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The collapsed exchange’s creditors are working with the company “to evaluate all options to reboot or sell the FTX exchanges.”

Bank of New York Mellon (BK) said it doesn’t consider itself a crypto bank and will continue to move slowly investing in the space during its first quarter earnings call on Tuesday.

Intel will discontinue its Blockscale Bitcoin mining chip line, a year after it debuted the product.

Tom’s Hardware reported that, per a spokesperson with the tech giant, Intel has “end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while we continue to support our Blockscale customers.”

When asked about what the move meant for the future of Intel’s Bitcoin mining chip business altogether, the spokesperson reportedly said: “We continue to monitor market opportunities.” 

The Blockscale chip line was unveiled last April. Companies like Block Inc. and Argo Blockchain were among Intel’s initial customers. 

“The Intel Blockscale ASIC is going to play a major role in helping bitcoin mining companies achieve both sustainability and hash rate scaling objectives in the years ahead,” Jose Rios, general manager of Blockchain and Business Solutions in the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group at Intel, said at the time.

Yet Intel’s interest in bitcoin mining stretches back years, and despite the end of this specific product, Intel could in theory revive it in the future. In 2015, CoinDesk reported that Intel appeared to be providing mining chip technology to 21 Inc., a Bitcoin technology startup. Intel scored a U.S. patent for an energy-efficient cryptocurrency mining method in 2018.

Intel’s shrinking costs

Intel has in recent months undertaken a cost-cutting effort that has seen its top executives take pay cuts. Intel said in February that it is seeking $3 billion in cost savings for 2023 and between $8 billion and $10 billion in annual savings by 2025. 

The tech giant’s IDM 2.0 manufacturing plan, announced in 2021, was cited by Tom’s Hardware as a factor in the Blockscale sunset decision, suggesting that Bitcoin mining is being deprioritized in a cost-cutting environment.

Still, Intel is among a number of technology companies positioned to receive billions of dollars in new federal subsidies intended to fuel growth in the U.S. computing chip sector. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

FTX’s mooted plan to reboot the bankrupt crypto exchange has attracted interest from the venture capital firm Tribe Capital, Bloomberg reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. 

Tribe Capital was an investor in the exchange before it collapsed in November and is considering a fresh capital injection, Bloomberg said. Tribe co-founder Arjun Sethi met with FTX’s committee of unsecured creditors in January to discuss the proposal. 

The San Francisco-based VC firm is considering leading a $250 million fundraise, anchored by $100 million from Tribe and its investors, Bloomberg said.

Creditor committee

In a tweet thread following the Bloomberg report, the committee representing FTX’s creditors said it was working to evaluate all options to “reboot or sell the FTX exchanges and create value for creditors.” 

“There is no definitive timetable for a reboot or sale of the exchanges at this time,” the committee said. “Until a formal process is launched, parties interested in purchasing or sponsoring a reboot of the FTX exchanges should contact the debtors and the committee.”

Tribe Capital didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The change aims to make Helium faster and cheaper to operate.

Liquid staking protocol Lido Finance has seen its total value locked (TVL) surpass 6 million ether (ETH), equivalent to more than $12 billion.

Since January, Lido’s TVL has risen by over 20% from 5 million ETH, according to DeFiLama — a trend expected to persist beyond the Shapella upgrade. A total 141,000 users have deposited their ETH into Lido Finance, Nansen data shows.

Liquid staking, offered by Lido and other protocols, is a popular method that streamlines user deposits and stakes on Ethereum. Users receive a derivative token as proof of their deposit, which can be used as collateral within the DeFi ecosystem, enabling them to earn additional yields beyond what Ethereum staking alone provides.

The Shapella upgrade, enabled last week, allows for proof-of-stake withdrawals on the Ethereum network.

“Liquid staking is poised to benefit the most from the Ethereum Shapella upgrade. Liquid staked tokens offer greater capital efficiency and flexibility compared to staked tokens, as traders can earn staking rewards while retaining the ability to move their funds freely,” said Charmyn Ho, Head of Crypto Insights at crypto exchange Bybit.

Shapella can boost liquid staking access

As the staking landscape evolves, an increasing number of users prefer staking providers over operating their own validator nodes.

This is due to the complexity and costs associated with running a validator node, which requires a minimum stake of 32 ETH ($64,000).

“It’s likely that some people will transition to liquid staking in which they control they ETH, as it also facilitates lower requirements below the minimum of 32 ether,” said Robert Ellison, chief growth officer at Allnodes, a node hosting and staking platform. “This [Shapella] update opens the door to new markets that have been hesitant to get involved, which supports the network and liquid staking.”

Lido commands a significant position in the liquid staking derivative market, holding approximately 30% of the market share, according to data aggregated by Hildebert Moulie, a data scientist at Dragonfly Capital.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Troubled cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex has filed for a two-month extension to its moratorium agreement to the Singapore court, according to an announcement.

LI.FI partnered with risk cover protocol InsurAce to provide protection for users who are bridging their cryptoassets from one blockchain to another.

The chip-making heavyweight’s first customers for bitcoin mining ICs were Argo Blockchain, Hive Blockchain, Block and Griid Infrastructure.

House Republicans grilled Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler over his agency’s handling of digital assets, especially a lack of clarity over whether or not ether is a security, stablecoins regulations and the agency’s handling of FTX.  

Appearing before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, Gensler faced criticism from the outset of the hearing when the committee’s chairman questioned him about whether or not he views the cryptocurrency with the second-largest market capitalization, ether, as a security. Gensler responded with previous statements about the amount of digital asset projects and tokens in violation of securities law. 

“I’ve never seen a field that’s so non-compliant with laws written by Congress and affirmed over-and-over by the courts,” as digital assets, Gensler said. “We talk to the crypto firms about tokens and how they can register.” 

Chair Patrick McHenry grew exasperated with Gensler after repeatedly attempting to get him to weigh in on whether ether is a security or commodity. 

“Give me a break, come on,” said McHenry. “There’s a lack of clarity here, can you at least agree with that?” 

Gensler replied that securities laws are clear, and that the SEC enforces securities laws that require disclosures to investors on investment vehicles. 

In the ether

The status of ether in particular remains uncertain. Under the leadership of Gensler’s Republican predecessor, Jay Clayton, the SEC took a similar stance that almost all tokens are securities under longstanding laws, but said a small number of tokens might cease to be considered securities if they became broadly decentralized. 

A 2018 speech by a senior SEC official, speaking on his own views, said that ether had reached a threshold of being decentralized enough that he no longer saw the value in applying securities laws. The official, William Hinman, was willing to set aside whether or not its initial offering, which became a model for the 2017 initial coin offering boom that started greater SEC scrutiny of digital assets, violated the law. 

But Gensler has implied that ether, and any other proof-of-stake cryptocurrency, could be considered a security, seeming to disagree with those past views of senior commission officials on the world’s second-largest digital asset. 

Further confusing the matter, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam sees ether as a commodity falling under his jurisdiction, while New York Attorney General Letitia James declared ether an unregistered security in an enforcement action taken against the crypto firm KuCoin.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.