The CEO of Genesis, Michael Moro, is stepping down from his position as the company slashes 20% of its 260-person workforce. The culling of staff follows major losses for Genesis tied to the collapse of Three Arrows Capital earlier this year.

The US charge against a former Coinbase Global Inc. employee may not be the only instance of insider trading at the cryptocurrency exchange, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). 

Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), which manages an estimated CAD$392 billion in assets ($303bn USD), revealed on Wednesday that it has written off its investment in Celsius.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Crypto Broker Genesis Cutting 20% of Workforce as CEO Michael Moro Exits
• Coinbase Insider Trading May Spread Wider Than The U.S.
• Canadian Pension Fund Writes Off Celsius Investment  

Crypto Broker Genesis Cut 20% of Workforce Following Exit Of CEO

The CEO of Genesis, Michael Moro, is stepping down from his position as the company slashes 20% of its 260-person workforce. The culling of staff follows major losses for Genesis tied to the collapse of Three Arrows Capital earlier this year.

Genesis, which is owned by Digital Currency Group (DCG), filed a $1.2 billion claim against Three Arrows Capital in July. DCG reportedly assumed that claim and associated liabilities from Genesis last month.

Genesis is not the first digital asset company to reduce its workforce following the uncertain market conditions of the last few months. Coinbase and BlockFi are two others who employed a similar strategy, with Coinbase laying off 18% of its workforce and BlockFi cutting 20%.

The full-service digital currency prime broker was one of several crypto companies that were caught up in the market downturn in May, which saw the collapse of the Terra Luna ecosystem and fall of crypto lender Celsius and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

Moro is being replaced on an interim basis by current COO Derar Islim, who joined Genesis in 2020. “The changes and investments we’re announcing today affirm our commitment to operational excellence as we continue to expand our services to meet the needs of our clients today and into the future,” Islim said in a statement.

Coinbase Insider Trading May Spread Wider Than the U.S.

The US charge against a former Coinbase Global Inc. employee may not be the only instance of insider trading at the cryptocurrency exchange, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). 

Coinbase is one of the largest and most popular digital asset exchanges. This means new token listings can create avenues for additional buyers to purchase the token, which can contribute to sharp price increases. 

Researchers from UTS examined how tokens traded on decentralised exchanges (such as Uniswap) prior to the announcement that they would be listed on Coinbase. According to their findings, some traders appeared to have purchased tokens ahead of 10% to 25% -- or 15 to 37 -- of Coinbase listings since 2018, wrote three academics at the University of Technology Sydney. 

They found that on average the price of the newly-added token jumped 40% compared to a market benchmark during the 300 hours preceding the Coinbase listing announcement. Following the announcement, the price would rise another 2% over the subsequent 100 hours, the study found. 

There wasn’t much of a pattern for coins not on Uniswap. The researchers -- Ester Félez-Viñas, Luke Johnson and Tālis J. Putniņš -- chose the 300-hour window based on observations of insider trading on the blockchain, Putniņš said.

Canadian Pension Fund Writes Off Celsius Investment

Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), which manages an estimated CAD$392 billion in assets ($303bn USD), revealed on Wednesday that it has written off its investment in Celsius.  

CDPQ shared its six-month returns for the first half of 2022 on Wednesday, registering an average return of –7.9%. It also revealed that it has written off CAD$200 million that was invested in Celsius. CDPQ made the investment in the crypto lending firm last October, during a $400 million investment round it led with WestCap group. 

In July, Celsius entered Chapter 11 proceedings, following its halting of withdrawals due to turbulent market conditions and the liquidity troubles that followed. Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis, one of the largest law firms in the world, filed projections last Sunday that show the lender could run out of funds by October. The firm also owes depositors $2.8 billion more in crypto than it's currently holding.

Market Spotlight: The Merge, CEXs and Sanctions

On August 14, Ethereum’s price broke the $2,000 mark for the first time since May, surging ahead on the back of the aforementioned Merge hype. However, the $2,000 price level proved a significant resistance for the asset as traders turned bearish, resulting in a retracement to $1,900. 

Our order book data for ETH/USDT pair on Binance at a 2% depth shows that traders were bearish near the resistance level, with the number of asks being 84.9% more than the number of bids at $1,997.

Interestingly, as Ethereum went past $2,000, some traders turned bullish, expecting that the asset had broken past its resistance level with the number of bids being greater than the number of asks at one point. However, this turned out to be a failed breakout as the bears took back control of the price action and Ethereum retraced below $2,000.

Check out the full blog below for further insight into Ethereum, Tornado Cash and the wider cryptocurrency market. This post was created utilising CryptoCompare’s digital asset data, including its new and enhanced order-book product which features the most complete and in-depth liquidity data available on the market.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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