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

Top Stories 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 Force and is prone to keep there till February, after his utility for bail was denied in Bahamian courtroom. A second application for bail has been reportedly filed by SBF in the Supreme Court of the Bahamas. His arrest got here after the United States authorities formally filed criminal charges against him — together with eight counts of fraud. If convicted, Bankman-Fried might face 115 years in jail, however authorized commentators have told Cointelegraph there’s a “lot to play out” in the case. The domino impact ensuing from FTX’s meltdown has additionally impacted the professional lives of Bankman-Fried’s parents, ensuing in their programs at Stanford Law School being canceled. In different current developments concerning FTX, a class-action lawsuit against Silvergate Bank was filed in California, aiming to carry the financial institution accountable for its alleged roles in inserting FTX person deposits into the financial institution accounts of Alameda Research.

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

Venture 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, in which Binance had a major function, O’Leary claimed. Recent days have seen Binance beset by worry, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), resulting in a drop in the exchange’s liquidity. Crypto analytics agency Nansen studies that Binance had web withdrawals of greater than $3.6 billion from Dec. 7 to Dec. 13.

Rep. Tom Emmer mulls bringing back bill aimed at reducing crypto red tape

United States lawmakers are under pressure to enact crypto rules in gentle of the collapse of FTX, and Congressman Tom Emmer believes that that is “in all probability time” to re-introduce a bipartisan invoice that will raise necessities for sure crypto companies and initiatives to register as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs). The invoice, titled the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, goals to take away some hurdles and necessities for “blockchain builders and service suppliers,” similar to miners, multi-signature service suppliers and decentralized finance platforms.

No more proof-of-reserve checks? Auditors quietly drop crypto projects from portfolios

Two of the most prominent auditors have abruptly stopped providing crypto auditing companies. At a crucial second for the crypto business, Mazars Group removed Binance’s proof-of-reserve audits from its web site simply days after confirming the crypto alternate managed 575,742 Bitcoin. The determination affected different crypto exchanges utilizing Mazars’ companies, similar to Crypto.com and KuCoin. Later, Mazars defined the pause was because of “considerations concerning the best way these studies 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 alternate.

MetaMask to allow users to purchase and transfer Ethereum via PayPal

In another move into the crypto space, PayPal teamed up with MetaMask mother or father firm ConsenSys to permit the acquisition and switch of Ether (ETH) by its platform. By logging into the MetaMask app, customers will be capable to entry their PayPal account and full transactions. Initially, solely chosen PayPal customers in the United States will be capable to take a look at the service. Other conventional funds firms are looking for to combine crypto into their companies. In October, Western Union also filed three trademarks for managing digital wallets and exchanging digital belongings.

Winners and Losers

At the top of the week, Bitcoin ((*115*)) is at $16,826, Ether (ETH) at $1,194 and XRP at $0.35. The complete market cap is at $817.82 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the 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 high three altcoin losers of the week are Neutrino USD (USDN) at -33.77%, Trust Wallet Token (TWT) at -27.43%, and Chain (XCN) at -23.42%.
For extra data on crypto costs, be certain to learn Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Binance is an enormous unregulated international monopoly now, and 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 so far 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 United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority

“Just as we’re protecting of our bodily belongings, we have to guarantee that folks shield their digital belongings and private info throughout the metaverse.”

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

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

Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin dips under $17K as ‘craziest rumors’ over Binance sink BTC price

Bitcoin fell below $17,000 as traders remained wary over Binance’s FUD triggering overly bearish BTC value motion. On Bitstamp, BTC/USD reached multi-day lows of $16,928 on Dec. 16, in accordance with Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView knowledge. The pair retraced its complete run to one-month highs courtesy of the most recent macroeconomic knowledge and coverage replace from the United States.

“Interesting to see everybody abruptly so bearish on BTC as if it’s solely appearing 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 task to play in the markets.

FUD of the Week 

Microsoft bans cryptocurrency mining on cloud services

Microsoft has quietly banned crypto mining from its on-line companies to extend the steadiness of its cloud companies and higher shield prospects from risks like cyber fraud, assaults and unauthorized entry to sources, in accordance with a report. The 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 prospects from mining cryptocurrency with out prior written consent.

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

Gemini appears to have suffered a data breach from a third-party vendor. Hackers gained entry to five,701,649 traces of data associated to Gemini prospects’ e mail addresses and partial telephone numbers, per paperwork obtained by Cointelegraph. According to Gemini, the breach was attributable to a third-party vendor, however it additionally warned of ongoing phishing campaigns. The leaked database didn’t include any delicate private info similar to names, addresses and different Know Your Customer info.

SEC sues Atlas Trading for $100M inventory manipulation scheme

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a declare in opposition to eight people related to the Discord-based discussion board Atlas Trading for alleged inventory manipulation. The SEC reported that bloggers made at the least $100 million by buying substantial positions in securities, recommending them to their followers, and then promoting their shares to capitalize on the demand they generated by their “misleading promotions.” Cryptocurrencies and different digital belongings weren’t talked about in the grievance.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably

Some security experts think negotiating is a great option to get again many of the stolen funds, whereas others argue you must by no means give in to extortion.

Can Bitcoin survive a Carrington Event knocking out the grid?

A massive Carrington Event-level solar storm might knock out nearly all of electronics on earth. Would crypto survive every thing going offline directly?

Listen up! Cointelegraph launches crypto podcasts, beginning with 4 exhibits

Want more crypto content? Cointelegraph’s new podcast part options 4 separate exhibits exploring quite a lot of impactful subjects.

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Editorial Staff

Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this text.