Bitcoin Rollercoaster on US Inflation Data, SBF’s Arrest, and MetaMask’s PayPal Collab: This Week’s Recap

SBF gets arrested, CZ reassures Binance is in good financial standing, MetaMask teams with PayPal, and other exciting events in the past 7 days.

The biggest news of the past seven days is undoubtedly the arrest of the former CEO of FTX – Sam Bankman-Fried. This took place on December 13th in the Bahamas at the request of the US Government. SBF now faces multiple counts of fraud charges, including criminal charges from the US DOJ.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics also published the numbers for the Consumer Price Index, which clocked in at 7.1%. The expectations were for 7.3%, which sent the markets, including Bitcoin, on a rally. The cryptocurrency topped $18K earlier in the week.

Unfortunately, the celebrations were for not as a day later, during the FOMC meeting of the US Federal Reserve, Chairman Jerome Powell announced another 50bps rate hike, sending the crypto markets into a sea of red. The declines transitioned into Friday when BTC’s price reached an intraday low below $17K.

The crypto markets are riddled with turmoil and uncertainty as questions of Binance’s solvency worry investors. The exchange has so far shown no signs of an issue, as it was successful in processing over $8 billion in daily withdrawal requests. The CEO, Changpeng Zhao, even said that this doesn’t qualify as a “top 5” day in terms of the most withdrawals and reassured there’s no number that would put a strain on the exchange as it holds user assets 1:1. The last bit was later confirmed by on-chain analytics resource CryptoQuant, who stated that Binance’s users’ deposits are 99% collateralized.

On a more positive note, the leading self-custody wallet, MetaMask, teamed up with PayPal to allow select US users to buy ETH directly from the application.

Also, two futures ETFs – one for BTC and one for ETH – launched on the Hong Kong Exchange earlier this week. They will be tracking the BTC and ETH prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

All in all, it appears that we are in for an exciting end of 2022.

Market Data

Market Cap: $860B | 24H Vol: 48B | BTC Dominance: 38%

BTC: $16,995 (-1.4%) | ETH: $1,207 (-5.7%) | BNB: $248 (-14.3%)

MetaMask Partners With PayPal to Allow ETH Transfers for US Users. Leading self-custody wallet MetaMask has teamed up with payment behemoth PayPal to allow select US citizens to purchase ETH directly from the application. The move marks a deeper foray of PayPal into the field of cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin and Ether Futures ETFs to Debut on Hong Kong Exchange Tomorrow. Two futures ETFs launched on the Hong Kong Exchange earlier this week. They will track the BTC and ETH futures price on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and raised over $73 million prior to the listing.

Alameda Secret Korea Account Exposed Masking Liabilities. Alameda Research – SBF’s trading firm – allegedly had a secret account in Korea which was used to mask liabilities. It also came to light that the firm had been using preferential conditions for quicker trading on FTX.

CZ Binance on Audits, FTX, the $2.1 Billion SBF Buyout in 2021, and Recent Withdrawal Spree. In an interview for CNBC, Changpeng Zhao talked about the financial standing of Binance, how they handled billions of withdrawals in a day, a potential Big 4 audit, and more.

Massive Bitcoin Volatility as US Inflation (CPI) Clocks in at 7.1% For November. The Consumer Price Index for November came in at 7.1%, which was 0.2% lower than expectations. This caused massive turbulence in the cryptocurrency market, as is almost always the case.

Bahamian Authorities Arrest SBF at the Request of the US Government. After more than a month since FTX filed for bankruptcy, Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the US Government. SBF faces multiple charges.