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| Hey Insider! Welcome to the week's latest Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter! As the week is closing, the former FTX CEO's long-awaited trial schedule hit the headlines after it was posted to the public court docket. Today's issue covers the details of this calendar as well as some of the other biggest stories in the crypto market, including Ripple's decision to terminate the Fortress Trust acquisition deal, the Argentine city of Buenos Aires' new blockchain-based digital IDs, Gemini's exit from the Netherlands, and more. Enjoy your reading, and if you find this newsletter useful, please do not forget to share it with your friends and colleagues! Doğa
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| 1 | | U.S. judicial officials have recently posted the trial calendar of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), to the public court docket. The calendar has shown that SBF would spend at least 21 days in court between Oct. 4 and Nov. 9 as part of his criminal trial. More: - The trial will mainly kick off with jury selection on Oct. 3, though the first official date of SBF's trial will be a day later.
- On Oct. 4, the prosecution will begin discussing seven charges brought against the former FTX CEO, and the court will hear the actual opening arguments.
- There will be 15 full trial days in October, which will be followed by another six in November.
- The court will not be in session on weekends, from Oct. 20 to 25, on Nov. 3, and on public holidays, which fall on Oct. 9 and Nov. 10.
- SBF will be able to be visited during the determined visiting hours in prison on the days with no scheduled trial.
- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) expects the case to last four to five weeks.
- The former FTX executive's bail was revoked by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in August after the judge found he tried to influence two witnesses in his case by speaking to the press.
- Following the decision, SBF was taken from house arrest at his parents' home in California to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn pending trial.
Zoom Out: - FTX, previously the third-largest crypto exchange, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022, with all the 130 entities under the roof of FTX Group.
- The downfall followed the claims that SBF used customer funds in FTX to compensate for losses at the sister company Alameda Research.
- The 31-year-old former CEO will defend himself in court against seven charges, including money laundering and misappropriation of customer funds, to which he pleaded not guilty.
- The seven charges confront SBF with a statutory maximum of 110 years in prison.
Q: Do you believe that the former FTX CEO will manage to acquit himself during his trial? Join the conversation here. |     | |
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What the numbers say: A recent survey conducted by the U.S.-based hedge fund Pantera Capital with more than 1,600 respondents across 77 countries has shown that the average Web3 engineer salary currently stands at $128,000. The study has also pointed out that North America (NA) takes the lead in the highest salaries, with $166,610. In the ranking, the region was followed by Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) with $102,226, Latin America (LATAM) with $90,559, and Asia-Pacific (APAC) with $75,000, respectively. Also, the survey has suggested that junior and intermediate Web3 developers' wages declined by 4% and 8% over the past year, while senior engineers' compensations increased by 1.5% during the same period. Relevance: On the other hand, another survey from last year also pointed out that the U.S., within the borders of the NA region, was the best place to be a software engineer due to the high salaries paid to the developers. The high compensations made the country an attraction point for the crypto developers, too, as nearly half were based in the U.S. However, the country lost lots of crypto developers over the past several years, mainly due to the increased scrutiny on the crypto-related firms and last year's prolonged crypto winter. A report released by a16z showed that the rate of crypto engineers residing in the U.S. fell under 30% in 2022, down from the 40% level in 2018. The same study also revealed that the traffic to crypto-related websites from users based in the U.S. also saw a decline for three consecutive years, suggesting a decline in both user and employee interest in crypto in the country. Brands that should care: The increased crackdown by regulators and the prolonged crypto winter in 2022 were mainly triggered by the collapses of several high-profile crypto firms, including the previously third-largest crypto exchange FTX and the multi-billion-dollar Terra ecosystem. The consecutive collapses have brought the crypto industry to the focus of financial market regulators in the U.S., especially in 2023. Since the beginning of the year, many crypto exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, and Bittrex, faced increased crackdowns by U.S. regulatory agencies. | | | |
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| 3 | | Payment protocol Ripple, best known for its native token XRP, has terminated its Fortress Trust acquisition deal nearly 20 days after announcing its intention to buy the Nevada-based chartered trust company for an undisclosed amount. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said his company would remain an investor in Fortress Trust, adding that it hopes to work together with the company in the future. More: - Several days after the announcement of the acquisition deal, Fortress Trust CEO Scott Purcell stated that one of its third-party service providers experienced a security breach.
- The hack caused six of more than 250,000 Fortress Trust customers using the breached service to log into their accounts to lose $15M from their funds in total.
- At the time, Ripple said it would compensate for the losses, sending $15M to Fortress Trust so that the impacted accounts could be fully repaid, and no customer remained affected.
- Following the termination, Purcell pointed out that it would pay Ripple that $15M back once it received the funds from the third party experiencing the hack.
Zoom Out: - In June, the U.S.-based crypto custody firm BitGo also terminated a similar acquisition deal with the troubled crypto custodian Prime Trust facing financial difficulties due to its exposure to the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.
- Following the termination, Prime Trust had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
- Fortress Trust CEO Purcell is a former CEO of Prime Trust.
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| 4 | | The U.S.-based crypto exchange Gemini has announced that it would halt all its operations in the Netherlands as of Nov. 17, citing its inability to meet requirements of the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the country's central bank, on crypto trading platforms. Gemini users in the country were advised to withdraw or transfer the assets in their accounts until the specified deadline. More: - The platform also said users should ensure they no longer have a balance on their Gemini account as of Nov. 17.
- The firm suggested that users could transfer their funds to the Amsterdam-based crypto exchange Bitvavo, registered with the DNB.
- The company plans to return to the Dutch market after its business becomes fully compliant with the European Union's (EU) region-wide crypto regulations, the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), whose all the provisions would come into effect as of January 2025.
- The MiCA rules require crypto-related firms to register in at least one of the bloc's member states to continue offering their services within the EU.
- Currently, a total of 37 virtual asset service providers are registered with the DNB, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, BitPay, and eToro.
Zoom Out: - Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, also had to withdraw from the Netherlands in June after failing to obtain a virtual asset service provider license from the DNB.
- At the time, a DNB officer said Binance could try to return to the Dutch market through compliance with the MiCA.
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| 5 | | The co-founder of the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Su Zhu, has been arrested at an airport in Singapore while trying to leave the country. The arrest was first announced by the public relations and advisory company Teneo liquidating 3AC. More: - The defunct fund was headquartered in Singapore.
- According to a statement from Teneo, Singaporean officials issued an arrest request after Zhu failed to comply with a court order urging him to cooperate with the ongoing investigation over the 3AC's liquidation process.
- Teneo said the committal order sentenced Zhu to four months in prison.
- A similar order has been issued against another co-founder, Kyle Davies, sentencing him to four months in prison, though he has yet to be apprehended.
- Earlier in September, Singapore's financial market regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), also issued a nine-year ban against the two founders, blocking them from engaging in any financial activity in the city-state.
Zoom Out: - 3AC filed for bankruptcy in July 2022 due in part to the prolonged crypto winter triggered by the multi-billion dollar collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May.
- Founders Davies and Zhu were heavily held responsible for the failure and the billions of dollars of losses suffered by many people after the bankruptcy.
- The collapsed fund owes more than $3.5B to its top creditors.
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| 6 | | The local government of the Argentine city of Buenos Aires has launched a new blockchain-based digital ID service dubbed QuarkID that allows residents to store personal documents. The service's infrastructure was built by a local Web3 firm, Extrimian, using an Ethereum scaling protocol. More: - As of October, the residents of Buenos Aires will be able to download the QuarkID digital wallet application and claim some personal identification documents.
- The first documents available for download and storage on the app will be birth and marriage certificates.
- Proof of income, academic attendance certificate, and benefit claim documents will be also added to the service in November, with plans to integrate health data and payment management later.
- The platform will allow one party to prove a statement is true without disclosing any specific information about the statement itself to the other party.
- Extrimian's chief operating officer (COO), Pablo Mosquella, said everything would eventually move to digital, though the digital documents would initially work as an alternative to the original paper documents instead of a replacement.
- The documents will be issued as verified credentials from the Buenos Aires city government, stored on the residents' devices, and accessed only by the user who can present proof of these credentials.
- The government will also set a roadmap by the end of 2023 to roll out the solution across the country.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - No-code development is here to stay, according to industry experts. Gartner predicts 80% of technology products will be built by those who are not IT professionals by 2024.*
- Digital payments giant PayPal has filed a new patent application for a system where users can buy and sell NFTs, hinting at its intention to launch an NFT marketplace.
- U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has denied a request from the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), to be released from jail before his trial once more.
- The English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur has announced that it would release a fan token dubbed SPURS on the Chiliz network on Oct. 4.
- NEXT WEEK in LA, redefine development at DockerCon! Use DCHALF for 50% off in-person registration, or participate online for free. Come learn with us!*
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Term of the Day Minimum viable product (MVP): A minimum viable product (MVP) is an early functioning model of a new product that can be presented to early adopters and investors. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
INSIDE CRYPTOCURRENCY LEADERBOARD (ALL-TIME) |
 | Staff Writer | | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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