Monat: Oktober 2024

• Nishad Singh has been sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release.
• The judge noted Singh’s limited involvement compared to other FTX executives.
• Singh cooperated with prosecutors, aiding investigations into FTX’s collapse.

Nishad Singh, the former engineering director of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release on October 30, 2024, in a federal court in New York.

This decision follows Singh’s guilty plea to six felony charges related to the misappropriation of user funds and campaign finance violations, which he entered in February 2023.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Lewis Kaplan acknowledged the gravity of the situation, stating, “This may have been one of the biggest crimes in American history,” while also noting that Singh’s involvement appeared to be limited compared to that of FTX’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison.

Singh expressed “overwhelming remorse” for his actions, highlighting the weight of his decisions during FTX’s tumultuous period.

Singh’s cooperation with federal prosecutors played a significant role in his sentencing outcome. He provided what US prosecutors described as “substantial assistance” in the ongoing investigations surrounding FTX’s collapse, which has resulted in multiple indictments of former executives.

Singh’s attorneys argued for a lenient sentence, emphasizing that the fraud primarily stemmed from the actions of Bankman-Fried and Ellison. The court also considered the perspective of John Ray, the new FTX CEO, who suggested that Singh’s skills could be more beneficial to the bankruptcy proceedings than serving time in prison.

Singh’s sentencing comes amidst a broader crackdown on FTX executives, with Bankman-Fried in custody since August 2023, and Ellison expected to surrender by November 7. The fallout from FTX’s collapse continues, as the estate pursues legal actions to recover lost assets, including a recent lawsuit against KuCoin for over $50 million.

As the FTX saga unfolds, Singh is the fourth former executive to receive sentencing, with co-founder Gary Wang set to face the court on November 20.

The post Ex-FTX Executive Nishad Singh sentenced to time served after guilty plea appeared first on CoinJournal.

• MrBeast allegedly made $23 million from insider trading in crypto projects.
• He reportedly used 50 wallets to promote and dump tokens, misleading investors.
• Evidence includes a publicly shared Ethereum address linked to $13 million in trades.

YouTube sensation MrBeast, known for his engaging content and 320 million subscribers, is facing serious allegations related to cryptocurrency trading.

A group of blockchain investigators claims that MrBeast, whose real name is James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, profited significantly from questionable crypto deals, including a staggering $23 million from what they describe as insider trading.

MrBeast investigation by Loock.io

According to findings from advisory firm Loock.io and blockchain analysts, MrBeast has allegedly operated across approximately 50 wallets, utilizing exchanges such as Binance and Gemini to trade various tokens.

Notably, he reportedly promoted projects like SuperFarm—now known as SuperVerse—alongside fellow influencers like KSI and LazarBeam, only to later sell these tokens to unsuspecting followers.

In one highlighted instance, MrBeast invested $100,000 in SuperVerse, resulting in an estimated profit of $7.5 million. This profit came at the expense of early investors, who were reportedly left without returns due to legal loopholes that voided their gains.

The investigators argue that MrBeast’s influence in the crypto space allowed him to mislead investors while he profited from the very projects he promoted.

The evidence presented stems from an Ethereum address MrBeast publicly shared during a prior NFT purchase, which enabled investigators to trace transactions. They claim that approximately $13 million flowed through the aforementioned exchanges, raising questions about the legitimacy of these trades.

While the public blockchain allows for a certain level of analysis, it does not guarantee the absolute accuracy of claims regarding transaction origins. Nonetheless, the findings appear to have credibility, as they are grounded in publicly verifiable data.

As allegations swirl, the crypto community is closely monitoring the situation, which reflects a broader concern about celebrity endorsements in the volatile crypto market. With many celebrities venturing into Web3, the potential for controversy and financial mismanagement remains high, prompting calls for greater transparency and accountability.

The post MrBeast faces allegations of crypto insider trading appeared first on CoinJournal.

• NYSE Arca is seeking regulatory approval to list an ETF of the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund.
• Grayscale recently filed to have go ahead to convert the fund to a spot ETF.

Securities exchange NYSE Arca is seeking regulatory approval to list a new crypto exchange-traded fund by Grayscale.

The ETF aimed at would track the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, which the GBTC issuer launched in 2018 and is not an exchange-traded fund at the moment.

According to an Oct. 29 filing, the NYSE Arca wants to list the $565 million fund, which Grayscale recently sought approval to convert into a spot ETF. Grayscale’s application came on Oct. 16.

The fund currently holds five spot crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, with BTC weighted at 76.5%, ETH at 16.88% and SOL at 4.46% as of Oct. 29.

Other digital assets in the Digital Large Cap Fund are Avalanche and XRP, weighted at 0.58% and 1.58% respectively.

Recently, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlighted the trading of options on NYSE’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products. These included Grayscale’s flagship asset GBTC and the Mini Bitcoin Trust BTC. This comes as the industry continues to witness massive demand and investment in spot Bitcoin ETFs following SEC’s approval in January 2024.

Spot ETFs inflows and holdings

Inflows into spot ETFs, which includes Ether ETFs approved in May, has skyrocketed. According to SoSoValue data, US spot BTC ETFs have seen cumulative net inflows of $23.28 billion.

Meanwhile, total net assets have surpassed $72.55 billion, with this accounting for over 5% of the BTC market cap. BlackRock’s IBIT holds $30 billion in assets.

In a post on X on Oct. 30, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas shared that spot Bitcoin ETFs were on track to surpass 1 million BTC holdings.

Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin who remains unknown, holds the most BTC today. Satoshi mined the coins in the early years of the flagship digital asset’s launch. Spot ETFs could surpass the 1.1 million figure within the next few days.

The post NYSE Arca seeks regulatory nod for Grayscale crypto ETF appeared first on CoinJournal.

Wellington Management, an asset manager with over $1 trillion in assets, has announced a partnership with Ondo Finance in a collaboration that aims to power intraday redemptions for a newly unveiled tokenized US Treasury fund.

Ondo is a decentralized finance protocol that’s seeing rapid growth in the tokenized assets market.

Ondo and Wellington team up on new tokenized fund

The fund in question is the Delta Wellington Ultra Short Treasury On-Chain Fund, or ULTRA, which Standard Chartered-backed tokenization platform Libeara launched in collaboration with fund management infrastructure firm FundBridge Capital.

Delta Wellington Ultra Short Treasury On-Chain Fund is live on the Ethereum blockchain. However, the issuers have plans to expand it to Arbitrum, Avalanche and Solana. The partnership between Wellington Management and Ondo Finance will see the latter offer the technology that will enable intraday redemptions.

1/ Wellington Management Partners with Ondo Finance to Provide Intraday Redemptions for Tokenized US Treasury Fund

Wellington Management (@Wellington_Mgmt) one of the world’s largest independent asset managers with over $1 trillion in assets, has partnered with Ondo Finance to… pic.twitter.com/dy1tefMxxM

— Ondo Finance (@OndoFinance) October 30, 2024

With this, investors can enter and exit positions any time. Ondo and Wellington see this as a crucial step towards enhancing the fund’s utility across web3.

“By enabling 24/7 liquidity, Ondo Finance is ensuring that tokenized assets can be most effectively used as collateral and for cross-border settlement, including in the digital assets ecosystem,” Nathan Allman, chief executive officer of Ondo Finance, said in a statement.

Ondo has Ondo U.S Dollar Yield (USDY) and Ondo Short Term US Government Bond Fund (OUSG), two of the top tokenized US Treasuries funds.

According to rwa.xyz, USDY and OUSG have market caps of $444 million and $205 million respectively. However, that’s notable in a market currently at just over $2.43 billion.

BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is the largest at over $533 million.

The post Wellington partners Ondo Finance for tokenized US Treasury fund appeared first on CoinJournal.