China News Daily Official TheBitTimes.com

Convicted ex-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried will be sentenced this Thursday for the seven counts related to wire fraud and money laundering that he committed at crypto exchange FTX. Prosecutors have asked the judge to issue a sentence of 40 to 50 years but Bankman-Fried’s attorneys have counterargued, calling such a timespan excessive and pointing out that he is not a supervillain. John J. Ray III, the post-bankruptcy cleanup executive who has been working to return funds to harmed FTX victims, rebutted most of Bankman-Fried’s arguments in a scathing reality check. Here are some highlights from Ray’s letter to sentencing judge, Lewis Kaplan. “One must first start at the total dollar amount of claims filed. That number is $23.6 quintillion dollars. One quintillion is one billion billion. It is the number 1 followed by 18 zeros.” “Vast sums of money were stolen by Mr. Bankman-Fried, and he was rightly convicted by a jury of his peers.” “Bankman-Fried’s victims will...

Bitcoin miners have evolved from the beginning when anyone could mine with their CPU at home to a model mostly dominated by sophisticated conglomerates, many of whom employ media relations personnel and use lawsuits, lobbyists, and other corporate tactics to increase their profits. NASDAQ-listed miner Riot Blockchain recently joined a case against the US Department of Energy, in an attempt to prevent the release of survey data about Bitcoin miners’ energy usage. That data would have helped the Department of Energy to recommend better electricity usage policies, however, miners wanted to hide their energy usage from public view, so they filed a legal complaint in a Waco, Texas courthouse. Keeping Bitcoin electricity usage private The lawsuit filed by the Texas Blockchain Council (which has Bitcoin miners as members), claimed that the survey would cause irreparable harm to their business. Furthermore, Council members alleged the Department of Energy violated the Paperwork Reduction ...

Seasoned crypto users will recognize SushiSwap as one of the earliest DEX s. Indeed, many of the earliest forks of Uniswap used food-based naming schemes, including HoneySwap, BakerySwap, MojitoSwap, BurgerSwap, CandySwap, KibbleSwap, MilkySwap, IceCreamSwap, WinerySwap, OreoSwap, and ChickenSwap. Unsurprisingly, few of these food-themed exchanges continue operating with any meaningful volume today. But Chef Nomi ’s SushiSwap and Binance’s PancakeSwap are still up and running. Although not quite as prominent as it once was, most people operating in crypto today will know about SushiSwap. After all, it was one of the largest forks of Uniswap. And while Hayden Adams, who long reigned as the most successful DEX founder at Uniswap, attracted criticism for his decentralization theatrics and loyalty to venture capitalists, SushiSwap attracted followers who wanted something better. When Uniswap ignored the outcome of a governance vote by its own token holders, it was the straw that broke...

FTT, the native token of beleaguered crypto exchange FTX, has seen its value grow by at least 13.3% over the last 14 days. The growth came against the backdrop of the trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. A 12-person jury found the FTT creator guilty of all charges proffered against him, with sentencing scheduled for March 28, 2024. However, follow ing the verdict, FTT lost some momentum, recording a 0.2% drop in the last 24 hours and a 5.9% loss over seven days. FTT 14-day price chart | Source: CoinGecko The token’s total supply of 328,895,103 is currently valued at more than $389 million, with each price d at $1.18. Exchange relaunch plans nudge up FTT prices In June, rumors of a potential FTX reboot fanned investor confidence, leading many to believe FTT was undervalued. The speculation propelled a fresh wave of capital investment into the token, causing its price to increase by more than 20%. Efforts to resurrect the platform are underway. FTX’s current managemen...

Sam Bankman-Fried ’s defense team filed a motion on Sunday evening that states that he has “not [had] his prescribed dose of Adderall during trial hours,” with the footnote that he “has been given one dose between 4:00 am and 6:00 am… which wears off by the time trial starts at 9:30 am.” The footnote also clarifies that Bankman-Fried receives a second dose of Adderall “between approximately 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm.” The motion alleges that Bankman-Fried “will not be able to meaningfully participate in the presentation of the defense case” without having access to “a 12-hour extended-release 20mg dose of Adderall in the morning before he is transported to the courthouse.” The motion cleverly includes the caveat that “even if [SBF is given extended-release Adderall] there is no way of knowing… whether [it] will be effective.” The motion, as filed by Bankman-Fried’s defense team. Read more: Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense team failed to crack Caroline Ellison Real problem or p...

The second week of Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial concluded with BlockFi CEO blaming FTX and Alameda for its bankruptcy.  FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s historical trial saw the end of its second week today. Throughout this week, the major key witness was Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research and ex-girlfriend of SBF.  Ellison testified how Alameda was allowed to take unlimited loans from FTX’s customer funds, how Bankman-Fried used funds for political donations, his failed pursuit of Saudi investment and how he bribed Chinese officials.  Yesterday, Zac Prince, former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange BlockFi, took the stand and stated that his company was forced into bankruptcy by FTX and Alameda. Today he continued to share the details in his testimony to the prosecutor.  You might also like: SBF trial day 8: BlockFi’s Zac Prince blames FTX and Alameda for lender’s downfall Testimony of Zac Prince, Founder and CEO at BlockFi  BlockFi was lend...

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed motions to disqualify all seven expert witnesses put forward by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for his forthcoming October trial, citing various inadequacies in their qualifications and methodologies. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted filings on Aug. 29 to preclude all seven expert witnesses put forward by Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, in his forthcoming trial scheduled for October. In the legal documents, the DOJ argues that the defense’s roster of expert s is rife with inadequacies that should disqualify them from testifying. The prosecution contends that the proposed expert s are not in compliance with the requisite standards for criminal proceedings. Specifically, they maintain that the expert opinions are unreliable and could introduce bias or confusion into the deliberations of the jury. “The court should exercise its gatekeeping function to prevent the admissibility of such flawed expert...

Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) has been accused of leaking personal diaries written by his former girlfriend and Alamada chief Caroline Ellison in an effort to discredit her before she appears as the prosecution’s “star witness” in his upcoming fraud trial . That’s according to state attornies in the SBF trial, who said SBF “sought to publicly discredit a government witness by sharing her personal writings with a reporter so that these private documents would be featured in a New York Times article.” ​​According to a court filing from Thursday, “In addition to tainting the jury pool, the effect, if not the intent, of the defendant’s conduct is not only to harass Ellison but also to deter other potential trial witnesses from testifying.”  As a result, the government is seeking to impose an “order that limits extrajudicial statements by parties and witnesses likely to interfere with a fair trial by an impartial jury .” Ellison’s leaked diaries detail both her own doubt...

The media’s lawyers argued the public’s right to know Bankman-Fried's sureties outweighed their privacy and safety rights, but Bankman-Fried’s lawyers strongly disagreed. Eight major media companies including Bloomberg, The Financial Times and Reuters have demanded public disclosure of the two individuals responsible for guaranteeing FTX former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's $250 million bond.  In a Jan. 12 letter addressed to New York District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, attorneys from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP — acting on behalf of the Media giants — argued that “the public’s right to know Bankman-Fried's guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights.” Media organizations looking to persuade the judge to unseal the identities of Bankman-Fried's guarantors include the Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, Dow Jones, The Financial Times, Insider and the Washington Post. Cast your vote now! In making their case, the media’s lawyers used case precedent from Ghislaine Maxw...