Hodder Law Weekly Crypto Newsletter - December 14, 2022
Hello everyone,
I hope you are all having a great week! The price of Bitcoin as of Wednesday, December 14 at 5:45 p.m. EST is $17,814.
Headlines.
FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Denied Bail in the Bahamas. SBF was deemed a flight risk by the Judge who denied his $250,000 bail application. Until his extradition hearing on Feb. 8, SBF will be staying in the Bahamas’ Fox Hill prison where conditions are described as dangerous and cramped.
U.S. SEC issues new guidance on disclosing crypto risks. Regulators on the lookout for more fallout from the FTX collapse issued a stark warning, "Companies may have disclosure obligations under the federal securities laws related to the direct or indirect impact that these events and collateral events have had or may have on their business."
SBF secretly funded crypto news site the Block and its CEO's Bahamas apartment. In a massive undermining of journalistic integrity, Block CEO Michael McCaffrey used part of a $16 million funding package from Alameda to fund the purchase of an apartment in the Bahamas. McCaffrey has now stepped down from his role as Block CEO and (their only) board member.
How CoinDesk’s FTX scoop left a hole in its corporate overlord. One of the biggest crypto stories of all time was the blockbuster scoop published by Coindesk on Nov. 2. The high standards of journalistic integrity at Coindesk ended up taking a bite out of their parent company, and perhaps even their own compensation packages.
CEO of Binance Warns Users About New Hack Targeting Cryptocurrency Industry. In a tweet referring to a Microsoft Security Threat Intelligence blog post, CZ Zhao warned people not to download a weaponized Excel file from compromised friends called “exchange fee comparison.xls”. This article gives some helpful tips and pointers to help prevent malicious attacks aimed at the crypto world.
The FTC is investigating crypto firms for possible misconduct following FTX collapse. The Federal Trade Commission is the latest regulatory body investigating multiple crypto companies in the dead of the crypto winter. They could be flexing their authority to enforce the truth in advertising rules now that celebrity crypto endorsers are facing several lawsuits.
Bitcoin's Lightning Network Could Be Getting a Privacy Upgrade. In exciting news for privacy-concerned bitconers, the “Basis of Lightning Technology 12” (BOLT 12) protocol-based system is adding more of functionality and privacy to Lightning invoices. With a ton of amazing and practical features, innovations like this are contributing massively towards crypto going mainstream.
Exploring Biden’s Executive Order on Crypto, 6 Months In. Coindesk explores the intersection of cryptocurrency and government in this feature with Carole House, who’s one of the authors of the White House executive order on crypto. Discussions include Central Bank Digital Currencies and the broader impact of risk mitigation focusing on crime.
HodlCAST
Ido Alexander is a Bankruptcy Attorney with AlignX Law. We discussed the FTX, BlockFi, Celsius, and Voyager bankruptcies, the firm Kirkland & Ellis, the various types of bankruptcy chapters, the probability of criminal charges stemming from bankruptcy, and what people who lost money should do next.
Blog
The monumental fall from grace.The U.S. Government requested the Bahamian authorities to arrest Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) on December 12, 2022, based on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York. The arrest comes just over a month after the shocking implosion of the centralized exchange, FTX, which was trusted with over $32 billion of clients' assets. The International arm of the exchange offered clients 20X leverage trading. read more
Make it a great week!
Sincerely,
Sasha Hodder
Hodder Law
