Freeze Financial News

Amid unfavorable market conditions, some cryptocurrency-related firms decided to cut their workforce or freeze hiring. However, crypto exchange platform FTX will continue hiring new personnel as the crypto winter continues. 

The news comes shortly after rival outfit Gemini said it will lay off 10% of its staff amid worries about a "crypto winter".Coinbase paused hiring two weeks ago but now chief people officer L J Brock says it has "become evident that we need to take more stringent measures to slow our headcount growth" in response to market conditions and "ongoing business prioritisation efforts".The hiring freeze will go on for as long as the "macro environment requires" and will include backfills.

Coinbase earlier froze hiring for two weeks as fears of rising interest rates rocked the crypto market.

Crypto exchanges in South Korea have been issued notices from police requesting the sequestering of funds related to the Luna Foundation Guard. 

With crypto payment options frozen, challenges mount for the industry

The present predicament was triggered after a statement by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that it was “not aware” of any crypto exchanges using the UPI system. It issued this statement following a Coinbase India launch event where the latter advertised that its users would be able to make deposits using UPI. Following the NPCI statement, Mobikwik, Kotak Mahindra and others stopped providing services to crypto exchanges in India. There is no official order, circular or statement by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or NPCI prohibiting banks or other payment systems from providing services to crypto exchanges. Nevertheless, as reported by The Economic Times, a senior bank official confirmed to them that RBI supervisors have been asking banks to “exercise caution” on crypto until there was greater regulatory clarity.

Around 37 million federal student-loan borrowers were spared $195 billion in loan payments since the government froze their payments at the onset of the pandemic, and many of them are likely to struggle with their debts when the moratorium is lifted, according to a report released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Governments have never really been the biggest fans of Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency. Not only does crypto escape their monopoly over the issuing and supply of money, but it also helps individuals escape any monetary restrictions they may wish to apply.

Amid global businesses boycotting the Russian residents over military conflict in Ukraine, some companies in the cryptocurrency industry stand up for the rights of non-sanctioned Russian citizens.

Centralized exchanges, or CEX, CEOs from companies such as Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken have all stated they will only freeze the assets of Russian clients specifically targeted by Western sanctions — not that of everyday Russian users.

As the West continues to impose more sanctions against Russian banks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one Ukrainian official has called for sanctions on Russians’ cryptocurrency holdings as well.

Binance has said it has no plans to freeze user accounts in Russia

Disclaimer: The text below is a press release that was not written by Cryptonews.com. 

The government of Canada’s Ontario has obtained an order from the province's Superior Court of Justice that allows freezing some USD 9.4m in funds collected through crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo for the 'trucker protest' -- encouraging calls by some of the protest’s supporters to develop a bitcoin (BTC)-based strategy that could ensure continued funding for the truckers.

Russia’s answer to the American FBI, the Investigative Committee of Russia, has called upon the government to grant it the power to seize crypto and freeze wallets.