Top stories of the week
U.S. Officials Announce $4.3B Settlement with Binance and Plea Agreement with CZ
Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao “CZ” have settled criminal and civil cases with the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of the negotiated agreement, CZ will plead guilty to one felony charge. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the settlement, claiming Binance’s policies allowed criminals involved in illegal activity to move “stolen funds” through the exchange. As part of the settlement, CZ announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he has resigned as CEO and that Richard Teng, Binance’s head of global regional markets, will take over the position. He added that he was “proud to point out” that U.S. officials had not accused Binance of misappropriating funds or manipulating the market. CZ has been granted bail and is currently fighting government efforts to prevent him from returning to the United Arab Emirates to reunite with his family. His sentencing is scheduled for February.
BlackRock meets with SEC officials to discuss spot Bitcoin ETF
Representatives from BlackRock and Nasdaq are meeting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss proposed rules that would allow the listing of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). BlackRock provided a presentation detailing how the company will use a physical or cash redemption model for its iShares Bitcoin Trust. Many reports indicate that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may be about to make a decision on the listing of a spot BTC ETF on the U.S. market. SEC officials also met with Grayscale representatives this week to discuss the listing of a Bitcoin ETF. BlackRock is one of many companies in the SEC pipeline to apply for a spot crypto ETF and await answers, including Fidelity, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Valkyrie, VanEck and Bitwise.
Bitcoin user pays $3.1 million in transaction fees for 139 BTC transfer
A Bitcoin user transferred 139.42 BTC and paid $3.1 million in fees. The transaction fee is the eighth highest in Bitcoin’s 14-year history. A certain wallet address attempted to transfer 139.42 BTC and ended up paying more than half of the actual transaction fee. The target address received only 55.77 BTC. Mining pool Antpool captured ridiculously high mining fees at block 818087. This is the largest Bitcoin transaction fee ever charged in U.S. dollars, surpassing the $500,000 Paxos transfer in September.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Kraken, saying it was an unregistered exchange and commingled user funds
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Kraken, accusing it of commingling customer funds and failing to register with the regulator as a securities exchange, broker, dealer and clearing agency. Additionally, the SEC alleged that Kraken’s business practices and “defective” internal controls led to the exchange commingling up to $33 billion worth of customer assets with its own assets. The SEC said this created a “significant risk of loss” for customers. Kraken said in a follow-up blog post that the SEC’s mixed charges “are nothing more than expenses that Kraken has already earned,” and that the regulator did not allege that any user funds were missing.
Court of Appeal rejects Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for releasee
Sam Bankman-Fried will remain in prison after failing to persuade a US appeals court to free him while his legal team appeals his conviction. Government prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of leaking Caroline Ellison’s diary to The New York Times in July, leading a New York district court to revoke his bail. Bankman-Fried was found guilty on November 2 of seven fraud and money laundering related charges. The former FTX CEO will remain in jail pending sentencing on March 28 next year.
winners and losers
This weekend, Bitcoin (Bitcoin) lie in $37,710Ether (SecondTH) is priced at $2,079 and XRP is priced at $0.62.The total market capitalization is $1.43 mega, according to to CoinMarketCap.
Among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, the top three gaining altcoins this week are Blur (Vague) 99.25%, FTX token (FTT) 39.05% and KuCoin Token (KCS) is 24.82%.
The three altcoins with the biggest declines this week are Celestia (TIA) -19.89%, ORDI (Oldie) -17.63% and THORChain (Rune) is -15.53%.
For more information on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.
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most memorable quotes
“The U.S. financial system has essentially been weaponized.”
charles hoskinsonCardano founder
“I made a mistake and I have to take responsibility.”
Changpeng “CZ” Zhaoformer CEO of Binance
“We, the folks at OpenAI, develop the best models and push the field to new frontiers, (but) your process of firing Sam Altman (…) has jeopardized all of that work and undermined our mission and company.”
Open AI employees
“Get your cryptocurrency companies out of America’s war zone.”
Jesse Powellco-founder of Kraken
“The regulatory uncertainty that permeates the U.S. market is having an impact on the rest of the world.”
Oliver LynchCEO of Bittrex Global
“I look forward to returning to OpenAI and building a strong partnership with Microsoft.”
Sam AltmanCEO of OpenAI
This week’s forecast
“Enjoy Bitcoin for less than $40,000” – PlanB emphasizes that the average BTC price will reach $100,000 from 2024
PlanB, the anonymous creator of the BTC price model Stock-to-Flow series, said that Bitcoin buyers should have the opportunity to add to their stacks at prices below $40,000. He believes Bitcoin will rise well above its recent 18-month high.
Bitcoin bear market bottoms are characterized by spot prices being lower than actual prices, while bull markets begin once spot prices break through two- and five-month actual price levels. BTC/USD is now once again trading above all three realized price iterations.
“Enjoy Bitcoin worth under $40,000…while it lasts,” PlanB commented on the accompanying chart.
When asked if the market should expect the price to drop from now on, PlanB did not have an answer, saying that he only expects the average price of BTC between 2024 and 2028 (Bitcoin’s next halving cycle) to be at least 100,000.
Most talked about FUD this week
HTX to restore services “within 24 hours” after $30M hack
Cryptocurrency exchange HTX (formerly known as Huobi Global) resumed deposits and withdrawals within 24 hours after suffering a $30 million attack on November 22. The vulnerability was reportedly worth $13.6 million at the time of the incident, but has since increased in value. HTX’s hot wallet was breached, while a coordinated attack worth $86.6 million was launched against the HTX Eco (HECO) chain bridge, which consists of HTX, Tron, and BitTorrent. The company promised to fully compensate users for any losses they suffered as a result of the hack.
Department of Justice: China Southern Airlines poses “unacceptable flight risks” and should stay in the U.S.
U.S. prosecutors are trying to prevent former Binance boss Changpeng Zhao from leaving the United States, expressing concerns about his potential flight risk. The government is asking to review and overturn a judge’s decision that allowed Zhao to return home to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on $175 million bail, on the condition that he return to the United States two weeks before his sentencing in February 2024. In a proposed order, prosecutors wrote that Zhao “presents an unacceptable flight risk,” arguing that his connections and favored status in the UAE, as well as the country’s lack of an extradition treaty with the United States, were reasons to prevent him Reasons to leave the UAE. nation.
KyberSwap hacker offers $4.6 million bounty, demands return of $46 million in loot
Decentralized exchange KyberSwap offered a 10% bounty to the hacker who stole $46 million on November 22 and left a record of the negotiations. The exchange hopes to return 90% of the loot. Hackers stole approximately $20 million in Wrapped Ether, $7 million in Lido-collateralized Ether, and $4 million in Arbitrum tokens. The hackers then stole the loot across multiple chains, including Arbitrum, Optimism, Ethereum, Polygon, and Base.
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Popular magazine articles of the week
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Bitcoin enthusiast Dominic Frisby has had a wild journey, from writing the first Bitcoin book to plastering the Bank of England with the words “Bitcoin solves the problem.”
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Editorial Staff
Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.
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