Number of Cardano-based smart contracts surpasses 4,000; Ripple is the only crypto firm among America’s 10 most-valued startups; Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says Sam Bankman-Fried used stolen customer money for hedge fund trading
Number of Cardano-based smart contracts surpasses 4,000
September 2021, Cardano (ADA) network received a significant update on smart contract functionality, allowing the blockchain to scale and perform more quickly. Despite a price drop in 2022, Cardano’s network development has expanded.
Following the Vasil hard fork in September, Plutus Scripts (a Cardano-based smart contracts platform) has rapidly hit over 4,000 smart contacts. The number of smart contracts on Cardano reached the 4,027 mark on December 3, per statistics from Cardano Blockchain Insights.
Cardano was able to give the developer community programmability and decentralized finance (DeFi) application development platform once the Alonso hard fork was completed.
Ripple is the only crypto firm among America’s 10 most-valued startups
Blockchain firm Ripple continues to record growth that has elevated the company to rank as the only cryptocurrency-related firm among the top 10 United States most valued startups.
According to data acquired by Finbold, as of November 2022, Ripple, with a valuation of $15 billion, ranked in the 10th spot among leading U.S. startups.
The valuation is a bullish element in Ripple’s growth, considering the company is facing a lawsuit by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) over the controversy around issuing of its native token, XRP. As the case progresses, investors’ confidence in Ripple appears unfazed, with the company registering minor wins ahead of the matter’s conclusion.
The case, likely to have widespread effects on the general crypto market, focuses on whether Ripple and its top executives sold XRP to the public as unlicensed security.
In this case, Ripple has moved to boost investor confidence by building a solid defence. Part of Ripple’s defence accuses the SEC of a conflict of interest by declaring that Ethereum (ETH) is not a security while XRP is.
At the same time, a significant share of Ripple’s valuation stems from the company’s growing payment business. Ripple has continued to forge partnerships with traditional finance players utilising its payment systems in recent months.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says Sam Bankman-Fried used stolen customer money for hedge fund trading
Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong says that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was using stolen customer money to fund his trading firm Alameda Research.
While Bankman-Fried continues to deny knowingly committing any wrongdoing, Armstrong says even very gullible people shouldn’t believe it.
Brain Armstrong said:
“Even the most gullible person should not believe Sam’s claim that this was an accounting error. Brian, It’s stolen customer money used in his hedge fund, plain and simple.”
Last month, shortly after the collapse of FTX, Armstrong said Bankman-Fried had most likely committed some form of fraud and that the debacle was not the result of an honest mistake.
Bankman-Fried has maintained that he never willingly traded customer funds and is deeply sorry for the now-defunct firm’s $8.9 billion in liabilities.