FTX reveals creditors; U.S. man spends BTC on hitmen

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The biggest news in the cryptoverse for Jan. 26 saw defunct crypto exchange FTX reveal its full list of creditors. Elsewhere, a Washington man has been sentenced to prison for hiring hitmen with Bitcoin. Plus, Coinbase has been fined $3.6 million by Netherlands regulators, U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren has called on the SEC to fight crypto fraud, and Moody’s is developing a stablecoin scoring system. Plus, research on Ethereum gas usage.

CryptoSlate Top Stories

FTX creditors include Google, Meta, Circle, Genesis, govt. agencies

FTX finally revealed its complete list of creditors on Jan. 25 but withheld the names of nearly 9.6 million users following a court order.

The defunct crypto exchange owes millions of creditors, including U.S. and international government agencies, law firms, banks, media outlets, charitable foundations, marketing agencies, and more.

The creditor matrix brings to light the impact of FTX’s collapse — which has spread far beyond the crypto ecosystem. Global finance and tech firms, including Ant Group, Google, Amazon, Meta, Netflix, LinkedIn, and Apple, appear on the list of FTX creditors.

Dark web hitmen paid $60,000 BTC to kidnap estranged wife

Ronald Craig Ilg — 56, of Spokane, Washington — has been sentenced to 96 months in federal prison for paying over $60,000 Bitcoin (BTC) to dark web hitmen.

Ilg paid the hitmen who attempted to kidnap and assault multiple victims — including his ex-wife — through an online scheme in which he solicited the assistance of known hitmen.

Beginning in early 2021, court records found that Ilg — who had been working as a neonatologist — transmitted dozens of messages under the alias “Scar215” and sent more than $60,000 BTC to advance his nefarious plot.

Coinbase fined $3.6M for operating without registration in the Netherlands

Leading crypto exchange Coinbase is facing a $3.6 million fine for allegedly operating in the Netherlands without legal registrations with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).

The Dutch regulator said on Jan. 26 that Coinbase’s operation in the Netherlands was illegal until Sept. 22, 2022. The exchange had failed to register with the DNB under the Dutch anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing act.

As a result, Coinbase may have failed to report unusual transactions on its platform to the financial intelligence unit.

Elizabeth Warren urges stricter regulation, says solution to crypto fraud begins with the SEC

U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren urged banking and environmental regulators to fight crypto fraud along with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a speech on Jan. 25.

Warren said that during the past 12 months the crypto industry saw giants like Celsius and FTX collapse under the weight of their own “fraud, deceit, and gross mismanagement,” which has created an urgency to protect “honest investors” that are victimized.

Moody’s eyeing a scoring system for stablecoins

Moody’s Corp., an integrated risk assessment firm, will start looking at how it can ascertain the risk and health of stablecoins, Bloomberg News reported on Jan. 26.

The need to rate stablecoins comes amidst renewed pressure from governments and regulators worldwide.

Moody’s scoring system will have an analysis of up to 20 stablecoins based on the quality of attestations on their reserves, the news outlet reported, citing a person familiar with the company’s plans.

SBF family, associates refuse to cooperate in FTX bankruptcy case as arrest details emerge

Associates and family members of Sam Bankman-Fried are refusing to cooperate in FTX’s bankruptcy case, according to a court filing dated Jan. 25.

Following its collapse last November, the once-leading crypto exchange FTX entered bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

As part of those proceedings, the company is seeking relevant information from former founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and others with whom he is close.

According to a filing, specific individuals are “currently cooperating” to provide “important information,” while others are not. As such, FTX and its creditor committee aim to have those individuals subpoenaed and compelled to provide documents and information.

Research Highlight

Research: NFTs accounted for 28% of the ETH gas usage in January

CryptoSlate analysts examined the gas usage shares of different transaction categories on the Ethereum (ETH) network. They found that the NFTs category accounted for 28% in the year’s first month.

The analysis divides all transactions on the ETH network into eight categories as Vanilla, ERC20, Stablecoins, DeFi, Bridges, NFTs, MEV Bots, and others.

The second, third, and fourth categories that occupied the most significant gas usage by share appeared as Defi, ERC20, and stablecoins, with 8% for Defi and ERC20 and 6% for stablecoins.