Today Crypto News:Everything is going normally

1-A Roundup of Cryptohacks: BitMEX's Penalty of $100 Million

U.S. officials penalized Bitcoin derivatives exchange BitMEX $100 million for anti-money laundering offenses after a multi-year court struggle. The company pled guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations. BitMEX earned $1.3 billion worldwide by ignoring U.S. laws over five years.

HDR Global Trading, BitMEX's parent business, will serve two years on probation.BitMEX failed to create and maintain a Bank Secrecy Act-compliant anti-money laundering program between 2015 and 2020.

The exchange illegally admitted U.S. customers and lacked a know-your-customer policy. US users comprised 11.5% of the exchange's user base.

The 2021 Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network penalties was $100 million. Senior officials, including co-founder Arthur Hayes, were identified by the authorities for similar offenses.

The U.S. authorities requested Bitfinex restore 94,643 BTC and other cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold.

Ilya Lichtenstein stole 119,754 BTC from Bitfinex in 2016 with the aid of his wife Heather Morgan to launder the money. Bitcoin is now valued over $11.8 billion, up from $72 million. Bitfinex's recovery strategy spread losses across all accounts, lowering account balances by 36%. Users may exchange BFX tokens for fiat currency or iFinex shares.

All tokens were used within eight months, satisfying government victim compensation standards.

The authorities identified Bitfinex as the probable refund receiver in October 2024 owing to its compensation plan, but thousands of impacted consumers had outstanding claims. Impact statements were requested from victims and legal letters were sent to prospective claimants.

2-Google removes Huione following Elliptic report

Elliptic called Huione Guarantee the largest criminal marketplace ever, and the Google Play Store delisted it for money laundering and unlawful practices.

The iOS App Store still has the app. Southeast Asian criminals utilize Telegram-based Huione Guarantee for dealing.

Crypto research company Elliptic says the marketplace routinely aids crooks and hackers.Huione contains hundreds of adverts advocating money laundering and data sales, according to Elliptic.

Platform providers give actual equipment and instruction to commit fraud and frauds, according to the study report. According to Jan. 14, the marketplace has 900,000 members and released USDH, a stablecoin.

3-Swiss bank PostFinance launches Ethereum staking

PostFinance added staking to its bitcoin trading and custody service on Jan. 16. The bank offers Ethereum.

Plan to expand Ethereum staking to additional coins. PostFinance joins other big banks providing crypto staking, enabling clients to earn passive income from their ETH deposits. Customers may stake ETH on the bank's e-finance and PostFinance App.

This comes almost a year after the bank partnered with FINMA-regulated digital assets platform Sygnum to offer crypto trading and custody. Sygnum and PostFinance partnered in February 2024.

Also, Sygnum supports crypto staking for ETH, XTZ, and ADA.In particular, PostFinance has incorporated the staking service into its offers, allowing consumers to monitor their achievements alongside their crypto assets.

Zurich Cantonal Bank, Switzerland's fourth-largest bank, began crypto trading for clients in September 2024. ZKB added Bitcoin and Ethereum trading and custody to its eBanking and mobile banking systems. The bank announced a partnership with Deutsche Börse Group subsidiary Crypto Finance AG to provide the service.

4-Bitcoin ETFs back in demand as BTC hits $102k before Trump's inauguration

The 12 Bitcoin ETFs traded $2.74 billion on Jan. 16, down from $3.18 billion the day before.

Inflows occurred when Bitcoin temporarily crossed $102,000, maintaining its position over $100,000 on Jan. 17.

This happened during a market bull run driven by hopes that the next government will dismiss non-fraud-related crypto cases and embrace a more pro-digital asset regulatory approach.The self-proclaimed crypto-friendly President has also contemplated constructing a government strategic store of Bitcoin, comparable to gold and oil reserves, to reinforce the U.S. financial environment.

5-Grayscale XRP Trust returns with restricted XRP exposure

A regulated investment vehicle, the Grayscale XRP Trust exposes institutional and accredited investors to XRP.

The Trust tracks the market price of XRP, less fees and expenditures, without requiring investors to buy or manage the cryptocurrency.

The decentralized Ripple Network supports rapid, efficient cross-border payments using XRP.A decentralized blockchain technology that speeds up transactions, the Ripple Network creates and transfers XRP. XRP tokens may be exchanged quickly and easily on the network.

The Grayscale XRP Trust, launched on Sept. 5, 2024, tracks the CoinDesk Ripple Price Index. The Trust provides affordable XRP exposure for authorized investors with a performance fee of 0.00% and a management charge of 2.50%.Reopening Grayscale's XRP Trust corresponds with key developments in Ripple Labs' SEC legal actions.

Ripple was sued by the SEC in December 2020 for selling XRP in an unregistered securities offering that garnered over $1.3 billion.

A federal court determined in July 2023 that XRP traded to the public on digital-asset exchanges is not a security, but institutional investors' sales are unregistered securities transactions.

This partly court success boosts XRP's regulatory status. Grayscale enhanced its digital asset offerings. The firm established the Lido DAO (LDO) Trust and Optimism (OP) Trust on Dec. 12, 2024, offering Ethereum staking and scaling governance tokens.

After the Grayscale Sui Trust in August, the XRP Trust in September, and the Aave Trust in October, Grayscale continued to broaden its investment offerings.

As of Jan. 17, 2025, XRP trades at $3.27 with $25.77 billion in 24-hour volume. The market capitalization of XRP is $188.23 billion, with 57.56 billion tokens in circulation. XRP rose 7.01% in 24 hours.