Elon Musk Takes Over Twitter HQ, Texas House Representative Introduces Bitcoin Support, Terra Luna Co-Founder Arrested & More
Dogecoin price rises over 4% after Elon Musk’s tweet
In a recent tweet, tech billionaire and Dogecoin advocate Elon Musk joked about a fee to visit Twitter headquarters, which he suggested should be paid in DOGE.
> In response to a user expressing interest in visiting the social media platform’s headquarters, Musk joked that it would “cost 3 Doge.”
> This is significantly less than the $8 USD monthly fee that Twitter charges for a blue verification check. At the time of writing, three Dogecoins are valued at $0.222040 USD.
> Following Musk’s tweet, the price of Dogecoin, the largest meme token by market capitalization, experienced a surge, rising over 4% to $0.0785.
> While the price has since fallen slightly to $0.0776 on the Binance exchange, the initial increase can be attributed to the enthusiasm of the Dogecoin community. More here
> In his resolution, Harris urges lawmakers to protect individuals who code or develop on the Bitcoin network, as well as miners and Bitcoin holders operating in Texas.
> He also argues that Texans’ constitutional rights should be extended to digital assets, preventing attempts to seize or search citizens’ crypto holdings.
> Harris emphasizes the importance of Bitcoin mining in Texas, saying that “individuals mining Bitcoin in Texas will never be hampered by any law or resolution.”
> He also assures those who use Bitcoin to store their wealth or conduct peer-to-peer transactions with other law-abiding Texas citizens that they “will always feel free and secure in their ownership and use of Bitcoin.” Details here.
Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon arrested in Montenegro
On March 23, Montenegro’s Interior Minister Filip Adzic announced the arrest of a person suspected to be Do Kwon, co-founder of Terra Luna, within the Balkan nation’s borders.
> Local news outlet Vijesti later confirmed the authenticity of the tweet and that the arrested person was a South Korean citizen.
> “The former ‘crypto king’, responsible for losses of over $40 billion, was arrested at Podgorica airport with false documents,” Adzic said. “He is wanted by South Korea, the United States and Singapore. We are awaiting official confirmation of his identity.”
> Since December 2022, South Korean prosecutors have alleged that Kwon was hiding in Serbia, which has no extradition treaty with South Korea. More here.[/body]
> The proposed bankruptcy settlement was announced Wednesday and aims to boost the crypto firm’s slowly growing pot of cash.
> According to court documents, Modulo Capital, managed by Xiaoyun “Lily” Zhang and Duncan Rheingans-Yoo, received $475 million before FTX collapsed into bankruptcy amid fraud allegations.
> The settlement was filed Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.
> FTX has claimed that Modulo has no other means to repay the $404 million in question.
> Avoiding an expensive lawsuit, FTX said the deal is worth $460 million. Continue here.
SEC Warns Investors: Crypto Exchanges a Danger Zone
> The SEC’s Office of Investors Education and Advocacy warned that platforms that facilitate crypto trading may not comply with federal securities regulations.
> In a Thursday bulletin, the SEC stated: “The Act requires parties such as securities dealers, investment advisers and exchanges to register with the SEC, a state regulator and/or a self-regulatory organization.”
> Further, the bulletin emphasized that “entities and platforms involved in the lending or staking of crypto-assets may be subject to the federal securities laws.”
> The SEC has made previous efforts to determine that many crypto exchanges operate as unregistered securities exchanges in the United States, a perspective often expressed by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Continue here.
FTX is seeking to recover $460 million in misappropriated customer funds
> On Wednesday, the company filed a motion to recover $460 million in assets on behalf of its customers.
> The recovery of these funds is expected to come from Modulo Capital, a Bahamas-based hedge fund, which received about $475 million from Alameda Research, the investment arm of FTX, throughout 2022.
> Previous reports indicate that the investment in Modulo Capital was one of the most significant made by FTX under the leadership of its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried.
> The recent lawsuit suggests that Bankman-Fried may have personally directed Alameda Research to make more investments in Modulo, with transactions starting in May 2022. Full report here.
Bitcoin and major cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin and Major Cryptocurrencies Defy Rate Hike: Market Resilience Amid Federal Reserve Decision
> Bitcoin maintained its position above $28,000 on Thursday as leading cryptocurrencies appeared unfazed by the US Federal Reserve’s 25 basis point interest rate hike and ongoing concerns about the banking industry and upcoming monetary policy elections.
> BTC, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was trading near $28,200 on Thursday afternoon, experiencing a 4% increase over the past 24 hours.
> Earlier in the day, BTC had reached as high as $28,800, demonstrating a temporary resurgence of confidence in high-risk assets.
> Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, gained more than 5%, trading around $1,818 on Thursday afternoon.
> Earlier, it had risen to $1,858, the highest point since August. Meanwhile, Litecoin (LTC) gained 12% on the day, hovering around $93.
> Coinglass data revealed that traders had liquidated around $3 million in LTC short positions in the past 24 hours, boosting the price from around $83 the previous day.
> In addition, Aptos’ native APT token, a Layer 1 blockchain, climbed over 7% to settle near $13.
