Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

One of the largest banks in Germany by total assets, DZ Bank, has launched a crypto custody platform. Additionally, the bank disclosed that alongside its solution for institutional customers, it is working on “an offer that allows private customers to invest directly in cryptocurrencies.” Germany’s DZ Bank Debuts Digital Custody Platform DZ Bank, one of the largest banks in Germany, announced the launch of its own digital custody platform last week. “To operate the new custody solution, the bank has hired more than a dozen employees in IT, operations, and compliance,” the announcement detailed (translated by Google). As of the end of June, the bank’s total assets amounted to €367.50 billion ($392.35 billion), and it had a workforce of 5,411 employees. The bank explained that it had been working with blockchain technology for years before it began developing a digital custody platform for institutional clients in 2022. The announcement described: This makes the leading cooperative...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s former head of internet enforcement has predicted a “big win” for the SEC in the lawsuit involving Terraform Labs. The ex-SEC official also expects District Judge Jed Rakoff to keep rejecting the ruling by District Judge Analisa Torres regarding Ripple and XRP . Stark: ‘Expect a Big Win for the SEC’ Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official John Reed Stark shared some predictions regarding the regulator’s actions against crypto firms in a lengthy post on social media platform X on Monday. Stark is currently president of cybersecurity firm John Reed Stark Consulting. He founded and served as chief of the SEC Office of Internet Enforcement for 11 years. He was also an SEC enforcement attorney for 15 years. The former SEC official wrote: Prediction: Expect a big win for the SEC in the SEC/Terra litigation and a gracious (yet scathing) rebuke of the recent SEC/Ripple decision. Stark noted that both the SEC and Terraf...

Financial services giant Fidelity has addressed nine common Bitcoin criticisms and misconceptions, emphasizing that some of them are “either unfounded or unlikely to be a serious concern.” They include volatility, suitability as a payment method, environmental impact, competition, lack of backing, potential code bugs, regulatory hurdles, waning public interest, and unknown unknowns. Fidelity Responds to 9 Bitcoin Criticisms Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of financial services giant Fidelity Investments, published a research study last week titled “Revisiting Persistent Bitcoin Criticisms.” In its 13-page document, Fidelity addressed nine Bitcoin criticisms and misconceptions, including updates on five that it previously addressed in November 2020. The firm revealed that the criticisms were sourced from its “regular conversations with institutional investors and observation of public commentary on Bitcoin,” adding that the responses outlined in the study “may be adapted to ...

Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on all charges in the Department of Justice’s fraud case against the ex-FTX chief, but his legal woes are far from over. He is also under pressure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which have slammed him with accusations of both securities and digital commodities fraud. Additionally, Bankman-Fried is grappling with a class action lawsuit alongside a list of celebrity FTX endorsers. FTX Boss Sam Bankman-Fried Still Faces Maze of New Legal Hurdles A year to the day after Coindesk lifted the veil on Alameda Research’s balance sheet, Sam Bankman-Fried faced his jury’s unanimous guilty verdict . The onetime cryptocurrency tycoon could spend over a century behind bars, pending the outcome of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) fraud case. As it stands, his sentencing is set for March 28, 2024, unless there are new developments. The storm of litigation continues for Bankman-Fried with...