This week in the crypto world we saw Blockfi and Voyager Digital swap bankruptcy for liquidation, Ledger crash its reputation into a tree once again, and the number of whole bitcoin addresses cross one million.
Onwards!
Blockfi and Voyager Digital Enter Liquidation
This week we saw two of the crypto platforms hit by last year’s crypto contagion move from bankruptcy to liquidation. Blockfi and Voyager Digital may have taken very different paths to get there, but both have begun officially winding down their operations, with payouts expected to creditors in the very near future.
Voyager Digital’s liquidation was more or less confirmed when Binance pulled out of a buyout last month, whereas Blockfi’s announcement was more of a surprise, although with no buyers having emerged in the six months since its bankruptcy it was always likely.
Both firms are involved in a legal battle with FTX and associated entities which could affect the payouts creditors can expect.
Ledger’s New Key Storage Feature Backfires
Hardware wallet maker Ledger this week managed to antagonize the entire crypto space yet again with the launch of its cloud-based seed backup recovery service, Ledger Recover. The French company has spent years trying to rebuild its reputation following a series of hugely damaging data breaches in 2020, and right when it seemed to have successfully moved on it has put the crypto community’s back up over its Ledger Recover service, which backs up the wallet’s seed and allows it to be stored by secured third parties.
For all Ledger’s protestations over the security of the system, the concept of a hardware wallet private key being backed up and looked after by someone else went down about as badly as could be expected, dragging Ledger’s reputation back through the mud it had just cleaned off itself.
Whole Bitcoin Addresses Tops One Million
The number of addresses holding more than one bitcoin surpassed one million for the first time this week, showing that the various threats hanging over the crypto space aren’t putting off bitcoin buyers. Data shows that the milestone was crossed on May 13, with the final 200,000 added in the last two years alone.
Concerns about the state of the world economy and the safety of the banking system seem to have spurred buyers to pick up more in recent years, with Bitcoin’s price drops acting as an attractant rather than dissuading buyers.
