◾ The Financial Action Task Force warned that criminals are still facing opportunity-loophole as “many jurisdictions have not yet implemented fundamental requirements” as specific in the Travel Rule; a report will be published tomorrow urging countries to swiftly implement the FATF’s Recommendations on virtual assets and VASPs. (FATF-gafi.org)
◾ In a speech on “how crypto failed to deliver on its promises” ECB Executive Board Member Fabio Panetta called on regulators to “subject cryptos to rigorous regulatory standards, address their social cost, and treat unsound crypto models [as] a form of gambling.” (Ecb.europa.eu)
◾ SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is being questioned for failing to seek permission from the agency’s ethics counsel before holding a 45-minute talk with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in March 2022. (NYPost)
Government & NGO Actions
◾ Australian is planning to adopt a “tech agnostic” and “principles-based” approach to crypto assets instead of taking a “token specific” view of the sector. (Cointelegraph)
◾ Fed Governor Michelle Bowman accused global regulators of creating a ‘supervisory void’ which “leaves banks in the perilous position of relying on general but non-binding statements by policymakers only to be criticized at some point in the future.” (Federalreserve.gov)
◾ Brazil’s central bank has added crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin as a participant to its CBDC pilot. (Valor.globo)
◾ Japan’s tax authority ruled that token issuing companies are exempt from paying a 30% corporate tax on their holdings. (Cointelegraph)
◾ Belgium’s Financial Services and Market Authority ordered Binance to cease operations in the European country. (FSMA.be)
Public Company Releases
◾ Applied Digital (APLD) secured its second AI cloud customer with an agreement worth up to $460 million over 36-months. (Globenewswire)
◾ Hut 8 Mining (HUT) entered into a US$50 million one-year credit facility with Coinbase Credit. (PRnewswire)
◾ Ault Alliance (AULT) provided a corporate update that it has 19,000 miners active and operating a hash rate of 2.1 EH/s. (Businesswire)
Restructuring, Losses and Legal News
◾ The Southern District Court of New York ruled that Sam Bankman-Fried cannot subpoena FTX law firm Fenwick & West in his criminal trial. (Courtlistener)
◾ Celsius investors are accusing crypto market maker Wintermute of wash trading to inflate the value of the bankrupt crypto lenders CEL token. (Bloomberg)
◾ Media agencies are challenging the bankruptcy court’s decision to allow the names of FTX’s customers to be redacted calling this a “"novel and sweeping exception" to bankruptcy's typical disclosure requirements. (Reuters)
AI Announcements
◾ Amazon Web Services is investing $100 million to establish a generative AI center that will link customers with experts in AI and machine learning. (Bloomberg)
◾ YouTube is bringing AI to the streaming service to transcribe and dub videos. (Theverge)
Protocols, Applications & Business News
◾ Meta (META) agreed to work with the EU to ‘stress test’ its applications as they adhere to Europe’s digital regulators. (Reuters)
◾ Volatility Shares is launching a leveraged Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) that will offer double the performance of the S&P CME Bitcoin Futures Daily Roll Index on a daily basis. (Bloomberg)
◾ Hollywood’s directors voted to ratify a new three-year labor contract that among other things provides a guarantee that generative AI "cannot replace the duties performed by members." (Reuters)
◾ French luxury design house Hermès won its fight to permanently block the sale “MetaBirkin” NFTs. (Reuters)
◾ Criminals are threatening to detonate bombs in multiple retail stores across New Mexico and Wisconsin unless the companies agree to pay demands in bitcoin and gift cards. (WSJ)
◾ Layer 1 blockchain Hedera added a plugin for ChatGPT for users to retried their token balances. (Hedera)
Market Data
◾ Financial blog Zerohedge is reporting that “Citadel [is] quietly buying up every bitcoin for sale.” (Twitter)
Exchange, Custody and Product Updates
◾ Crypto exchange ByBit has gained a crypto operating and custody license in Cyprus. (Financefeeds)