Month: May 2023

‘Unjustly enriched:’ Core Scientific knocks back $4.7M claim from Celsius

boss

Bankrupt Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Core Scientific has objected to paying a $4.7 million administrative claim put forward by crypto lender Celsius Network, leading to a battle between the firms over contractual obligations. According to the objection, which was filed in Texas bankruptcy court on May 5, Core Scientific has asked that Celsius Network’s $4.7 million administrative claims be rejected as the firm cannot prove it is entitled to one. “Celsius’ request for allowance and immediate payment of the Celsius alleged admin claim ignores that Core has substantial claims against…

Estonia squeezes out 400 crypto firms after new laws

Almost 400 Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPS) have voluntarily shut down or had their authorizations revoked in Estonia following the government’s recently enhanced Terrorist Financing Prevention and anti-money laundering laws (AML) that came into effect in March. The amended laws expanded the defined scope of VASPs, required firms to have legitimate links to Estonia, increased licensing fees, and capital and information reporting requirements, along with introducing the Financial Action Task Force Travel Rule. According to a May 8 statement from the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the amendment to the AML…

‘War on crypto’ — Newly filed letters lambast proposed SEC custody rules

boss

A proposal by the United States securities regulator to tighten rules around crypto custody has been met with opposition from at least two proponents of the industry, according to recently filed letters. On May 8 — the deadline for comments on the proposal — crypto industry advocacy body Blockchain Association filed its letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) criticizing its proposal to amend its custody rule. Three days earlier, a similar letter was sent by Web3 venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Marisa Tashman Coppel, a policy lawyer…

Threats to US Dollar’s Dominance Largely Domestic — Not BRICS Currency or Chinese Yuan – Economics Bitcoin News

Bank of America has warned that the key threats to the U.S. dollar’s dominance are largely domestic, as opposed to competition from other currencies, including a BRICS currency. “U.S. fiscal brinkmanship, with risks for government shutdown, or even worse a default, keeps coming up during debt ceiling discussions,” the bank’s analysts stressed. Bank of America on Threats to U.S. Dollar’s Dominance Bank of America reportedly said in a note Thursday that despite recent de-dollarization headlines, the U.S. dollar is not in danger of losing its dominance anytime soon. However, the…

Concern over banking crisis reaches levels unseen since 2008 — Poll

boss

Public opinion of banks appears to be dwindling according to an April survey, as the industry struggles to contain the collapse of several high-profile financial institutions in recent months. A Gallup poll conducted across the United States in April with at least a thousand respondents revealed that 48% of them said that they were concerned about their money in the bank, with almost 20% who indicated they were “very concerned.” Concern over banking safety question: Gallup It should be noted however that the poll was conducted after the collapse of…

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Moves to Dismiss Most Criminal Charges Against Him

Bankman-Fried, who is set to go to trial this upcoming fall, faces over a dozen different charges ranging from wire, securities and commodities fraud allegations to bribery claims brought across multiple superseding indictments tied to his conduct as the former CEO of the Bahamas-based crypto exchange. FTX collapsed dramatically last November, filing for bankruptcy alongside nearly 100 related firms and subsidiaries. Source

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried urges court to dismiss charges

boss

FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is seeking to have up to 10 criminal charges against him dismissed in court, arguing for several counts that there has been a failure to state an offense.  According to court documents filed in the southern district court of New York on May 8, SBF’s legal team has pushed to dismiss everything apart from three counts of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Sam Bankman-Fried has filed motions to dismiss all but…

Bitcoin Ordinals Inscriptions Double | Blockchain News

The rise of Ordinals inscriptions on the Bitcoin network has sparked new interest and debate around its impact on the ecosystem. Initially used to mint images as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), users have now realized that text-based inscriptions can create fungible tokens similar to ERC-20 token standard on the Ethereum network. As a result, the number of Ordinals inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain has almost doubled from 2.5 million to 4.78 million in just the last eight days. Glassnode co-founder and chief technology officer Rafael Schultze-Kraft noted that text-based inscriptions are…

Spotify removes AI-generated music | Blockchain News

The ongoing battle between the music industry and artificial intelligence (AI) continues as Spotify removes AI-generated music. According to a report by the Financial Times (FT), the music streaming platform has removed 7% of songs created by the AI music startup Boomy, amounting to “tens of thousands” of songs. Spotify is also said to be increasing its policing of the platform in response to the situation. This action by Spotify comes after the platform and other streaming services received complaints of fraud and clutter on the platform. The music industry…

Elon Musk Shares ‘Massive Incentive to Move Money out of Bank Accounts’ – Economics Bitcoin News

boss

Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk has shared a “massive incentive” to move money out of bank accounts, citing a significant interest rate gap created by the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve. “As more people & companies realize this, bank depositor flight will accelerate to extreme levels, even for banks that are ‘too big to fail,’” Musk warned. Massive Incentive to Move Money Out of Bank Accounts Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk shared Monday a “massive incentive” for people to move money out of bank accounts in the…