Will SBF Go Back to Jail? 🤯

In today's edition: 🤔 DOJ drops a charge, 🗣️ a 'historic day for crypto,' 🚨 another hack tied to North Koreans, and more!

July 27, 2023

What’s Poppin’?

by Samyuktha Sriram

The former FTX CEO reportedly made over 100 phone calls to the reporter behind the New York Times article that revealed Caroline Ellison’s private journal entries.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said they do not intend to proceed with a campaign finance charge against the former FTX CEO.

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has advanced a bill that aims to create comprehensive rules for digital assets.

The crypto payments firm claims that North Korean cybercrime group Lazarus was left with a “record-low reward” after hacking its platform for millions of dollars.

On the Pod…

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, they debate whether infrastructure is being over-invested in, explore the potential of UniswapX and the controversial launch of Worldcoin’s token, and dive into the curious world of hamster racing in crypto. 

Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️

  • 💸 Blockchain security company Quantstamp will pay roughly $3.4 million to settle SEC charges for its unregistered $28.35 million initial coin offering conducted in 2017.

  • 📑 Binance retracted its application for a license from the German regulator BaFin, citing significant changes in the global market and regulatory landscape.

  • Also, 🔄 Binance listed the new stablecoin First Digital USD (FDUSD), temporarily offering no trading fees for certain FDUSD pairs despite technical hitches causing a brief trading pause.

  • In addition, 🇯🇵 Binance, plans to relaunch its services in Japan this August, following its acquisition of regulated exchange Sakura Exchange BitCoin, two years post-regulatory warning from the Financial Services Agency.

  • ⚖️ Craig Wright, self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor, lost his appeal in the libel case against Peter McCormack, with the UK Court of Appeal confirming he failed to sufficiently substantiate his claims.

  • 👨‍💼 Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. verified his recent purchase of 14 Bitcoin, acquiring two bitcoins for each of his seven children.

  • 🔁 Venture capital firm Paradigm Capital is seemingly readying to offload its $3.5 million in MakerDAO's MKR tokens, following a similar move by fellow VC firm a16z.

  • 🐋 After 11 years of dormancy, a Bitcoin holder moved roughly $37 million worth of BTC to new wallets, inciting speculation about potential intentions.

Today in Crypto Adoption...

  • 💡 Italy's Central Bank, through its Milano Hub, is collaborating with Polygon Labs and Fireblocks on a decentralized finance project to aid traditional financial institutions in experimenting with tokenized assets and DeFi in a regulated environment.

  • 🏦 A&G, a Spanish private banking firm with $14 billion in assets under management, launched Spain's first cryptocurrency fund, targeting professional investors and audited by PwC.

The $$$ Corner…

  • 🎮 Decentralized gaming and AI cloud network Aethir secured funding in a Pre-A round, totaling over $9 million to date, with a valuation of $150 million.

Bringing institutional-grade financial products on-chain, starting with the tokenization of US Treasuries and money market funds.

What Do You Meme?

Learn 🤓

Discover how photography NFTs are revolutionizing the industry and giving photographers better ways to protect and monetize their work.

📈 Your Market Update 📉

  • BTC is up 1%, trading at $29,478

  • ETH is up 1.3%, trading at $1,876

  • BTC dominance: 46.43%

  • Crypto market cap: $1.23 trillion

*All data as of today, 7:30 am ET

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