🤔 SBF's Defense Fails to Crack Ellison
In today's edition: 😱 Ex-Voyager CEO faces fraud charges, 🚨 Terraform Labs vs. Citadel, 🤔 FTX and Russia, 🚨 ETH staking plummets, 🦊 MetaMask adds Stripe, and more!
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👨⚖️ Sam Bankman Fried’s Trial Coverage
The second week of Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial is underway, bringing emotional testimony from SBF’s ex-girlfriend and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, along with some surprising stories about alleged bribes to Chinese officials and discussion about reaching out to the Saudi Crown Prince for help. Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs, discusses why the question of who was actually in charge is so critical to the case, the defense’s strategy to discredit Caroline Ellison, and why sidebars in the courtroom can get so heated.
SBF Trial, Day 7: Did the Defense Lose Its Opportunity With the Star Witness?
The defense failed to gain traction during Caroline Ellison’s cross-examination, repeating questions previously asked and further frustrating the judge. Still, shocking new facts came to light, such as that, around the time that Alameda had “borrowed” $14 billion of FTX customer money, Sam Bankman-Fried told Ellison he wanted to make a big investment in messaging platform Telegram.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s Defense Team Could Not Break Caroline Ellison
After Caroline Ellison finished her three-day-long witness testimony, prosecutors introduced two more witnesses, one of which educated the jury about the acronyms “FUD” and “YOLO.”
Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried Live: Defense Team Probes Former Alameda CEO Ellison About Her Management
Under cross-examination, Caroline Ellison acknowledged that she had been absent for long stretches while serving in her role at FTX’s trading arm.
What’s Poppin’?
by Sam Sriram, Brandy Betz and Rosie Perper
CFTC, FTC Sue Ex-Voyager Digital CEO Stephen Ehrlich for Fraud
The former executive of the bankrupt crypto platform is accused of fraud, operating a massive commodity pool scheme and falsely claiming consumer deposits were FDIC insured.
Terraform Labs Alleges Citadel’s Ken Griffin Intended to Short UST
The entity behind LUNA is seeking to compel Citadel Securities to release trading data around the time of UST’s depeg.
Drained FTX Funds Linked to Russia, Says Elliptic: Report
The blockchain research firm said Russian cybercriminals received part of the more than $400 million drained from the bankrupt crypto exchange.
Ethereum Staking Demand Drops Sharply, Validator Wait Time Down to 2 Hours
Only 223 validators are in the queue to stake Ethereum – a significant decline from the 96,600 in line a few months ago.
Crypto Wallet MetaMask Adds Stripe On-Ramp for Fiat Transfers in US
The feature will make it easier to convert and use their crypto in real-world settings.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
🍒 DOJ charged Peter Kambolin, CEO of Systematic Alpha Management, with "cherry-picking" profits and losses in crypto futures contracts to benefit himself.
🛠 Several Arbitrum-based projects collectively secured $40 million in ARB tokens through a Short-Term Incentives Program, following a community vote.
📝 Coinbase expressed "serious concerns" in a 14-page letter to the IRS about proposed tax regulations, calling them "incomprehensible and unduly burdensome."
💳 Mastercard successfully concluded a CBDC pilot with the Reserve Bank of Australia, testing the use and redemption.
🔥 Flare Network announced the burning of 2.1 billion FLR tokens to bolster ecosystem health and incentivize new user participation.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
📈🔗 CoinList launched a multi-chain staking fund for U.S. accredited investors, initially supporting Ethereum and Near staking.
The $$$ Corner…
🎮 Despite broader market challenges, the crypto gaming sector secured about $600 million in Q3 2023 investments, marking a decrease from Q2 but adding to an annual total of $2.3 billion.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is flat, trading at $26,770
ETH is down .1%, trading at $1,545
BTC dominance: 48.21%
Crypto market cap: $1.08T
*All data as of today, 7:00 am ET
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