A federal judge has accepted Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s guilty plea to money laundering but hasn’t decided if he can leave the United States before his February sentencing date. In a Dec. 6 filing to a Seattle District Court, Judge Richard Jones said he accepted Zhao’s guilty plea to one count of Bank Secrecy
Regulation
Real bipartisan legislative efforts are rare in Washington, DC, these days, but Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Joe Manchin and Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Roger Marshall have managed to come together to co-sponsor a bill focused on crypto crime. According to the senators, the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2023 aims to close
The New Jersey General Assembly may consider a bill that would decide when a digital asset or virtual currency is a security under state law. All virtual currencies issued and sold to institutional investors would be considered securities in the U.S. state of New Jersey under the bill introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Herb Conaway, Jr.
Elon Musk’s X-linked AI modeler xAI has an agreement for the private sale of $865.3 million in unregistered equity securities, according to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made on Dec. 5. xAI filed the SEC’s Form D to allow it to engage in the private sale of securities without
The former president of FTX US dishes the dirt on his falling out with former Jane Street colleague Sam Bankman-Fried and predicts the spot Bitcoin ETF will far outshine the record-breaking success of the Bitcoin Futures ETF. Who is this guy anyway? The ex-president of FTX US, Brett Harrison, tells Magazine that he didn’t say
Smart contract development firm Thirdweb reported a security vulnerability that potentially “impacts a variety of smart contracts across the Web3 ecosystem.” On Dec. 4, Thirdweb reported a vulnerability in a commonly used open-source library that could impact certain pre-built smart contracts, including some of its own. However, Thirdweb’s investigations concluded that the smart contract vulnerability has
The Criminal Investigation (CI) Unit of the United Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported an increase in the number of investigations around digital asset reporting. In its annual report released on Dec. 4, the IRS investigative arm said it had initiated more than 2,676 cases in which it had identified more than $37 billion related to
Two brothers, responsible for the theft of $8.5 million from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Platypus, were allowed to walk free with no repercussions by a French court. On Feb. 16, hackers managed to drain and move $8.5 million from Platypus through a flash loan attack, forcing the protocol to suspend trading services until a resolution
The United States needs to formally investigate using proof-of-work networks such as Bitcoin (BTC) to protect the country from cyber-inflicted warfare, according to Jason Lowery, a member of the United States Space Force. In a four-page letter to the U.S. Defense Innovation Board on Dec. 2, Lowery explained that while Bitcoin is mostly seen as a “monetary
“As part of the settlement, CZ cannot be involved in the day-to-day running of the company’s operations,” Richard Teng explains. Despite that, the incumbent CEO of Binance cuts the figure of a man reveling in the challenges ahead. Speaking to Cointelegraph just two weeks after taking over from outgoing CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, Teng seems
Grayscale, a significant player in digital asset management, has expressed enthusiasm about the potential transformation of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a Bitcoin ETF. This move could eliminate the current 8.09% discount of approximately $1.89 billion, aligning GBTC’s price more closely with the actual value of Bitcoin, offering significant benefits for investors. The company’s
A copyright lawsuit filed against multiple companies developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools has been amended as artists and their legal teams alleged the misuse of their creative works. On Nov. 29, a group of visual artists amended a case previously struck down by a United States judge, adding seven new artists and more details about
Lawyers representing the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Terraform Labs and co-founder Do Kwon sparred in court over information provided by a whistleblower in the securities lawsuit. According to a transcript of court events provided by Inner City Press on Nov. 30, the SEC reiterated its claims that Terra and Kwon “committed fraud”
United States District Judge Robert Shelby has cautioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawyers, hinting at possible sanctions due to purportedly deceptive statements in a legal action against Digital Licensing Inc., also recognized as DEBT Box, a crypto company. Lodged in the federal court of Utah, the SEC’s legal action alleged that DEBT Box
The legal duel between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Kraken, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, looks like another misguided attempt by the SEC to exert control over an industry that fundamentally challenges an outdated regulatory playbook. The agency’s lawsuit, filed in November, accuses Kraken of operating as an unregistered securities exchange. The
Following his conviction on federal fraud charges on Nov. 2, former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried will not pursue any post-trial motions. In a Dec. 1 letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, lawyers representing Bankman-Fried said they had “decided not to file any post-trial