Debtors for crypto lender Celsius Network have the authority to sell coupons for mining firm Bitmain coupons worth roughly $7.4 million following a ruling from a bankruptcy judge. In a Feb. 16 court filing, United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said it was in the “best interests of the Debtors’ estates, their creditors, and other parties” to allow Celsius debtors to sell their Bitmain coupons. The judge’s ruling does not require the debtors to liquidate the holdings in question, but they would need the consent of the committee of unsecured creditors. Christopher Ferraro, interim chief executive officer of Celsius, claimed …

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the financial regulator funded by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), is pushing international regulations for decentralized finance (DeFi). The FSB on Feb. 16 issued a report on the financial stability risks of DeFi, highlighting major vulnerabilities, transmission channels and the evolution of DeFi. Despite providing many “novel” services, DeFi “does not differ substantially” from traditional finance (TradFi) in its functions, the authority said in the report. By trying to replicate some functions of TradFi, DeFi increases potential vulnerabilities due to the use of novel technologies, the high degree of ecosystem interlinkages and the lack …

The European Union is famous for its ambivalent relationship with privacy — on the one hand, it was the first place in the world to apply strict data protection regulations. On the other, its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project lacks the anonymity standards of private cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, last week the EU lawmakers made a vital step to embrace privacy in the space of citizens’ digital identities. On Feb. 9, the Industry, Research and Energy Committee included the standard of zero-knowledge proofs in its amendments to the European digital identity framework (eID). The latest update was voted in by 55 …

Wyoming lawmakers have passed a bill that will prohibit courts in the state from forcing someone to disclose their digital asset private keys, with one minor exception. The bill was passed through the Wyoming House of Representative in the state’s 67th general session of 2023 on Feb. 15. The law will officially come into effect on Jul. 1, 2023. “No person shall be compelled to produce a private key or make a private key known to any other person in any civil, criminal, administrative, legislative or other proceeding[s]” in the state of Wyoming, the incoming law reads. The law includes …

The former dean of Stanford Law School who co-signed Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail said he considered Bankman-Fried’s parents “the truest of friends” who helped his family through a “harrowing battle with cancer.” In an emailed statement to Cointelegraph on Feb. 16, Larry Kramer said he co-signed Bankman-Fried’s bail as a way to return the favor. “Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried have been close friends of my wife and I since the mid-1990s,” said Kramer. He said that over the past two years, Bankman-Fried’s parents Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, provided food and moral support while “frequently stepping in at moment's notice …

The world’s largest digital asset exchange, Binance, is preparing to face fines and penalties in order to settle outstanding regulatory and law-enforcement investigations in the United States. According to a Feb. 15 WSJ report citing the firm’s chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann, Binance has been working with regulators to remedy past compliance issues. Hillmann stated that Binance is “working with regulators to figure out what are the remediations we have to go through now to make amends for that.” He added that the outcome of ongoing investigations will likely be fines but could be more, stating “that is for regulators …

A five-member panel of the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has voted 4-1 in favor of a proposal that may make it more difficult for cryptocurrency firms to serve as digital asset custodians in the future. The proposal, which is yet to be officially approved by the SEC, recommends amendments to the “2009 Custody Rule” will apply to custodians of “all assets” including cryptocurrencies, according to a Feb. 15 statement from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Gensler stated that currently, some crypto trading platforms that are offering custody services are not actual “qualified custodians.” According to the SEC, a qualified …

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of crypto exchange FTX may no longer be able to play League of Legends and other video games if newly proposed changes to his bail conditions from United States prosecutors are approved. In a Feb. 15 letter to United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams asked the courts to further expand restrictions surrounding Bankman-Fried’s electronic device usage. They pointed to Bankman Fried’s recent device usage as cause for concern, and agreed with the court’s intuition that it was “shortsighted” by focusing only on apps, adding: “There is now a record before the …

The settlement between Kraken (Payward Ventures) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission set off alarm bells in the crypto community this month. Apparently, Kraken — one of the most compliance-minded crypto exchanges in existence — decided to buy its peace rather than fight with the SEC for years over whether it was offering unregistered “securities” through its staking program. The nature of the settlement is that Kraken neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations, and the existence of the settlement, technically speaking, cannot be used as legal precedent for any argument either side of the issue might present. …

Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville has reintroduced legislation aiming to allow United States 401(k) retirement plans to include exposure to cryptocurrencies. In a Feb. 15 announcement, Tuberville said the Financial Freedom Act — which he first introduced to the U.S. Senate in May 2022 — aimed to reverse policy from the Department of Labor directing what type of investments were allowed in 401(k) plans, including crypto. According to the senator, the bill would bar the DOL from pursuing enforcement actions for individuals “using brokerage windows to invest in cryptocurrency”. “The federal government shouldn’t choose winners and losers in the investment game,” …

The United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has sent a letter to executives of cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO warning them that they are potentially in violation of federal law due to false and misleading statements about the exchange’s insurance status. The agency has given the exchange 15 days to make corrections. The statement in question is found in the small print details of the exchange’s state money transmitter license information. The information for Rhode Island reads, “U.S. dollars held in your CEX.IO fiat currency wallet are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per account.” The FDIC letter also noted that, if the …

A federal judge has allowed identities of guarantors who signed on sureties for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bond to be made public following a request from several news outlets. Court documents released on Feb. 15 showed that the two previously unidentified individuals were Andreas Paepcke, a senior research scientist at Stanford University and Larry Kramer, a former dean of Stanford Law School. The two signed on as sureties for Bankman-Fried’s bail on Jan. 25 for $200,000 and $500,000, respectively. Eight major news outlets petitioned Judge Lewis Kaplan in a Jan. 12 letter, requesting the court disclose the …