[imagesource: Luno]

As someone who has lost a decent chunk of change due to the great crypto crash of 2022, I really don’t want it all to come tumbling down.

Watching Bitcoin go from more than $65 000 a pop in November last year to just over $16 000 this week has been a rollercoaster ride, and other popular cryptocurrencies have also suffered.

The market has been further spooked by the spectacular implosion of FTX and now the news that crypto brokerage Genesis Global Capital is in dire straits.

According to Fin24, Luno, South Africa’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is directly linked to companies affected by the collapse of FTX via parent company Digital Currency Group, which also owns Genesis Global Capital.

Both Luno and Genesis are owned by US parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG). DCG warned of “extreme market dislocation and loss of industry confidence caused by the FTX implosion” and said it was in “constructive conversations with creditors”…

Genesis has warned that it may need to file for bankruptcy protection if it can’t raise new capital, which has been understandably hard to come by in light of recent events.

Luno was started in 2013 in South Africa and has more than 10 million customers in 40 different countries.

In the wake of the news regarding DCG, Luno general manager for Africa Marius Reitz has moved to squash any worries.

“Luno remains a wholly owned, independent operating subsidiary of DCG and this has not changed. Luno’s customers and operations haven’t been affected during this period,” Reitz said…

Reitz declined to disclose how much of its funds are with Genesis, but said that “all customer funds held in Savings Wallets are available on the Luno platform. All our customers have access to all of their funds at any time. As such, there is no impact on Luno’s operations.”

Reitz is saying all of the right things and Luno has posted multiple blog posts over the past week outlining this in greater detail.

However you dress it, up, though, this has not been a great month for crypto bros at large and critics are pouncing.

Forbes, in a story headlined ‘In Huge Trouble’—Leak Reveals $10 Billion Earthquake Could Be About To Cause Bitcoin And Ethereum Price Chaos, is sounding a few alarm bells:

The Genesis situation, coming hot on the heels of the FTX implosion, has caused consternation among the crypto community, with crypto skeptics predicting it could be the next domino to fall as rumors fly over the future of crypto exchange Gemini and crypto financial services company Galaxy Digital.

“[Genesis, Grayscale, Galaxy, Gemini are] now all in huge trouble and, or collapsing,” NYU economics professor Nouriel Roubini, known as Dr Doom, posted to Twitter. “From the moon, all the lunatics are now crashing down to Earth.”

I guess he didn’t earn the nickname Dr Doom for nothing.

In addition, crypto lender BlockFi has stated it had “significant exposure” to FTX and is also warning of a possible bankruptcy filing.

Some of you will HODL, and I respect that (I’m in for the long haul). As for those who are selling their crypto and running for the hills, it’s tough to push back against that given what we’ve seen unfolding.

[sources:fin24&forbes]