Did He Lie? 😯
In today’s edition: 🚨 Ethereum validators at risk? 📊 SOL might join BTC and ETH in USDe backing, ⏳ DAO pushes for 200M ARB clawback from gaming fund, and more!
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What’s Poppin’?
by Juan Aranovich, Tikta and Sage D. Young
FTX’s Ryan Salame Challenges His Own Guilty Plea: Did He Lie to the Court?
Ryan Salame, who started his 7.5 year prison sentence Friday, accused prosecutors of lying to his lawyers, said Caroline Ellison is as culpable as Sam Bankman-Fried, and claimed he wasn’t guilty of the charges to which he pleaded guilty.
Ethereum Validators Could Lose Millions From Uniswap Fees After L2 Launch: The DeFi Report
Unichain could redistribute millions of dollars in value to Uniswap Labs and UNI token holders, claims The DeFi Report’s Michael Nadeau. Though not everyone is convinced that liquidity from the layer 1 will migrate.
Ethena Labs Proposes Onboarding SOL as Backing Asset to USDe
Ethena Labs proposed bringing SOL, and liquid staking options, such as bbSOL and BNSOL, as a backing asset to USDe, with the same hedging mechanism used for BTC and ETH perpetual futures.
Lack of Updates on Arbitrum’s Gaming Program Funded With 225 Million ARB Sparks Calls for a Clawback
A governance proposal published late last week aims to move 200 million ARB from Arbitrum’s gaming program’s multi-signature wallet back to the DAO treasury.
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FTX’s Ryan Salame Is Going to Prison. Here’s What He Has to Say
As former FTX executive Ryan Salame heads to prison, he blames Alameda’s lawyers, says prosecutors misled his attorneys, and explains why he thinks Caroline Ellison is at least as guilty as Sam Bankman-Fried.
Ryan Salame, the former CEO of FTX Digital Markets, is headed to prison, but not before sharing his side of the story. Ryan talks candidly about the decisions he made at FTX, why he withdrew millions of dollars worth of assets in the days leading up to its bankruptcy, and the backstory behind the Thai prostitute trading scheme to unfreeze Alameda’s funds in China. He also disputes the claims about his campaign finance violations, while explaining why he thinks Caroline Ellison is “at least as guilty as SBF” and that Nishad Singh lied.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍
💸 Donald Trump's crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, is preparing to raise $300 million by selling its WLFI tokens, which will be non-transferable for the first year, as part of a push ahead of the 2024 presidential election, which takes place in less than a month’s time.
💰 Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen donated $1 million worth of XRP to a PAC supporting Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, marking the first donation in crypto to Harris, as political contributions from the digital assets industry become more common.
📄 A former FTX customer is suing hedge fund Olympus Peak, claiming they underpaid him for his bankruptcy claim and are now set to make over $1 million in profit following a court-approved reorganization plan.
🛑 Bitnomial Exchange sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), accusing the agency of overreach by trying to regulate XRP futures contracts, which Bitnomial argues fall solely under the jurisdiction of the CFTC.
⚒️ Bitcoin mining profitability dropped in September as the rising hashrate, which is up 11%, offset Bitcoin’s 5% price increase. Investment bank Jefferies is predicting October could be even tougher for miners.
⚖️ Crypto neobank Banq's bankruptcy filing was dismissed by a U.S. judge who deemed it a bad-faith move to “gain an advantage in pending litigation,” highlighting accusations against Banq's founder chair, Jon Jiles, for prioritizing Prime Trust's interests over Banq’s.
🔄 Avalanche Foundation reached a deal to repurchase nearly 2 million AVAX tokens from the bankrupt Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) pending court approval. Avalanche sold the tokens to LFG back in 2022 in a $100 million deal, the tokens are now worth $55 million on the open market.
💼 South Africa's tax authority issued a warning to crypto holders, urging them to declare their digital assets or face audits, as the country ramps up compliance efforts with help from local exchanges such as Luno and VALR.
🎩 A crypto fraudster accused of running a $150 million Ponzi scheme through his company USI Tech vanished from NYC while on a $5 million bond, sparking a manhunt after his ankle monitor stopped working just before a court appearance.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 3.6%, trading at $64,862
ETH is up 3.3%, trading at $2,542
BTC dominance: 54.3%
Crypto market cap: $2.36T
*All data as of today, 07:20 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
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