- Stocks are rebounding this morning, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 1.6% and 2.31%, respectively. Equities are still down for the month and over the last week. Relief from negative sentiment was driven by the Labor Department’s reported increase in jobless claims from last week, totaling 225k, slightly higher than the 223k estimate from Dow Jones. Investors hope this could be the first sign of slack in a historically tight labor market, a key consideration the Fed will need to weigh while deciding on the path of rate hikes. Treasury yields are falling, with the U.S 10 Year and 30 Year decreasing by 0.77% and 0.81%. BTC is currently lagging equity gains, trading near $16,600 and up 0.49%. ETH trades around $1,200, gaining 0.78%. BitDAO’s BIT -0.13% token has risen 18.12% to outperform the top 100 coins by market cap. The move follows a proposal for the DAO to spend $100 million to buy back BIT -0.13% tokens from the open market, as it was considered to be trading at a considerable discount at the time of the proposal. The program is slated to start on Jan. 1 and has a target daily purchase amount of $2 million USDT for 50 days.
- Mango Markets exploiter Avraham Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico on charges of commodities fraud and manipulation after allegedly draining $110 million from the protocol. This will be the first time a U.S based resident is charged with market manipulation on a DeFi protocol. According to the U.S Department of Justice filing, Eisenberg is accused of rigging the exchange by manipulating the price of futures related to Mango Markets' MNGO token. He used two accounts to concurrently buy and sell futures against its USDC pair, successfully inflating the price of MNGO relative to USDC, and allowing him to borrow $110 million from the platform with no intention of paying it back. Mango eventually negotiated to recover $67 million from Eisenberg, with token holders who agreed on the settlement stating they would not “pursue any criminal investigations or freeze funds once the tokens were sent back.” According to Eisenberg, “all our actions were legal open market actions….even if the development team did not fully anticipate all the consequences of setting parameters the way they are.” The U.S Department of Justice seems to disagree with the notion that “code is law .” This will be one to watch, as it could have significant implications on how DeFi exploits will be treated criminally in the U.S.
- China will launch a state-backed regulated platform to trade NFTs, known as China Digital Asset Trading Platform. An official ceremony to open the marketplace will take place on January 1, 2023. The marketplace will run on the “China Cultural Protection Chain” and facilitate the trading of digital collections, copyrights, and property. The launch and operations will be run by Government-backed China Technology Exchange and China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, as well as the private corporation Huaban Digital Copyright Service Center. In 2021 China effectively banned all cryptocurrency-related transactions. They also took a harsh stance against crypto mining, forcing the once Chinese-dominated industry to move abroad. The Chinese government has launched several state-sponsored blockchain initiatives, including the central bank’s CBDC and digital yuan wallet appts.
Mango Markets' Exploiter Arrested, China Launches an NFT Platform
Dec 29, 2022
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