Lebanon Devalues its Currency by 90%, Snowden Believes Bitcoin Fixes This

 Lebanon’s paralyzing financial crisis highlights the need for a better and more reliable solution such as Bitcoin.

Lebanon is adopting a new official exchange rate, devaluing its local currency by nearly 90%. The new rate is set at 15,000 Lebanese pounds against the U.S. dollar, according to a January 31 report, which cited a statement from the country’s central bank governor, Riad Salameh.

This marks a significant shift from the old rate of 1,507 Lebanese pounds per dollar. The official Lebanese currency has been pegged to the dollar at that rate since 1997.

FTX Bankruptcy Filing Show Higher Cash Balance of $1.43B, Reduced Employees

The headcount declined by nearly 40% during the same period.

An interim financial update revealed that the FTX Group of companies undergoing bankruptcy proceedings held $1.43 billion in cash at the end of last year.

The court filing viewed by Bloomberg showed a higher cash balance on 31st December 2022 than a $1.24 billion tally as of 20th November.

Its now-defunct sister trading company, Alameda Research, recorded a cash balance of $876.6 million versus $401 million in November.

Toyota Taps Astar Network for Web3 Hackathon

Astar will develop the first Proof-of-Concept DAO tool for Toyota’s employees.

Japan’s largest conglomerate – Toyota Motor Corporation – will sponsor the world’s first global Web3 hackathon. Polkadot’s leading parachain, Astar Network, has been roped in to make Web3 use cases for Toyota’s employees.

According to the official press release shared with Crypto Beaver, the car giant is looking to embrace the Web3 space in a bid to improve the company’s operations. The latest online hackathon is expected to serve as an initial step in the process.

As part of the event, developers from around the world are invited. The theme will be to build an intra-company DAO support tool on the Astar Network to enable anyone to create teams, issue governance tokens, and vote without requiring them to understand the details of Web3.

While the multinational automotive manufacturer could use the tools developed during the hackathon for operational transparency and efficiency purposes. Astar Network, on the other hand, will offer the necessary environment for devs and will be tasked with product development support.

Digital Asset Inflows Hit $117M Last Week, Largest in Six Months

The report stated that investment products remain only 1.4% of total volumes on trusted crypto exchanges.

Digital-asset products saw inflows totaling $117 million last week, according to the crypto investment firm CoinShares. This marks the largest inflow recorded since July 2022.

Subsequently, the total asset under management (AuM) increased to $28 billion, recovering by 43% since the lows of November.

Bitcoin-tied investment funds alone recorded $116 million in inflows last week. Minor inflows into short-bitcoin of $4.4 million were also noted during the same time frame.

Weekend Watch: Litecoin Soars 7.5% to 8-Month High, Bitcoin Stands Above $23K

 LTC is among the few altcoins with an impressive price surge over the past 24 hours.

Despite failing to overcome $23,500 once again in the past 24 hours, BTC is still slightly in the green today and stands above $23,000.

The altcoins are quite calm today, as only Litecoin stands out as a notable gainer.

Bitcoin Firm Above $23K

The start of last weekend saw bitcoin’s price surge from $21,000 to and beyond $23,000. Somewhat expectedly, reaching the latter meant tapping a multi-month high since BTC was stuck around $17,000 for months.

Legal Woes Pile up (Report)

The raid centers around suspected price manipulation of an unidentified coin.

More troubles for South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb brews as its offices were reportedly raided on Thursday.

Authorities launched an investigation into potential price manipulation of a coin listed on the platform, according to a report by Yonhap. The token in question has not been revealed.

Controversy surrounds crypto adoption in China

According to recent reports, there are still controversies based on improving tax integration of the crypto ecosphere in China. This is due to research and data collection from the state’s revenue authorities, who are against the assets and believe they are risk factors.

Crypto to be implemented in tax collection

Chinese revenue authorities are reportedly looking into large entities and individual investors based on their personal profit and income last year.