Former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly hired Mark Cohen, a former federal prosecutor, to act as his defense attorney. According to a Dec. 6 report from Reuters, Bankman-Fried’s spokesperson Mark Botnick said the former FTX CEO has retained Cohen amid a flurry of civil litigation from investors in the crypto exchange and investigations by lawmakers and regulators in the United States. Cohen, a co-founder of law firm Cohen & Gresser, was a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York who also on the defense team for the high-profile case involving Ghislaine Maxwell — sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex trafficking and related charges. Lawmakers with the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have announced separate hea...
Cryptocurrencies tied to national soccer teams have failed to keep the attention of 2022 FIFA World Cup fans, with many soccer-linked fan token prices plummeting since the tournament began. Between Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Argentina, the associated digital fan tokens have fallen between 60% to 88% percent in price since the start of the World Cup on Nov. 20, according to CoinGecko. This is despite Brazil, Argentina and Portugal reaching the quarter-finals, while Spain was a strong contender up until they were knocked out on Dec. 6. The tokens do generally react to immediate results, with Spain’s SNFT token down 39.1% over the past 24 hours following the team’s loss against Morocco, however, Portugal’s POR token is also down 6.1% over that same time fram...
For over 14 years, central banks worldwide have seen blockchain technology deliver highly secure, immutable, verifiable and transparent financial ecosystems, starting with the Bitcoin network. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) stood out as one of the ways for fiat currency to harness a part of what cryptocurrencies achieve today. To not only keep up with rising inflation and cut down on operational costs but also to counter money laundering and related concerns, 98 of 195 countries — representing over 95% of global GDP — have either launched or are researching and developing their own versions of CBDC. Global CBDC initiatives overview. Source: Atlantic Council With CBDCs joining the race to dominate the future of finance, the relevance of the stablecoin ecosystem — cryptocurrencies b...
Hardware wallet provider Ledger, known for its cold-storage devices, announced its seventh crypto wallet in collaboration with the creator of the original iPod. Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iconic iPod Classic model, has partnered with Ledger to help the company design its latest wallet device known as Ledger Stax. The company broke the news on Dec. 6 at Ledger’s bi-annual Web3 developer event, Ledger Op3n, in Paris. Ledger’s upcoming new hardware wallet is a credit card-size device that features a large E Ink display, capacitive touch, Bluetooth support, wireless charging and more. For the first time in Ledger’s product line, Stax contains a curved E Ink display which can be used to show the holder’s name or other wallet information, just like a book spine. The device is a...
According to a new proposal dated Dec. 6, Jared Grey, CEO of decentralized exchange Sushiswap (SUSHI), disclosed that the project’s Treasury has less than 1.5 years of runaway left, and the “significant deficit in the treasury threatens Sushi’s operational viability, requiring an immediate remedy.” Grey explained that Sushiswap’s annualized operating expenses amounted to roughly $9 million in October, however, that has since been reduced to around $5 million. “We made the reduction possible by renegotiating infrastructure contracts, scaling back underperforming or superfluous dependencies, and instituting a budget freeze on non-critical personnel and infrastructure.” To remedy the situation, Grey proposed setting Sushiswap’s “Kanpai,...
Bitcoin (BTC) and decentralized blockchains are “as strong as ever” in the wake of the FTX meltdown, ARK Invest says. In the latest edition of its monthly newsletter, “The Bitcoin Monthly,” the investment giant came out firmly bullish on BTC. ARK: FTX scandal may be “most damaging event” ever With BTC price volatility ebbing into December, the industry is still reeling from ongoing FTX contagion. As lawmakers only begin to get to grips with the events, when it comes to Bitcoin, ARK is doubling down on its conviction — and setting it firmly apart from centralized alternatives. “The fall of FTX could be the most damaging event in crypto history,” one of the latest report’s “key takeaways” states. While acknowledging that even Digital Currency Group (DCG) — one of whose products, ...
Metallica warned fans on Monday (Dec. 5) that crypto scammers are trying to capitalize on the exciting news of their new album single and tour by posting fake giveaway offers. “In the wake of last week’s exciting news of our new song, new album, and new tour, unfortunately the ugly side of social media made an appearance. Many of you have let us know about YouTube channels and live streams, as well as websites, claiming to offer Metallica Crypto giveaways in conjunction with last week’s announcement,” they wrote. Last week, the long-running metal legends announced the release date for their 12th studio album, 72 Seasons (April 14, 2023), as well as blitzing new single, “Lux Æterna” and dates for their massive 2023 world tour. “Let’s be as clear as possible. These are scams,” the band conti...
The last crypto bull market turned countless beggars into millionaires. All you had to do was invest in top cryptocurrency like Solana, The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, or even Ethereum at the right time. If you missed out on your big break during the last bull market, don’t make the same mistake in 2023. Metacade is one of the hottest emerging metaverse tokens that could repeat the performance of some of the top cryptocurrency candidates in the last market cycle. Don’t believe us? Keep reading. This article will tell you everything that you need to know about Metacade and its MCADE token in the sections below. What is Metacade? Metacade is setting up to become Web3’s first community arcade. It’s a virtual arcade destination that users can visit to try out the latest GameFI projects, compete in...
Social media users are swirling around rumors that Twitter is looking at introducing its own native asset called “Twitter Coin” to be used for payments and tipping on the platform. Some are citing the initial reports from sources such as Nima Owji, who runs an app-focused information leak account on Twitter. On Dec. 4, he posted a screenshot of what appears to be a prototype Twitter interface showing a “Coins” option for tipping, along with a vector image showing a coin bearing Twitter’s logo. #Twitter is working on Coins! pic.twitter.com/67upjUn37D — Nima Owji (@nima_owji) December 3, 2022 Others have pointed to tweets from tech researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who claimed to have extracted code from a specific version of Twitter’s web app to find the same information as Owji, though the pos...
The crypto community appears to be having a ball with ChatGPT, a recently launched Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot created by research company OpenAI — using it for a multitude of applications including a trading bot, a crypto blog, and even an original song. The bot is a language interface tool that OpenAI says can interact “in a conversational way” and can be used to answer questions or assist in making almost anything it’s prompted to create, with some limitations. A user on Twitter posted their interaction with ChatGPT showing that from a simple prompt the tool created a basic trading bot using Pine Script, a programming language used for the financial software TradingView. Should I try running this chatGPT generated crypto trading algorithm? pic.twitter.com/0xlFoTNYdL — Guy (@who...
Silvergate Capital CEO Alan Lane has slammed “short sellers” and “other opportunists” for spreading misinformation over the last few weeks — just to score themselves a quick buck. In a Dec. 5 public letter, Lane said there was “plenty of speculation – and misinformation” being spread by these parties to “capitalize on market uncertainty” caused in part to FTX’s catastrophic collapse in November. His crypto-focused bank was recently forced to deny one of these so-called FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) campaigns last week when there was speculation that the firm was exposed to the bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi. Lane also used the latest letter to the public as an “opportunity to set the record straight” about its investment relationship with FTX, as well as the company’s “robust ris...
It’s quite evident that bad actors have left no stone unturned as legendary metal band Metallica warned fans against crypto giveaway scams right before their highly anticipated launch of its new album, 72 Seasons. Cashing in on the buzz around Metallica’s new album launch and upcoming tour, scammers have started targeting metalheads through social media impersonation. Metallica, however, was quick to point out “the ugly side of social media,” asking fans to steer away from Metallica Crypto giveaways, stating: “Let’s be as clear as possible. [Metallica crypto giveaways] are scams.” Sad but true, Cointelegraph recently highlighted a rise in front-running scams on YouTube, which according to blockchain security firm CertiK, has risen by 500% in one year. The ongoing Metallica scams contribute...