Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty and requested to keep confidential the identities of two people who will help secure his bail. Prosecutors argue that Bankman-Fried orchestrated "one of the biggest financial frauds in American history," stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers to fund personal interests and donations to politicians. More: - Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight counts of fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and illegal campaign contributions.
- Both Caroline Ellison, 28, and Gary Wang, 29, pleaded guilty to their charges. This could be bad news for SBF since "they're fully cooperating," says Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles-based trial lawyer.
- Defendants often agree to testify against their alleged co-conspirators to lessen their sentences.
- Rahmani estimates Ellison's sentence could be as low as five years.
- Bankman-Fried's likely sentence is 10 to 20 years, he said.
- SBF reportedly cashed out $684,000 in crypto assets despite court restrictions on spendings above $1,000.
- After being released on bail, SBF transferred ether (ETH) in his public wallet to a new wallet address 0x7386df2Cf7e9776bCE0708072c27d6a7135D51CB.
- Another $367K worth of cryptocurrencies were transferred from 32 addresses owned by Alameda Research to the same wallet.
- The wallet address, 0x7386df2cf7e9776bce0708072c27d6a7135d51cb, sent $629,000 in crypto from its entire holding into another wallet address, 0x64e9B9cD74A46f71e7631CB033afA6E7849a8683.
- U.S. authorities will probe the activity; SBF broke his three-week Twitter silence, claiming he had nothing to do with these transfers.
Zoom out: - Lee Jung-Hoon, The former chairman of the Bithumb crypto exchange, was found not guilty of fraud by the Seoul Central District Court's 34th Division of the Criminal Agreement.
- Lee was accused of fraud for accepting a "contract fee" of $70M on the promise that the exchange would list a so-called Bithumb Coin (BXA). The token was never listed, but authorities determined the fault does not lie on Hoon.
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Cameron Winklevoss, the founder of Gemini, wrote an open public letter to Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert, claiming that the firm owes Genesis $1.675B. This includes a loan of $575M due in May and a $1.1B promissory note due in June 2032. More: - Gemini partnered with DCG's crypto firm Genesis to launch Earn in partnership with a crypto lending product.
- In November, Genesis suspended customer withdrawals following the sudden collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX empire.
- As a result, Gemini and the Winklevoss twins were sued for fraud over the Earn program's interest-bearing products.
- Winklevoss says that Genesis owes over $900M to some 340,000 Earn investors and has been trying to reach a "consensual resolution" with Silbert.
- Winklevoss said DCG owes its Genesis subsidiary $1.6B and says Gemini customers' funds were used by DCG to "fuel greedy share buybacks" and "illiquid venture investments."
- Silbert responded to the Twitter message by saying, "DCG did not borrow $1.67B from Genesis. DCG has never missed an interest payment to Genesis and is current on all loans outstanding."
- Winklevoss asked Silbert to commit publicly to solving the crisis by Jan. 8.
- Wall Street Journal reported that DCG's crypto broker has outstanding loans to Alameda Research; Silbert says that DCG faced no imminent threat from the fallout of FTX and Alameda.
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Alameda Research and FTX were on the verge of collapsing in 2018, long before the crypto winter. FTX and Alameda Research have been working together since its inception despite Sam Bankman-Fried's claims. More: - New data suggests that Alameda Research and FTX have worked in conjecture since its inception.
- Alameda's trading algorithm was designed to make many automated, rapid-fire trades and lost money due to wrong predictions on prices.
- The company lost nearly two-thirds of its assets when the price of XRP declined.
- To keep operations afloat, SBF offered potential lenders up to 20% annual returns.
- Later in April 2019, FTX was launched with a promise to offer a safe haven for institutional investors.
- Bankman Fried instructed Gary Wang to create code to gain an unfair advantage allowing Alameda to maintain a negative balance on FTX regardless of collateral.
- Assets and debts were "generally treated as interchangeable," says the SEC.
- The code would let Alameda maintain a negative balance on FTX regardless of the amount of collateral it placed with the exchange.
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Undoubtedly, 2022 was rough for the entire crypto industry as $1.3T was wiped off its market cap. Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, lost 60% of its value, but some investors remain bullish about its prospects. More: - Here is a look at some bold Bitcoin price predictions for 2023:
- Tim Draper, a Bitcoin bull, believes the crypto will hit $250,000 by the end of 2023.
- Women will drive Bitcoin's growth because they control 80% of the retail market.
- Standard Chartered predicts Bitcoin will drop to $5,000, a 70% plunge from its current price.
- Mark Mobius predicts a $10,000 price target for the token.
- Carol Alexander, professor of finance at Sussex University, predicts $50,000.
- "There will be a managed bull market in 2023, not a bubble — so we won't see the price overshooting as before," she says.
- Robert Kiyosaki predicts that U.S. regulators will target tokens once they have been classified as securities.
- Kiyosaki continues to invest in Bitcoin, which the CFTC and SEC have classified as a commodity.
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also classified Ether as a commodity in a Dec. 13 court filing against FTX and Alameda Research.
- "Certain digital assets are 'commodities,' including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), and others, as defined under Section 1a(9) of the Act, 7 U.S.C. § 1a(9)."
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Dogecoin introduced a $5M Doge development fund for developers. Marshall Hayner has also joined the company's Board of Directors. More: - The fund will reward developers for promoting and growing the ecosystem "no matter how big or small."
- The fund will distribute 500,000 DOGE to developers after each minor or major advancement.
- The Dogecoin Foundation will manage the wallet, and five custodians will ensure security, including chromatic (Dogecoin Core developer), Marshall Hayner, Patrick Lodder, Michi Lumin, and Ross Nicoll.
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Solana rose over 12% in the past 24 hours on Tuesday due to the launch of its Bonk token. The new meme coin airdropped 50% of its supply last week. More: - 20% of Bonk's total airdrop supply went to Solana NFT collections.
- The Shiba Inu also rose 96% in the past 24 hours; Solana dropped from the fifth-largest token in early November to 15th-largest; the future remains uncertain.
- SOL rose to $13 on Tuesday after nine straight days of losses; selling pressure had resulted from Solana's close links to Sam Bankman-Fried.
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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. | |
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