• New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced the filing of a lawsuit against the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange CoinEx for selling unregistered securities and commodities.
• The AG’s office claims that CoinEx falsely represented itself as a crypto exchange and sold LUNA, AMP, LBC, and RLY tokens without a permit in New York.
• The NYAG is now requesting a geolocation block of CoinEx for all New Yorkers and a ban on their mobile app.

NY Attorney General Sues CoinEx

The New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange CoinEx for allegedly selling unregistered securities and commodities. According to the press release published by the AGs‘ office, CoinEx falsely represented itself as an exchange and sold cryptos such as LUNA, AMP, LBC, and RLY without obtaining permission from U.S. regulators first.

CoinEx Violates Broker Requirements

The AG’s office was able to purchase these tokens using an IP based in New York – where CoinEx is not licensed as a broker. Therefore, they are now requesting that CoinEx blocks its services to all residents of New York state, as well as prohibiting its mobile app within this region.

Investors at Risk

According to Letitia James, investors are being put at risk due to CoinEx’s lack of registering their business accurately: “Our laws are designed to protect New Yorkers…when companies ignore them they put residents, investors and businesses at risk.“

Increased Regulatory Pressure on Crypto Exchanges

This latest action taken by U.S regulators reflects increased pressure across 2022 due to several cryptocurrency bankruptcies occurring during this period. The SEC is among other regulatory bodies that have recently tightened regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies in order to protect investors from unforeseen risks associated with digital assets trading.

Conclusion

CoinEx’s alleged false representation of itself being an exchange could have serious implications if found guilty by the court – especially considering the increasing attention given by authorities towards cryptocurrencies over recent weeks. Nonetheless, it remains unclear what punishment will be imposed if found guilty but one thing is certain: investor protection is becoming more important than ever before when it comes to digital asset trading in the US market today.

• Bitcoin was stopped at $25,000 after skyrocketing by almost $4,000 in two days
• Filecoin (FIL) has stolen the show today with a massive double-digit price surge.
• Most altcoins have also retraced following the latest price gains, with a few exceptions.

Bitcoin Rejected at $25K

Bitcoin had seen a significant jump in its prices over the last two days, rising from around $21,500 to above $24,900. However, when it came close to breaching the $25,000 level it was quickly pushed back down below the mark by bears.

Filecoin Explodes 18%

Despite bitcoin being rejected at $25K and most altcoins suffering from retracements due to recent gains, Filecoin (FIL) has surged by an impressive 18%. This means that FIL is currently one of the biggest gainers amongst all cryptocurrencies today.

US Regulatory Scrutiny Weighs on Crypto Prices

The recent surge in bitcoin prices is partly attributed to scrutiny coming from US regulators towards cryptocurrency exchanges and other crypto-related entities. This news had weighed heavily on the crypto market causing a drop in prices before it reversed course recently.

Price Volatility Remains High

With this sudden price movement in both directions over the past few days it is clear that volatility remains high across all major cryptocurrencies. These large swings can make trading risky but also offer traders large potential profits if they are able to correctly predict market trends.

The Future of Crypto Prices

It remains unclear where exactly bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will go next as regulations continue to shape the future of digital assets around the world. Analysts remain divided about whether or not we will see more surges like this one or if BTC’s rejection at $25K marks an end of its current bull run for now.

• Binance has introduced zk-SNARKs to its proof-of-reserve system in an attempt to make it easier for users and other entities to verify its solvency.
• This was done as a result of the collapse of FTX in late 2022, leading many cryptocurrency exchanges rushing to prove the assets held on their platforms.
• Binance has made this PoR system open source in order to increase user privacy and transparency of its reserves.

Binance Improves Proof-of-Reserve System

Binance announced today that they have upgraded their proof-of-reserve system with zk-SNARKs, a cryptographic tool allowing them to prove the existence of their reserves without actually disclosing what those reserves are. This upgrade comes after the loud collapse of FTX in late 2022, causing many cryptocurrency exchanges to rush to prove their assets held on their platform. The company found several issues with employing only the Merkle Tree system and decided that zk-SNARKs was a better option for verifying solvency and privacy concerns. Additionally, they have added four new crypto assets to their PoR system.

What Is ZK-SNARK?

Zero Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk‑SNARK) is a cryptographic tool used by Binance which allows them to prove the existence of their reserves without actually revealing what those reserves are. This tool makes it easier for users or other entities when it comes to verifying Binance’s solvency.

Open Source Code

In order to increase transparency among users, Binance has made this PoR system open source so that industry peers and the community can benefit from this innovative technology. This will allow anyone using the platform or interested in doing so, access into how it works and help ensure trustworthiness among customers when it comes to funds being held on the platform safely.

User Privacy

The introduction of zk‑SNARKS helps solve user privacy issues associated with only employing Merkle Tree while also allowing users more control over how much information they provide when verifying their reserve holdings with third parties if desired. It also improves data accuracy since no actual data needs be revealed before proving solvency is verified by third parties or entities who wish access into such information concerning Biance’s finances or holdings..

New Crypto Assets Added

In addition to introducing zk‑SNARKS into its PoR system, Biance has added four new crypto assets which can be used on its platform as well as verified through its proof-of reserve process through third party verification if needed.

Overview

• On Thursday, Orion Protocol – a liquidity aggregator for both CeFi and DeFi exchanges – saw its core contract hacked on the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chains (BSC).
• The hacker was able to net over 1700 ETH, cumulatively worth over $3 million.
• The hack was made possible by an incomplete reentrancy protection vulnerability.

Hacking Explained

The hack was enabled by a reentrancy bug in the swapThroughOrionPool function, which allows users with crafted tokens to hijack their transfer into re-entering the deposit asset function. This lets users increase their balance without any actual cost of funds. In this case, the hacker used a newly constructed token called ATK and a self-destructing smart contract to manipulate Orion’s pools.

Initial Funds Used

The hack began first on BSC with initial funds of 0.4 BNB from TornadoCash and 0.4 ETH from SimpleSwap_io. After the attack, 1100 ETH was deposited into TornadoCash while 657 ETH remained in the hacker’s account.

Response From Orion Protocol

Alexey Koloskov, CEO of Orion Protocol, published an open letter shortly after becoming aware of the attack: “We are currently working directly with all exchanges involved to ensure that no user funds are affected… We are already making sure our code is secure against similar attacks in future.“

Conclusion

This hack serves as another demonstration that smart contracts remain vulnerable to attacks despite improved security measures and practices being developed within blockchain space. Though no users were exposed to this particular attack, it is important for developers and teams alike to take extra precaution when developing smart contracts in order to protect them from malicious actors.