This week, Bitcoin dropped to under $92k as pro-crypto President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration looms, FTX got set to repay $1.2B to its investors after he takes office, New York authorities reported a crypto scam that fleeced victims of $2M in crypto, a UK court blocked a man’s bid to dig his $770M Bitcoin hard drive out of a landfill, and the Bitfinex crypto exchange’s derivatives arm was granted a license to operate in El Salvador.
To find out more about these stories, read on.
Bitcoin falls to below $92K in run up to US President-elect Trump’s inauguration
In a reversal of the recent form which saw Bitcoin enjoy a record-breaking run in the post-US election climate, it fell briefly to below $91k on Monday January, 13. It then clawed back some lost ground, settling at $91.4k, which represented a loss of about 3%, on the same day.
Bitcoin’s fall in value from a record high of over $107k in mid-December 2024 could be attributed to predictions of rising inflation and the Federal Reserve’s plan to slow the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025.
Other cryptocurrencies also experienced drops in value, including Ether, which went down 5%, Solana dropped by almost 6%, Dogecoin lost nearly 5%, and Cardano, which went down nearly 8%.
The losses came amidst a tide of optimism in the crypto industry about Trump’s position on cryptocurrency policy and adoption. The incoming President touted a more relaxed crypto regulatory regime, establishing a federal Bitcoin reserve via the Bitcoin Act, advocated for Bitcoin mining in the US during his election campaign- which the industry donated heavily towards- and has made several pro-crypto appointments to key positions for his second term.
Trump is set to be inaugurated as US President on January 20, 2024.
Find out more about this story at Yahoo Finance.
FTX sets Trump inauguration as the deadline for creditors to pre-apply for $1.2B in reimbursements
The crypto Exchange FTX, once the second largest centralized exchange in the world before its November 2022 collapse, set January 20, 2025, as the deadline for claimants of up to $50K to stake their “pre-distribution requirements”. The date coincides with Trump’s inauguration as US President, and creditors who do not submit their pre-applications will wait longer to be reimbursed.
The group of claimants of up to $50K represents the first cohort of recipients designated in FTX’s restructuring plan, and they can expect to be refunded within 60 days. The plan stated that FTX intends to pay out 119% of the declared value of funds to 98% of FTX clients.
While the capital generated by the FTX payouts could act as a catalyst for the crypto market by encouraging investment, some creditors have voiced concerns that evaluating claims is fixed at cryptocurrencies’ value at the time of FTX’s bankruptcy. For example, in the approximately two years since then, Bitcoin prices rose by 370%.
Based on the assumption that all former FTX clients file claims, the fallen crypto exchange could expect to pay out about $16B.
Find out more about this story at Coin Telegraph.
New York Attorney General files lawsuit over crypto scam which lost victims $2M
The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, announced on January 9, 2025, that she had filed a lawsuit worth over $2M against “Unknown Parties” who own a number of wallet addresses used to scam victims looking for remote work.
The as-of-yet unknown perpetrators of the scam targeted remote work jobseekers via text messages. The employment offered entailed reviewing products online advertised on fake websites set up as part of the ruse on the premise of generating data for market research.
However, the victims had to open cryptocurrency accounts in which they were obliged to maintain a balance of more than or equal to the value of the products they were reviewing. They were enticed by promises of getting their investments back and being paid a commission for their services.
The funds were then siphoned into the scammers’ crypto wallets. Commenting on the legal action, Attorney General James said that it is “seeking to recover the frozen cryptocurrency for defrauded victims and require the scammers to pay penalties, restitution, and damages and permanently stop them from advertising or sending unsolicited text messages in New York.”
Find out more about this story at AP News.
UK court blocks man seeking to excavate $770M Bitcoin hard drive from landfill
IT engineer James Howell of Newport, Wales, lost his latest legal battle with the Newport City Council for the right to access and excavate a landfill to search for a hard drive that was inadvertently discarded in 2013, which holds $770M in Bitcoin. The Circuit Commercial Judge for Wales ruled that his case lacked merit to go to a full trial and had “no realistic prospect” of success.
Mr. Howell, who started mining Bitcoin during the cryptocurrency’s infancy in 2009, has fought a twelve-year battle with the council for permission to enter the landfill site and search for the hard drive. Although he has offered to share some of the spoils, the Council has been steadfast in its refusals, citing the likely environmental damage to the area of undertaking the excavation, which they maintain is forbidden by their environmental permits in any case.
Bitcoin has leapt in value during 2024, and Mr. Howell estimated that by 2026 his hard drive could be worth $1.2B.
Find out more about this story at Coin Telegraph.
Bitfinex Derivatives awarded a cryptocurrency service provider license in El Salvador
Bitfinex Derivatives, an arm of the Bitfinex crypto exchange, has been granted a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) license by El Salvador. Accordingly, the company will relocate its headquarters from the Seychelles to El Salvador in Central America.
This is another step on the way of Bitfinex’s relationship with El Salvador, as its Securities arm acquired a local DASP license in April 2023, soon after the country passed its Digital Assets Securities Law. The law made tokenization of digital assets easier, enabling companies to build capital through offers of digital tokens backed by debt, equity, and real estate to investors.
Although Bitfinex Security’s first venture stalled when a tokenization project for a Hilton hotel failed to obtain the necessary minimum funding, the recent move is positive, as El Salvador continues to develop and grow its cryptocurrency industry.
Find out more about this story at Digwatch.
