Coinbase Crypto Exchange Blocks 25,000 Russian-Linked Accounts; Bitcoin Rises

Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has blocked over 25,000 addresses related to Russian individuals or entities engaged in illicit activity, IANS reported. The crypto exchange said that when a user opens an account, the exchange checks the provided information against a list of sanctioned individuals or entities provided by the US, the UK, European Union, the UN, Singapore, Canada and Japan, as well as blocks users from sanctioned areas such as Crimea, North Korea, Syria and Iran, the report stated. 

Kristal.AI, a digital global private wealth management platform, announced an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) liquidity programme worth over the $1 million on blockchain for all eligible existing and former employees. According to the company’s press statement, employees with vested Kristal.AI shares have been given the option to participate in this exercise and opt for liquidity in exchange for their shares. 

Kristal.AI plans to conduct such liquidity exercises on a yearly basis to facilitate wealth creation opportunities for both existing and former employees. This opens a dedicated route to help employees unlock liquidity and optimise their financial assets, the company stated. “The company has witnessed unprecedented growth in the last five years and in December 2021, we crossed a significant milestone. We have acquired over $400 million as assets under management, which has grown fourfold since January 2020. This has been possible by the sheer dedication and commitment of our employees, and hence we wanted to reward them for being instrumental in our growth journey. With a yearly ESOP liquidity programme, we want to help our employees in planning their financials better and reap the benefits of their hard work by wealth creation,” said Asheesh Chanda, founder and CEO, Kristal.AI. 

In the cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) was up by 1.78 per cent in the last 24 hours, while it was trading at $38,912.75 at 5:00 pm IST. Its dominance in the crypto market is currently at 42.41 per cent, down by 0.13 per cent in the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.com.   

Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $2,590.26, with a rise of 2.16 per cent in the last 24 hours, while Binance Coin (BNB) rose 3.02 per cent over the same period and was trading at $386.27. Solana (SOL) was up by 1.73 per cent to $83.75 and Cardano (ADA) was down by 0.44 per cent to $0.8112. 

Meme Coins   

Among meme coins, Dogecoin was down by 0.56 per cent and was trading at $0.1192 at 5:00 pm on Coinmarketcap.com. Rival Shiba Inu was up by 1.23 per cent in the last 24 hours and was trading at $0.00002332. Dogelon Mars was down by 0.80 per cent and was trading at $0.0000007236, while Samoyedcoin was trading at $0.01844, recording a fall of 0.91 per cent in the last 24 hours.   

Overall Scenario   

The global crypto market cap was at $1.74 trillion, registering an increase of 1.92 per cent in the last 24 hours, while the total crypto market volume was $89.35 billion, up by 27.91 per cent.   

Gold Nugget (NGT) became the biggest gainer, recording a rise of 3636.12 per cent. It was trading at $0.05325 at 5:00 pm, as per Coinmarketcap data. In contrast, The CryptoFarming ($CFAR) witnessed the maximum loss, falling 93..89 per cent, it was trading at $0.0001707, shows Coinmarketcap data.