Top news this week
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested and set to be extradited to US
Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police and is likely to remain there until February, after his application for bail was denied in a Bahamian court. A second bail request has been filed by SBF in the Supreme Court of the Bahamas. Her arrest came after the United States government officially filed criminal charges against you – including eight counts of fraud. If convicted, Bankman-Fried could face 115 years in prison, but legal commentators they have told Cointelegraph there is "a lot to play for" in the case. The domino effect resulting from the collapse of FTX has also impacted the Bankman-Fried parents' professional lives, resulting in the cancellation of his courses at Stanford Law School. In other recent developments regarding FTX, a class action lawsuit against Silvergate Bank was filed in California, with the goal of holding the bank accountable for its alleged roles in placing FTX user deposits into Alameda Research bank accounts.
Binance 'put FTX out of business' - Kevin O'Leary
VC Investor Kevin O'Leary claimed at a US Senate committee hearing that Binance and FTX “were at war with each other, and one intentionally put the other out of business.” The hearing was part of a larger investigation by lawmakers into the FTX collapse, in which Binance played a significant role, O'Leary claimed. The past few days have seen Binance beset by fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD), resulting in a drop in stock market liquidity. Crypto analytics firm Nansen reports that Binance had net withdrawals of more than $3.6 billion from December 7-13.
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Rep. Tom Emmer Considers Bringing Back a Bill Aimed at Cutting Crypto Red tape
US lawmakers are under pressure to enact crypto regulations in light of the FTX collapse, and Congressman Tom Emmer thinks this is "probably a good time" to re-introduce a bipartisan bill that would remove the requirements for certain crypto companies and projects to register as virtual asset service providers. (VASP). The bill, titled the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, aims to remove some obstacles and requirements for “blockchain developers and service providers” such as miners, multi-signature service providers, and decentralized finance platforms.
No more reserve test checks? Auditors Quietly Remove Crypto Projects From Wallets
Two of the most prominent auditors have suddenly stopped offering crypto auditing services. At a critical time for the crypto industry, Mazars Group removed Binance's proof-of-reserve audits from his website just days after confirming that the crypto exchange controlled 575,742 Bitcoin. The decision affected other cryptocurrency exchanges that use Mazars services, such as Crypto.com and KuCoin. Mazars later explained that the pause was due to "concerns about how the public understands these reports." Accounting firm Armanino also ended its crypto audit services. Armanino has worked with various cryptocurrency trading platforms such as OKX, Gate.io, and the beleaguered FTX exchange.
MetaMask to allow users to buy and transfer Ethereum through PayPal
In another move into the crypto space, PayPal has partnered with MetaMask's parent company, ConsenSys, to enable the purchase and transfer of Ether (ETH) through its platform. By logging into the MetaMask app, users will be able to access their PayPal account and complete transactions. Initially, only select PayPal users in the United States will be able to test the service. Other traditional payment companies are looking to integrate cryptography into their services. In October, Western Union also filed three brands to manage digital wallets and exchange digital assets.
Winners and losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) I sat down $16,826Ether (ETH) in $1,194 Y XRP in $0.35. Total market capitalization is $817.82 billion, according to to CoinMarketCap.
Among the largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Toncoin (TON) at 30.36%, Bitcoin SV (BSV) at 10.11%, and OKB (UNITED NATIONS) at 9.77%.
The top three altcoin losers for the week are Neutrino USD (USDN) at -33.77%, Trust Wallet Token (TWT) at -27.43%, and Chain (XCN) at -23.42%.
For more information on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph Market Analysis.
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most memorable quotes
“Binance is a massive unregulated global monopoly now, and they put FTX out of business.”
Kevin O'Leary, venture capital investor
I figured that made sense. The boy was young, the principles were revolutionary, the ideas were golden. […] Who was I to challenge that?
daniela cloudformer FTX employee
“Our experience to date [crypto] platforms, be it FTX or others, is that they are deliberately evasive, they are a method by which money laundering happens in size.”
ashley alder, Appointed Chairman of the UK Financial Conduct Authority
"Just as we protect our physical assets, we must ensure that people protect their digital assets and personal information within the metaverse."
andrew newman, CTO and Co-Founder of ReasonLabs
"Looking forward, almost everyone who could go bankrupt has gone bankrupt."
Arthur Hayes, former CEO of bitmex
prediction of the week
Bitcoin Drops Below $17K As “Crazier Rumors” About BTC Price From Binance Sink
Bitcoin fell below $17,000 as traders remained cautious about Binance FUD triggering too bearish BTC price action. On Bitstamp, BTC/USD hit multi-day lows of $16,928 on Dec. 16, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView. The pair retraced its entire run to one-month highs courtesy of the latest US macroeconomic data and policy update.
“It's interesting to see everyone suddenly so bearish on BTC like it's just acting so weak. SPX is doing the exact same thing, maybe even weaker,” noted Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, questioning whether Binance FUD really had a role to play in the markets.
FUD of the week
Microsoft Bans Cryptocurrency Mining in Cloud Services
Microsoft has quietly banned cryptomining of its online services to increase the stability of its cloud services and better protect customers from risks such as cyber fraud, attacks and unauthorized access to resources, according to a report. The new restrictions were introduced in Microsoft's universal license terms, citing that "cryptocurrency mining is prohibited without prior approval from Microsoft." With this move, Microsoft joins other cloud computing providers, including Google, who also prohibit customers from mining cryptocurrency without prior written consent.
'Third party incident' affected Gemini with 5.7 million emails leaked
Gemini appears to have suffered a data breach from an external provider. Hackers gained access to 5,701,649 lines of information related to the email addresses and partial phone numbers of Gemini customers, according to documents obtained by Cointelegraph. According to Gemini, the breach was caused by a third-party vendor, but they also warned of ongoing phishing campaigns. The leaked database did not contain sensitive personal information, such as names, addresses, and other Know Your Customer information.
SEC sues Atlas Trading over $100 million stock manipulation scheme
United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a claim against eight people associated with the Discord-based forum Atlas Trading for alleged stock manipulation. The SEC reported that the bloggers made at least $100 million by taking substantial positions in securities, recommending them to their followers, and then selling their shares to capitalize on the demand they generated for their "misleading promotions." Cryptocurrencies and other digital assets were not mentioned in the complaint.
Best Cointelegraph Features
Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably
Some security experts think that negotiating it's a smart way to recover most of the stolen funds, while others argue that you should never give in to extortion.
Can Bitcoin survive a Carrington event that destroys the network?
A massive solar storm of the level of the Carrington event it could knock out most electronics on earth. Would crypto survive everything going offline at once?
Listen! Cointelegraph Launches Crypto Podcasts, Starting With 4 Shows
Want more crypto content? Cointelegraph's new podcast section features four separate shows exploring a variety of impactful topics.
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