypto exchange Binance allegedly facilitated transitions worth $7.8 billion from Iranian firms that were sanctioned by the U.S. government.

The funds flowed between Binance and Iran’s largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, using Tron cryptocurrency to cancel their on-chain identity.

Crypto Market

In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) increased by over 4%  to trade at $17,476, while Ethereum (ETH) surged by 9% to trade at $1,297.

Biggest Gainers (24h)

Biggest Losers (24h)

After Twitter’s mass layoffs caused a stir in the tech world, Meta appears to be following suit. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the owner of Facebook and Instagram will begin trimming staff in the second week of November.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg earlier stated that the social media giant’s staff could be smaller next year. Rationalizing office space was yet another area that the company was focusing on.

Meta to Sack Thousands of Employees

At the end of September, Meta reported over 87,000 employees, during which the company froze hiring. The company also asked its employees to cancel any non-essential travel starting this week. The upcoming layoff is expected to affect thousands of them, and the official announcement may come as early as Wednesday.

The news comes amidst tech giants struggling to adjust to turbulent times over slowing growth. Meta’s share price, for one, was down by over 70%. Its revenue plummeted 4% in the third quarter, but costs and expenses shot up 19% year over year to over $22 billion. Additionally, operating income fell 46% from the previous year to $5.66 billion.

Meta’s operating margin also declined to 20% from 36% a year earlier, and the overall net income was down 52% to $4.4 billion in the third quarter. As a result, the company was reportedly sharpening its control over costs and monitoring head count. On its third-quarter earnings last month, Zuckerberg said,

“So that means some teams will grow meaningfully, but most other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year. In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size, or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today.”

Meta is not the only one battling through the tough macroeconomic climate. Layoffs at Twitter are even deeper. After Elon Musk’s chaotic acquisition, the micro-blogging platform sacked almost 50% of its workforce, including chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, as well as legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.

The Metaverse Dream

Besides, the economic slowdown in the advertising industry, Meta’s endeavors in the metaverse have gotten off to a shaky start. Its Reality Labs division, the project in charge of the metaverse that specializes in augmented and virtual reality, lost over $9 billion in the first three quarters. While meteverse-related offerings could take years to become profitable, the operating losses in 2023 are expected to grow significantly year-over-year.

Furthermore, Horizon Worlds, which happens to be Meta’s social virtual reality platform, also witnessed fewer than 200,000 logging in every month, significantly less than the expected 500,000 MAUs. The company has since revised its target to 280,000.

Featured Image Courtesy of ThinkRemote

Terra co-founder Do Kwon might be hiding in Europe, according to South Korean prosecutors. 

Prosecutors have gathered sufficient evidence to suggest that the company behind the failed blockchain was involved in market manipulation. They obtained text messages that were exchanged between Kwon and his staff at Terraform Labs.

In fact, a Prosecutor’s Office official said that Kwon was in charge of price manipulation. However, the entrepreneur’s representative has denied those allegations.  

Kwon’s passport has been revoked by South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as of this Friday.  

At the same time, Kwon continues to deny being in hiding in a recent tweet. In fact, he says that he will throw a meetup in order to disprove mounting allegations, but this appears to be just another attempt at gaslighting. 

South Korean authorities insist that Kwon is “obviously on the run.”

In mid-September, Kwon was slapped with an arrest warrant. Shortly after that, Interpol reportedly issued a red notice (an international arrest request known). 

In turn, Terraform Labs accused South Korean prosecutors of overextending their authority. Kwon himself implied that the case could be politically motivated. The company claims that Luna, the failed cryptocurrency backed by Terraform Labs, is not covered by the country’s securities laws since it is not a security.  

Terra, which was one of the biggest projects in crypto, imploded in May, leaving many investors in the dust. 

Here you’ll find Calvin’s answers to our questions about ICO, IDO, and STO fundraising models. Calvin is a core builder at Impossible Finance, a builder-focused multichain ecosystem featuring a decentralized venture builder, accelerator, launchpad, and swap.

Hey everyone, I’m Calvin, a core builder at Impossible Finance, a multichain decentralized incubator, launchpad, and swap. I previously worked on research and diligence for Binance Launchpad and built up the Binance Staking product to support 30 different blockchains.

Calvin (IF Core BUIDLer) used to work in Binance Launchpad and was the first to discover pretty amazing projects before people learned about them, such as Axie Infinity, Elrond, etc.

Q: What’s the secret of finding great projects, BUIDLers, and teams?

A: Always sticking true to your research, your framework, spending time to always participate in hackathons, open-source, and free communities of BUIDLers. When you give your time to others and support and incubate them from square 1, it’s no surprise these teams will want to launch with your platform.

Q: How Does an IDO work?

A: Users stake Impossible’s IDIA token to gain access to allocation into public sales, and then can pay for these allocations using BUSD or tokens of their choice.

Q: What makes an IDO better than an IEO or ICO?

A: We stand for fairness, accessibility, and quality in our launches. we work hard to source early stage projects to launch with us, and support these projects in the long run, not just pre-launch.

Q: What are the IDO model’s pros and cons?

A: Users get access into deals that are usually not available to them – we focus heavily on democratizing access for users into top quality deals.

Q: We know that crypto regulation is coming, have you ever considered turning IF into a Security Token Offering (STO) platform?

A: We do not offer securities in our platform currently, and prefer to focus in our experience in working with tokens and defi-native ecosystems.

Q: What’s the main difference between IF and other IDO platforms?

A: Many IDO platforms employ lottery systems and other types of mechanisms where not everyone on their platform gets access. At impossible, every user can participate with no minimums, to allow for lower barriers to entry and to make sure that no user goes home empty handed.

Q: What are the IF and IDIA tokens’ use cases?

A: IF is the token that derives governance usage around the Impossible Swap and related products.

IDIA is the access token that users stake to earn allocation into the launchpad product. Theres also a vIDIA token – a vesting IDIA token system to earn additional allocation in the launchpad for users who hodl Impossible tokens more long term.

Q: Some of the world’s biggest startups were born during bear markets. Are you actively searching for new projects? 

A: Yes! Impossible is still seeking more applications for our accelerator here! https://impossible.finance/apply

Q: What are the IF future plans? Any alfa drops?

A: Stay tuned for some of our upcoming launches – we’ve definitely not slowed down in the bear – if anything we’ve become even more busy during the bear market.

A committee of unsecured creditors stemming from the Celsius bankruptcy case has filed a motion with the court to stop the now-defunct crypto lender from selling the company’s stablecoin holdings. The written protest by the group of creditors against the sale follows objections from a slew of securities regulators filed on Sept. 29.

Creditors Object to Celsius Selling $23 Million in Stablecoins

On Sept. 15, the embattled cryptocurrency lending firm Celsius filed a motion with the bankruptcy court to get permission to sell $23 million in stablecoins. The court filing attempting to gain access to the stablecoin stash followed a leaked all-hands meeting recording that indicated Celsius wanted to attempt a revival plan. Then, two weeks after the Sept. 15 court request for the stablecoins, state securities officials from Vermont and Texas filed motions that object to Celsius acquiring the stablecoin stash.

The Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) said that Celsius’ request for the stablecoin cache was “inappropriate.” “The debtors fail to disclose in the motion how [many stablecoins] will be sold, and how the monetization of the stablecoin ultimately benefits the bankruptcy estate and the many consumer creditors of the debtors,” the TSSB objection explains.

On Oct. 25, 2022, the official committee of unsecured Celsius creditors stressed in its motion that the stablecoin sale request “should not be approved at this time.” The committee believes there’s contested ownership as specific creditors believe the coins are owned by Celsius’ customers. However, the official Celsius terms of service (ToS) explains that it is “unknown how your digital assets would be treated and what rights you would have to such digital assets in the event that you, Celsius or any third-party custodian became subject to an insolvency case.”

Moreover, the ToS further explains:

[Customers grant Celsius] all rights and title to any such assets to use in its sole discretion.

‘Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins’

Despite the fine print and bold lettering used in the Celsius ToS, the official committee of unsecured Celsius creditors thinks Celsius needs to prove that the stablecoins actually belong to the estate. The creditors want to see arguments and evidence that explicitly show the assets belong to Celsius because the creditors wholeheartedly believe the “debtors provided no evidence to support their request.”

The Celsius bankruptcy case has not been smooth and there’s been opposition to the company’s decisions nearly every step of the way. On Aug. 17, however, the court did approve the request Celsius made to obtain the company’s bitcoin holdings acquired from the firm’s mining operation.

Creditors have written letters to the court and have been pleading with the judge to release the funds held by Celsius back to the customers. As far as stablecoins, one woman who lost 50,000 USDC wrote in a letter that she believes her stablecoin assets should be treated differently during the bankruptcy proceedings.

What do you think about the unsecured Celsius creditors’ official committee’s motion objecting to Celsius selling the $23 million in stablecoins? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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