Today in Crypto: Celsius Can Operate Through 2022, CFO Says; ‘Pig Butchering’ Scammers Fatten Up Victims

Stocks related to crypto were down Friday (Aug. 19), with bitcoin losing momentum and falling below $22,000 due to bigger fears in the economy.

In particular, the group was led downward by Hive Blockchain, Marathon Digital and Hut 8 Mining, with all of them falling around 14%, per a CoinDesk report.

Bitcoin’s fall killed the recent gains from the softer-than-expected U.S. inflation figures released earlier in the month, with sentiment worsening as the Federal Reserve hits back at the idea that inflation has hit its peak.

Meanwhile, BDO Italia has reaffirmed Tether’s consolidated reserves report showing a 58% quarterly decline in commercial paper holdings, CoinDesk wrote.

Per a report, Tether had recently said that BDO Italia would take over its regular attestation reports. The stablecoin issuer said it still thought commercial papers would be down to $200 million by August, expecting it to hit zero by the end of the year.

In other news, the HUSD stablecoin has returned to a $1 peg after falling 8% on Thursday (Aug. 18). In a tweet, HUSD said the fall had come from account closures, which included market maker accounts.

Recently, we had made the decision to close several accounts in specific regions to comply with legal requirements, which included some market maker accounts. Due to the time difference in banking hours, this resulted in a short-term liquidity problem but has since been resolved.

— HUSD (@Stablecoin_HUSD) August 19, 2022

Furthermore, the two biggest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum, were kicked down lower in late morning trading Friday.

Seeking Alpha noted that the shift came as the stock market at large was down, due to more disappointing housing data. Per the report, bitcoin dropped 8.5% to the lowest level seen since late July, while ether fell 9.2%.

Additionally, the chief financial officer of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network testified Friday that the firm likely has enough funding to keep operations afloat until the end of the year.

During a call with creditors, CFO Chris Ferraro said Celsius expects to be “cash-flow positive at the beginning of 2023,” according to a CoinDesk report. The report noted that the company had previously indicated that it would run out of cash by November.

In other crypto news, the anticipated Ethereum “Merge” will reportedly make new “builders” in the blockchain ecosystem that could upend the power structures.

It’s a change from the current system, where computers called miners pluck transactions out of a data pool to arrange them into blocks, Bloomberg wrote Saturday (Aug. 20). Now, they’ll be eliminated to cut energy consumption, and builders will take control of gathering transactions into blocks.

Furthermore, crypto investor Niall Leonard has claimed that $1.5 million of his stolen funds ended up in another account.

According to a New York Post report citing court filings, Leonard discovered the funds were missing in May. The funds were then allegedly traced to an account with Paxful Holdings.

Meanwhile, the Aug. 10 arrest of blockchain developer Alexey Pertsev spurred a protest in Amsterdam on Saturday, with campaigners calling for the developer’s release.

Pertsev was arrested by Dutch authorities just days after the U.S. sanctioned the Tornado Cash digital currency mixer. CoinDesk reported that more than 50 people attended the protest, and Pertsev has not yet been charged with any crime.

Finally, a new bitcoin scam called “pig butchering” is reportedly gaining traction as con artists look to swindle victims through social media and dating services.

As Bitcoinist reported Sunday, the thieves establish trust before trying to trick victims out of their money. The victim is drawn into an apparently benevolent talk about investments and earnings that’s actually “grooming” before they’re tricked into investing.

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