Consequences of the FTX scandal at the hands of its founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman Fried, continue to surface. On Feb. 17, it was reported that the bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi Inc. appealed to the United States Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, to strip the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections from SBF’s offshore investment vehicle. Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd. was used by the FTX founder to purchase a 7.6% stake in Robinhood Markets Inc. According to BlockFi’s motion, the bankruptcy status of Emergent Fidelity holds little purpose and was filed to undermine BlockFi’s own claim to shares of Robinhood. However, …

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) calls for public feedback on its newly proposed licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges set to take effect from June 2023. A key consideration of the public consultation window is whether to allow licensed exchanges to serve retail investors in the country and what measures should be implemented to provide a range of ‘robust investor protection measures.’ The SFC announced the consultation process on Feb. 20, outlining a new licensing regime for the industry which proposes that all centralized cryptocurrency trading platforms operating in Hong Kong must be licensed with the regulatory body. The …

A recently introduced Illinois Senate Bill has been ridiculed by the crypto community over its "unworkable" plans to force blockchain miners and validators to do "impossible things" — such as reversing transactions if ordered to do so by a state court. The Senate Bill was quietly introduced into the Illinois legislature on Feb. 9 by Illinois Senator Robert Peters but appears to have been only recently noticed by Florida-based lawyer Drew Hinkes who discussed the bill in a Twitter post on Feb. 19. The bill titled the “Digital Property Protection and Law Enforcement Act,” would authorize the courts — upon …

Bank of Zambia and the country's securities regulator are "testing technology" to enable the regulation of cryptocurrencies, said Technology and Science minister Felix Mutati on the ministry's website. The country's move aims to "achieve an inclusive digital economy." Speaking in the city of Lusaka, Zambia's capital, the minister claimed that "cryptocurrency is the future that the country desires to achieve", but a policy framework is required to support this "revolutionary technology." According to Mutati: "[...] the testing of the technology on regulating cryptocurrency will be upscaled in due course as part of deliberate measures to achieve an inclusive digital economy …

Representatives for Voyager's Unsecured Creditors have requested that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, provide documents and appear in court remotely next week for a deposition. A court filing on Feb. 18 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, stated that Bankman-Fried has been served a “Subpoena to Testify at a Deposition in a Bankruptcy Case.” It was served by the Official Committee for the Unsecured Creditors of Voyager Digital Holdings, a bankrupt crypto lending exchange, who stated that he must appear for the “remote deposition” on Feb. 23. It also stated that Bankman-Fried produce …

Non-custodial crypto platform ShapeShift refuted United States Senator Elizabeth Warren’s claims of "illicit financing,” suggesting that she used the platform as a scapegoat to “push” her latest crypto bill, according to a recent statement. ShapeShift stated in a tweet on Feb. 19 that Warren made “mistakes” in her “analysis” of the platform, which were made at a recent senate banking committee hearing entitled “Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets,” on Feb. 14. On Valentine's Day, @SenWarren attempted to use ShapeShift as an example to push her latest crypto bill. Unfortunately, there were mistakes in the …

The CEO of Custodia Bank Caitlin Long has slammed regulators and lawmakers in Washington D.C. for their “misguided crackdown” on the crypto sector, and also for ignoring her warnings of major “fraud” allegedly conducted by now-bankrupted entities. In a Feb. 17 blog post titled “Shame On Washington, DC For Shooting A Messenger Who Warned of Crypto Debacle,” Long tore into the government for its approach to crypto regulation, failing to protect investors and alienating good actors in the space: “Washington’s misguided crackdown will only push risks into the shadows, leaving regulators to play whack-a-mole as the risks continuously pop up …

Nishad Singh, the co-founder and former chief engineer of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, is working on a plea deal with prosecutors, Bloomberg reported Feb. 17. The deal, which would see the 27-year-old Singh plead guilty to charges related to FTX’s collapse, has yet to be finalized, the report said. Singh would be following in the footsteps of former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, who pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in December after reaching deals with prosecutors. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has pleaded innocent to eight federal charges and is currently …

A complaint filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission said Terra co-founder Do Kwon and Terraform Labs laundered more than $100 million worth of Bitcoin from the platform following its collapse in May 2022. According to the SEC complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Feb. 16, Kwon and Terraform have transferred more than 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) from the platform and the Luna Foundation Guard to a cold wallet, then to a Swiss bank account to convert to fiat. The financial regulator said that the Terra co-founder and his company …

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) crackdown on crypto-staking services could lead to uncertain consequences for the DeFi ecosystem. Cybercriminals used various methods to siphon funds through hacks and exploits in 2022, amounting to over $2.8 billion in losses. The second week of February saw the Platypus protocol exploited, leading to losses of $8.5 million. In another exploit-related update, the hacker behind Mango Markets wants to keep disputed funds paid as a …

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has denied a report that the company is considering cutting ties with United States business partners. Binance has been the object of increasing scrutiny from U.S. regulators in recent weeks. Bloomberg reported on Feb. 17 that Binance Holdings “is looking at whether to sever ties with intermediary firms such as banks and services firms and is reassessing venture-capital investments in the US,” citing an unnamed source. The source added that tokens from U.S.-based projects, such as Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), may be delisted. On the same day, in response to a report on the Bloomberg report, …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has announced a $1.4-million settlement with former NBA player Paul Pierce for allegedly promoting a token project on social media. In a Feb. 17 announcement, the SEC said Pierce touted EthereumMax (EMAX) tokens through social media channels without disclosing he had received payment for the promotion and made “false and misleading statements” regarding the project. According to the SEC, promoters paid the former NBA star $244,000 worth of EMAX in addition to him posting messages allegedly showing misleading information about profits on Twitter. The financial regulator has previously targeted celebrities promoting …