Miami Mayor Francis Suarez Announces 2024 Presidential Run, Joining Crypto Advocates Trump and DeSantis

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a prominent supporter of cryptocurrencies, has taken a significant step towards running for the United States presidency in 2024.

Hong Kong Regulator Urges HSBC and Standard Chartered to Embrace Crypto Exchanges

FTX Founder Faces Select Charges as U.S. Department of Justice Narrows Case

The U.S. Department of Justice has decided to focus on trying FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on the charges brought against him in December 2022.

> Prosecutors have agreed to proceed with a subset of charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering, after the Bahamas court blocked the government from considering additional charges.

> Bankman-Fried currently faces a total of 13 charges, with five of them being brought later through superseding indictments.

> The government's willingness to proceed with the initial charges is due to the uncertainty surrounding the Bahamas court's decision and the desire to simplify the trial and preparation process. Continue here.

Coinbase CEO's ResearchHub Startup Secures $5M in Funding

ResearchHub, a startup co-founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Patrick Joyce, has successfully raised $5 million in a seed funding round.

> Led by Joseph Jacks from Open Source Software Capital, the funding round also saw participation from prominent investors such as Boost VC, RedHat's Bob Young, Vercel’s Guillermo Rauch, Replit's Amjad Masad, and Y Combinator’s Garry Tan.

> ResearchHub aims to revolutionize the scientific community by creating a tokenized social network that rewards scientists for openly sharing scholarly content.

> By leveraging blockchain technology, ResearchHub enables researchers to collaborate, share findings, and receive feedback from peers through a suite of collaboration and publication tools. Full report here.

Binance.US Hit with Layoffs Amid SEC Lawsuit

Binance's U.S. affiliate, Binance.US, has reportedly conducted a series of layoffs following recent regulatory charges and asset freeze requests by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

> According to insiders and employee social media posts, around 50 people have been laid off, with the affected employees primarily from the legal, compliance, and risk departments.

> Binance.US has not provided any comment or response to the reports. The SEC accused Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, of using Binance.US as a means to evade securities laws, leading to a lawsuit against the exchange.

> In response, the SEC sought to freeze Binance.US' assets, including substantial amounts of cryptocurrency and U.S. dollar bank accounts. Details here.

BlackRock's iShares Files for Spot Bitcoin ETF with SEC

BlackRock's iShares division, a major fund management firm, has submitted documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the iShares Bitcoin Trust.

> The ETF will primarily hold bitcoin assets managed by a custodian on behalf of the trust, according to the filing.

> While the SEC has rejected previous attempts by other asset management companies to launch spot bitcoin ETFs, including Grayscale, VanEck, and WisdomTree, BlackRock's application may face a different reception.

> As the world's largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management, and with CEO Larry Fink's political influence potentially matching that of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, BlackRock's proposal carries considerable weight. Full report here.