Monthly Archives: March 2023

Crypto Scam Losses Hit $10 Billion in US in 2022

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• Americans lost $10.3 billion to online scams in 2022, with crypto investment losses accounting for 25%.
• Crypto fraud rose 183% in 2022 according to the FBI report.
• The most common investment scams included liquidity mining, hacking social media accounts, impersonating celebrities and fake employment offers.

Americans Lost Over $10 Billion To Online Scammers In 2022

A report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) revealed that Americans lost $10.3 billion to online scammers in 2022, up from $6.9 billion in 2021. According to the data gathered by IC3, crypto investments accounted for about 25% of the total losses experienced by victims. The FBI also reported a 183% increase in cryptocurrency-related frauds from 2021 to 2022.

Most Common Investment Scams In 2022

The five most common investment scams reported in 2022 were liquidity mining, hacking social media accounts, impersonating celebrities and fake employment offers. In liquidity mining schemes, scammers linked victims’ wallets to fake services and stole their assets as soon as they linked them up. Additionally, hackers targeted victims’ friends after gaining access to their profiles and offered false investments opportunities that took advantage of the trust between them and their friend. Other types of fraudulent activities included offering fake job vacancies at investment firms and convincing real estate agents to join an expensive home purchase using cryptocurrency when none existed at all.

Crypto Hacks And Project Failures In 2022

The “Cryptocurrency Scams of 2022” report by Privacy Affairs highlighted how much fraud affected crypto investments last year — resulting in nearly $3.5 billion worth of losses due to failing stablecoins, collapsing exchanges and crypto hacks throughout the year..

How Victims Can Avoid Crypto Fraud

The FBI has advised potential investors who are looking into cryptocurrencies be aware of red flags such as promises of guaranteed returns or sudden changes in an offer made on social media or other platforms with no evidence behind it before investing any money into new projects or ventures related to cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology..

Conclusion

It is clear that online scammers have seen a huge rise when it comes to exploiting unsuspecting individuals through fraudulent activities involving cryptocurrency investments — costing US citizens over $10 billion dollars throughout 2020 alone..

Crypto VCs Hold Over $5B in Silicon Valley Bank: Report

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• Three crypto venture capital firms, Paradigm, Pantera Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), may have over $5b tied up in Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
• Unconfirmed data from the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s ADV file shows that a16z-related funds had $2.85b in SVB, Paradigm-related funds was $1.72 billion and Pantera-related funds was $560 million as of May 6, 2022.
• The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation recently shut down SVB resulting in a crisis of confidence amidst redemption demands for tens of billions of dollars.

Crypto Venture Funds Investing with Silicon Valley Bank

Three crypto venture capital firms, Paradigm, Pantera Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), may have over $5b tied up in Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Unconfirmed data from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s ADV file shows that a16z-related funds had $2.85b in SVB as of May 6th 2022. Meanwhile, Paradigm-related funds was $1.72 billion and Pantera-related funds was $560 million according to recent SEC filings.

Silicon Valley Bank Shut Down

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation recently shut down SVB resulting in a crisis of confidence amidst redemption demands for tens of billions of dollars. This has led to concerns about the safety of assets held by crypto firms in traditional financial institutions such as Circle’s stablecoin issuer USDC which currently has $3.3b worth deposits stuck with the lender struggling to maintain its USD peg value at 1:1 ratio.

Crypto Regulation is Evolving

The crypto industry has been largely unregulated for years but it is gradually evolving which leads more investors opting for financial institutions instead decentralised exchanges due to better insurance coverage offered by them while trading digital assets or holding cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.

FDIC Receiver Appointed by Regulator

When SVB was placed under receivership by the regulator on Mar 10th 2021 , FDIC was appointed as receiver for all the assets held by it including those belonging to cryptocurrency venture capital firms mentioned above . However scraped data from SEC does not provide any information on amount these VCs still hold within it .

Conclusion

It remains unclear how much money exactly these three Crypto VCs have invested with SVB however investors should remain cautious when investing using conventional financial institutions due to lack transparency surrounding their operations especially during times like this where uncertainty prevails regarding their ability to protect customer’s assets at all times .

BLUR Plunges 99%: Uncovering the Reason Behind the Crash

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• BLUR is a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace built on the Ethereum blockchain. It has seen an impressive surge in trading volumes and market share over the past 30 days, surpassing OpenSea.
• However, its native token has plunged close to 99% from its all-time high of $45.98 due to a slew of factors.
• The success of BLUR is attributed to its point-based distribution approach that incentivizes users to fill the liquidity pool order book and provide real network effects.

What is BLUR?

BLUR is an NFT marketplace built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain that’s been taking the crypto world by storm lately. Founded by Tieshun Requerre, an MIT graduate, it has seen an impressive surge in trading volumes and market share over the past 30 days, surpassing Opensea with a jaw-dropping valuation of $13 billion.

Why Has BLUR Plunged?

The excitement surrounding Blur’s ascent is palpable, but so is the rapid decline of its price which has plunged over 18% in the past seven days as of Mar. 6, now trading at a mere $0.69 and down a colossal 98% from its all-time high of $45.98. This can be attributed to multiple factors such as investor fatigue and profit taking after large gains or dips in prices due to speculation and also due to market consolidation where bigger players are buying up smaller ones for their own gain reducing liquidity for other traders.

How Has Blur Taken NFT Markets By Storm?

Blur offers a game-changing feature: The ability to buy multiple NFTs from different marketplaces in one fell swoop. As of March 6th according DappRadar, Blur’s trading volume over the last 30 days has hit an impressive $1.58 billion compared to OpenSea who only clocked in at $364 million during this same period and Delphi reported that with assistance from Blur Airdrops it was able capture 53% market share within months after launch..

What Makes BLUR Unique?

The success behind Blur can also be attributed to its point-based distribution approach that incentivizes users through Airdrops rewards system which assigns risk scores based on bids & asks filled into their liquidity pool orderbook thus creating real network effects resulting more participation within the platform leading it growth & success against competitors like OpenSea who until recently had no competition in this space .

Conclusion

In conclusion , what makes BLUR unique compared to other NFT Marketplaces such as OpenSea Is Its ability To Buy Multiple NFT’S From Different Marketplaces In One Fell Swoop And Its Point Based Distribution Model Which Incentivizes Users To Fill The Liquidity Pool Orderbook With Bids & Asks And Rewards Them Through Airdrops Creating Real Network Effects Resulting In More Participation Within The Platform Making It Grow Quickly And Successfully Against Competitors Like OpenSea Who Until Recently Had No Competition In This Space .