Former CEO Ellison of Alameda concedes she and Bankman-Fried misled FTX lenders

Caroline Ellison, a former CEO of Alameda Research, claimed she and Sam Bankman-Fried, a co-founder of FTX, intentionally misled lenders about the amount the now-bankrupt trading company was borrowing from the cryptocurrency exchange. At a guilty appearance in federal court in Manhattan on December 19, Ellison made her first public statement regarding her actions. According to a transcript of the court, she replied, "I knew that it was wrong." Gary Wang, a co-founder of FTX, also made a statement on that day. “From 2019 through 2022, I was aware that Alameda was provided access to a borrowing facility on FTX.com, the cryptocurrency exchange run by Mr. Bankman-Fried,” Ellison said. Read details here

Judge leaves Bankman-Fried case due to conflict of interest

Due to a probable conflict of interest, District Judge Ronnie Abrams resigned from the legal proceedings involving Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former CEO and founder of the crypto exchange FTX. An FTX adviser in 2021, Greg Andres, her partner, is a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, according to Abrams. The law company has also defended parties who might be against FTX and Bankman-Fried. In a statement on Friday, Abrams stated, "My husband has had no involvement in any of these representations. Nonetheless, to avoid any possible conflict, or the appearance of one, the Court hereby recuses itself from this action."

SEC General Counsel Quits Over Alleged Cozy Relationship With Sam Bankman-Fried

General counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission Dan Berkovitz will step down from his position on January 31. Despite being a decentralized finance hardliner, he reportedly had dinner with disgraced FTX creator Sam Bankman-Fried in his prior position at the CFTC. Before joining the SEC, Bankman-Fried reportedly lobbied for Berkovitz, according to the Washington Examiner. Bankman-Fried is currently facing an eight-count indictment that carries a maximum sentence of 115 years in jail. After thirty-four years of public service, it is time for me to pursue new and different challenges and opportunities," Berkovitz said in a statement issued by the SEC. Read more here

OKX Releases Second Proof of Reserves Report, BTC, ETH, and USDT Comprise Over 90% of Holdings

World’s second largest crypto exchange by trading volumes OKX has released its second proof of reserves (PoR) report with new features that let customers prove that it has enough assets to handle customer withdrawals. According to the report, which was made public on Thursday, as of Tuesday at 12:00 UTC, OKX's wallets had 113,754 Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), worth $1.87 billion, compared to a user balance of 112,192 BTC. This translates into a BTC reserve ratio of 101%, a tiny decrease from the 102% stated in the first report made public on November 22. Read details here

FTX Disputes Ownership Of $450M Robinhood Stock, Seeks Resolution In US Bankruptcy Court

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has sought help from a U.S. bankruptcy court in a dispute over ownership of Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) stock valued at roughly $450 million, according to a petition on Thursday. About 56 million shares of the brokerage owned by Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd. are under question here. This company was established in Antigua and Barbuda, and according to the filing, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, controls 90% of it. Take a look

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is intensifying its scrutiny of cryptocurrency companies' audits to warn investors who may feel at ease by audits like proof-of-reserve reports. According to Paul Munter, the acting chief accountant for the SEC, “Investors should not place too much confidence in the mere fact a company says it’s got a proof-of-reserves from an audit firm.” He added that such reports do not provide an investor with adequate information to determine if the company has sufficient assets to cover its liabilities. Read more here

OpenSea Delists Cuban Artists And Users To Comply With U.S. Sanctions

NFT marketplace OpenSea has started to delist Cuban artists and users in order to comply with U.S. sanctions. "Our terms of service explicitly prohibit sanctioned individuals, individuals in sanctioned jurisdictions, or services from using OpenSea. We comply with US sanctions law." a spokesperson for the company told Artnet News. The delisting confirmation came after a Twitter account shared a screenshot of an email explaining that an account had been "disabled due to activity that goes against our Terms of Service." The move comes as the U.S. Justice Department considers charging Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volumes, with money laundering and sanctions violations. Read details here

Is The Crypto Exodus A Sign Of Market Instability? Find Out How Much Bitcoin Was Removed From Exchanges Last Month

Amid an extended crypto winter following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and the drama surrounding its disgraced founder, as many as 44,444 Bitcoin have been taken off-exchange in the last month, according to statistics from Coinglass. The value of 44,444 Bitcoin removed from centralized exchanges is a staggering $745 million, raising questions if this signals a sustained shift toward self-custody. According to experts, investors have already been concerned with a lackluster crypto market in 2022 and the FTX scandal last month has only added fuel to fire. Take a look

Bitcoin and Ethereum both post modest gains amid festive cheer

While the crypto market limps into 2023, Bitcoin and Ethereum posted modest gains amid festive cheer. According to data from CoinMarketCap as of Sunday, Bitcoin (BTC) has increased by almost 1% over the previous week while Ethereum (ETH) has increased by almost 4%. Dogecoin, a popular memecoin, suffered noticeably greater losses this week. DOGE is presently trading for $0.077119, 8.8% less than it did this time last week. This week, Dogecoin's support dropped after its biggest supporter, Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, tweeted a poll about whether he should quit Twitter. About 10 million respondents, or the majority, chose "Yes."