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Trouble in the Bahamas following FTX collapse: Report

Locals say they are having to contend with vacant apartments and the loss of job opportunities once provided by the collapsed exchange.

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Trouble in the Bahamas following FTX collapse: Report

NEWS

Following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, which was headquartered in the island country of Bahamas, Bahamians are reportedly still trying to find a way to make sense of everything, while remaining optimistic about the future.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the island country — which had encouraged cryptocurrency companies to feel at home with their “copacetic regulatory touch” — has been rocked by the implosion of FTX.

The Bahamas, which was also hard hit by Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and the pandemic shortly afterward in 2020, was already struggling to find ways to strengthen its economy which relies heavily on tourism and offshore banking for a bulk of its GDP. It appeared that the prime minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, and his government believed crypto could play a critical role in the island’s economic recovery.

Now, the community suggests that FTX’s sudden implosion has left a trail of unemployment on the tiny 80-square-mile New Providence Island, where FTX was located. While functioning at full capacity, FTX provided employment for locals, as it reportedly spent over “$100,000 a week on catering” and also set up a private shuttle service to transport workers around the island. FTX also hired a number of local Bahamians in areas such as logistics, events planning, and regulatory compliance, according to the WSJ.

With the collapse of FTX, many high-spending foreigners who worked for the company and once boosted the local economy have reportedly fled the island, leaving Bahamian security guards to now guard “nearly vacant buildings.”

In the aftermath of the fall of FTX, some crypto community members have said they feel no sympathy for the effects of the collapse on the tiny island country.

Hacker News user Matkoniecz commented, “Given that Bahamas help rich people and companies to evade taxes, my sympathy to negative consequences of that are limited.”

Meanwhile, Exendroinient00 shared, “Nothing wrong with inviting every scammer to do scamming on your islands,” likely in reference to the island’s laws that seem to incentivize offshore banking activities.

On Oct. 18, Cointelegraph reported that the Bahamas‘ securities regulator ordered the transfer of FTX’s digital assets to a wallet owned by the commission “for safekeeping.”

According to a statement from the Royal Bahamas Police Force sent to Reuters on Nov 13, an investigation into possible criminal misconduct over the insolvency of FTX is underway by financial investigators and Bahamian securities regulators.

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IIROC-registered Canadian crypto exchange Coinsquare suffers data breach

On Nov. 19, Coinsquare had to temporarily shut down operations to investigate an unusual activity on its platform.

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IIROC-registered Canadian crypto exchange Coinsquare suffers data breach

NEWS

Just a month after becoming the first Canadian crypto trading platform to get registered by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), Coinsquare suffered a data breach that compromised users’ personal information.

On Nov. 19, Coinsquare had to temporarily shut down operations to investigate an unusual activity on its platform. However, several days of proactive measures allowed Coinsquare to resume operations gradually.

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In a follow-up email to investors, Coinsquare admitted that their customer database with personal information was exposed during the incident, which a third party most likely accessed.

The leaked database included users’ personal information, such as names, email addresses, residential addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, device IDs, public wallet addresses, transaction history and account balances. Coinsquare further confirmed that no passwords were exposed, adding that:

“We note that your assets have always been, and remain, secure in cold storage and are not at risk.”

While the exchange has not detected any bad actors from accessing the breached information, the official communication cautions users to change their passwords, enable 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) and use different credentials for different platforms.

Coinsquare has not yet responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

Canadian crypto exchange Bitvo was able to back off its acquisition agreement with FTX thanks to the deal’s long approval process by local regulators.

The firm emphasized that its operations have not been affected, as Bitvo has no material exposure to FTX or any of its affiliated entities.

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