FTX grew 1,000% before the market crash this year.
The cryptocurrency exchange’s revenue soared from $89 million to $1.02 billion in 2021, according to documents reportedly seen by CNBC.
Operating income – a US measure of profitability – was $272m, up from $14m a year earlier.
Led by Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX is based in the Bahamas but expanded worldwide at a rapid pace in 2021 through a series of acquisitions.
The US arm of the company received a cease-and-desist warning on Friday from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation over ‘misleading’ statements around the insurance of its products.
Cryptocurrencies stored with brokerages are not protected by the US government, unlike cash deposited with banks.
Four other crypto companies – Cryptonews.com, Cryptosec.info, SmartAsset.com and FDICCrypto.com – were also targeted with letters from the FDIC.
“Based upon evidence collected by the FDIC, each of these companies made false representations – including on their websites and social media accounts – stating or suggesting that certain crypto-related products are FDIC-insured or that stocks held in brokerage accounts are FDIC-insured,” the regulator said.
The FDIC said the companies must “take immediate corrective action to address these false or misleading statements”.
SmartAsset and CryptoSec had identified FTX as an ‘FDIC-insured cryptocurrency exchange’.
Cryptocurrency shorts
Socios.com, a platform which hosts the fan tokens of several leading European football clubs, has received regulatory approval to operate in Italy.
Voyager Digital’s request to pay 38 of its employees ‘retention awards’ has been denied by administrators. The crypto lender, undergoing bankruptcy proceedings in New York, had asked a federal judge to approve $1.9m in bonuses to certain staff deemed vital to its continued operation.
FTX has reportedly begun blocking accounts that have sent coins through zk.money – a private layer-2 chain provided by the Aztec Network on Ethereum – after labelling it a ‘high-risk mixer’. In the days before, Aztec CEO Zac Williamson had criticised FTX for taking seeming regulatory action against mixer Tornado Cash.
Australia’s new Labour government is reviewing the cryptocurrency assets in the country. It aims to make ‘token mapping’ a priority this year to decide how they should be regulated.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the more than 20,600 coins is at $1.02 trillion at the time of writing (7am UK), down from $1.08tn on Friday morning.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – lost $1,400 to $21,400. BTC is 13% down on a week ago.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – fell $200 to $1,600. ETH is 18% down over the course of a week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token grew $5 to $297, leaving it 7% down over seven days.
The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP fell 2 cents to 34c, with its price 10% down on seven days ago.
Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, dropped more than 3c to below 46c and is 19% down in a week.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token dropped more than $2 to $36.04 and is 21% lower than its price a week ago.
Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE fell 0.5c to 6.8c and is 13% down over seven days.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, lost 50c to $7.33 and is 19% down on its price a week ago.
Polygon aims to securely connect blockchains as a sort of decentralised internet. Its MATIC token dropped 3c to 81c, while it is 19% down in a week.
Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token fell 65c to $22.66 and is 20% down in a week.
To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.