Stay in the loop with our weekly crypto digest as we get you up to speed on the hottest trends and events in the crypto space.
Here’s what happened in crypto this week:
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Featured On Time Magazine
In an interview with TIME, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said the monetary experiment to make Bitcoin legal tender has had mixed results.
“Bitcoin hasn’t had the widespread adoption we hoped for. Many Salvadorans use it. The majority of large businesses in the country have it,” Bukele said in a wide-ranging interview with TIME Magazine when asked if Bitcoin monetization has “been a success.”
“The positive aspect is that it is voluntary; we have never forced anyone to adopt it. We offered it as an option, and those who chose to use it have benefited from the rise in Bitcoin,” he added. “I expected more adoption, definitely, but we always prided ourselves on being a free country, free in every way.”
El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender on September 7th, 2021, during the height of the last bull market. This made El Salvador the first country to adopt Bitcoin as an alternative legal currency to digitize the economy and reduce its reliance on the US dollar, the country’s most widely circulating currency.
Apple In Talks To Invest In OpenAI
iPhone juggernaut Apple is in talks to invest in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and the biggest name in generative artificial intelligence.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the company founded by Steve Jobs is at the funding table as OpenAI raises more money to help meet the high costs of building new technology.
Reports said that OpenAI is in talks to reach a valuation of $100 billion in the funding round led by venture capital firm Thrive Capital, which will invest $1 billion.
Elon Musk Not Liable In Class Action Lawsuit Accusing Him Of Manipulating The Price Of Dogecoin
Elon Musk and his electric vehicle company, Tesla, won the dismissal of a federal lawsuit accusing them of defrauding investors by hyping Dogecoin (DOGE) and conducting insider trading, causing billions of dollars of losses.
Investors accused the world’s richest person of using Twitter posts, a 2021 appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and other publicity stunts to trade profitably at their expense through several Dogecoin wallets that he or Tesla controlled.
However, the judge presiding over the case said that Musk’s tweets that Dogecoin was the future currency of Earth and could be used to buy Teslas or flown to the moon by his company SpaceX were “aspirational and puffery, not factual and susceptible to being falsified.” The judge added that no reasonable investor could rely on the tweets to pursue a securities fraud claim.
SEC Warns FTX Against Paying Creditors Back In Stablecoins And Other Cryptocurrencies
In a recent filing, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned FTX that it reserves the right to challenge the legality of paying back claims or otherwise trying to make money from its stash of “crypto-asset securities.” The SEC’s filing also notes that the plan needs to specify who would distribute the stablecoins should that provision be approved.
Throughout the FTX bankruptcy, many avenues have been explored or proposed to maximize creditor recovery, from relaunching the FTX exchange to make money back for creditors to distributing claims as tokens in a new venture that can be traded. Some decentralized marketplaces, such as Found.xyz and Figure Markets, even launched support for tokenized FTX claims trading this summer.
Qatar Introduces Regulatory Framework For Digital Assets
The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has unveiled its QFC Digital Assets Framework 2024, a comprehensive regulatory regime designed to foster innovation and growth in the QFC’s digital asset sector.
According to the announcement, the framework was developed by the QFC in collaboration with industry stakeholders, including digital asset exchanges, custodians, and other market participants, and aims to support Qatar’s digital transformation goals.
Qatar has been actively exploring the potential of digital assets in recent years, recognizing their transformative power and the opportunities they present for economic growth and diversification.
Brazil Supreme Court Upholds Ban On Elon Musk’s X
Brazil’s Supreme Court members have unanimously decided to uphold the ban on X. This is in response to Elon Musk’s refusal to comply with local regulations, which led to the blocking of the social media platform in one of its major markets.
This decision supports the earlier ruling by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, one of the five judges who ordered the shutdown of X in Brazil. Moraes imposed the ban, which went into effect on Saturday after the company missed a court-imposed deadline to appoint a legal representative in the country.
In response to the ban, Elon Musk commented, “Free speech is the foundation of democracy, and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is undermining it for political reasons.”
SEC Charges Crypto Advisory Firm Galois Capital For Custody Failures
The US SEC has charged and subsequently settled with crypto-focused investment advisory firm Galois Capital over how it held client assets. The charges involved a private fund that mostly invested in crypto, the SEC said in a statement.
The settlement, however, does not mean that Galois agreed with or denied the SEC’s findings. As part of the deal, it agreed to a cease and desist from further violating the Advisers Act. The hedge fund shut down in February of last year after the collapse of FTX. At the time, it said it had lost $45 million, which it kept on the exchange.
FBI Warns That North Korea Is Trying To Hack And Steal US Crypto And Bitcoin ETF Funds
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned employees of companies involved with Bitcoin that hackers from North Korea are currently attempting to steal Bitcoin and other crypto assets. The actors are said to be targeting crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in particular.
The FBI warns that sophisticated techniques are being used. Cybercriminals use professional social engineering practices to infiltrate malware into service providers’ networks and gain access to the company network. To do this, they pretend to be trustworthy contacts or submit fake applications.
The easiest and most secure way to store Bitcoin yourself, without the private keys to the Bitcoin being connected to the internet, is to use a hardware wallet.
US Department Of Justice Subpeoenas NVIDIA In Antitrust Probe
The US Justice Department (DOJ) sent subpoenas to Nvidia Corp and other companies to seek evidence that the chipmaker violated antitrust laws. This is an escalation of its investigation into the dominant provider of artificial intelligence (AI) processors.
According to people familiar with the investigation, the DOJ, which had previously delivered questionnaires to companies, is now sending legally binding requests that oblige recipients to provide information.
Antitrust officials are concerned that Nvidia is making it harder to switch to other suppliers and penalizes buyers that don’t exclusively use its artificial intelligence chips.
However, Nvidia denied reports that it had received a subpoena from the Department of Justice over antitrust concerns.
Switzerland’s Fourth Largest Bank Launches Bitcoin And Ethereum Trading
Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB), the biggest cantonal Swiss bank, announced that it is launching Bitcoin and Ethereum crypto offerings. The banking giant revealed in a press release that its customers can now partake in crypto trading 24/7 via ZKB eBanking or ZKB Mobile Banking.
Known locally as Zürcher Kantonalbank, ZKB is the largest cantonal bank and the fourth largest bank in Switzerland, with total assets of 200 billion Swiss francs ($235 billion).
Uniswap Labs Settles With The US CFTC On Charges Related To Derivatives Trading
Uniswap Labs has settled with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for $175,000 on charges related to offering “illegal digital asset derivatives trading.”
The CFTC emphasized the need for DeFi operators to ensure that transactions comply with the law as digital asset platforms and DeFi ecosystems evolve.
The settlement is part of the CFTC’s continued efforts to enforce the Commodity Exchange Act in the evolving digital asset space.
It can also be recalled that Uniswap Labs received a Wells Notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April, indicating that the SEC believes it has enough evidence to start a lawsuit.
Final Thoughts
So that’s it for this week!
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Have a fantastic week ahead!
