Kategorie: Crypto Markets

• Jupiter community voting on the fate of 215M unclaimed JUP tokens is now live.
• Options include funding staking rewards, burning tokens, or multisig return.
• Decision part of J4J initiative for transparency and alignment among JUP holders.

Jupiter, a decentralized exchange aggregator on Solana, has opened a community vote to decide the fate of 215 million unclaimed JUP tokens.

These tokens, initially part of the platform’s “Jupuary” airdrop and staking rewards, were either unclaimed or from compromised wallets.

J4J initiative proposals

The vote, opened on September 27, follows a proposal put forward by the Jupiter team, led by developer Weremeow, as part of the J4J initiative which is aimed at promoting certainty, alignment, and transparency among JUP holders.

This proposal is the second in the J4J initiative. The first J4J proposal which was approved after a vote at the beginning of August, trimmed away any fat in the initial tokenomics and helped everyone in the J.U.P to understand the token breakdowns, thereby setting the stage for two more votes.

The current proposal whose voting has been opened now seeks to evolves the issue of how to use the excess tokens from last Jupuary. According to the proposal, Jupiter token holders will be voting to user use the tokens to fund the Active Staking Rewards (ASR) program for another year, or burn the tokens, or return them to a community-managed multisig wallet.

Extending the Jupiter ASR program

This option would see the tokens used to extend the ASR program, which rewards holders for participating in Jupiter’s governance. This would incentivize active participation in the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and community voting processes.

The ASR was initially funded with 100 million JUP, 50% of which went to voters in the first three months.

If approved, the 215 million tokens would further boost rewards for the coming year.

Burning the JUP tokens

Alternatively, the community could opt to burn the tokens, reducing the circulating supply by around 13%.

This move could potentially increase the value of the remaining JUP tokens by making them scarcer.

Putting the tokens back into a multisig wallet

Lastly, returning the tokens to a multisig wallet would allow the community to decide on future uses for the unclaimed assets.

Voting is now live and can be accessed at vote.jup.ag. As part of the ongoing J4J initiative, this vote aims at involving Jupiter’s community in key governance decisions while fostering transparency and alignment among stakeholders.

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• SEC announced it settled with Mango Markets over sale of unregistered tokens in $70 million coin offering
• Mango DAO, Blockworks Foundation have agreed to pay $700,000 in civil penalties.
• The settlement will also see Mango Markets destroy the MNGO tokens and request exchanges to delist them.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Sept. 27 that it charged Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation for the offer and sale of unregistered crypto assets.

SEC’s charges relate to the sale of MNGO, the governance token of Mango Markets. The platforms also acted as unregistered brokers for the DeFi platform.

In its complaint filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, SEC alleged the three entities had violated US securities laws and the broker registration provisions.  

According to the SEC, Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation, an entity registered in Panama, raised over $70 from sales of MNGO tokens. The sales, which started in August 2021, were offered to investors worldwide, including from the US.

The SEC says it has settled with the firms, which have agreed to injunctions and orders and will pay a total of $700,000 in civil penalties.

Destroy MNGO tokens

As part of the settlement, Mango DAO, Mango Labs and the Blockworks Foundation will also destroy the MNGO tokens. The parties will also ask trading platforms to delist MNGO as well as not solicit any crypto exchanges in relation to allowing for the trading of MNGO tokens.

These injunctions and penalties will take effect once approved by the court.

Mango Markets hack

Earlier this year, Mango Markets announced a $250,000 allocation in USDC, with the funds set aside to help navigate the growing regulatory scrutiny it faced. The platform had suffered a major exploit in October 2022, with the attacker draining over $100 million in digital assets from the platform.

The hacker, Avraham Eisenberg, was later arrested and charged over the exploit.

However, that exploit appears to have shone the regulatory spotlight on Mango Markets, leading to the latest SEC charges and settlement. Mango Markets offered to have a settlement deal with the SEC in August.

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• Bolivia saw a 100% increase in trading volumes of virtual assets between July and September.
• The increased volume comes after Banco Central de Bolivia lifted a long ban on Bitcoin.
• Bolivia’s central bank lifted the ban in June this year.

Bolivia has reportedly recorded a 100% surge in virtual asset trading, a few months after the country lifted its ban of Bitcoin.

In the announcement made on Sept. 26, BCB said average monthly virtual volumes across digital asset trading had doubled in the period between July and September 2024.

Virtual asset trading volume surge in last three months

According to Bolivia’s central bank, the last three months saw over 105% more in trading volume compared to the 18 months before the ban was lifted.

On average, the country saw $15.6 million in virtual asset trading monthly, and cumulatively about $48.6 million over three months.

Most of the volume was in stablecoins, which are seeing increased adoption across not just South America, but worldwide as crypto adoption rises. Recently, stablecoin issuer Circle enabled USDC transfers in Brazil and Mexico.

Edwin Rojas Ulo, acting BCB president, commented on this via a statement. He noted that the central bank is at the forefront of promoting crypto asset adoption in Bolivia. According to hime, the steps the central bank is taking are aimed at enhancing the country’s economic future.

Bolivia banned Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments in 2014, but rescinded the decision in June. This shift in stance against crypto means the country joins others in the Latin America region that are increasingly pro-crypto.

Brazil and Argentina are among those to take a more positive approach, with measures such as introducing crypto taxation laws among major steps. Argentina also elected a pro-crypto president, with Javier Milei among proponents of Bitcoin.

The leading nation in the region however is El Salvador. On September 7, 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt BTC as legal tender. Collaboration with industry players and other countries is also growing.

The post Bolivia reports 100% rise in virtual asset trading appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Roman Storm will face trial on December 2 for alleged money laundering via Tornado Cash
• The judge rejected Storm’s defence that his code was protected under the First Amendment
• The prosecution must, however, prove Storm knew he dealt with the proceeds of any crime, not specifics

Roman Storm, co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, is set to face trial after a US federal judge rejected his motion to dismiss money laundering charges.

The trial will occur on December 2, 2024, in New York.

District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York denied the dismissal during a telephonic conference on September 26, pushing the case to trial.

Tornado Cash founders face multiple charges

Storm, alongside co-founder Roman Semenov, face multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

The charges stem from allegations that Tornado Cash facilitated the laundering of over $1 billion in criminal proceeds, some of which were linked to North Korea-backed cybercrime group Lazarus.

In a motion to dismiss the charges, Storm’s legal team argued that his role in developing the Tornado Cash software was protected under the First Amendment.

However, Judge Failla rejected this claim, asserting that the “functional capability” of the code did not equate to free speech as defined under the First Amendment. She emphasized that the government’s efforts to combat money laundering and sanction evasion were “wholly unrelated” to suppressing free speech.

The court also ruled that control was not a necessary element for the charges under the 1960 statute and rejected the argument that Storm had to be aware of specific criminal activities. Instead, the prosecution must only prove that Storm knew he was dealing with proceeds from a crime.

The judge dismissed arguments about due process, stating that Storm’s state of mind and intent were matters for the jury to decide.

Judge Failla further noted that Tornado Cash was not “meaningfully different” from traditional financial services and money-transmitting firms, thereby holding Storm accountable under existing laws.

The trial, expected to last two weeks, could set a precedent for how software developers are treated under US law when their technology is used for illicit purposes.

Semenov remains at large.

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