SBF trial brings in FTX exec and experts, NY AG sues three crypto firms for fraud, Reddit kills blockchain program and FTC sues bankrupt Voyager

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It’s week three of the Sam Bankman-Fried trial…how are you holding up?

On Thursday, Can Solar, former FTX basic counsel, took the stand to testify on behalf of the prosecution’s case in opposition to Bankman-Fried. Solar dove into the corporate’s phrases of service, how he documented loans from Alameda to FTX executives and the rationale he ultimately resigned, which you’ll be able to examine here.

Nishad Singh, a former FTX government and head of engineering, testified earlier this week that he, Bankman-Fried and different executives on the change and its sister firm Alameda Analysis spent $8 billion price of buyer funds. The cash went to actual property, enterprise capital investments, marketing campaign donations, endorsement offers and even branding rights to a sports activities stadium, he added.

Singh was the third FTX government to take the stand after Gary Wang, co-founder and CTO of FTX; and Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda. All three pleaded responsible for crimes relating to FTX and Alameda’s collapse and will resist 75 years, 50 years and 110 years in jail, respectively.

Extra particulars on the place the cash went may be discovered here.

In an identical tune, on day 11 of Bankman-Fried’s trial, Peter Easton, an accounting professor at College of Notre Dame, testified relating to whether or not or not the FTX collapse was predicated on fraud.

When prosecutors requested Easton if FTX ever spent consumer funds, he bluntly mentioned, “oh, sure.”

Learn extra on Easton’s findings after compiling 1000’s of pages of financial institution statements and inner paperwork here.

This week in web3

If you happen to’re getting SBF trial fatigue, listed here are some articles on what else is going on within the wild world of web3.

1. NY attorney general sues Gemini, Genesis and DCG for allegedly defrauding crypto investors of over $1B
2. Meet Alliance DAO’s latest accelerator cohort of startups building in crypto winter (TC+)
3. Reddit is killing blockchain-based Community Points
4. Asia emerges as a promising haven amid the crypto winter
5. Trezor launches two new devices to help onboard crypto newbies
6. FTC sues bankrupt crypto company Voyager’s CEO over false FDIC insurance claims

The most recent pod

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Katherine Dowling, the final counsel and chief compliance officer at Bitwise Asset Administration.

Bitwise is a crypto asset supervisor that’s recognized for creating the world’s largest crypto index fund. The agency additionally filed for a bitcoin spot ETF within the U.S., making it one in every of quite a lot of corporations whose purposes are pending after the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) delayed its selections.

Katherine beforehand has labored in compliance at True Capital Administration and Luminate Capital Companions. Earlier than that, she spent a decade as assistant U.S. legal professional, most not too long ago within the financial crimes unit of the U.S. legal professional’s workplace for the Northern District of California.

We talked in regards to the standing of Bitwise’s bitcoin spot ETF software and the way latest developments with different corporations’ related purposes could deliver on the momentum wanted for the monetary automobile to be authorised.

We additionally talked about:

• How regulatory authorized procedures have an effect on laws
• Best locations to start out for crypto regulation
• Key elements for crypto corporations’ compliance
• FTX trial being “baked in” for regulators

Subscribe to Chain Response on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to maintain up with the newest episodes, and please depart us a overview for those who like what you hear!

Additionally check out the latest episode on Equity, TechCrunch’s podcast in regards to the enterprise of startups, which dove into funding of web3 gaming corporations this week. (Spoiler: Web3 gaming capital inflows declined in Q3, however it’s not all that unhealthy.)

Comply with the cash

1. DeFi protocol Elixir raised $7.5 million at a $100 million valuation
2. Decentralized software Fileverse raised $1.5 million to assist enhance collaboration and productiveness
3. Animoca Manufacturers subsidiary Darewise Leisure raised $3.5 million in token presale
4. Solana-focused Squads Labs raised $5.7 million to develop a mobile-focused good pockets
5. MyShell raised $5.6 million to create AI-focused apps and creator ecosystems on the blockchain

This checklist was compiled with data from Messari in addition to TechCrunch’s personal reporting.

What else we’re writing

Need to department out from the world of web3? Listed here are some articles on TechCrunch that caught our consideration this week.

1. Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses have ‘influencer’ written all over them
2. One year post-acquisition, X traffic and monthly active users are in decline, report claims
3. Tesla Q3 profit falls 44% on EV price cuts
4. Hacker leaks millions more 23andMe user records on cybercrime forum
5. Was Loom’s $975M exit a fair price? (TC+)

Comply with me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto information, memes and extra.