Sam Bankman-Fried’s life in jail, Tornado Cash’s turmoil, $3B BTC..

top stories of the week

Tornado Cash Co-Founder Charged with Money Laundering, Sanctions Violations

On Aug. 23, U.S. officials filed charges against the co-founder of cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. Roman Storm and Roman Semenov are each charged with conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to violate sanctions, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business. Days later, Storm was arrested and released on bail, while Semyonov was added to the U.S. list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 45 years in prison. Tornado Cash’s third co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, was arrested in the Netherlands in August 2022 on money laundering charges. The enforcement action is a continuation of a U.S. government crackdown on Tornado Cash that began last year over alleged involvement in money laundering. Funding from the Lazarus Group, a hacking group linked to North Korea. Tornado Cash has also been involved in several other hacks. In total, the mixer laundered more than $1 billion in ill-gotten gains, the DOJ said.

Sam Bankman-Fried is under-medicated, living on $3 peanut butter in jail

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried appears to be having a hard time in prison, fitting in with his vegan diet on bread smeared with peanut butter while depleting his Prescription drug supply. At the same hearing, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to seven fraud-related charges, with his lawyers imploring the former FTX CEO to receive better treatment at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Also this week, Bankman-Fried was allowed to meet with the legal team outside the prison with 48 hours’ notice. Each day, he will have about seven hours to prepare for the upcoming trial, which begins in October.

Mystery Solved: Bitcoin Wallets Accumulate $3 Billion in 3 Months

The mysterious bitcoin wallet that jumped to become the world’s third-largest bitcoin holder in just over three months has now been identified. Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham Intelligence has tagged the wallet as Robinhood: Jump Trading Custody. The wallet address first received bitcoin on March 8, according to crypto statistics platform BitInfoCharts. Over the next three months and two weeks, the wallet has amassed a staggering 118,000 BTC, worth $3.08 billion at current prices. According to BitInfoCharts, the largest bitcoin wallets in the world are currently reportedly owned by Binance and Bitfinex — as bitcoin cold wallets.

Prime Trust parent loses $8 million on TerraUSD investment

The parent company of cryptocurrency custodian Prime Trust, which is currently participating in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, reported that customers and financial funds lost about $ 8 million through TerraUSD investments, presumably after the algorithmic stablecoin was launched in May 2022. When the month collapses. The company described the investment and said that increased spending in October and November 2022 (during the FTX crash) led to its bankruptcy filing. Court documents show that Prime Trust owes its clients more than $85 million in fiat currency and $69.5 million in cryptocurrency. The collapse of the Terra ecosystem triggered a major market crash in 2022, affecting several companies including FTX, BlockFi, Celsius Network, and Voyager Digital.

PEPE whale seizes dip, buys $529,000 worth of tokens

One Pepe holder bought 640 billion Pepe tokens for 32 billion ETH after the price of the frog-themed memecoin fell about 15% amid recent multisig wallet changes and concerns over potential developer manipulation , valued at $529,000. According to data from on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain, whales purchased PEPE at an average price of $0.000001163. The value of the once-popular memecoin plummeted after a change related to the number of signatures required to sign a transaction led to concerns about a potential “pull,” as one of the project’s co-founders later confirmed.

winners and losers

Bitcoin this weekend (bitcoin) lie in $26,040Ether (Ethereum) exist $1,653 and Ripple exist $0.52.total market value $1.05 trillion, according to to CoinMarketCap.

Among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoins this week are Bone ShibaSwap (bone) 18.58%, Sui (Sui) 12.86% Wadong (Ton) was 11.97%.

The top 3 altcoin losers of the week are Pepe (PEPE) -21.07%, XDC Network (XDC) -9.62% and ApeCoin (ape) was -8.35%.

For more on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

most memorable quote

“If history repeats itself, the next halving will lead to Bitcoin rising to $35,000 before the halving and $148,000 after the halving.”

Pantera Capital

“A new era of computing has begun. Companies around the world are moving from general artificial intelligence to accelerated computing and generative artificial intelligence.”

Jensen HuangFounder and CEO, NVIDIA

“Some people who currently believe that there should be no effective law enforcement on-chain would feel differently if they were hacked, scammed, or lost their private keys.”

Mike KanowitzCEO of Jurat

“You can never underestimate the damage the SEC lawsuit has done — not just against Ripple, but #XRP. Three years of adoption — that’s why it’s here.”

john deatonLawyers who support XRP

“AI will never replace human creativity because it will always lack the fundamental spark that drives the best work of the most talented artists, and that is the intent.”

Neil MohanCEO of YouTube

“Blockchain and AI can certainly coexist – they are both pillars of Web3.”

Edin KirichCEO of Honeycomb Digital Technology

forecast for the week

Bitcoin ‘overconfidence is rife’, but bulls must reclaim $27,800 — trader

Popular anonymous analyst CryptoCon believes that Bitcoin needs to recapture a key moving average to “regain bullishness,” warning that bulls are still too optimistic about $26,000 BTC price support.

For CryptoCon, the 20-week exponential moving average (EMA) (currently at $27,750) must be won back as support to keep the uptrend safe. “I’ve been following this moving average a lot lately, but I believe it’s critical for Bitcoin to return to bullishness,” he wrote.

The analysis compares the current BTC price action to the rebound from the 2018 cycle low. “Bitcoin’s breakout and retest of support at the 20-week EMA is very important,” CryptoCon noted, with a chart showing similarities between 2019 and 2023, with the retest and subsequent successful EMA recovery circled.

The most talked about FUD this week

Chinese Official Sentenced to Life in Prison for Bitcoin Mining, Corruption

a Chinese government official Sentenced to life in prison for illegal business activities related to operating a 2.4 billion yuan ($329 million) bitcoin mining venture and unrelated corruption charges. Prosecutors said Xiao Yi, a former party member of the Jiangxi Provincial Political Consultative Conference, “covered up” mining operations by instructing relevant departments to fabricate statistical reports and adjust the classification of electricity consumption. From 2017 to 2020, his facilities accounted for 10% of Fuzhou’s total electricity consumption.

FBI Flags 6 Bitcoin Wallets Linked to North Korea, Urges Crypto Firms to Be Vigilant

The FBI has flagged six bitcoin wallets linked to the North Korean state-backed hacking group Lazarus. The six wallets contain 1,580 bitcoins worth $40 million and are believed to have been hoarded by various cryptocurrency hackers over the past year. During its investigation, the FBI discovered that the Lazarus Group transferred approximately 1,580 bitcoins that were linked to multiple cryptocurrency vulnerabilities. The hacking group has been active in multiple cryptocurrency-related attacks over the years and is believed to have stolen nearly $2 billion in cryptocurrency since 2018.

OpenSea manager jailed for 3 months and fined $50,000 for insider trading

A federal judge has sentenced former OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain to three months in prison for wire fraud and money laundering charges related to insider trading on the platform. He is accused of profiting from NFT transactions using insider information from his position at OpenSea. As a product manager, he has the right to choose which NFTs to display on the OpenSea website. He bought 45 NFTs before they were featured and then resold them.

Recursive Inscription: Bitcoin ‘Supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi Coming Soon

Some believe that serial numbers and recursive inscriptions could strengthen the Bitcoin network, making it a serious competitor to smart contract platforms. But it’s not easy.

From crying in the car to putting the first 3D object on the chain – the story of whooper swan. In addition, due to OpenSea, the speed of copyright fee competition has also accelerated.

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editorial staff

Writers and reporters at Cointelegraph Magazine contributed to this article.