CoinMarketCap News, Feb 21: Terra's Bitcoin Warchest is in the Spotlight

The SEC has claimed that Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon pulled more than 10,000 BTC out of the project — and has been cashing it in ever since. It's alleged the funds were transferred to a Swiss bank and then converted into fiat. Terraform Labs had established a warchest of Bitcoin that was designed to ensure that UST, its algorithmic stablecoin, remained pegged to the U.S. dollar. Overall, the SEC estimates that Kwon's withdrawals have exceeded $100 million. You'll remember that UST and sister altcoin LUNA spectacularly collapsed last May, wiping $40 billion from the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies. SEC officials say the Terraform ecosystem was a fraud — and UST's price was manipulated rather than governed by code.

Jesse Powell has written an inflammatory Twitter thread where he claimed that the SEC deliberately turned a blind eye to FTX so the whole crypto industry would implode. He alleged that "regulators let the bad guys get big and blow up because it serves their agenda" and deters adoption. It's a pretty bold claim to suggest that the SEC would deliberately allow millions of Americans to collectively lose billions of dollars. Nonetheless, the commission is facing tough questions over its handling of Sam Bankman-Fried. SEC chairman Gary Gensler had met with the crypto entrepreneur — and critics have claimed he missed crucial warning signs that could have protected innocent consumers.

Unlike millions of other customers of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange, FTX Japan users are getting their funds back. Withdrawals of both cash and crypto opened today — with the Japanese arm apologizing for the concern and inconvenience caused by its services being suspended. FTX Japan did warn that there could be delays if customers rush to get hold of their funds at the same time. So… why has this part of FTX been able to restart withdrawals as millions of others wait for their money back? Well — it's partly down to how the country has strict regulations in place… and FTX Japan's assets were kept separate from sister trading firm Alameda Research.

The man credited with inventing the world wide web has revealed that he's no fan of crypto — describing it as "really dangerous." Tim Berners-Lee compared digital assets to the dotcom bubble in the 1990s, and said crypto is only valuable for people who "want to have a kick out of gambling." However, he did admit that the technology could be useful in driving down the cost of remittances. Berners-Lee later took aim at Web3 — arguing it has no relation to the internet. In his eyes, blockchain technology is too slow, expensive and public to improve our online lives. None of this has stopped Berners-Lee from capitalizing on the NFT boom. He sold crypto collectibles containing the source code of the world wide web for $5.4 million.

Poor investors in emerging economies were hit harder by the bear market than deep-pocketed whales, according to a new report. The Bank of International Settlements said big investors dumped shortly before big price collapses, while everyday consumers were badly burned by "buying the dip." According to the BIS, data shows that most crypto app users who bought Bitcoin after August 2015 have ended up losing money — challenging the narrative that anyone who holds on to their crypto for at least four years makes a profit. Overall, 80% of those who bought BTC once a month would have ended up in the red, according to the BIS analysis — bad news for those who treat BTC as a hedge against inflation.