Monday April 15, 2024
Bitcoin vol is back.
◾Bitcoin dropped below $62,000 with ether sliding below $3,000 before starting an early morning rebound. (Coinmarketcap).
◾ Hong Kong conditionally approved asset managers to launch spot-Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds. (Bloomberg)
◾IRS officials indicated that the agency plans to significantly increase the number of charges against individuals who fail to pay taxes on cryptocurrency. (CNBC)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ Vietnam ordered Netflix (NFLX) to stop advertising and offering video games in the country. (Reuters)
◾ US lawmakers are questioning why Intel AI chips are in new equipment from sanctioned Chinese company Huawei. (Reuters)
◾ The government of Australia asked the US to consider a felony plea deal with former cypherpunk, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (WSJ)
◾ Australia’s securities regulator commenced proceeding against crypto mining firm NGS Crypto to seek the return of $41 million in investor assets. (ASIC.gov.au)
◾ The Department of Justice announced that a former security engineer was sentenced to three years in prison for his roll in hacking to decentralized exchanges. (Justice.gov)
◾ Nigeria tracked the escape Binance executive to Kenya and is now seeking extradition. (PunchNG)
◾ South Korea plans to host the second global AI safety summit on May 21st and 22nd. (Reuters)
Financial Notices & Public Company Releases
◾ Coinbase (COIN) is seeking an interlocutory appeal as to whether the SEC’s definition of an investment contract requires something contractual. (TheBlock)
◾ CleanSpark (CLSK) surpassed 17 EH/s of operating hashrate and exercised its option to purchase 100,000 Bitmain rigs. (CleanSpark)
◾ Stronghold Digital (SDIG) filed a $250 million mixed shelf offering. (StrongholdDigitalMining)
◾ Core Scientific (CORZ) is looking to sell 10.7 million shares in common stock held by Bitmain. (SECfiling)
Restructuring, Losses & Legal News
◾ Prosecutors said that the alleged Mango Markets thief searched for terms like “Elements of fraud” and “FBI surveillance” before stealing $110 in crypto. (Bloomberg)
◾ An Australian lawsuit filed by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, which claimed that Meta (META) allowed his likeness to be used in a crypto scam, was discontinued by the persecution. (TheGuardian)
◾ Just a reminder that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao will be sentenced for violating one count of the Bank Secrecy Act on April 30th. (Axios)
AI Announcements
◾ NASA has no plans to use AI chatbots on its next mission to explore Jupiter’s moons. (Decrypt)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Musicians tentatively settled with major record labels on the use of generative AI. (Reuters)
◾ Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Germany's largest federal bank, plans to offer crypto custody services through BitPanda. (Bloomberg)
◾ Crypto supporters boosted Republican John Deaton's first-quarter fundraising over incumbent Senator Elizabeth Warren. (X)
◾ The Winklevi twins are investing $4.5 million to become co-owners of UK football club Real Bedford. (Realbedford)