Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

In the lawsuit pitched by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Tron’s brainchild, Justin Sun, and his enterprise Rainberry, a judicial nod has been granted for an extended timeline for the defense. Sun now has until December 8, 2023, giving his attorneys a broader window to “explore possible resolution of the SEC’s claims against defendants before motion practice.” Sun’s Legal Horizon Extended: Judge Gives Breathing Room in SEC’s Tron-Related Suit In March 2023, a legal storm brewed for Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, the Bittorrent Foundation, and the entity known as Rainberry. They found themselves on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the U.S. securities watchdog. The core allegation? The quartet of entities allegedly dangled TRX and BTT before investors as unregistered securities, crossing the line of U.S. securities regulations. Further, the SEC cast Sun in a shadowy light, accusing him of masterminding a vast plot to manipulate TRX ’s market value. As

Hungarian authorities have seized cryptocurrency worth over $1 million from a criminal organization in a value-added tax (VAT) fraud case. The authorities raided 28 locations, arrested three suspects, and seized various assets tied to the group. The seized cryptocurrencies were transferred to the wallet controlled by the Hungarian tax authority. Crypto Seized in Tax Fraud Case The National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary (NAV) announced Wednesday that it has seized cryptocurrency from a criminal organization that evaded paying three billion Hungarian forints ($8.2 million) in value-added tax (VAT). NAV commandos, the Merkur Deployment Unit, and the investigators of the Western Transdanubian Criminal Directorate simultaneously raided 28 locations, arrested the suspects, and seized their illegally acquired assets and cryptocurrency worth nearly 420 million forints ($1.15 million). Without providing specific details, the NAV stated that the seized cryptocurrencies were trans

Coinshares, a European digital asset manager, is moving into the U.S. with a new hedge fund division aimed at institutional investors. The firm, based in Saint Helier, Jersey, intends to offer comprehensive services for institutions exploring crypto assets. Coinshares Expands to U.S. With New Hedge Fund Division The company revealed its new branch, Coinshares Hedge Fund Solutions, signifying its foundational emphasis as a crypto-centric hedge fund manager. Lewis Fellas, an asset manager with more than two decades of experience, including seven years in the digital assets sector, will lead this division. The press release highlights the merger of Coinshares ‘ ten years in crypto with the expertise the team has developed from proprietary trading since 2016. The firm holds that this experience equips it to produce competitive products comparable to those of mainstream financial entities. “In a changing macro environment prominently marked by interest rates and inflation, the demand

Venture capitalist Katie Haun is optimistic about the future of crypto. “It’s a really good time to be investing in this space during this down market,” she said. “I have actually never felt that in prior cycles, crypto was more inevitable than in this cycle, and this is the fourth cycle I’ve been in crypto,” she further shared. Katie Haun on Crypto’s Future and SEC Regulations Venture capitalist Katie Haun, founder and CEO of Haun Ventures, a $1.5 billion Web3-focused venture capital fund, shared her optimism about the future of crypto at Techcrunch Disrupt on Thursday. Haun was previously a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. She also served on the Coinbase board. Before becoming a venture capitalist, she spent a decade as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice. Commenting on her venture capital funds’ crypto investment strategy, she described: “I think there’s a perception out there that crypto is crickets chir

Crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against them by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “It is clear that the SEC’s lawsuit has no foundation in the currently enacted securities laws,” they argued, alleging: “In attempting to claim regulatory power over the crypto industry, the SEC distorts the text of the securities laws.” Binance and CZ Seek to Dismiss SEC Lawsuit Cryptocurrency exchange and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) filed a joint motion on Thursday to dismiss the lawsuit against them by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the court filing , the lawyers for Binance and Zhao wrote: “The SEC’s claims against BHL [Binance Holdings Ltd.] and Mr. Zhao should be dismissed with prejudice.” They added: It is clear that the SEC’s lawsuit has no foundation in the currently enacted securities laws. “In attempting to claim regulatory power over the crypto industry, the SEC distorts

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, the first anti-central bank digital currency legislative effort introduced in the United States . Congressman Tom Emmer detailed that the bill halts the efforts of the Biden administration “from issuing a financial surveillance tool that will undermine the American way of life.” CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act Advances U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) announced Wednesday that the House Financial Services Committee has passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act , which he and 50 other lawmakers reintroduced in Congress last week. “It’s the first anti-central bank digital currency [CBDC] legislative effort introduced in the United States,” Emmer emphasized, noting that he has been working on the bill for over three years. “Today, this bill has the support of 60 members of Congress and groups ranging from the Independent Community Bankers Association and American Bankers Association to Cl

The U.K. Online Safety Bill, a piece of legislation that seeks to make the country “the safest place in the world to be online,” has been signed by both houses of parliament and will become law soon. Several civil liberties organizations and activists have criticized it due to its possible effects on online privacy and encryption. U.K. Online Safety Bill Ready to Become Law The U.K. Online Safety Bill, a piece of legislation that seeks to improve the safety levels of children and adults online, has been passed by both houses of the parliament and is ready to become law. In a press release, the U.K. government stated that the law will make the country “the safest place in the world to be online,” establishing new rules that messaging and social media platforms now have to comply with. The bill, which takes a “zero-tolerance approach to protecting children and makes sure social media platforms are held responsible for the content they host” by establishing penalties of up to £18 mil

Game rooms, unlimited food buffets, massage chairs and all those gimmicks were so 2010’s. Sure, it has been fun for a while, but soon enough, we started seeing more and more reports and news articles about how these incentives don’t accomplish their goal. No matter how many fancy perks there are, unless there’s a strong mission and an enticing model of work in an organization, flashy offices lose their appeal really fast . Binance has never put much stock in superior office comfort as a means of attracting and retaining top talent. Don’t get them wrong – their offices offer some of these perks as well, but they’re never the main reason employees want to stay with the organization. That’s why Binance’s mission, and enabling employee growth, are the biggest motivators for their workforce. Binance takes a different approach when it comes to their working model – they always talk about how they need the right people with the right cultural fit and how most people might not fit in .

Eclipse, an organization that allows for the construction of customizable rollups, has announced the architecture of its Eclipse mainnet, a Solana-powered Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling rollup. The rollup will benefit from using the Solana Virtual Machine as an execution layer, leveraging this blockchain’s various security and performance benefits. Eclipse Announces Ethereum L2 Using Solana Virtual Machine Eclipse, an organization focused on building scaling solutions for Ethereum, announced its Eclipse mainnet L2 (layer two) solution using Solana-based tech. The project, which is being promoted as the “fastest” Ethereum rollup by the company, will use the Solana Virtual Machine ( SVM ) to take advantage of the improvements this has over the traditionally used Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) One of these advantages is the parallelized processing of the SVM, which allows performance to scale more efficiently. Also, the possibility of local fee markets, meaning that one non-fungibl

Coinbase revealed a campaign to move more than 52 million U.S.-based cryptocurrency holders to call for clear and precise regulation. The push, part of a countrywide initiative, will be supported by a paid media campaign across multiple platforms but directed to nine states where most crypto owners are concentrated. Coinbase Calls Crypto Holders to Action Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, has unleashed a campaign that seeks to leverage 52 million crypto holders in the country to ask for clear regulation in the cryptocurrency industry. According to the exchange, clear laws in the field will benefit crypto and non-crypto holders alike, who collectively believe the current financial system needs a change. The first phase of this campaign aims to organize the community to move out of X (formerly known as Twitter) and to take this battle to phone calls, mobilizing crypto users to “take one minute of their day to call their member of Congress and ask them to pass

Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is working on a crypto policy framework that he aims to finalize by Thanksgiving. The Republican criticized the regulation-by-enforcement approach of U.S. government agencies like the securities regulator under the administration of President Joe Biden and vowed to cut three-fourths of their personnel. Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Preparing His Crypto Platform Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the contenders for the Republican Party’s nomination for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, is drafting a crypto policy framework. The Bitcoin-friendly candidate wants to present his platform by Thanksgiving. On Thursday, Ramaswamy unveiled his plan at the Messari Mainnet conference, catching the attention of U.S. media and exciting members of the crypto community. The right-wing politician said the blueprint is 75% ready, asking the audience for input. @VivekGRamaswamy in the house at Mainnet talking crypto, regulation, and running for president pic.

According to a new update from the Mt Gox trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, the repayment deadline for creditors has been pushed to next year. Kobayashi said discussions with banks, fund transfer service providers and designated cryptocurrency exchanges have caused delays, making it impossible to meet the original repayment deadline. Mt Gox Trustee Delays Payments Nobuaki Kobayashi, the Mt Gox trustee in charge of the funds owed to the exchange’s creditors, updated the public on September 21, 2023. According to the trustee, because of lengthy discussions with specific payment providers, Kobayashi could not make the October 31, 2023 deadline. Because of this reason, the repayments will start next year. “Therefore, with the permission of the Tokyo District Court, the rehabilitation trustee has changed the deadline of the base repayment, the early lump-sum repayment, and the intermediate repayment from October 31, 2023 (Japan Time) to October 31, 2024 (Japan Time), respectively,” the lett

An ex-employee of Alameda Research has revealed that a trading blunder from the firm precipitated an astonishing 87% plunge in bitcoin’s ( BTC ) price on the Binance US exchange. This mishap, the insider disclosed, resulted in losses reaching the “order of tens of millions.” An Alameda Trader’s ‘Fat Fingers’ Triggered a Flash Crash on Binance US in 2021 A past associate of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto trading entity, Alameda Research, has been candid about his experiences within the firm. Aditya Baradwaj, on August 23, recounted that during his engineering tenure at Alameda, he saw his “entire life savings stolen”, pointing fingers at Bankman-Fried. Baradwaj shared that in his 18 months at Alameda, his personal and professional trajectory shifted dramatically. Fast forward to September 20, Baradwaj delved into an incident from October 21, 2021. On that day, bitcoin’s ( BTC ) valuation flash crashed by a staggering 87% on Binance US, only to rebound shortly after. He recounted that

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said on Sept. 10 that crypto firms presenting themselves as banks are in contravention of the region’s Banking Ordinance. The HKMA argued such descriptions “may mislead members of the public into believing that those crypto firms” are financial institutions that they can trust. False Descriptions Contravene Banking Ordinance The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has told crypto firms to desist from the practice of falsely describing themselves as banks or characterizing their products as “deposits.” According to the Hong Kong financial services regulator, crypto firms engaged in this practice are in contravention of Hong Kong’s Banking Ordinance. In a statement issued on Sept. 15, the HKMA said it is aware that some crypto businesses portray or describe themselves as crypto asset banks and digital banks. The regulator also warned crypto firms claiming to offer banking services or banking accounts. The HKMA argued such descriptions “may mislead me

According to Maxwell Mayhew, founder of the decentralized e-ticketing platform UTIX, event organizers can potentially overcome ticket scalping by switching to smart contract-based event hosting platforms. Such platforms not only help organizers control the amount of event tickets in secondary markets, says Mayhew, but “even the maximum price the tickets can be sold for.” The U.S. Government’s Tacit Approval of the ‘Troubled Event Economy’ On the other hand, Mayhew claims the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as event tickets allows buyers in the secondary market “to easily verify if the ticket is actually valid and owned by the seller.” For Mayhew, that is how the blockchain and smart contracts in particular “can help eliminate two of the biggest symptoms of the troubled event economy.” In written answers sent to Bitcoin.com News, Mayhew also discussed how both event organizers and attendees can still use blockchain-powered platforms despite not being familiar with the technology.

Financial giant Nomura’s digital assets subsidiary, Laser Digital, has announced the launch of its Bitcoin Adoption Fund to provide “long-only exposure to bitcoin whilst being one of the most cost-effective and secure investment solutions.” Laser Digital’s Bitcoin Adoption Fund Nomura’s digital assets subsidiary, Laser Digital, announced the launch of its Bitcoin Adoption Fund on Tuesday. Nomura Group is Japan’s largest investment bank and brokerage group. The announcement explains that Bitcoin Adoption Fund will be the first in a range of digital adoption investment solutions that Laser Digital Asset Management will bring to the market. Laser Digital emphasized: The Laser Digital Bitcoin Adoption Fund provides long-only exposure to bitcoin whilst being one of the most cost-effective and secure investment solutions. “To secure the fund’s assets, Laser will use Komainu , which was founded in 2018 by Nomura, Ledger, and Coinshares and delivers a regulated custody solution for ins

A registered broker and former investment banker with financial giant Deutsche Bank has pleaded guilty to defrauding investors into a fraudulent crypto fund. He is facing up to 30 years in prison and will be required to pay restitution of more than $1.5 million, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Ex-Deutsche Bank Investment Banker Pleads Guilty The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that Rashawn Russell has pleaded guilty to “participating in a scheme to defraud clients of the R3 Crypto Fund,” a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment fund that he operated. Russell, who was formerly an investment banker and registered broker with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), was charged in April. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York explained: When sentenced, Russell faces up to 30 years in prison. As part of his plea agreement, Russell will be required to pay restitution in the amount of more than $1.5 million. “Russell lev

The world’s debt has surged to a record high level in the second quarter, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The increase has also helped lift the global debt-to-GDP ratio which had been declining for seven quarters but is now projected to reach 337% by the end of this year. Major Markets Behind Latest Surge in Global Debt, Slower Growth and Inflation Cause Debt Ratio Rise Global debt has hit a record $307 trillion in Q2 of 2023, jumping by $10 trillion in the first half of the year despite rising interest rates that have been curbing bank credit, Reuters and Bloomberg informed, quoting a report by the IIF. On Tuesday, the financial services trade group, which represents the world’s largest international banks and financial institutions, further pointed out that world debt has ballooned by a “staggering” $100 trillion over the past decade. Debt has also resumed its increase as a share of the global gross domestic product (GDP), climbing to 336% from 334% a

As artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) continue to gain prominence, the organization Defense Distributed has unveiled an experimental LLM-based agent named “Gatgpt.” The platform is being referred to as “The Digital Second Amendment,” and the LLM is trained on a combination of open-source and proprietary firearms files, texts, and datasets. Cody Wilson’s Defense Distributed Steps Into Generative AI Cody Wilson and his organization, Defense Distributed (DD), are well-known for advocating fundamental privacy rights and the right to bear arms. Wilson is also the co-creator of the now-defunct bitcoin (BTC) wallet, Dark Wallet, and the inventor of the first functional 3D-printed firearm, known as the Liberator. Now, Wilson and DD are entering the era of AI with a generative chatbot project called “ Gatgpt ,” an LLM that enhances open-source gun datasets in support of “the interests of American riflemen.” “ The Digital Second Amendment ” document hosted on t

Rollups are structures that have been designed as a way of scaling Ethereum’s capacity to process transactions and data. They group a bunch of tasks and compute them offchain, only posting the result of these transactions to Ethereum, allowing more data to be piled up on L1 (layer one). Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been pushing rollups as part of the future of Ethereum scaling since 2020, and with the proposal of Danksharding, its scaling roadmap has become rollup-centric. Rollups and the Scalability Problem Ethereum, one of the first-generation smart contracts-enabled blockchains, has been facing a scalability problem due to its limited capabilities for processing transactions and data. In its base layer, Ethereum can process approximately 15 transactions per second (TPS), which was enough in its first stages but is now insufficient given the popularity of the blockchain. Rollups attack this problem by taking part of the blockchain burden offchain, while maintaining a c

Recent data shows a single mining pool controls more than 53% of the hashrate for the cryptocurrency network Zcash. On September 19, 2023, the crypto mining pool Viabtc had 4.2 giga solutions per second (GSol/s) of Zcash’s total 7.84 GSol/s hashrate. Electric Coin Co., which oversees the Zcash project’s codebase, acknowledged the issue Tuesday, citing a “lack of finality.” Zcash Network Hashrate Faces Dominance: Industry Players and Electric Coin Co Respond Recently, chatter within crypto circles has centered on the Zcash protocol, especially after observations that Viabtc holds over 51% of the network’s entire hashrate. On September 19, 2023, at 6:49 p.m. Eastern Time, archived records reveal Viabtc’s hashrate dominating with 53.69% of the total, registering at 4.2 GSol/s out of an overall 7.84 GSol/s. Just days prior, the crypto exchange Coinbase released a “Security PSA” titled “Observed risks in Zcash mining pool distribution.” In the PSA, Coinbase detailed the prevailing iss