Genesis files for bankruptcy; Cardano creator wants CoinDesk

The biggest news in the cryptoverse for January 20 was when Genesis Global Capital filed for bankruptcy. On the other hand, the creator of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, confirmed that he is interested in acquiring CoinDesk. ByBit said its exposure to Genesis was limited to its investment arm, and former FTX.US president Brett Harrison is reportedly raising funds for a startup. In addition, he research on hedging in the Bitcoin market.

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Genesis Global Gives In to Liquidity Troubles, Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Genesis Global, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 19 in bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York, it said in a press release.

Genesis’s derivatives, spot trading, brokerage and custodial arms are not part of the bankruptcy filing and are operating normally, the firm said.

Under Chapter 11, the firm is considering the restructuring, which will be led by a special committee independent of the board of directors, he said.

The firm has between $1 billion and $10 billion in assets and liabilities, according to the press release. Genesis said it has more than $150 million in cash, providing “ample liquidity” to support its business operations and restructuring process.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson confirms interest in acquiring CoinDesk

Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson confirmed his interest in acquiring cryptocurrency-focused news outlet CoinDesk on Jan. 19.

Hoskinson said CoinDesk seemed overvalued for its asking price of $200 million, adding that he would decide after reviewing the company’s books.

hoskinson saying His interest in the media is broad as he focuses on “how to return to journalistic integrity.” He added that Cardano had received bad press in the past as certain media outlets had to push specific agendas, citing examples including how FTX funded The Block.

Gemini co-founder threatens to sue DCG, Barry Silbert

Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss has threatened a lawsuit against cryptocurrency conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its CEO Barry Silbert if they don’t make a “fair offer” to creditors like Gemini Earn users.

Gemini is prepared to take “direct legal action against Barry, DCG and others who share responsibility for the fraud that has caused harm to the more than 340,000 Earn users and others deceived by Genesis and its accomplices,” according to Winklevoss’s Twitter account. January 20. thread.

Winklevoss said the Genesis bankruptcy was crucial to recovering the assets of Earn users. He added that bankruptcy would subject the firm to judicial control that would force it to reveal “machinations that led us to this point.”

ByBit CEO Clarifies Mirana’s Exposure To Genesis Bankruptcy

ByBit CEO Ben Zhou said his exchange’s exposure to bankrupt crypto lender Genesis was restricted to its investment arm Mirana.

Genesis Global’s chapter 11 filing showed that Mirana was one of its top five creditors: The lender owes the investment firm $151.5 million.

zhou saying Mirana only managed some of ByBit’s assets, adding that the company’s client funds were segregated and its earnings product does not use Mirana.

The ByBit CEO further clarified that the $151 million exposure was secured by around $120 million that Mirana had already liquidated.

Former FTX.US Chief Raises $5 Million From Coinbase and Circle for Crypto Startup

The former president of FTX.US, Brett Harrison, is in the process of launching a new cryptocurrency company that would serve institutional clients.

According to a Bloomberg News report, Harrison has raised $5 million from well-known industry investors, including Coinbase Ventures and Circle.

Harrison’s new company, dubbed Architects, will reportedly serve institutional clients and provide them with access to centralized and decentralized crypto markets.

AI avatars are cast in Polygon while CharacterGPT brings NPCs to life

Alethea AI and Polygon Labs are getting on the AI bandwagon with the launch of an AI-powered NFT project that allows users to create NFT avatars via text-based prompts similar to OpenAi’s Dall-E imager.

The project plans to allow “anyone to quickly create, train, and trade AI characters like NFTs on Polygon.” CharacterGPT, created by Alethea AI, aims to go “beyond traditional text-to-image engines like Open AI’s Dall-E 2… to generate fully interactive and intelligent AI characters with a single line message in natural language “. An example of the creation process is shown in the following video.

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Research: Market Hedges Shortest Amount In Over 2 Years As Bitcoin Rises To $21k

Investors betting against Bitcoin grew to one of the highest levels on record as markets welcomed the new year. The bears were apparently in full control of the price action as Bitcoin teetered above $16,000. However, CryptoSlate’s analysis found that those who shorted Bitcoin were not in as strong a position as investors initially thought.

Buying roughly $200 million worth of Bitcoin on the spot trading markets was enough to force massive short-liquidations due to declining volume. Additionally, several large trades executed on major exchanges moved the needle enough to create a brief contraction that took Bitcoin from $16,800 to over $21,000.

The chart below shows the dominance of futures long liquidations (ie long liquidations / (long liquidations + short liquidations)). The 50% mark in the middle of the chart represents an equal amount of long and short liquidations. Values above 50% indicate more long positions are liquidated, and values below 50% indicate more short positions are liquidated.