The Friday Focus - Issue 65

Our weekly crypto news summary. Curated by us, for you.

Dec 23, 2022

Weekly happenings

The FTX debacle fully moves to the US, and former colleagues turn on Sam Bankman-Fried. We have summarized the latest FTX developments and other important news for you.

Top stories

Sam Bankman-Fired has been extradited to the US. The news on SBF’s extradition surfaced simultaneously with news that Alameda’s Caroline Ellison and FTX’s Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to spill the beans on SBF. But SBF didn’t stay in US custody for long, quickly posting bail of $250 million, secured by his parents.

Some other news on the state of FTX has come this week as well. A creditor meeting was told FTX has over $1 billion in cash. Unshockingly, FTX's Blockfolio stake was paid for mostly in FTT and the SEC calls the FTT token a security.

The second-order effects of the FTX collapse continue to play out. Bankrupt and FTX-hit crypto lender BlockFi seeks to reopen withdrawals for certain users. Crypto trading firm Auros, hit by the FTX collapse, discloses provisional liquidation. Genesis and DCG creditors propose a new plan to resolve what they call liquidity issues. And Silvergate shares took a severe hit after a lawsuit accuses the bank of playing an 'integral' role in FTX fraud.

Binance is still on the offensive, with Binance.US agreeing to buy Voyager's assets for $1.02 billion and expanding by acquiring the remaining 40% stake in Indonesian exchange Tokocrypto. Questions are still asked on the solidity of Binance, with a Nansen analyst claiming on-chain data shows Binance’s financials are a ‘black box.’

In other industry news, OKX unveils its 2nd proof-of-reserves report and promises monthly publications. Grayscale will explore returning up to 20% of investor capital if the SEC refuses its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF. It’s hard to keep things under light forever, with news revealing Tron’s Justin Sun was secretly the top client of crypto asset manager Valkyrie.

In policy news, Elizabeth Warren’s new crypto bill sent shock waves through the industry, and the SEC increases scrutiny of audits of cryptocurrency companies. Outside the US, EU financial regulator braces up for a tokenized securities pilot. Digital currencies law are soon to pass in Nigeria, and Brazil’s president signs crypto regulations Into law.

In mining, mammoth bitcoin miner Core Scientific files for chapter 11 bankruptcy, and British Columbia imposes an 18-month moratorium on new crypto mining operations.

African P2P exchange Paxful boots Ethereum from its platform, stating ‘integrity over revenue.’ Visa, on the other hand, is exploring options to allow auto payments via Ethereum wallets. After years of court fighting, the judge rules that Peter McCormack should pay Craig Wright around $1.1 million, even though the verdict states that Wright has shown no proof of being Satoshi Nakamoto.

And with that, we will let you return to your Christmas preparations. Merry Christmas, and see you next week!