This week, Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, welcomed a new Bitcoin Lightning node (LN). The network node could inspire individuals to take “control of their financial future,” according to runner Megasley in a conversation with Cointelegraph.
This week, the imploded cryptocurrency exchange FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) came out to explain what transpired during the platform’s collapse late last year. As expected, the crypto community was not impressed with SBF’s excuses, and different reactions followed his reasons.
Also, the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender, El Salvador, has taken a step forward by passing its digital securities bill, allowing it to issue Bitcoin bonds.
Here are the major crypto stories from around the world this week.
Crypto.com lays off staff
The co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, Kris Marszalek, announced a new wave of staff layoffs that will reduce its global workforce by another 20%, citing poor market conditions and “recent industry events.” According to Marszalek in Friday’s company statement:
“Today we made the difficult decision to reduce our global workforce by approximately 20%. All impacted personnel have already been notified. These reductions were in no way related to performance, and we extend our deepest gratitude for all their contributions to Crypto.com.”
Marszalek said several factors influenced their decision, including “ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events.” Recall that the crypto exchange announced smaller staff layoffs in June, cutting 5% of its workforce, approximately 260 people.
Read also:
Coinbase to lay off 950 members of its workforce
Earlier this week, crypto exchange Coinbase announced that it was cutting 950 jobs to reduce operating costs by around 25% amid the ongoing crypto winter.
El Salvador passes Bitcoin Bond bill
El Salvador has passed landmark legislation providing the legal framework for a Bitcoin-backed bond — the “Volcano Bond” — that will pay down sovereign debt and fund the construction of its proposed “Bitcoin City”.
The National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador announced the bill’s passage in a Wednesday Twitter thread, noting that it would begin issuing the bonds soon. The bill was passed with 62 votes for and 16 against and is set to become law after President Bukele ratifies it.
Bitcoin lightning node launches in Nigeria
Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, welcomed a new Bitcoin Lightning Network (LN) node this week, according to a report by Cointelegraph.
Megasley, who operates the first Nigerian Lightning node in discussion with Cointelegraph, shared his vision for bringing instant, low-cost payments to Africa thanks to the lightning node.
”Light takes 50 milliseconds to cross the earth. This is quick, but with many hops, these milliseconds can add up. And when you’re standing at a point of sale waiting for your payment to clear, it can be frustrating.”
The lightning node runs on an old laptop powered by a diesel generator, as Lagos regularly experiences energy and electricity blackouts.
Megasley explained his wish for Africans to have instant and as close to free payments as possible. “If a Nigerian Bitcoiner and a Nigerian retailer are both connected to a node in Nigeria, it will give them the best Lightning experience,” Megasley added.
Related post: Nigeria to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins and ICOs
SBF blames CZ
SBF partly blamed Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) for being the engineer behind the exchange’s collapse in a ‘targeted attack’ coupled with a tweet he termed ‘fateful,’ he said in a Substack post published on Tuesday.
“Then came CZ’s fateful tweet, following an extremely effective months-long PR campaign against FTX–and the crash. <…> But the November crash was a targeted attack on assets held by Alameda, not a broad market move,” SBF said.
Recall that the Binance boss announced that the exchange was moving to liquidate its FTT tokens, the native cryptocurrency of FTX.
In the blog post, SBF also touched on other topics, such as the growth of FTX and its sister trading company Alameda Research. Notably, the embattled founder failed to delve more into allegations of misappropriation of customer funds. He promised to release more information on the FTX crisis stating that the blog post was just a start.
Man jailed for crypto insider trading
Nikhil Wahi, the brother of a former Coinbase product manager, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for wire fraud conspiracy charges in what is believed to be the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency.
According to a Reuters report, Nikhil Wahi pleaded guilty in September to initiating trades based on confidential information obtained from his brother, Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase product manager.
According to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, Ishan Wahi had shared confidential information regarding new digital assets that Coinbase was planning to add to its trading platform with his brother and their friend Sameer Ramani.
The U.S. prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of between 10 to 16 months for Nikhil Wahi, citing that he had made almost $900,000 in profits from his illegal actions. However, his defense attorneys suggested a different outcome, arguing that his motivation for committing the crime was to repay his parents, who paid for his college education, and that he had no prior criminal record.
Here is all from us this week; see you same time next week!
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