Last week [in] Crypto: Anonymous investigates Terra’s founder.

Last week was chaotic with breaking stories that caused tremors in the crypto room. In the middle of the noise, Be[in]Crypto has curated the most important stories during the week from Anonymous’ planned investigation into Terra’s founder, FTX expansion of credit lines to troubled crypto companies, a $ 4 million takeover of XCarnival, Voyager’s suspension of withdrawals and the gloomy predictions of cryptopessimists.

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Terra’s saga arouses the indignation of Anonymous

Do Kwon, Terra’s founder, revealed in an interview with Wall Street Journal that the network’s implosion in May led to him losing everything. He noted that he had “lost all the bets” he placed on the network, while reiterating that he was not a scammer, as some pundits had claimed.

A report from Uppsala Security and CoinDesk Korea suggested that Terraform Labs and the Luna Foundation Guard may have engaged in price manipulation by spending billions on stable coins. The allegations stem from the movement of undisclosed funds between centralized and decentralized exchanges and the conversion of funds from Terra (USD) to Internet Money (MIM) and then back to Tether (USDT).

While Do Kwon fends off a legal battle from the authorities, Anonymous, a hacktivist group, has promised to investigate Terra’s founder and expose his crimes in order to bring him “to court as soon as possible”. The group claimed via a YouTube video that Do Kwon was responsible for cheating investors for billions of dollars.

Sam Bankman-Peace’s growing empire

While one crypto-founder may have hit his lowest ebb, another is just beginning to flex his muscles. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, has aimed to save mining companies that are negatively affected by the bear market. His core focus is on mining companies that borrowed to expand their business during the recent beef markets, giving him the title of crypto JPMorgan.

Bankman-Fried expanded a line of credit to BlockFi, a crisis-ridden crypto company worth nearly $ 300 million. The move sparked speculation that FTX was close to buying BlockFi for $ 25 million, which BlockFi’s CEO strongly denied.

FTX’s expansionist plans reached a height of fever when the news came that the stock exchange was about to buy Robinhood. Bankman-Fried denied the report, saying “there are no active M&A talks with Robinhood”, adding that he had nothing but admiration for their business model.

Cryptocrime continues to thin the industry

Hackers continue to destroy the new crypto industry, and the last week in crypto was no different. Noin-fungible token (NFT) lending pool XCarnival fell victim to a misuse that led to the loss of nearly $ 4 million of ETH. The hacker accepted a bounty of 1500 ETH offered by the project with the extra promise that no charges would be pressed.

While hackers have their moments, law enforcement agencies crack down on bad actors. Last week, Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins, a member of the dreaded NetWalker ransomware group, pleaded guilty to charges against him from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The gang has collected over 46 million dollars from victims since 2020, and now the accused risks up to 40 years in prison.

A new study by Coincub puts North Korea at the bottom of crypto fraud globally. The report notes that around 7,000 hackers have stolen up to $ 1.5 billion from crypto projects in North Korea, while the United States and Russia come in second and third place, respectively.

The markets are in turmoil

For many cryptocurrency investors, hackers are not their main concern, but the sharp fall in prices is groundbreaking for their existence. A Glassnode report stated that the bear market in 2022 may be the most important for the crypto industry. The report cited rising interest rates, inflation and other macroeconomic factors that put a strain on the “over-leveraged cryptoecosystem.”

Daniel Cheung, of Pangea Fund Management, predicted that Ethereum could fall 40% to trade at $ 500 over the next two months as the bear market bites deeper. His grim prediction suggests that the industry has not yet seen real capitulation, with “July and August queuing up to be the potentially worst months.”

Bitcoin (BTC) is no better as Mark Newton, a technical strategist at Fundstrat predicts a recent flush to the lowest level of $ 12,500. However, CryptoQuant’s CEO believes that things are not as bearish as they seem because the insignificant fall in stablecoin’s market value suggests that investors are just lurking around and waiting for the bottom.

Cryptocompanies are doing poorly

Three Arrows Capital, a crypto hedge fund, felt the heat of the market turmoil after it was ordered to liquidate its holdings by a court in the British Virgin Islands. The firm applied for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York as a final attempt to protect its U.S. assets from creditors.

Voyager became the last crypto-lender to suspend withdrawals in the face of the crypto winter. The company’s liquidity problems forced the hands of executives to also suspend trading, deposits and rewards while the company’s shares and native token got a massive hit.

To stay afloat, crypto companies have started looking at neo-banks to offer traditional banking services such as loans, lending and the issuance of debit and credit cards. However, neobanks are striking back by planning to launch crypto-based products to their customers, which could eat into the market share of crypto companies.

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