NFT News Official TheBitTimes.com

Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, anticipates a challenging criminal trial for Sam Bankman-Fried, predicting that experienced prosecutors will find weaknesses in his defense. In an Oct. 25 interview on CNBC’s Last Call, Scaramucci expressed his belief that the United States Department of Justice prosecutors will easily dismantle Bankman-Fried’s defense, potentially adding years to his sentence. “He’s gonna get skinned alive ; there’s no way to escape. He thinks he’s going to outfox the prosecutors, but they’re very, very well experienced with this stuff.” Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital Scaramucci’s comments come amid growing scrutiny of Bankman-Fried, who was once viewed as a philanthropic figure in the crypto industry. “A year ago, he was considered a congenial nerd who planned to give all his money away,” Scaramucci said. However, recent testimonies from former executives at FT...

Federal prosecutors told jurors that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) lied to the world about FTX’s finances but confided in Ellison and his inner circle, while defense attorneys moved to shift the blame on Alameda’s former CEO and Bitcoin volatility during opening statements on trial day 2. On day 1 of the voir dire, eight prospective jurors cited the 60 Minutes interview with author Michael Lewis. A handful referenced Bernie Madoff and one juror’s company lost money to FTX/Alameda. 18 jurors -12 primary and 6 alternates, were assigned from a pool of 50 potential candidates on Oct. 4, day 2 of the trial, according to InnerCityPress. “It’s our boys big day,” said pharma bro Martin Shkreli as he live-streamed his commute to SBF’s trial in lower Manhattan just as Judge Kaplan finalized jury selection around 11:30 am ET. Shkreli once told Terraform founder Do Kwon that “jail isn’t that bad”, on a podcast hours before FTX crashed on November 11, 2022. Kwon is now an international f...

Michael Lewis’ new book Going Infinite revealed that Jump Trading is one of the largest losers in the FTX collapse, apparently giving up almost $300 million. Among the Jump-related entities mentioned is Tai Mo Shan Limited, which used to be one of Robinhood ’s largest market makers. In the second quarter of 2021, 29% of its total revenue came from transactions with Tai Mo Shan.  In its role at Robinhood , Tai Mo Shan was one of the market makers responsible for fulfilling user Crypto currency trades. Robinhood would direct user orders to Jump Trading , which would then supply the required Crypto currency or money, and Coinbase Custody was responsible for providing custody services to Robinhood . Tai Mo Shan, as well as Jump, was deeply entangled with FTX, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in the collapse of the exchange .  The relationship between Jump and Robinhood appears to have ended in 2022.  Jump Crypto forced to save Solana with $320M bailout of its own comp...

During a Sep. 27 hearing, policymakers hammered Gary Gensler over the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) non-compliance with requests for documents including records related to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Rep. Patrick McHenry voiced skepticism regarding Gensler’s commitment to remedying bipartisan legislative concerns and protecting investors, noting that Congress’s patience was “wearing thin”. @SECGov Chair @GaryGensler continues his blatant disregard for Congress in pursuit of a radical agenda that threatens the integrity of our financial markets, protection of investors, & our economic competitiveness. Our patience is wearing thin. #WATCH my opening remarks ️ pic.twitter.com/MTJIdNaBGD — Patrick McHenry (@PatrickMcHenry) September 27, 2023 “Bitcoin does not meet the Howey test which is the law of the land about being an investment contract,” Gensler said about treating Bitcoin as a security. The SEC ...

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is scrutinizing the advertising strategy of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX. This scrutiny comes in light of advertisements featuring celebrities Larry David and Tom Brady. According to the DOJ, it did not clearly demarcate between the global platform and its US subsidiary, FTX.US. FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, finds himself at the center of a legal maelstrom, vehemently disputing the evidence the government plans to present in the upcoming trial scheduled for Oct. 2. The array of charges against him includes wire fraud, with Bankman-Fried denying any wrongdoing and accusing the DOJ of indirectly introducing allegations of corruption and campaign finance violations. Bankman-Fried’s legal representatives argue for a clear separation of the US operations from the current allegations, which they claim are primarily focused on the international business segment. However, the government contends that the distinction is not as ...

Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s embattled founder, is reportedly planning to hire seven expert witnesses for his upcoming fraud trial at rates up to $1,200 per hour. According to a report dated Aug. 31, among the experts being considered is Bradley Smith, a law professor at Capital University Law School and a former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission. Smith has confirmed in a court filing that he is being compensated at a rate of $1,200 per hour. Other potential witnesses could charge between $400 and $1,100 per hour for their expertise. These witnesses would provide insights into campaign finance laws, scrutinize the operations of FTX favorably, and delve into its terms and conditions. Despite Bankman-Fried’s previous claim of having only $100,000 left in his bank account following the collapse of FTX, he is funding his legal defense with $10 million of company funds that he had earlier gifted to his father.  Lawyers handling the FTX bankruptcy case have...

The firm said it received an investigative subpoena in December regarding its crypto listings, crypto custody and platform operations. Robinhood Markets has confirmed that it had received an investigative subpoena from the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) over its digital asset business' crypto listings , custody and platform operations. In a 10-K filing, the brokerage said it received the investigative subpoena in December shortly after crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy in November, and after "several other major cryptocurrency trading venues and lending platforms earlier in 2022," including Three Arrows Capital, Voyager Digital Holdings and Celsius Network. The investigative subpoena was in relation to its cryptocurrency listings and custody services, which they said came in response to the crypto bankruptcies last year: "In December 2022, following the 2022 Crypto Bankruptcies, we received an investigative subpoena from the SEC regardi...

2022 was an eventful year for the crypto world but not everyone came on top of it, we look at some of the biggest winners and losers from 2022. 2022 was supposed to be the year crypto went mainstream, with a significant chunk of traditional venture capital firms betting heavily on the ecosystem in 2021. However, with one disaster after another, 2022 turned out to be a catastrophic year for the nascent crypto ecosystem. Some of the biggest names touted as pivotal to taking the crypto ecosystem forward turned out to be the orchestrators of its worst year in recent memory. That said, quite a few protagonists rose to the occasion. These winners proved that crypto is not just about a few select individuals and companies but a vibrant ecosystem that can survive significant setbacks. Let’s start with some of the biggest winners of the crypto ecosystem in 2022. The list includes individuals, companies and anonymous groups working for the betterment of the industry. The winners In a year that ...

FTX was one of the key exchange partners for Busan city, but its recent collapse made the administration reconsider its plans of onboarding third-party crypto exchanges. Busan, the blockchain city of South Korea, has moved a step closer to forming a local crypto exchange, but it has dropped most of the global centralized exchange partners. The drastic decision comes in the wake of the recent colossal failure of centralized exchanges. The city announced the steering committee comprising 18 local blockchain experts but none of the five exchanges that had agreed earlier this year to assist the city in establishing its first official digital asset exchange. The five exchanges included Binance, Crypto.com, Gate.io, Huobi Global and FTX. The steering committee is a municipal advisory body tasked with providing advice on the establishment and operation of the digital asset exchange, as well as strengthening the system of external cooperation. The possible elimination of global crypto exchan...

The CEO of Bitgo stated that the Alameda representative failed the security verification process required to convert wrapped-BTC into BTC. Mike Belshe, the CEO of digital asset custodian BitGo has confirmed that Alameda Research attempted to redeem 3,000 Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) in the days before FTX’s bankruptcy filing on Nov. 11.  During a Dec. 14 Twitter Spaces hosted by decentralized finance (DeFi) researcher Chris Blec, Belshe confirmed the firm knocked back the redemption request because the unknown Alameda representative involved didn’t pass Bitgo’s security verification process and seemed unfamiliar with how the wrapped-Bitcoin burning process worked. Full convo here. This part starts at 1:09:30. https://t.co/0KQg6bzd8k — Chris Blec (@ChrisBlec) December 14, 2022 “[The security details] didn't match the process. So we held it up and we said no, no, no, no. This is not what the burn looks like. And we need to know who this person was.” “So we held it and while we were hol...

Because of the “ridiculous amount” of NFTs being minted, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck argued that it’s unlikely for another market boom to happen. In this week’s newsletter, read about how nonfungible tokens (NFTs) hosted on the FTX exchange are now showing blank images. Check out how NFTs can solve diamond certification fraud and how the NFT space is held back by oversupply. In other news, find out how celebrities are facing a class-action lawsuit. And don’t forget this week’s Nifty News featuring classic media player Winamp adding support for NFTs. NFTs minted on FTX break, highlighting Web2 hosting flaws NFTs hosted on the embattled FTX exchange have been affected by the collapse of the organization. After FTX filed for bankruptcy, its FTX.US domain was redirected to a page giving details on bankruptcy proceedings. Because of this, the NFT hosted within the platform are now showing blank images instead of their original artworks. Owners of the NFTs are still able to see that the ...