The names of two guarantors who signed off on part of Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail bond will continue to remain a secret for now. A judge has also rejected an agreement that would have permitted Bankman-Fried to use certain messaging apps. Bankman Fried’s lawyers filed an appeal to block the release of the guarantors’…
Read more
United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm were the recipients Feb. 6 of another letter on the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining. Eight Democratic lawmakers headed by Elizabeth Warren reached out to the officials this time. The eight lawmakers acknowledged previous replies to official correspondence asking about the agencies’…
Read more
Three financial watchdogs in the United States have issued a warning to investors considering certain individual retirement accounts with exposure to cryptocurrencies. In a Feb. 7 notice, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, the North American Securities Administrators Association, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said self-directed individual retirement…
Read more
Japanese financial software firm Soramitsu has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Bank of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Payment Systems Department on the launch of a proof-of-concept project for a Laotian central bank digital currency (CBDC). Under the agreement, a digital form of the Lao kip, called the DLak, would…
Read more
Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has petitioned the court to delay civil proceedings against former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried “until the conclusion of the parallel criminal case”. In Feb. 7 filings, Williams requested that the court issue an order staying civil proceedings as well as discovery…
Read more
ConsenSys issued a statement Feb. 7 in support of the appeal of the of Jarrett v. United States case concerning the taxation of staking rewards. The case originated in a dispute over a refund of about $4,000 that Joshua and Jessica Jarrett claimed on XTZ tokens they validated in 2019. The Jarretts claimed their staking…
Read more
Avalanche (AVAX) witnessed a meteoric start to 2023, gaining 98% in 30 days, and traders are now curious about whether the rally will extend throughout February. AVAX’s year-to-date gains for 2023 have outpaced those of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Recent reasons for AVAX’s rally can be attributed to an Amazon partnership announcement on Jan. 11.…
Read more
A federal judge has denied a joint agreement between Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried’s legal team and prosecutors that would have allowed the former FTX CEO to use certain messaging apps. In a Feb. 7 filing for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Lewis Kaplan denied a motion proposing Bankman-Fried…
Read more
In January, the brother of a former Coinbase product manager was sentenced to 10 months in prison for wire fraud conspiracy in what prosecutors called the first case of insider trading involving cryptocurrencies. In September 2022, Nikhil Wahi entered a guilty plea for executing trades based on private data obtained from his brother, Ishan Wahi,…
Read more
The Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), the regulator in charge of overseeing cryptocurrency laws within Dubai, has issued new guidelines for virtual asset service providers (VASP) operating within the emirate. According to information sent by Irina Heaver, a crypto and blockchain lawyer based in the United Arab Emirates, VARA has issued the “Full Market Product…
Read more