🧼 Crypto billionaires are feeling the pain of the bear market

🧼 Crypto billionaires are feeling the pain of the bear market 🧳 Former CEO of Celsius Alex Mashinsky withdrew $10 million before bankruptcy 💼 Crypto exchange platforms might gain protection from SEC with a new bill

GM, vEmpions! Our motto today is: "Evil doesn't drive out good, but energetic displaces the lazy."

You know what they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. That's what we personally believe in. So if you don't put in the work, nothing is going to work out for you. You might as well just give up now.

Let's head over to what's been happening in the space recently:

🧼 Crypto billionaires are feeling the pain of the bear market

🧳 Former CEO of Celsius Alex Mashinsky withdrew $10 million before bankruptcy 

💼 Crypto exchange platforms might gain protection from SEC with a new bill

Crypto billionaires are feeling the pain of the bear market

The 2022 bear market has been tough on crypto billionaires. Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum co-founder, revealed in May that he is no longer a billionaire. He is not alone; many of the ultra-rich in cryptocurrency have lost billions of dollars in net worth.

Forbes reports that the number of crypto billionaires on The Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the U.S. has dropped from seven in 2021 to four this year. Their combined wealth has fallen similarly, from $55 billion to $27 billion.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is one of those who have lost the most. His fortune has shrunk by 23% since peaking at $22.5 billion last year. He is now worth $17.2 billion, which is still enough to make him the richest person in cryptocurrency. Recently he has become more vocal about his views on the industry. In a series of tweets, he argued that the crypto industry needs to do more to attract and retain talent as well as to support innovation. And SBF isn't wrong; the industry does need to do more to attract and retain top talent, as we have seen an exodus of some of the best and brightest during the recent year.

It is no wonder that some of the crypto billionaires are feeling bearish about the future. After all, when your net worth is measured in digital assets, it is easy to lose track of how much money you actually have. But for the rest of us, the 2022 bear market has been a reminder that crypto is still a very volatile asset class. But HODL'ing ain't easy, especially when the market is crashing. So, for those of us who are still HODL'ing, we can take solace in the fact that we are not alone. We are in good company with some of the richest people in the world.

Former CEO of Celsius Alex Mashinsky withdrew $10 million before bankruptcy

Celsius founder and former CEO Alex Mashinsky withdrew $10 million from the company before it stopped allowing customer withdrawals and eventually filed for bankruptcy, according to reports.

The Financial Times report, citing their own sources, stated that Mashinsky withdrew the $10 million in May. In the meantime, withdrawals were blocked on June 12 due to consumer worries about the cryptocurrency bear market and the financial health of the crypto lender.

According to the report, Celsius froze $44 million worth of cryptocurrency assets for Mashinsky and his family after his resignation. The man who built a company on the promise of helping your portfolios to weather through thick and thin decided to cash out just before things got really tough. More so, it appears that he cashed out funds that didn't belong to him, as Celsius customers were unable to access their own funds when the company stopped allowing withdrawals. This is a blow to the credibility of the whole crypto lending industry, which has been marred by fraud and mismanagement.

It's unclear what will happen to Mashinsky and his family's $44 million worth of frozen cryptocurrency assets, but it doesn't look good for the man who was once hailed as a crypto lending pioneer. Hopefully they'll lock him up and throw away the key, or at least make an example out of him to deter others from committing similar crimes.

Crypto exchange platforms might gain protection from SEC with a new bill

US Senator Bill Hagerty is introducing a new bill that would protect crypto exchange platforms from certain enforcement actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Digital Clarity Act of 2022 would shield crypto exchanges from SEC overreach and provide regulatory clarity about how virtual assets are to be classified.

Senator says that regulatory ambiguity is making investment and job creation difficult for crypto firms operating in the US, impeding the industry’s growth.

A bit earlier this year, Hagerty also introduced the Stablecoin Transparency Act, a bill that would clarify which crypto assets qualify as stablecoins and how they’re to be backed. The bill would require that stablecoins be backed by either US dollars or government securities with maturities of less than twelve months. In addition, issuers of the dollar-pegged crypto assets would have to disclose their reserves in audited reports.

But what would having a safe harbor from SEC mean for crypto, exactly?

Well, if you’re an exchange platform that offers digital assets that fall under the definition of a “security” under US law, then you could potentially be shielded from certain enforcement actions by the SEC. Regular crypto users probably don’t have much to worry about, as the bill is aimed at addressing regulatory uncertainty surrounding crypto exchanges and other businesses operating in the space. It’s worth noting though that the Bill doesn’t completely exempt crypto exchanges from SEC regulation. The agency would still have authority to take action against platforms for fraud or manipulation.

So there you have it, whether or not this bill will make it through Congress remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. This could come as a relief to many in the crypto community who have long criticized the regulatory actions against exchanges. If passed, the Digital Clarity Act would provide a bit of stability to the growing industry.