Eager for the day’s crypto scoop? Check out the freshest buzz from the Bitcoin market, the blockchain sphere, DeFi, NFTs, Web3, and crypto regulation.
Let’s dive right in. Coinbase’s legal eagle, Paul Grewal, let slip that they’re gearing up to boot a lawsuit from the SEC right out of court. They’re putting up their dukes and are pretty certain they’ll come out on top. Adding more fuel to the fire, it seems half of a duo accused of washing billions of Bitcoin clean has supposedly fessed up to the infamous 2016 Bitfinex hack. Over in Hong Kong, the retail crypto trading scene is just getting started with two green-lit exchanges set to welcome newbie investors.
Coinbase is planning to put the SEC’s lawsuit on the chopping block this very day, August 4th.
Just yesterday, in the company’s Q2 2023 earnings call, Grewal puffed out his chest and expressed his confidence that Coinbase would knock the lawsuit out of the park.
“We’re heading to court tomorrow to get the whole darn thing dismissed.” The timing is interesting as Coinbase has just posted a cool $663 million in net revenue for Q2 2023.
Here’s the real kicker, the exchange’s non-trading revenue has leapfrogged its trading revenue this quarter. It raked in $335.4 million from subscriptions and services, beating the $327 million from transactions.
On the same call, CEO Brian Armstrong hinted that they’re eyeing up the non-trading part of the business for the next few years, highlighting scalability, regulatory clarity, and driving crypto utility as the main targets.
Moving on to more scandalous news, alleged Bitcoin launderer, Ilya Lichtenstein, has owned up to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
According to the grapevine (aka CNBC), Lichtenstein spilled the beans to a US court, confessing he swiped nearly 120,000 BTC from the crypto exchange. After a few years of playing hide and seek with almost 95,000 BTC, the Feds managed to nab Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan. This confession came as part of a plea deal, and the couple now faces charges of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the US.
The plot thickens as we learned some of the stolen Bitcoin was transformed into cold, hard gold, then buried by Morgan in an attempt to dodge the law.
Over in Hong Kong, HashKey and OSL are making waves by bringing crypto trading to the retail sector.
HashKey just announced they’ve got the go-ahead to expand their services to individual investors. They’ve upgraded their two main licenses from Hong Kong’s SFC, allowing them to operate a virtual asset trading platform and provide automated trading services to both pros and rookies.
HashKey isn’t the only game in town, though. OSL also just announced they’re ready to roll out Bitcoin trading to the masses.
All this buzz came hot on the heels of a statement from a Hang Seng Bank executive, claiming crypto companies can only open bank accounts once they have a license from the SFC. Looks like the only ones with that golden ticket right now are HashKey and OSL.
So there you have it folks, a whirlwind tour of today’s crypto happenings. Keep your eyes peeled for what’s to come!