Are SBF's Lawyers Playing With Fire in the Courtroom? 🧨
In today's edition: 🚨 Gitcoin's $461K oopsie, ⚠️ Stars Arena exploit, 😢 Crypto's funding famine, 📉 Yuga Labs cuts jobs, and more!
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👨⚖️ Sam Bankman Fried’s Trial Coverage
The first week of the criminal trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has come to a close, with his former friends and FTX colleagues Adam Yedidia and Gary Wang delivering powerful testimonies that are forming the foundations for the prosecution’s arguments — arguments that the defense may have a difficult time surmounting. Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and Brian Klein, partner at Waymaker, discuss Alameda’s special privileges coded into the FTX software, the reason why a scorched FTX customer may have been chosen as the first witness, and why upcoming key witnesses are going to be a “real problem” for the defense.
The blockbuster trial of Sam Bankman-Fried wrapped up its third day, with multiple witnesses, including former FTX software developer Adam Yedidia, Paradigm cofounder Matt Huang, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang, taking the witness stand.
Josh Klayman, senior counsel, U.S. head of FinTech, and head of blockchain & digital assets at Linklaters, discusses the main takeaways from the trial so far, the surprising testimonies given by former close associates of SBF, and how the prosecution and defense plan to paint a picture of who SBF is to the jury.
SBF Trial, Day 4: Gary Wang Reveals Alameda’s Special Privileges Extend to Early FTX
While the defense continues to irritate Judge Kaplan, FTX co-founder Gary Wang testified that, just a few months after launch, SBF directed others to give Alameda Research special status on the exchange.
Listen to this 5-minute podcast!
What’s Poppin’?
by Brandy Betz and Samyuktha Sriram
Crypto Funding in Q3 Drops to Nearly 3-Year Low
Funding dropped 36% compared to the second quarter, continuing its downward trend, according to a new Messari report.
Gitcoin Accidentally Sends $461,000 in GTC to Unrecoverable Address
The crypto developer platform mistakenly transferred funds from the Treasury to a GTC token contract.
Stars Arena Loses $3 Million in AVAX in Exploit
The Friend.tech inspired protocol said it had secured the funds to close a $3 million gap caused by an exploit.
Bored Ape Yacht Club Creator Yuga Labs Cuts Jobs Amid Restructuring
The NFT powerhouse, which closed a $450 million seed round in 2022, became the third high-profile crypto company this week to have layoffs.
FTX ‘Hacker’ Trades Prompt THORSwap to Pause Swaps
The unknown hacker, who drained $600 million from FTX after its bankruptcy, was making trades on the decentralized crypto exchange.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
🤖 Prosecutors want to prevent FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried from mentioning Anthropic AI's fundraising during his DOJ trial defense.
📰 The CFTC considers actions against ex-CEO of Voyager, Stephen Ehrlich, over misleading customers on asset safety.
🔐 Huobi Global successfully reclaimed $8 million in stolen Ethereum by negotiating with the hacker and awarding a "white hat bonus" of $400,000 in ETH.
🌐 Web3 platform Galxe's website faced a DNS attack, redirecting users to a phishing site designed to steal funds.
👥 Amid disagreements, NFT-based FloorDAO sent $2.5 million in crypto and NFTs to a splinter group, leading to two separate entities.
📈📉 Deribit plans to introduce options for XRP, SOL, and MATIC and is actively pursuing a brokerage license within the EU.
🏛 Komainu, backed by Nomura, Ledger, and CoinShares, registered with the U.K.'s FCA right before the new advertising regulations took effect.
💳 Nexo is adjusting its offerings in the U.K., including ending cashback for some transactions.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
🧬 VitaDAO, a decentralized science initiative, introduced Matrix Biosciences, aiming to transform treatments for cancer and aging-related ailments using mole rat research.
The $$$ Corner…
💰 Crypto startup Ostium Labs secured $3.5 million to develop a protocol for digitized commodities perpetual swaps.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
Swiss Blockchain Federation’s policy paper about liquidity in markets for security tokens
Protocol and staking pool changes that could improve decentralization and reduce consensus overhead by Vitalk Buterin
Unchained: What Are Air-Gapped Crypto Wallets And How Do They Work?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down 1.2%, trading at $27,487
ETH is down 1.6%, trading at $1,592
BTC dominance: 48.33%
Crypto market cap: $1.11T
*All data as of today, 7:20 am ET
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