• The CFTC has launched a probe into Jump Crypto, including its investment and trading activities, but has not charged the company with any wrongdoing.
• Jump Crypto is one of the industry’s largest market makers and is behind critical market infrastructure, like the Wormhole bridge, but has been caught up in controversy over links to FTX and Terra.

The US commodities watchdog has opened a probe into Jump Crypto, one of the industry’s largest trading companies, according to multiple news reports.

The CFTC is investigating Jump Crypto’s trading and investment activity in the sector, but the agency has not disclosed the specifics of its investigation. However, both parties have clarified that the firm has not been charged with any crime, nor is the probe proof of any wrongdoing.

Scoop: The CFTC is probing Jump’s crypto business.

The Chicago-based trading firm was previously a giant in the crypto market-making and investing space before being implicated in a series of high-profile collapses and hacks, though it is still active:https://t.co/aOuBA7uf5o

— Leo Schwartz (@leomschwartz) June 20, 2024

Jump Crypto is a subsidiary of Jump Trading, a Chicago-based proprietary trading giant. The company established its crypto outfit in late 2021 to offer its world-leading trading services to the digital assets world. Jump Crypto quickly shot up the ranks to become one of crypto’s largest market makers, facilitating billions of dollars in trading volume daily.

Besides market making, Jump Crypto has also invested in some of the industry’s largest and most successful projects. This includes participating in the $300 million raise for SUI, the $150 million round for Aptos, the $70 million round for the 0x protocol and the $55 million round for Celestia.

Additionally, it has incubated some massive crypto projects. Its biggest success was Wormhole, a communication protocol between various blockchains that enables cross-chain exchange, governance and gaming.

Jump Crypto’s Woes

Jump Crypto’s problems started with the hack of the Wormhole protocol in which criminals exploited a security flaw and made off with $325 million in early 2022, as Crypto News Flash reported at the time. Jump Crypto relied on the financial might of its parent company to compensate the victims.

However, the blow was significant, and in November last year, it emerged that it was spinning off the Wormhole project.

Jump Crypto’s biggest problems were on its trading side. The company was caught up in the LUNA and UST debacle, in which close to $60 billion was lost after the two Terra ecosystem tokens collapsed.

It would later be revealed that Jump was one of the key allies of Do Kwon and his gang. The company was specifically accused of being used by Kwon to prop up the prices of his tokens, including ensuring that the UST algorithmic stablecoin remained pegged despite market turmoil.

US authorities pursued Kwon, who was later arrested and jailed in Montenegro. However, Jump wasn’t charged for its part in the collapse.

Disgruntled investors have also brought up charges against the company. Last year, they filed a class action lawsuit, accusing the company of aiding and abetting fraud.

Bitcoin was trading 1.3% lower at $64,592 as of 11:56 a.m. IST, while Ethereum was below the $3,550 level.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers including the yen, sterling, euro, and Swiss franc, spiked 0.41% overnight.

The dollar last traded 0.05% stronger at 159.015 yen. The U.S. currency added 0.07% to 0.89165 Swiss franc, following a 0.78% surge overnight.The dollar index was little changed at 105.66, on course for a slight weekly gain that would extend its winning streak to three weeks.A rise in the dollar index is generally negative for Bitcoin because it indicates a stronger U.S. dollar, leading investors to move away from riskier assets like cryptocurrencies.Meanwhile, Sathvik Vishwanath, Co-Founder & CEO of Unocoin, said, “Bitcoin’s fall below $65,000 was partly due to crypto hedge funds reducing their exposure to Bitcoin to 0.37, the lowest since October 2020. This cautious approach by hedge funds, driven by expected volatility, macroeconomic conditions, or regulatory uncertainties, increased selling pressure.”Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex, said, “Bitcoin traded below the $65,000 level over the past day, breaking its support at $66,809 due to increased liquidations. The next support level is set at $64,000.”

Also Read: FIU slaps Rs 18.82 cr penalty on crypto exchange Binance

Other popular cryptocurrencies like BNB (3.1%), Solana (2.8%), XRP (1%), Dogecoin (0.5%), Shiba Inu (3.1%), and Polkadot (3.5%) declined.

The global cryptocurrency market cap declined by 1.5% to around $2.36 trillion in the last 24 hours.

The volume of all stablecoins is now $63.49 billion, which is 92.62% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume, as per data available on CoinMarketCap.

In the last 24 hours, the market cap of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell to $1.273 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 54.12%, according to CoinMarketCap. BTC volume in the last 24 hours rose 33.8% to $25.5 billion.

“BTC is consolidating around the $65,000 mark, and its direction remains uncertain. This is a critical level because a drop below it could lead BTC to fall to $60,000. Altcoins are generally weaker compared to BTC and ETH,” said CoinDCX Research Team.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed by experts are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Economic Times)

Donald Trump has been aggressively courting the cryptocurrency community as part of his 2024 campaign, including meeting with bitcoin miners, fundraising in Silicon Valley, and opening his campaign to crypto donations last month, a first for a major party candidate.

Now, Trump, who in 2019 called bitcoin a currency “based on thin air,” is embroiled in his first cryptos scandal, amid allegations that his youngest son Barron—or maybe disgraced pharma exec Martin “Pharma Bro” Shkreli—is behind a cryptocurrency “meme coin” called DJT, the same letters as the former president’s initials.

Earlier this week, vague rumors began circulating that the coin, which launched in May, was going to be the former president’s “official token,” sending the value of the crypto coin surging.

As of Thursday afternoon, DJT’s value had soared by triple-digit percentages, reaching a market capitalization of over $150m.

The run on DJT, which shares a three-letter abbreviation with stock in the former president’s actual media company, inspired a feverish search for whether Trump or his campaign was behind the crypto effort.

On Tuesday, Arkham, a market intelligence firm, offered a $150,000 bounty for the person who could prove who was behind DJT.

A day later, the company announced that a crypto analyst using the X screenname ZachXBT had submitted “definitive evidence” that Shkreli, who was released from prison in 2022 for a series of fraud charges related to his time running two hedge funds, was the brains behind the operation.

The analyst shared screenshots of what he said were direct messages with Shkreli, in which the former pharmaceutical investor, known for jacking up the price of cancer drugs, claimed, “I have over 1000 pieces of evidence I created it with Barron,” a reference to Trump’s son.

ZachBXT also claimed the coin was linked to a Discord user named Cameron Roxborough, who claimed to be a classmate and friend of Trump’s son.

A LinkedIn profile under that name shows Roxborough attending the same Florida school from which Barron Trump recently graduated.

After the bounty announcement, Shkreli claimed he created the coin after being approached by Roxborough on behalf of Barron Trump, and that the former president approved of the idea.

The investor said in a live X Spaces discussion that he didn’t have any personal incentives in the coin, and created the product to “see where it would go,” and that “everything” made on the scheme would go to Barron and the Trump family.

“I can prove Trump and/or Trump family involvement,” he later wrote on X.

The Trump family and campaign have not publicly commented on the DJT coin.

The Independent has contacted the Trump campaign and Roxborough for comment.