SBF risks 115 years in jail, Binance’s FUD, and auditors quit crypto: Hodler’s Digest Dec. 11-17

Prime Tales This Week

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested, set to be extradited to US

Sam Bankman-Fried was taken into custody by the Royal Bahamas Police Power and is more likely to keep there till February, after his utility for bail was denied in Bahamian court docket. A second utility for bail has been reportedly filed by SBF within the Supreme Courtroom of the Bahamas. His arrest got here after america authorities formally filed legal prices in opposition to him — together with eight counts of fraud. If convicted, Bankman-Fried might face 115 years in jail, however authorized commentators have instructed Cointelegraph there’s a “lot to play out” within the case. The domino impact ensuing from FTX’s meltdown has additionally impacted the skilled lives of Bankman-Fried’s dad and mom, ensuing of their programs at Stanford Regulation College being canceled. In different latest developments relating to FTX, a class-action lawsuit in opposition to Silvergate Financial institution was filed in California, aiming to carry the financial institution accountable for its alleged roles in putting FTX consumer deposits into the financial institution accounts of Alameda Analysis.

Binance ‘put FTX out of enterprise’ — Kevin O’Leary

Enterprise capital investor Kevin O’Leary claimed at a U.S. Senate committee listening to that Binance and FTX “had been at struggle with one another, and one put the opposite out of enterprise deliberately.” The listening to was half of a bigger investigation by lawmakers into FTX’s collapse, during which Binance had a big function, O’Leary claimed. Latest days have seen Binance beset by worry, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), leading to a drop within the trade’s liquidity. Crypto analytics agency Nansen reviews that Binance had internet withdrawals of greater than $3.6 billion from Dec. 7 to Dec. 13.

Rep. Tom Emmer mulls bringing again invoice geared toward lowering crypto purple tape

United States lawmakers are below strain to enact crypto laws in mild of the collapse of FTX, and Congressman Tom Emmer believes that that is “most likely a great time” to re-introduce a bipartisan invoice that may carry necessities for sure crypto companies and initiatives to register as Digital Asset Service Suppliers (VASPs). The invoice, titled the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, goals to take away some hurdles and necessities for “blockchain builders and repair suppliers,” corresponding to miners, multi-signature service suppliers and decentralized finance platforms.

No extra proof-of-reserve checks? Auditors quietly drop crypto initiatives from portfolios

Two of essentially the most distinguished auditors have out of the blue stopped providing crypto auditing companies. At a vital second for the crypto business, Mazars Group eliminated Binance’s proof-of-reserve audits from its web site simply days after confirming the crypto trade managed 575,742 Bitcoin. The choice affected different crypto exchanges utilizing Mazars’ companies, corresponding to Crypto.com and KuCoin. Later, Mazars defined the pause was because of “considerations relating to the way in which these reviews are understood by the general public.” Accounting agency Armanino has additionally ended its crypto auditing companies. Armanino has labored with a number of crypto buying and selling platforms like OKX, Gate.io and the embattled FTX trade.

MetaMask to permit customers to buy and switch Ethereum through PayPal

In one other transfer into the crypto area, PayPal teamed up with MetaMask guardian firm ConsenSys to permit the acquisition and switch of Ether (ETH) by its platform. By logging into the MetaMask app, customers will have the ability to entry their PayPal account and full transactions. Initially, solely chosen PayPal customers in america will have the ability to take a look at the service. Different conventional funds corporations are looking for to combine crypto into their companies. In October, Western Union additionally filed three logos for managing digital wallets and exchanging digital property.

Winners and Losers

On the finish of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $16,826, Ether (ETH) at $1,194 and XRP at $0.35. The overall market cap is at $817.82 billion, based on CoinMarketCap.

Among the many largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the highest three altcoin gainers of the week are Toncoin (TON) at 30.36%, Bitcoin SV (BSV) at 10.11%, and OKB (OKB) at 9.77%.

The highest three altcoin losers of the week are Neutrino USD (USDN) at -33.77%, Belief Pockets Token (TWT) at -27.43%, and Chain (XCN) at -23.42%.
For more information on crypto costs, be certain to learn Cointelegraph’s market evaluation.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Binance is a large unregulated world monopoly now, and so they put FTX out of enterprise.”

Kevin O’Leary, enterprise capital investor

“I supposed it made sense. The child was younger, the rules had been revolutionary, the concepts had been golden. […] Who was I to problem that?”

Danielle Cloud, former FTX worker

“Our expertise to this point of [crypto] platforms, whether or not FTX or others, is that they’re intentionally evasive, they’re a way by which cash laundering occurs in dimension.”

Ashley Alder, appointed chair of the UK’s Monetary Conduct Authority

“Simply as we’re protecting of our bodily property, we have to guarantee that individuals defend their digital property and private info throughout the metaverse.”

Andrew Newman, chief know-how officer and co-founder of ReasonLabs

“Trying ahead, just about everybody who might go bankrupt has gone bankrupt.”

Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin dips below $17K as ‘craziest rumors’ over Binance sink BTC worth

Bitcoin fell under $17,000 as merchants remained cautious over Binance’s FUD triggering overly bearish BTC worth motion. On Bitstamp, BTC/USD reached multi-day lows of $16,928 on Dec. 16, based on Cointelegraph Markets Professional and TradingView information. The pair retraced its whole run to one-month highs courtesy of the newest macroeconomic information and coverage replace from america.

“Attention-grabbing to see everybody out of the blue so bearish on BTC as if it’s solely performing so weak. SPX is doing precisely the identical, perhaps even weaker,” famous Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of buying and selling agency Eight, questioning whether or not the Binance FUD actually had a job to play within the markets.

FUD of the Week 

Microsoft bans cryptocurrency mining on cloud companies

Microsoft has quietly banned crypto mining from its on-line companies to extend the soundness of its cloud companies and higher defend clients from dangers like cyber fraud, assaults and unauthorized entry to sources, based on a report. The brand new restrictions had been launched on Microsoft’s common license phrases, citing that “mining cryptocurrency is prohibited with out prior Microsoft approval.” With this transfer, Microsoft joins different cloud computing suppliers, together with Google, who additionally prohibit clients from mining cryptocurrency with out prior written consent.

‘Third-party incident’ impacted Gemini with 5.7 million emails leaked

Gemini seems to have suffered an information breach from a third-party vendor. Hackers gained entry to five,701,649 traces of knowledge associated to Gemini clients’ e mail addresses and partial telephone numbers, per paperwork obtained by Cointelegraph. In line with Gemini, the breach was attributable to a third-party vendor, but it surely additionally warned of ongoing phishing campaigns. The leaked database didn’t comprise any delicate private info corresponding to names, addresses and different Know Your Buyer info.

SEC sues Atlas Buying and selling for $100M inventory manipulation scheme

America Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) filed a declare in opposition to eight people related to the Discord-based discussion board Atlas Buying and selling for alleged inventory manipulation. The SEC reported that bloggers made at the very least $100 million by buying substantial positions in securities, recommending them to their followers, after which promoting their shares to capitalize on the demand they generated by their “misleading promotions.” Cryptocurrencies and different digital property weren’t talked about within the criticism.

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Editorial Workers

Cointelegraph Journal writers and reporters contributed to this text.