Cryptocurrency

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sam Bankman-Fried is due back in court on Wednesday, as the judge overseeing his fraud case weighs whether the founder of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange can remain free on his current bail conditions ahead of his Oct. 2 trial.The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to bar Bankman-Fried from making public statements that could interfere with the case. In what prosecutors last week said amounted to witness tampering, Bankman-Fried gave a New York Times reporter personal writings by Caroline Ellison, the former chief executive of his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research. Ellison, also Bankman-Fried’s onetime romantic partner, has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify against him. Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty to charges he stole billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at Alameda, consented to the gag order but asked that it also apply to prosecutors and potential witnesses, namely current FTC Chief Executive Officer John Ray.Kaplan scheduled the 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) hearing in Manhattan federal court in part to consider “the adequacy and continuation of the current bail conditions.” It is not the first time the judge has questioned whether Bankman-Fried’s bail terms are too loose. The 31-year-old former billionaire has been largely confined to his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, since his extradition in December from the Bahamas, where he was arrested and where FTX was based. In January, prosecutors proposed restricting Bankman-Fried’s internet use after he attempted to contact Ray and an FTX lawyer. In a February hearing, Kaplan questioned why he was “being asked to turn (Bankman-Fried) loose,” but stopped short of jailing him and imposed limits on his communications.The Times last Thursday published a story citing excerpts of Ellison’s personal Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) documents from before FTX’s collapse in which she described being “unhappy and overwhelmed” with her job and feeling “hurt/rejected” from her breakup with Bankman-Fried. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A key congressional committee is set to vote this week on several bills that would develop a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, a milestone for Capitol Hill in its efforts to codify federal oversight for the digital asset industry. The crypto industry has been in the regulatory crosshairs since investors were burned last year by sudden collapses of Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, FTX and other companies. Among the legislation the House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to consider are a bill that would define when a cryptocurrency is a security or a commodity and another that would establish a regime to oversee stablecoins – digital tokens typically backed by traditional assets like the U.S. dollar. The markups – where legislation is debated and brought to a vote, paving the way for a full vote by the House of Representatives – are the first time crypto regulatory bills will be put to a vote in Congress, a victory for crypto lobbyists that have pushed lawmakers to provide regulatory clarity for the industry.”Obviously we’ve had some important decisions come from the courts in the past, but this is by far the most significant legislative moment that we’ve had,” said Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association. Still, it remains to be seen if the bills will garner any Democratic support, a factor seen by many as crucial to the bills’ ultimate chances of becoming law. The measures also would likely face obstacles in the Democratic-led Senate, where the head of the Senate Banking Committee, Sherrod Brown, has said he is unsure if additional legislation to regulate crypto is necessary. Representative Patrick McHenry, the Republican chair of the committee, has indicated that his priority is advancing a crypto market structure bill, which would expand the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) oversight of the crypto industry, while clarifying the Securities and Exchange Commission’s jurisdiction, as many crypto advocates complain of the agency’s perceived overreach. His committee is expected to consider that bill during a markup on Wednesday, while the House Agriculture Committee will consider the same bill on Thursday. The bill has galvanized many in the crypto industry, who say that with Democrats’ support, the bill could have a shot in the Senate. “For anything to be sticky, it’s going to need some bipartisan backing,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education Fund, a lobbying group focused on decentralized finance. CLARITY ON TOKENSCrypto companies started out in a regulatory gray area, but the SEC has steadily asserted its authority over the industry, arguing most cryptocurrencies are securities and subject to its investor protection rules. That effort escalated last month when the SEC sued crypto exchanges Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Binance for failing to register some crypto tokens. The pair deny the allegations.Most crypto companies dispute the SEC’s jurisdiction, and have pushed Congress in recent months to write laws clarifying that cryptocurrencies are more akin to commodities than securities.It is unclear if any Democrats will back the market structure bill, including Representative Maxine Waters (NYSE:WAT), the top Democrat on the Financial Services committee. A spokesperson for Waters did not respond to a request for comment. Lawmakers are also set to consider on Thursday a bill that would have the Federal Reserve write requirements for issuing stablecoins while preserving the authority of state regulators.The bill was modified to address concerns from some Democrats, including Waters, that stablecoin issuers could evade stricter oversight by opting to be regulated under a state regime. While McHenry told Politico in an interview this month he remained hopeful that he and Waters would reach an agreement on the bill, he also said a federal stablecoin regime is “not essential,” adding there are state frameworks already in place. A spokesperson for McHenry did not respond to a request for comment. More

Looking at the tokenomics of the Worldcoin token, launched on July 24, there are two absolute outliers. Firstly, the extremely high volume overtook the market cap, as the token reportedly traded 1.6 times its entire capitalization in the first 24 hours. How’s that even possible?Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

In a July 25 X thread, Gerben predicted that lawsuits against X related to trademark infringement could appear in United States courtrooms “in the next few weeks,” with legal problems on the international stage likely to be a “very big issue” for years. U.S.-based companies including Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta already own similar “X” trademarks for different products and services, and many others may have grounds for a lawsuit against X.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

The research combines blockchain, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), nonfungible tokens (NFTs), multimodal learning analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to form a self-contained educational ecosystem.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) initiated a lawsuit against Michael and Amanda Griffis on July 25, a couple residing in Tennessee, who allegedly exploited their real estate business clientele to conduct a crypto scheme.The Griffises, who own EXIT Realty Screamin’ Eagle, are said to have deceived over 100 individuals, raising more than $6 million in the process.The elaborate fraud involved a digital asset commodity pool, ironically titled “Blessings of God Thru Crypto.” The scheme appealed to investors with promises of outsized returns and a surefire opportunity to speculate on the future value of cryptocurrencies.Misrepresenting the security of investors’ funds, the Griffises claimed these resources would remain in their control and would be used to trade “crypto futures” on the ‘Apex Trading Platform.’ Their so-called trading strategy was to supposedly follow the guidance of a shadowy figure referred to as “Coach Wendy.”The CFTC has accused the couple of manipulating their professional relationships to lure victims into the commodity pool. This tactic often involved blending the pool funds with their personal accounts, an action at odds with proper financial management. The capital from unsuspecting investors, transferred to Michael Griffis’ account, was later shifted to his Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) account. Subsequently, the funds were converted into digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) or Tether (USDT) and then moved onto the Apex Trading Platform for trading futures.In what can be seen as a classic Ponzi scheme, a small percentage of the collected amount, roughly $855,000, was paid out to select investors. This repayment was not a reflection of successful trading but rather an attempt to maintain the illusion of legitimate operations, according to the CFTC.The commission’s lawsuit against the Griffises seeks multiple forms of redress. The lawsuit aims for reimbursement for those defrauded, imposition of certain monetary penalties on the defendants, lifelong bans on trade and registration, and an enduring injunction against further contraventions of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.Ian McGinley, the CFTC’s director of enforcement, stated, “The defendants betrayed their pool participants, and they profited from that betrayal. Today’s filing reinforces the CFTC’s long-standing commitment to hold accountable those who take advantage of victims.”This case serves as a reminder of the potential pitfalls in the still nascent and largely unregulated world of cryptocurrencies. The CFTC’s actions highlight the need for thorough due diligence before participating in any investment scheme, particularly those promising disproportionately high returns.This article was originally published on Crypto.news More

Currently, the technology has played a critical role in powering layer-2 solutions. By computing a simple cryptographic proof on layer-2, transactions can be finalized nearly instantly while the record is simply sent back to the underlying blockchain as a succinct proof. At the same time, ZK proofs can enable private transactions that do not relay sensitive information to observers.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

In a July 25 order, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl said he would exclude the time between July 25 and Oct. 3 from Speedy Trial Act calculations — the law which requires a federal criminal trial to begin within 70 days of an indictment being filed. He cited the “volume of discovery” as well as the “complexity of the case” against the former Celsius CEO.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More