Is This The End Of Huobi

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and it's time to get into the Friday mood.

⭐️Today's selection:

• 🛳Is Huobi Collapsing?
• 📡DCG Worrying Signals
• 💾New Labor Data
• 🧩️Answer To Yesterday's Puzzle
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

IS HUOBI IN TROUBLE?

It looks like Huobi, the cryptocurrency exchange that's headquartered in Seychelles, is going through a tough time.

Reports are coming in that the company is laying off a significant portion of its staff, which apparently caused some serious internal strife.

And the portion in question is 20% of their entire workforce which, reportedly, is 1,100 employees.

In fact, things are reportedly so heated that Huobi has had to close employee communication groups and feedback channels in an attempt to keep the peace. Yikes.

Huobi founder Justin Sun has issued a statement in response to the reports.

He confirmed that the company is indeed making layoffs, but said that they are part of a "structural adjustment" and that the exchange has actually been doing quite well, with an average of 20,000 new users in the last three months.

Sun also addressed concerns about Huobi's solvency and reserves, stating that the company is just going through some "short-term pains" that will ultimately bring advantages to the exchange.

Despite Sun's assurances, it appears that the news of the layoffs and internal turmoil is having an impact on Huobi's exchange token and trading volume.

Huobi's HT token saw a drop of nearly 11% in the past 24 hours, but has since recovered and is currently trading at a similar value to before the reports of layoffs emerged, though it is still at a lower price than a week ago.

It appears that the exchange has seen a significant outflow of funds in recent days, with $85 million withdrawn in the last 24 hours and $135 million withdrawn in the past 7 days. Ouch.

According to additional rumors, Huobi has also cancelled year-end bonuses and insisted the salary payments for employees would be done in stablecoins (USDC, USDT) instead of fiat.

This has, reportedly, caused protests and pay disputes among the staff. Understandable.

Despite the negative news and the impact on the HT token, Justin Sun is calling for everyone to ignore the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) and stay calm.

It remains to be seen how the situation at Huobi will play out, but for now, it seems that the exchange is facing some serious challenges.

And yet 2023 has just begun...Day 6, 359 to go!

TL;DR: Crypto exchange Huobi is showing signs of internal distress, it causes its customers to panic, even though the exchange's representatives communicate confidence and stability.

DCG WORRYING SIGNALS

It would be lovely to talk about something positive. But... not right now.

January's downsizing trends are gaining speed.

Digital Currency Group (DCG) has made the decision to shut down its wealth management subsidiary, HQ Digital, as the cryptocurrency industry faces a prolonged "crypto winter".

HQ Digital was launched in June 2022, but it is not the only DCG subsidiary to face difficulties.

Genesis Global Capital, another DCG company, has also experienced issues, including the suspension of withdrawals and loan redemptions following the collapse of FTX in November.

As a result, Genesis was forced to lay off 30% of its staff and is reportedly exploring a possible bankruptcy filing.

What makes the situation tense is the fact that Genesis currently holds $364M in assets, and as their counterparties they have...

None other than Alameda Research and 3AC.

In addition, the company has faced conflict with the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, which suspended its interest-bearing program in partnership with Genesis.

There's plenty of DCG Drama going on, and it's not the first time we write about it. And more drama can arrive pretty soon. On January 9, to be exact.

This is because it marks the deadline for Genesis to settle accounts with Gemini Earn customers. If Genesis fails to do so, it could have a negative impact on sentiment in the industry.

TL;DR: Digital Currency Group has shut down their wealth management subsidiary 'HQ Digital'. It reflects the ongoing hardship of even the biggest names in the industry.

NEW LABOR DATA

But until the 9th of January arrives... There's something good. Latest US labor market data has been just released.

The unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5%, lower than expected (it was forecasted to be 3.7%, the same number as it was the last month).

This is being seen as a temporary positive update, but it could also mean that the Federal Reserve (FED) will continue to raise interest rates.

This may lead to some big price movements in the near future, so even though the new data is optimistic, it does bring uncertainty.

But there's something nice to be looking forward to!

The Blur airdrop is coming at the end of the month, which could really help the market out. Stay tuned for updates.

TL;DR: Latest US Labor Market data has been released. The US unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5%, 0.2% less than it was last month.

ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S PUZZLE

Yesterday we asked you this:

And the correct answer was... Crypto evangelist. Congrats if you knew the right asnwer.

P.S. The second most-voted answer was... Guy McDude. Well, if there is someone called Guy McDude out there, it's safe to assume that he's a crypto evangelist.

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• 3AC Liquidators Issue Subpoenas to Zhu Su and Kyle Davies via Twitter. They were unreachable via any other channel.
• Exploit in Magic Eden Leads to Unauthorized Sale of 25 NFTs. NFTs are having a rough time, man.
• Mutant Ape Planet Creator Arrested, Suspected of $2.9M NFT Fraud. A planet is not a yacht, after all.