CoinMarketCap News, Jan 20: Today's Top Story Was Pretty Inevitable, Really

We knew this was coming. Genesis has filed for bankruptcy after suffering multiple body blows during the bear market. As well as nursing heavy losses following the collapse of Three Arrows Capital and FTX, it owes $900 million to 340,000 Gemini Earn customers. Estimates suggest Genesis has 100,000 creditors — and the 50 biggest are owed $3.5 billion. Gemini's co-founder Cameron Winklevoss says the Chapter 11 proceedings are a "crucial step" in recovering funds for his customers. He once again claimed that Digital Currency Group's CEO, Barry Silbert, has refused to offer creditors a fair deal — and threatened to file a lawsuit imminently. Welcoming the involvement of a court, he added: "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

FTX International could be revived, according to its new CEO. John Ray told The Wall Street Journal that a taskforce is looking into this idea. But it's unknown whether users would put their trust in this business again after billions of dollars of customer funds were misused by Alameda Research. Ray thinks reopening FTX could allow creditors to get more of their funds back. He attacked Sam Bankman-Fried for questioning his judgements on Substack, saying: "We don't need to be dialoguing with him. He hasn't told us anything that I don't already know." Ray also defended charging $1,300 per hour, saying: "Crime is very expensive. It does a lot of damage to people. And one of the damages is that people like me have to come in and fix it."

Sam Bankman-Fried has claimed there was a security incident outside his parent's property, where he is under house arrest on a $250 million bond. His lawyers say a black car drove into metal barricades outside the house in Palo Alto, adding: "Three men got out of the car. When the security guard on duty confronted them, the men said something to the effect of: 'You won't be able to keep us out.' The men got back in the car and quickly drove away before the security guard was able to see the license plate." SBF's legal team have previously warned that his parents have "received a steady stream of threatening correspondence, including communications expressing a desire that they suffer physical harm."

Andrew Tate is going to remain behind bars until 27 February. The influencer and crypto trader was arrested in Romania late last year — alongside his brother and two women. They're accused of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized crime group. Tate was initially detained for 30 days amid fears he could be a flight risk, but a Romanian court has now extended this deadline. The additional detention is designed to give police time to build a case against him. Tate — or his supporters — have been using his Twitter account to protest his innocence. A recent post said: "Solitary confinement provides the perfect environment to meditate and hone my dragon fist. Once they fail to kill me, I will emerge. Perpetrators beware."

JPMorgan's CEO has long been a critic of Bitcoin — and it looks like he won't be changing his mind anytime soon. During a CNBC interview in Davos, Jamie Dimon said the world's biggest cryptocurrency was a "hyped-up fraud" and a "pet rock." He went on to suggest that Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million could be changed — with Satoshi Nakamoto withdrawing billions of dollars. Dimon said financial journalists are "wasting their breath" by covering the crypto space — and it seems he's getting pretty fed up with being asked about it. Growing increasingly exasperated as his views on digital assets were challenged, the banker growled: "I don't care about Bitcoin so we should just drop the subject."

Some rare good news in the battle against ransomware — according to Chainalysis, the amount extorted by attackers in 2022 actually tumbled by 40% compared with the year before. The blockchain analytics firm says it's been an "impactful year" in tackling those who deceive victims, encrypt files, and then demand cryptocurrency in exchange for unlocking them. Estimates from Chainalysis claim $457 million was extorted by ransomware attackers in 2022. In both 2020 and 2021, this figure stood roughly at $765 million. The driving force behind declining revenues for attackers is pretty interesting; Chainalysis believes victims are refusing to pay. Whereas 76% ended up submitting to a ransom in 2019, this dwindled to 41% in 2022.