Decentral Block Post

The turmoil surrounding crypto exchange FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) reaffirmed regulators’ belief about the need for stricter oversight across the crypto ecosystem. Seeking investor protection against a similar fallout, New York Attorney General (NYAG) Letitia James recommended prohibiting crypto investments in defined contribution plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

In a letter addressed to the members of the U.S. Congress, James requested legislation that would bar U.S. citizens from purchasing cryptocurrencies and digital assets using their funds in IRAs and defined contribution plans such as 401(k) and 457 plans. However, a survey from October 2022 showed that nearly 50% of U.S.-based investors want to see crypto become a part of their 401(k) retirement plans.

James further pitched the rejection of two acts — the recently proposed Retirement Savings Modernization Act and the Financial Freedom Act of 2022 — that are aimed at allowing investments in digital assets. While highlighting SBF’s involvement in running a Ponzi Scheme and misappropriating users’ funds, James jotted down four primary reasons explaining her call to exclude digital assets from IRAs and defined contribution plans, as explained below.

First and foremost, the NYAG pointed out the importance of protecting retirement savings in the long term. Secondly, she highlighted Congress' historical obligation to protect the retirement funds of U.S. citizens. James used narratives including frauds and lack of sufficient guardrails as her third reason to prohibit crypto investments. The final concern was around the volatility and custodial and valuation uncertainties.

On the other hand, the NYAG clarified that there is a distinction between digital assets and blockchain technology. She does believe that U.S. citizens should be allowed to purchase stakes in publicly traded blockchain-based businesses in retirement accounts.

Argentina’s shock 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup has plummeted the price of the Argentine Football Association Fan Token (ARG), in line with the hopes of the nation’s die-hard soccer fans. 

With the ARG token priced at $7.21 at kick-off, the poor performance by the Lionel Messi-led soccer team saw the token’s price fall 31% to $4.96 by the end of the match before rising to $5.22 at the time of writing, according to data from Coingecko.

By contrast, the floor price of "The Saudis," a Saudi Arabian-themed nonfungible token (NFT) collection unrelated to the soccer team, skyrocketed 52.6% from 0.196 Ether (ETH) to 0.3 ETH over the same time before cooling off to a price of 0.225 ETH, around $250.

The collection's sales volume also spiked 990% over the last 24 hours, closing in on 24.5 ETH as per OpenSea data.

Despite the built-up hype for the FIFA World Cup, which officially kicked off on Nov. 20, cryptocurrency research firm Delphi Digital noted that the fan engagement platform Socios' native token Chiliz (CHZ), in addition to other soccer-based tokens representing participating nations, has also cooled off considerably over the last few days:

Ether (ETH) price experienced an 11.9% decline from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22, bottoming at $1,074 — the lowest level seen since July. Currently, investors have reason to be concerned after crypto lending company Genesis reportedly faced difficulties raising money, triggering rumors of insolvency on Nov. 21. 

However, a spokesperson for Genesis told Cointelegraph that there were no plans for imminent bankruptcy because the company continues to hold discussions with its creditors.

Unease about the centralization of decentralized finance (DeFi) surfaced after Uniswap Labs changed the privacy policy on Nov. 17, revealing that it collects publicly-available blockchain data, users' browser information, operating systems data and interactions with its service providers.

Adding to the fracas, the hacker behind the FTX exchange theft of $447 million has been spotted moving their Ether funds. On Nov. 20, the attacker transferred 50,000 ETH to a separate wallet and converted it to Bitcoin using two renBTC bridges.

Traders fear that the hacker might be suppressing Ether's price to profit using leveraged short bets. The rumor was raised by @kundunsan on Nov. 15, even though the Twitter post did not gain exposure.

Ether (ETH) price experienced an 11.9% decline from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22, bottoming at $1,074 — the lowest level seen since July. Currently, investors have reason to be concerned after crypto lending company Genesis reportedly faced difficulties raising money, triggering rumors of insolvency on Nov. 21. 

However, a spokesperson for Genesis told Cointelegraph that there were no plans for imminent bankruptcy because the company continues to hold discussions with its creditors.

Unease about the centralization of decentralized finance (DeFi) surfaced after Uniswap Labs changed the privacy policy on Nov. 17, revealing that it collects publicly-available blockchain data, users' browser information, operating systems data and interactions with its service providers.

Adding to the fracas, the hacker behind the FTX exchange theft of $447 million has been spotted moving their Ether funds. On Nov. 20, the attacker transferred 50,000 ETH to a separate wallet and converted it to Bitcoin using two renBTC bridges.

Traders fear that the hacker might be suppressing Ether's price to profit using leveraged short bets. The rumor was raised by @kundunsan on Nov. 15, even though the Twitter post did not gain exposure.