News Updates June 30, 2022

1. $19,000 Broken, Bitcoin Drops to $18,000 Range. For the fifth day in a row, Bitcoin is showing negative performance on the cryptocurrency market, losing around 12% of its value in a week, which led to a drop below $19,000—a price we saw on June 19 for the last time. The lack of buying power, maintaining risk on the cryptocurrency market and a lack of strong "buy" signals fueled another portion of outflow and selling pressure from traders and investors who purchased Bitcoin at the local bottom of $17,600 back on June 18. Unfortunately, Bitcoin technical indicators show that the local bottom has not been reached yet, and the first cryptocurrency may still plunge further in contrast to bulls' predictions in cryptocurrency communities.    Positive scenario for BTC
   As for now, most of the market participants are waiting for Bitcoin's further reversal back to the $17,000 range, but Bitcoin might bring us surprises, especially when the majority of open positions on the market are shorts, according to inflows into Bitcoin derivatives and funds that specialize on shorting the digital gold.
2.  Grayscale launches legal challenge to Bitcoin spot ETF rejection
   Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein on Wednesday said the company was “deeply disappointed” and “vehemently disagree” with the SEC’s decision to deny their application. 

   Grayscale Investments has launched a legal challenge against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after being denied its application to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot-based Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF).

   On Wednesday, it announced that its senior legal strategist, former U.S. solicitor general Donald B. Verrilli Jr., had filed a petition for review with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

   Verrelli stated that the latest decision shows that the SEC is acting “arbitrarily and capriciously” by “failing to apply consistent treatment to similar investment vehicles” and will be pursuing a legal challenge based on the SEC’s alleged violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and Securities Exchange Act (SEA).

   Grayscale Investments, which has $12.92 billion of assets under management in its GBTC, had been waiting on a decision from the SEC to convert its flagship Bitcoin trust into a spot-based ETF since filing its application to the regulator on October 19, 2021.

3. Grayscale’s legal challenge to SEC sparks response from the community
   From accusing the SEC of suppressing Bitcoin to suggesting alternatives, the community responded in various ways to Grayscale’s legal challenge against the SEC. 

   After Grayscale’s application to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) was denied, the firm launched a legal challenge against the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission. Following these events, the community responded with various reactions, from accusing the SEC of price manipulation to suggesting different solutions. 

   Redditor u/ThatsMRcurmudgeon2u, who introduced themself as a securities lawyer, weighed in on the matter. According to the Redditor, many anticipated the lawsuit, as SEC Chair Gary Gensler has made it clear that he wants exchanges to register with the SEC. The Redditor also accused the SEC of “holding GBTC hostage.”

   Lawyer Jake Chervinsky tweeted that the ETF denial was “deeply disappointing” and defies federal law and common sense. He pointed out that the SEC’s role should be to protect investors and argued that an ETF is a better product for them.

4. India’s Central Bankers Ring Danger Bells On Crypto, Yet Again. After reiterating the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) stance on cryptocurrencies last month, Governor Shaktikanta Das has in Thursday made a new comment. When the crypto market collapsed last month thanks to the Terra meltdown, Das made a similar statement. 

   The RBI Governor stated that the asset class is a ‘clear danger‘. He further said that we must be mindful of the emerging risks on the horizon.

   “We must be mindful of the emerging risks on the horizon. Cryptocurrencies are a clear danger. Anything that derives value based on make believe, without any underlying, is just speculation.”
   He indicated that the speculation in crypto is going on “under a sophisticated name.”

5. Singapore authorities reprimand Three Arrows Capital for providing false information. 

   The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today reprimanded embattled crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, known as 3AC, for providing false information and exceeding the assets under management threshold permitted by the regulatory authority. 

   In 2013, the authority granted the hedge fund registered status under the conditions that its assets did not exceed S$250 million. 

   However, according to a release, the authority says the company breached its AUM threshold between July 2020 and September 2020 and between November 2020 and August 2021. It also reprimanded 3AC for its failure to notify changes to directorships and shareholdings and also failing to notify MAS regarding the common shareholder of 3AC's offshore entity, Su Zhu. Zhu is also the director of 3AC. 

   MAS added that, since there is speculation that the hedge fund may no longer be solvent, it is assessing whether there were any further breaches of its regulations.

6. OpenSea hit by data breach after email delivery partner leaks addresses. 

   NFT marketplace OpenSea has suffered a data breach after an employee at its email delivery partner leaked user data.

   In a blog post published late on June 29, OpenSea said that an employee of Customer.io had “misused their employee access to download and share email addresses – provided by OpenSea users and subscribers to our newsletter – with an unauthorized external party.”

   The leaked information included email addresses, according to the blog post, and OpenSea warned users that this could result in a “a heightened likelihood for email phishing attempts.”

   The company said customers should assume they have been impacted by the news if they had shared their email address with OpenSea in the past.

7. North Korean Hacking Group Behind $100M Horizon Bridge Hack: Report
   Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has traced the hack back to the Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored North Korean hacking organization. The Lazarus Group – a North Korean hacking group believed to be supported by the Kim regime – is likely behind last week’s hack of Harmony Bridge, according to new analysis by blockchain research firm Elliptic.
   The attack drained the service, which enables crypto assets to be traded between the Harmony blockchain and other blockchains, of $100 million worth of crypto, including ether (ETH), tether (USDT) and wrapped bitcoin (wBTC) on the morning of June 24.
   North Korean hackers have grown increasingly sophisticated; in 2021 they stole an estimated $400 million, mostly in ether. The total for 2022 has already far surpassed that figure.
8. Influencers Are Responsible for 92% of Crypto Ad Violations in India, Report Says
   Violations included not carrying a required disclaimer or paid partnership tag on the ad, according to the Advertising Standards Council of India. Influencers, rather than celebrities, were behind more than 92% of crypto-related advertisement violations in India between January 2022 and May 2022, according to data released by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), a voluntary self-regulatory organization of the advertising industry.
   "We have taken up a total of 453 ad complaints related to Virtual Digital Assets till now (January 2022 to May 2022). Of them, 447 relate to influencers. Out of the total 453 ads that we examined, 419 required modifications, which were duly informed to the influencers," said Manisha Kapoor, the ad council's CEO, in an email to CoinDesk.