NY faces 75-year prison sentence for crypto firms, FTX’s Nishad, and grayscale…

This week's main news

Gray files for new position on NYSE Arca Bitcoin ETF

Major cryptocurrency investment firm Greyscale Investments has filed a new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a new position as a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The new filing is consistent with Grayscale's ongoing efforts to transform the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a one-stop Bitcoin ETF, the company said in a statement. The news comes weeks after Grayscale won a case for the SEC to review its position Bitcoin ETF, the appeals court in June with the SEC order why Grayscale rejected the application 2023. The company also filed a lawsuit with the SEC to list the ether futures ETF. September.

New York Attorney General Sues Gemini Genesis DGC for Frauding Investors

New York's attorney general has filed charges against cryptocurrency companies Gemini, Genesis and Digital Currency Group (DCG) for defrauding more than 23,000 investors in the Gemini Earn investment program. The lawsuit alleges that Gemini assured investors that the program was a low-risk investment, and that an investigation by New York State Attorney General Tycia James' office said Genesis Financial was “risky.” The indictment also accuses Genesis' former CEO Soichiro Moro and parent company CEO Barry Silbert of defrauding investors by trying to hide more than $1.1 billion in losses. In addition, the court case refers to the banning of Gemini, Genesis and DCG from working in financial investment in New York.

A former director of FTX Engineering faces up to 75 years in prison following a guilty plea.

Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at defunct crypto exchange FTX, faces up to 75 years in prison for defrauding crypto exchange users. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud as part of a cooperation agreement with U.S. prosecutors. In testimony this week, Singh said he felt “suicidal for a few days” as liquidity issues at FTX begin in November 2022, dealing with alleged discrepancies between the exchange's public statements and behind-the-scenes activities. Singh also said Bankman-Fried has experience deciding on acquisitions at Alameda Research.

Binance will shut down the European Visa Debit Card in December.

Binance Visa debit card services will be closed in December in the European economy, which marks the latest failure for Binance. The suspension of the card service was announced a day after the exchange returned euro deposits and withdrawals, which it did not have for a month after payment processor Paysafe suspended the exchange. Binance is still not onboarding new users in the UK due to the loss of a third-party service provider.

Elon Musk, Mark Cuban's team to challenge the SEC's trial strategies

Elon Musk, Mark Cuban and others have jointly filed a joint amicus brief with the US Supreme Court to raise concerns about the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approach to conducting internal proceedings without including internal judges. This legal challenge centers around the SEC and the Jarkesy case. George Jarkesy argued that the SEC's internal adjudication process, which is nonjudicial and overseen by an administrative law judge appointed by the commission, violates his Seventh Amendment rights. It effectively results in a body that fulfills judicial, adjudicative and enforcement roles.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $29,590, Ether (ETH) at $1,607 and XRP at $0.52. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $1.12 trillion.

Among the largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were Bitcoin SV (BSV) at 59.00%, Stacks (STX) at 25.91% and MX TOKEN (MX) at 25.26%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week were Conflux (CFX) at -8.03%, Frax Share (FXS) and Sui (SUI) at -6.35%.

Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

“We're all part of a bigger game, and Bitcoin is one of the strongest in it.”

Edward Snowden, technologist and whistleblower

“Using public information to learn is not stealing. nor is it an invasion of privacy, conversion, negligence, unfair competition or copyright infringement.

google

I felt betrayed by something that I had put so much blood, sweat and tears into for five years.

Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at FTX

“Games that were funded 2 years ago are going live in the next 12 months. We will see successes.”

Robbie Ferguson, Unchangeable Founder and President

“After an extensive DAO forum discussion and community vote, Lido's sunset in the Solana protocol has been approved by Lido token holders and the process will begin soon.”

Lido Finance

Any innovation – especially this one with financial impact, cultural value and status – attracts questions when it falls.

Anjali Yang, co-founder of Collab.Land

Forecast of the week

BTC Price Hits 2-Month High Amid Bets Bitcoin Will ‘Soon' Break $32K

On October 20, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView captured new two-month Bitcoin highs of $30,233 on Bitstamp. The price of BTC showed continued strength during the Asian trading session on the same day, falling slightly and taking the spot price below $29,500.

With volatility still evident, market participants argue that a weekly candle close is needed to confirm the true staying power of the rally. The 100-week moving average (MA) at $28,627 was of particular importance to Keith Allan, founder of Monitor Wealth Material Indicators.

“This move is one to watch, but what I'm looking at right now is whether this weekly candle closes above the 100-week MA and next week's candle can stay above it with no wicks below,” Allen wrote in part. X post on the day. “Some may consider it proof of a bull run, but this market is notorious for squeezes and lies so I need more proof. For me, BTC needs to resist early at $30.5k, $31.5k and finally $33k to call a bull breakout confirmed and confirmed.

FUD of the week

Fantom Foundation hot wallet was hacked for $550,000

The Phantom Foundation, the developer of the Phantom Network, has been cleared of more than $550,000 worth of cryptocurrency. The foundation confirmed the attack on X, saying that most of the stolen funds belonged to other users and that 99% of the foundation's funds were safe. Blockchain security researchers initially reported that the attacker stole nearly $7 million in crypt. The Phantom Foundation later issued a public statement saying that some wallets labeled “Fantom: Foundation wallet” were mislabeled by block explorers and that not all of the stolen funds came from the foundation.

TrueCoin's third-party vendor breach may expose TUSD user data.

TrueUSD (TUSD) has announced that certain Know Your Customer (KYC) and transaction history information may be leaked after one of TrueCoin's third-party providers was compromised. The company was the operator of the TUSD stablecoin until July 13, 2023. The impact of the attack and the resulting data leakage is not yet known, as the aggregate user data was not disclosed at the time of the announcement. Data collected from such breaches — names, email addresses and phone numbers, among others — is commonly used for phishing attacks. Attackers often find unsuspecting investors by impersonating various crypto services that claim to make huge profits in a short period of time.

Web3 Gaming Project reportedly hired actors as executive producers in $1.6M exit scam.

A developer team for gaming project FinSoul committed an exit fraud, withdrawing $1.6 million from investors through market manipulation, according to a recent report shared by blockchain security platform CertiK with Cointelegraph. The FinSoul team hired paid actors to pretend to be executives, then raised funds for the sole purpose of developing the gaming platform. However, instead of actually creating the platform, the Finsol team allegedly transferred the $1.6 million bridge Tether from investors to itself. According to blockchain data, developers have cashed in on cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.

Big questions: What did Satoshi Nakamoto think about ZK-evidence?

Once the passion of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, zero-knowledge proof-of-concept technology is now an integral part of the crypto world.

Ethereum's Resurgence: Blockchain Innovation or Dangerous House of Cards?

“Reclaiming” involves reusing accumulated Ether to earn payments and rewards. The recaptured tokens help secure and authenticate other protocols. But many fear that a resurgence could disrupt the Ethereum chain.

Bitmain's Revenge, Hong Kong's Crypto Rollercoaster: Asia Express

Bitmain fires workers to protest wage cuts, Hong Kong investors lose confidence in crypto after JPEX scandal, Bitgate launches new credit card and more.

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Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.