On January 10, the biggest news in the crypto universe was Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss accusing DCG CEO Barry Silbert of fraud and demanding his removal from office – only to be refuted by DCG itself. Elsewhere, Binance liquidated more than $75 million in Shiba Inu tokens, Albright Capital dropped its lawsuit against Terraform Labs, and Crypto.com removed USDT for Canadian users. Also, study the adoption of USDC on Ethereum.
CryptoSlate headlines
Cameron Winklevoss called for the immediate removal of Barry Silbert as DCG CEO
Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss called on the shareholders of Digital Currency Group (DCG) to remove Barry Silbert as CEO for allegedly defrauding Gemini of earning users.
In a Jan. 10 open Twitter letter, Cameron accused Genesis Global and its parent company, DCG, of conspiring to scam about 340,000 Gemini-earned users under the leadership of Barry Silbert.
Genesis reportedly incurred $1.2 billion in losses as a result of the 3AC collapse. However, Barry, DCG, and Genesis allegedly lied to Gemini and its users that DCG had injected approximately $1.2 billion to support Genesis's continued operations.
In light of the public lies about Gemini and its users, Cameron has called on the DCG Board of Directors to remove Barry Silbert immediately.
DCG calls Gemini co-founder's allegations a "publicity stunt."
Digital Currency Group (DCG) responded to recent accusations made against DCG by Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss, calling them "desperate and unconstructive publicity stunts."
Binance changed equity to liquidate SHIB over $75 million
According to data shared by Arkham Crypto Intelligence, at 08:00 UTC on January 10, Binance unstaked $110.28 million worth of SHIBA INU (SHIB) and restaked 4 trillion SHIB tokens, equivalent to approximately $34.84 million.
The transfer took place on ShibaSwap, leaving $75.44 million, or 8.661 trillion SHIB tokens, unstaked. These tokens are kept in Binance's 0xf97 wallet. The transactions also became the largest staking and non-staking transactions to take place on ShibaSwap in months.
Albright Capital voluntarily dropped its lawsuit against Do Kwon and Terraform Labs
Investment firm Albright Capital has voluntarily dismissed fraud allegations against the defunct Terraform Labs and its executives, including Do Kwon.
Following the historic collapse of Terra in May 2022, Albright Capital, Scott + Scott LLP, Bragar Eagel & Squire independently filed a class-action lawsuit against Terraform Labs.
In its lawsuit, Albright Capital accused Terraform Labs of engaging in the fraudulent promotion of UST, Terra (LUNA) and related Terra cryptocurrencies.
Crypto.com Remove USDT for Canadians
According to an email shared with Canadian users, cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com will remove USDT and USDT trading pairs for Canadian residents on its app and platform on January 31 at 06:00 UTC.
The company has urged Canadian users to check their USDT balances as Crypto.com will suspend all USDT transactions after the said date.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has taken steps to regulate stablecoins and ICOs
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that it will develop a regulatory framework that considers stablecoins and initial coin offerings as investment classes.
In its "Vision for Payment Systems 2025" report, the central bank stated that private stablecoins have developed into a successful payment mechanism in the country, so their operation needs to be regulated.
The regulator added that it will work with the relevant authorities to develop a regulatory framework for possible stablecoin products.
Research highlights
Research: USDC adoption growth on Ethereum after FTX crash; USDT was flat
After a series of brutal events led to the collapse of several crypto-related companies in 2022, FTX's bankruptcy dealt a huge blow to the public's trust in centralized crypto entities.
During this period of heightened market volatility, cryptocurrency investors preferred Circle's USD Coin (USDC) over Tether's USDT. According to Glassnode, while USDT is the largest stablecoin by market cap, USDC has a larger transfer volume.
The data shows that USDC transferred $15 billion, while USDT transferred $3 billion. In total, USDC exceeds USDT by $7 trillion.
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Bitcoin (BTC) has risen in the last 24 hours