Crypto exchange Binance has agreed to buy rival FTX. The companies have signed a letter of intent, and a full due diligence process is underway. After a 48-hour feud between FTX and Binance, an interesting turn of events concludes that Binance will acquire FTX for an undisclosed amount if the transaction goes through. The deal does not include FTX US or Binance.US, which are separate companies. More: - "To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI, intending to fully acquire FTX.com and help cover the liquidity crunch," said Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao. Terms of the agreement are not disclosed.
- Rumors of FTX's insolvency emerged, and Alameda also suffered steep losses. FTX token FTT has dropped 23% in the past 24 hours; the company halted withdrawals from its platform Tuesday morning.
- On Monday, Alameda CEO Caroline Elison offered to purchase all of the FTT Binance intends to offload for $22 a piece.
- On Tuesday, CZ declined the offer and said he would commit to his original plan, which is to sell the tokens in a free market over some time.
- Binance said it would sell its holdings in the FTX-owned token, FTT, due to "recent revelations that have come to light" about FTX.
- CZ also stated that the company does not support lobbying "against other industry players behind their backs."
- Today it was revealed that the rumors involved the insolvency of FTX.
- The comments have led FTX to drop 10% in value as customers continue to withdraw their funds from the FTX platform.
- The balance sheet showed just one bitcoin on Tuesday morning, down from 20,000 24 hours prior.
- CZ said that the company intended to sell the FTX token in the free market over the next couple of months instead of taking over-the-counter offers.
- FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried wrote a statement on Twitter saying a competitor was spreading "false rumors" about the company.
- But by Tuesday morning, the two companies reached an agreement for Binance to acquire FTX.
Zoom out: - The turn of events is seen by many in the crypto community as a bit of a 4-D chess move on CZ's part.
- "CZ just executed the most gangster play we've seen in Crypto, ever, period," one Twitter user wrote.
- Another pointed out that FTX sought a bailout from the one that caused the bank run to begin with.
CNBC 
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The U.S. Department of Justice seized $3.36B worth of stolen Bitcoin. A Georgia real estate developer "unlawfully obtained" over 50,000 bitcoin from the dark web market Silk Road and pleaded guilty to his charges. More: - James Zhong, the 32-year-old, Georgia-based real estate developer, stole 50,676.17851897 bitcoins, then worth about $3.4B and now valued at $921.3M at BTC's price of $18,181 at press time.
- Zhong had devices that stored BTC in an underground floor safe and under blankets in a popcorn tin hidden in his bathroom closet.
- "This case shows that we won't stop following the money, no matter how expertly hidden, even to a circuit board in the bottom of a popcorn tin," says Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
- Zhong committed the crime over a decade ago when he was 22 years old and is "extremely remorseful," says his attorney, Michael Bachner.
- He returned all of the stolen Bitcoin, and the "value of the Bitcoin he returned exponentially exceeded the value of the Bitcoin he took," says Bachner.
- Zhong faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Tech Crunch
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) won the case against LBRY that the company offered LBC as a security. The company took to Twitter and wrote, "We lost. Sorry, everyone"; the ruling may affect the entire crypto industry. More: - The SEC argued that LBRY violated Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 and sold millions of dollars worth of unregistered securities.
- The company sold LBC tokens to raise money to fund and build its products.
- The SEC argued that since LBRY was sold as investment contracts in exchange for U.S dollars, Bitcoin, and other cryptos, it was classified as securities.
- LBRY countered the argument by saying the LBC token "functions as a digital currency that is an essential component of the LBRY Blockchain."
- The company ended up losing the case but warns that the results could have a wider implication for the entire crypto space by writing the following statement on Twitter:
- "The language used here sets an extraordinarily dangerous precedent that makes every cryptocurrency in the U.S. a security, including Ethereum."
- CEO Jeremy Kauffman has decided to enter politics because he believes it's "the only way we can make blockchain legal."
Decrypt
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Elon Musk is bullish on crypto and often tweets about Dogecoin. Tesla also invested $2B in Bitcoin. Crypto enthusiasts believe that the tech mogul will help take the industry mainstream. More: - Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, also invested $500M in Musk's Twitter deal.
- Musk also hired former Twitter executive Sriram Krishnan, who is a crypto investor and investor at a16z.
- First, Musk believes that he can stop scams on the platform and said: "A top priority I would have is eliminating the spam and scam bots and the bot armies on Twitter," he said about the site. "If I had a dogecoin for every crypto scam I saw, we'd have 100 billion dogecoin."
- Regulators don't think he will deliver on his promise, saying tech cannot stop scammers from tweeting.
- Second, Musk entertained using Dogecoin to buy blue premium subscriptions on Twitter.
- Blockchain experts believe that this is possible only if the transactions can happen faster than Bitcoin.
- Visa transactions are faster than DOGE.
- Lastly, Musk and the team want to implement looser content moderation allowing more free speech.
- Crypto Twitter users noted that their tweets are starting to get more visibility since Musk's takeover.
Washington Post
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Ethereum's Merge event was completed on Sept. 15; the remaining milestones include the Surge, the Scourge, the Verge, the Purg, and the Splurge. The next stage of updates is aimed at making transactions faster and enhancing reliability on the network. More: - Following the Ethereum merge event, the second stage is the Surge, which aims to complete 100,000 transactions per second through rollups.
- The Scourge is the third stage, focusing on reliability and credibility. The update will expand into six different roadmaps. The full details of the Scourage have not been disclosed.
- During the various stages of the Ethereum network updates, Buterin says there will be a "more explicit role for quantum-proofness" for the endgame protocol.
Coin Telegraph
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Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA) in Europe has been delayed due to the drafted text being lengthy and complex. The date for regulations was set for December 2021 but has been postponed to February 2023. More: - The draft for the bill was approved in June 2021, and the final text was published in October.
- MiCA may be voted into law early next year, but regulations will not take effect until 18 months later.
- The delays in approving the bill will delay this process until 2024, which will cause more frustration in the crypto industry.
- The new regulations aim at offering crypto investors greater protection in the markets and more regulatory clarity for the industry.
- The final text of the bill was too lengthy and complex. "We expect the text to be finally voted in February, but again, this date is tentative," says a spokesperson.
Decrypt
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 |  | Gia Mattu is based in Calgary, Alberta. She is an entrepreneur with experience in climate technology, drones, AI, machine learning, and blockchain technology. When she's not working, she loves to hike the Canadian Rockies, try new cuisine, and travel. | | | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
Laika is a unified compliance platform that automates workflows for audits, infosec monitoring, and vendor due diligence in a single, collaborative space. | |
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