Crypto collapse: FTX’s fall is one piece of a long, cold, contagious crypto winter – The Verge

FTX is suing Binance to recover nearly $1.8 billion

2024-11-11T09:21:41-05:00

The estate of now-defunct crypto exchange FTX has filed a lawsuit against Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao in a bid to recover $1.76 billion. FTX alleges these funds were fraudulently transferred to Binance, Zhao, and other Binance executives in July 2021 as part of a shares repurchase deal with FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

According to the filing, the transaction saw Binance sell back the 20 percent stake it held in FTX's international unit and 18.4 percent in its US-based entity, which Bankman-Fried paid for using a mix of FTX and Binance-branded cryptocurrencies. The FTX estate alleges the share repurchase deal was conducte …

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Sunk cost

2024-08-28T13:30:00-04:00

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In April, on an overcast spring afternoon, I attended the seventh iteration of NFT.NYC, a haven for all believers in monkey JPEGs with a price tag and other NFTs. As rain pelted the Javits Center, the "Super Bowl of NFTs" felt abandoned.

"The amount of people here is definitely reduced from last year," Ric Johnson, who was promoting an NFT that let people vote on whether Donald Trump should go to prison, politely told me. Big Mac, …

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FTX says most customers will get all their money back

2024-05-08T09:04:45-04:00

FTX says most customers affected by the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse will get all their money back. Bankruptcy lawyers for the fallen firm say they've collected assets valued at up to $16.3 billion - more than they will need to repay the company's estimated $11 billion debt.

John Ray III, the chief restructuring officer of FTX, says the company is "pleased to be in a position to propose a chapter 11 plan that contemplates the return of 100% of bankruptcy claim amounts." Once the court approves the plan, FTX will begin distributing the funds within 60 days. FTX's lawyers said earlier this year that they expect customers to "eventually …

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I have some questions about what Changpeng Zhao gave to the feds

2024-05-01T08:00:00-04:00

There are a lot of differences between Changpeng Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried, and now we can add one more to the list: the amount of time they'll serve for their crimes. Bankman-Fried got 25 years; Zhao got four months.

There's more. Zhao appeared in court in a tailored navy suit with a light blue tie when he spoke in his own defense. Bankman-Fried was shackled and in prison garb.

Bankman-Fried defrauded people, pleaded not guilty, repeatedly perjured himself in court, got convicted on seven counts, and then gave an absolutely bizarre speech during his own sentencing hearing that made the judge think he'd be likely to re-offend. (This is to …

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Binance founder Changpeng Zhao sentenced to four months in prison

2024-04-30T14:59:22-04:00

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for failing to establish adequate anti-money laundering protections. Zhao, once the head of the largest crypto exchange in the world, pleaded guilty in November 2023.

Judge Richard Jones says that Zhao prioritized "Binance's growth and profits over compliance with US laws and regulations." While Jones doesn't think Zhao is likely to reoffend, the scale of the crime is notable.

Binance "violated US law on an unprecedented scale"

Though Zhao is not as well-known as FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, he is a more important figure in the crypto world. The Chinese-Canadian entre …

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First Bitcoin ETFs approved by US regulators

2024-01-10T16:45:29-05:00

Take that, Satoshi! | Nick Barclay / The Verge

Fifteen years after the genesis block was mined (and after one false announcement), the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Bitcoin has fully joined the financial system it was built to challenge. The decision will make 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs available to investors, such as those from Grayscale, Fidelity, BlackRock, and more.

"While we approved the listing and trading of certain spot bitcoin ETP shares today, we did not approve or endorse Bitcoin," said SEC chairman Gary Gensler, in a statement. "Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value i …

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Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty of fraud

2023-11-02T19:54:59-04:00

Former cryptocurrency kingpin Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of fraud. A New York jury delivered the verdict on November 2nd, concluding a trial that has seen Bankman-Fried defend himself against claims that he criminally mismanaged his crypto exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research.

After more than a month in trial, the jury took four and a half hours to decide Bankman-Fried's fate, declaring him guilty on all seven charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is set to be sentenced by Judge Lewis Kaplan on March 28th of next year and faces decades in prison.

…

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Sam Bankman-Fried will testify in his fraud trial

2023-10-25T11:17:45-04:00

Sam Bankman-Fried will testify at his criminal fraud trial on Thursday as he faces charges of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering related to his failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been found guilty on seven counts including charges of wire fraud. FTX was a fraud "from the start," the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged - with a "multi-billion-dollar deficiency caused by his own misappropriation of customer funds."

Follow along for all the latest news and regular updates from the trial.

During a conference call on Wednesday, attorney Mark Cohen confirme …

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Reddit’s blockchain-based Community Points are going away

2023-10-17T17:48:49-04:00

Reddit is sunsetting its blockchain-based Community Points product, the company announced on Tuesday. A Reddit admin (employee) shared the announcement about Community Points, which uses the Ethereum blockchain, on a few subreddits, including r/CryptoCurrency (which had its own "moons" crypto token), r/FortniteBR (which had its own "bricks" token), and r/EthTrader (which had its own "donuts" token).

The value of those tokens has, predictably, fallen off of a cliff, as CoinDesk reports drops of between 60 and 90 percent. Some Reddit posters claim thousands of dollars in value disappeared from their wallets immediately, while others are point …

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Was Sam Bankman-Fried’s bean bag chair a lie too?

2023-10-05T20:29:22-04:00

Choose your college roommates carefully... | Photo illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Drew Angerer, Getty Images

The difficult part of a fraud case is usually establishing a defendant knowingly lied - unless, apparently, the defendant is Sam Bankman-Fried.

Today the government has made a brisk case for one count in the indictment and is close to making a case for a second one, as two of Bankman-Fried's college roommates testified against him. We also heard about Bankman-Fried's love life and bean bag chair.

Yesterday, the prosecution called as its first witness a customer, Marc-Antoine Julliard, who works as a commodities trader. Whether it was smart of him to invest in crypto is sort of irrelevant. The important part of his testimony? As the result …

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