Coinbase wins $470K restitution in insider trading case

The brother of a former Coinbase employee has agreed to pay the cryptocurrency exchange nearly $470,000 for his role in an insider trading scheme. According to a New York District Court filing signed on April 6 and made public on April 10, Nikhil Wahi — brother of former Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi — will be required to begin making restitution payments while serving time in prison in what is believed to be the first insider trading case involving crypto. The amount must be paid in full within 20 years…

Matt Damon reveals why he appeared in Crypto.com’s most infamous ad

Hollywood star Matt Damon has finally opened up on why he appeared in cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com’s infamous “Fortune Favors the Brave” advertisement, which was once the subject of relentless mockery. Speaking to the Associated Press on March 27 at the premiere of his new film, Damon appeared somewhat abashed as he explained his reason for appearing in the ad. He said it was mainly because his clean water initiative, Water.org, was indire financial circumstances, explaining: ”We had a down year in Water.org, and I did that commercial in an attempt…

Binance ‘not planning any layoffs,’ 500 roles to be filled in H1

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is “not planning any layoffs” and is instead trying to fill another 500 roles by the end of June, according to a Binance spokesperson. The comments came despite a huge spike in crypto layoffs in January — the majority of which were from crypto exchanges. In a statement, the Binance representative said:  “As of today, we are actively hiring for more than 500 roles with the goal of filling them by the end of H1 […] We are not planning any layoffs.” The spokesperson was responding to…

Polygon blockchain reportedly suffers network outage

Layer-2 scaling solution Polygon (MATIC) has not processed a block in over an hour and a half, leading some to believe that the blockchain network could be suffering from an outage. Latest blocks and transactions on Polygon. Source: Polygonscan According to data from Polygonscan, the blockchain’s last block and transaction was processed at around 8:35 pm UTC on Feb. 22. The network has previously suffered network outages, with the last occurring on Mar. 21-22, 2022 due to maintenance required on one of the network’s three layers. The Polygon team is yet…

Sen. Warren vows reintroduction of AML bill that extends to DAOs and DeFi

A bi-partisan Anti-Money Laundering (AML) bill that covers “decentralized entities” such as decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) will soon be reintroduced to Congress, according to United States Senator Elizabeth Warren. Warren, a vocal crypto critic, argued at the Feb. 14 Senate Banking Committee’s hearing entitled, “Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets,” that the crypto community wants decentralized entities running on code to be exempt from AML requirements: “In other words, they want a giant loophole for DeFi written into the law…

SBF met with Biden’s senior advisors 2 months before FTX collapse: Report

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried met with government officials at the White House on at least four separate occasions in 2022, and reportedly a meeting just two months before the fall of his crypto empire. Most of the meetings were disclosed in visitor logs which are posted by the White House every month, showing that Bankman-Fried had met with Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti on Apr. 22, 2022 and May. 12, 2022 along with another meeting on May 13 meeting with policy advisor Charlotte Butash However, according to a…

Celsius wants to extend the deadline for claims as lawyer fees mount

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network is planning to file a motion that would extend the deadline for users to submit their claims by another month. The crypto community has started to grow impatient, noting that Celsius’ lawyer fees have continued to stack up and are eating away at the lender’s estate. In a Dec. 29 tweet, Celsius announced that it would seek to extend the current deadline for claims from Jan. 3 to early February.  The bankruptcy court is set to hear the motion on Jan. 10, and according to…

Bankruptcy judge orders $44M in crypto to be returned to Celsius customers

A federal judge has ordered crypto lender Celsius to return crypto worth around $44 million to the platform’s custody program customers. According to Bloomberg, the verbal order was delivered by United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in a Dec. 7 hearing, with the judge noting: “I want this case to move forward. I want creditors to recover as much as they possibly can as soon as they possibly can.” The amount — which applies only to crypto held within custody accounts — is a tiny fraction of the billions Celsius…

4,400 disgruntled investors are hunting for Terra’s Do Kwon

Members of a 4,400-strong Discord group called the “UST Restitution Group” (URG) have been attempting to track down the whereabouts of Terra co-founder Do Kwon. Members of the group, seemingly out of frustration at the lack of results from law enforcement agencies, are scouring the internet for clues and sharing them with the group in an attempt to track down Kwon. Members have suggested that he could be residing in places such as Russia, Dubai, Azerbaijan, or even on a yacht. Their continuing efforts come despite authorities in South Korea…