Top cryptocurrency news on December 29: FTX founder to plead to fraud charges in court, Kraken to exit Japan, MicroStratey sells its Bitcoin holdings and more

Cryptocurrency prices saw a dip after a week of relatively stable trading, while crypto-related stocks had a positive day with Coinbase seeing a 2% increase. Bitcoin was trading around $16,700, experiencing a drop of approximately 1% in the past 24 hours, according to TradingView data. Ether also saw a decline, dropping 1% to trade at $1,200, while other altcoins saw more significant losses. XRP was down 1.4%, ADA dropped 2.6%, Dogecoin fell 3.4%, and shiba inu saw a decline of 2.6%. Meanwhile, US stock indices were trading higher with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 rising by 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. Coinbase's shares gained 0.8% to trade above $32.90, although they had fallen to an all-time low of $32.65 the previous day. Silvergate shares recovered some recent losses, rising almost 1.4% to trade around $16, while Block shares were trading around $60, down 0.7%. MicroStrategy saw a dip of almost 0.2% to $148.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange, is set to appear in court on January 3, 2023, to enter a plea on charges of defrauding investors and misusing customer funds. The case will be heard by Judge Lewis Kaplan in a Manhattan federal court. The original judge was recused from the case due to a potential conflict of interest, as her husband's law firm had previously advised FTX. The prosecution alleges that Bankman-Fried engaged in a widespread fraud scheme, using customer deposits for personal gain, including supporting his hedge fund firm, Alameda Research, purchasing real estate, and making political contributions. Full report here.

On Wednesday, Kraken announced that it will stop offering cryptocurrency trading services through its subsidiary, Payward Asia, in Japan on January 31, 2023, and deregister from the Financial Services Agency of the Asian nation. This marks Kraken's second exit from the Japanese market. The first was in 2018, four years after it started operating when it shut down. In 2020, it obtained regulator registration and reopened in Japan. According to Kraken, this action was taken as part of its efforts to focus resources and investments in areas that align with its vision and will best position it for long-term success. Kraken has given a mix of "current market conditions in Japan" and a "weak crypto market globally" as justifications for its decision to withdraw from the Japanese market. Continue reading.

Several crypto coins were exchanged for Bitcoin using Alameda Research wallets, according to on-chain data. Ethereum wallet addresses connected to the defunct trading company Alameda Research exchanged multiple crypto tokens for ether and USDT on Wednesday morning before exchanging them for Bitcoin. According to Etherscan transaction data, these Alameda-linked wallets traded Lido, Polygon, Uniswap, and other tokens for Ether before bridging to the Bitcoin network. ZachXBT, a cryptocurrency detective, discovered four Bitcoin wallets where the money was being combined. These wallets possess a combined 47.6 BTC, or around $800,000, according to data from Blockchair. More here.

In an ongoing lawsuit, Yuga Labs, the creators of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, have received a counterclaim from an artist and his business partner who are accused of forging "copycat" versions of the NFT collection. Yuga Labs filed the lawsuit in June, alleging that artist Ryder Ripps and the founder of NFT marketplace Not Larva Labs, Jeremy Cahen, replicated their NFT collection and devalued the original Bored Ape products. Ripps and Cahen have denied many of the allegations in their response to the complaint. Details here.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from Alameda Research to purchase a stake in Robinhood Markets, according to court records. In an affidavit delivered to a Caribbean court before his detention, Bankman-Fried stated that he and FTX co-founder Gary Wang jointly borrowed $546 million from Alameda via promissory notes in April and May. This money was used to fund a shell company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies, which acquired a 7.6% share in Robinhood in May. The dispute over the ownership of the 56 million Robinhood shares, which are valued at over $440 million, involves three parties: FTX Group, BlockFi, and Bankman-Fried. Continue reading.

Commercial software company MicroStrategy, known for being the largest corporate purchaser of Bitcoin, has revealed a number of transactions using the digital currency, including its first-ever sale of the token. The company is still a net buyer. In a filing on Wednesday, MicroStrategy stated that between the beginning of November and December 21, its MicroStrategy business purchased around 2,395 Bitcoin for approximately $42.8 million in cash. The company paid an average of $17,871 per token for this cache. Then, on December 22, it sold 704 Bitcoin for a total of approximately $11.8 million at a price of $16,776 per coin. The company gave tax justifications for the sale. Full story here.

Four customers of FTX have filed a class action lawsuit in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, where FTX's bankruptcy proceedings are taking place, demanding priority in repayment for the approximately $2 billion in missing customer funds. The customers claim that FTX transferred the funds to closely affiliated investment fund Alameda Research in a manner that was "unlawful" and "in direct violation of FTX's own customer agreements and terms of service, as well as common law and basic principles of honesty and fair dealing." The suit argues that retail customers who suffered financial losses as a result of the bankruptcy filing of FTX and sister company Alameda Research should not have to wait in line with other creditors to recover their funds. Details here.

Argo Blockchain saw its shares surge in London trading after announcing a deal to sell its Helios Bitcoin mining facility to Galaxy Digital Holdings for approximately $65 million. In addition to the sale, Galaxy also agreed to provide Argo with a $35 million senior secured loan, secured by a collateral package including mining equipment. The transactions will reduce Argo's debt by $41 million. Argo's shares rose as much as 140% in response to the news, although they are still down 92% for the year. Full report here.