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SBF Deported and Released on $250M Bail; Brazil Signs Crypto Regulations Into Law | Cointime Weekly Dec.18 – Dec.24

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Developments Surrounding the FTX Fiasco

SBF Deported and Released on $250M Bail

After extradition from Bahamas, Sam Bankman-Fried was released on a bond of $250 million and returned to the Palo Alto home which he shares with his parents.

One thing around the $250m bond is, no one has paid anything, nor is any cash owed—not yet anyway. 

Ex-Alameda CEO and FTX Co-founder Plead Guilty

Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang have plead guilty to criminal charges. Caroline Ellison’s testimony claims SBF directed her to co-mingle customer funds since 2019.

SEC Calls FTX’s Native Token FTT a Security

The SEC has declared another crypto as a “security” — after it is already dead. Similar tokens such as BNB (Binance), OKB(OKEX), and KCS(KuCoin), could also be labeled as securities in this scenario. Crypto exchanges will face significant penalties if FTT is ruled as a security.

Updates on Crypto Giants

Coinbase Secures VASP Registration in Ireland

Coinbase has been granted approval to operate as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), meaning that Coinbase can continue to provide products and services to individuals and institutions in Europe and internationally, from Ireland.

Binance Joins US Chamber of Digital Commerce

Binance became a member of the U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce. The move marks another milestone as Binance has bolstered its regulatory capacity in the past year, after an earlier track record of getting into trouble with financial regulators. 

Crypto Hacks This Week

Ankr Says Ex-Employee Caused $5M Exploit

A $5 million hack of Ankr protocol was caused by a former team member. The ex-employee conducted a “supply chain attack” by putting malicious code into a package of future updates to the team’s internal software.

State-Sponsored North Korean Hackers Stole $1.2B

North Korean hackers stole $1.2 billion worth of crypto assets in the last five and a half years and the country has been using these funds to finance its nuclear missile program.

Global regulations

The new laws

Brazil’s President Signs Crypto Regulations Into Law

The new law establishes a crime of fraud involving virtual assets, with a penalty of between four and six years in jail plus a fine. Digital assets that are considered securities will be supervised by SEC.

Plus, Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) approved the ability for investment funds invest in crypto.

Marshall Islands Passes Law Recognizing DAOs As Legal Entities

Both profit and non-profit DAOs can now register as legal entities under the internationally recognized LLC structure.

...And the ban

Another Crypto.com Ad Banned by UK Advertising Regulator

Crypto exchange Crypto.com had a Facebook ad banned by the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), falling foul of the industry's self-regulatory organization for the second time this year.

OpenSea Has Blocked Cuban Artists and Collectors

OpenSea is delisting Cuban artist and collector accounts from its platform in order to comply with U.S. sanctions law. Suspicions that OpenSea had been specifically targeting Cuban accounts had lingered in recent months

Crypto weekly price action

Cryptocurrency Prices Heat Map in 7 Days, Source COIN360

Research and technology

Avoid Getting Hooked by Crypto ‘Ice Phishing’ 

Ice phishing, a type of phishing unique to the Web3 space, is a significant threat to the community. What is ice phishing? How to prevent yourself from becoming a victim?

The Wallet Segment: Shining Star in the Crypto Winter

In the Web3 world, a wallet does not only serve the role as managing assets by literal meaning, but also it is the necessary tool to participate in the Web3 world.

Statistical Attacks on Proof of Solvency

In the wake of FTX's collapse, many prominent crypto exchanges have announced plans around "proof of solvency." But, proof of solvency is not perfect. Here are some of the flaws.

Comprehensive Guide for Rollups

This article focuses on the latter form of off-chain scaling solution — rollups, and the distinction between two main types of rollups (optimistic and zero-knowledge rollups). Let’s take a deep dive!

Fundraising and investment

Aussie Crypto Platform Cancels $1 Billion Merger Plan

The Aussie cryptocurrency exchange – Swyftx – and the investment platform – Superhero – have reportedly abandoned the previously planned $1 billion merger deal due to the enhanced control over crypto firms in Australia and the diminishing interest in digital after FTX collapse.

Axelar Launches $60M Startup Ecosystem Program

The proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain Axelar launched on Dec. 19 a $60 million startup funding program dedicated to accelerating the development of decentralized applications and protocols that can replace centralized exchanges. The initiative is backed by over 15 blockchain investors.

Core Scientific Approved for $37.5M Bankruptcy Loan

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge approved Core Scientific's bankruptcy loan on an interim basis at a court hearing in Houston, Texas. The company will seek final approval of the loan and permission to borrow an additional $37.5 million in January.

NFT Platform Revel Raises $7.8M in Seed Financing

Revel, an NFT or “social collectibles” platform, raised $7.8 million in seed financing led by Dragonfly Capital. The capital will be used to expand Revel’s web3 interoperability, generative and collaborative AI functionality, and social features

Viral Quotes

“ Quality of crypto villains is getting lower”

—  Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, on Sam Bankman-Fried

" Neither SBF or Madoff have the typical profile of a crook.

Rather it appears, they were unwilling to accept the consequences of failure and bet they could ‘fix’ things with temporarily ‘borrowed’ funds until they dug too deep a hole and were outed. Again, just a theory, but both the Madoff and SBF stories don’t make sense otherwise."

—  Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square

"There is no point inviting toxicity into your life. It’s abusive and pointless. Even in saying it now there are mocking baby memes. Life is too short. Move on and cut it out. XRP provides no partnership or technical value. The community is toxic and petty. I can live without it."

—  Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano

"It’s ridiculous and frankly shameful that Chair Gensler was touting the SEC’s enforcement actions as the “cop on the beat,” yet (per public reports) MET with SBF multiple times, but was caught completely flat-footed when the alleged fraud finally came to light."

— Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple

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  • French Finance Committee Approves Amendments on Stablecoin Exchange Tax and Crypto Exit Tax

    On October 10, Decrypt reported that the Finance Committee of the French National Assembly approved two amendments related to cryptocurrency taxation this week: starting January 1, 2027, exchanges of stablecoins regulated under MiCA will be considered taxable sales; and an exit tax will be imposed on taxpayers who have been French tax residents for at least six of the past ten years and have moved abroad with crypto assets totaling over 800,000 euros. On October 9, the committee voted 31 to 3 to reject the budget revenue portion, and the full National Assembly will review based on the government's original text. The amendments will not be automatically included; supporters must reintroduce them during the debate starting on October 13, with a formal vote scheduled for October 20. The related measures have not yet become law. The stablecoin amendment was proposed by Nicolas Sansu, a member of the left-wing GDR party group, along with 16 co-signers, and does not set a new tax rate but aims to include the revenue under France's existing 31.4% flat tax system. The committee also passed an amendment allowing crypto asset losses to be carried forward for ten years to offset future gains.

  • Luxshare Precision: Company and Luxshare Technology Involved in 337 Investigation, Currently in Initial Filing Stage

    On October 10, Luxshare Precision announced that the company and its holding subsidiary, Dongguan Luxshare Technology Co., Ltd., have been listed as respondents in a 337 investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), involving U.S. Patent US 10,903,700. The ITC officially launched the investigation on October 9, 2026, with investigation number 337-TA-1526. The case is currently in the initial filing stage, and no substantial determination has been made regarding the relevant infringement claims. The products involved are in the customer verification stage and have not yet entered mass production.

  • South Korea's Financial Commission: Shareholding Restrictions for Exchange Major Shareholders Not Targeting Specific Companies

    On October 10, Lee Ik-yeon, chairman of the Financial Services Commission of South Korea, stated that the provisions regarding shareholding restrictions for major shareholders of virtual asset exchanges in the ongoing 'Basic Law on Digital Assets' are not aimed at specific individuals or companies. Instead, they are designed to ensure that exchanges, once institutionalized, bear a higher level of public responsibility. Currently, South Korean virtual asset exchanges operate under a system that requires updates every three years, but this will transition to a licensing system after the implementation of the 'Basic Law on Digital Assets.' Lee emphasized that exchanges have infrastructure attributes and must possess public accountability and responsibility commensurate with their status.

  • SVRN Acquires Infrastructure Platform FastNEAR

    On October 10, it was officially announced that NEAR Treasury Company SVRN has acquired the NEAR infrastructure platform FastNEAR. FastNEAR will join SVRN as a wholly-owned subsidiary, with its co-founders Evgeny (Eugene) Kuzyakov and Mike Purvis also joining the SVRN team. The announcement stated that FastNEAR is a high-performance RPC infrastructure provider behind NEAR applications and supports most of the data layer for NEAR, including server clusters for handling network read and write operations, archival infrastructure for storing complete transaction histories, and NEARDATA, a data source for developers to process these historical records.

  • Entropy Acquires Xiaomi Code for 569.98 HYPE, Perpetual Contract Launch Imminent

    On October 10, HIP-3 market deployer Entropy spent 569.98 HYPE to acquire the Xiaomi code, and Entropy may soon launch its perpetual contract.

  • Trump Calls It Incredible Not to Win Nobel Peace Prize

    On October 10, Trump posted on the Truth platform stating that he had "resolved eight wars, with two more about to end or be resolved," and rescued all Israeli hostages, including the last 28 survivors and victims, as well as releasing hundreds of hostages from around the world and sending them home. He also claimed to have "won the Venezuela war, capturing the brutal dictator ruling the country," and prevented Iran, the "number one state sponsor of terrorism," from obtaining nuclear weapons. He wrote that despite doing so much, he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which is "truly incredible."

  • Bernstein Analyzes AI Infrastructure Costs: Up to $39.5 Billion Investment per Gigawatt

    On October 10, Bernstein's research report revealed that the capital expenditure required to build a 1GW data center using different AI accelerator architectures ranges from approximately $34.6 billion to $39.5 billion. Among these, the construction cost of NVIDIA's Vera Rubin architecture is the highest, while OpenAI's self-developed ASIC architecture, Jalapeno, is relatively lower. Bernstein significantly revised its cost expectation for NVIDIA's Rubin NVL72 single rack from $9.1 million to $7.52 million, a reduction of about 17%, primarily reflecting adjustments in expectations for HBM prices and NAND storage capacity. The report also pointed out that the main economic burden of AI data centers is not electricity costs, but rather the substantial capital expenditures and the depreciation they generate.

  • China Securities Regulatory Commission Holds Expert Seminar on Capital Market and Financial Situation

    On October 10, Wu Qing, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), held a seminar in Beijing to engage in in-depth discussions with leaders of listed companies and experts from securities and fund institutions, gathering opinions and suggestions on the current capital market and financial situation. During the seminar, participants unanimously agreed that China's macroeconomic environment is steadily improving, the industrial structure transformation is deepening, and the capital market is operating robustly, with multi-level market functions being effectively utilized. Although facing some risks and challenges, the trend of high-quality development remains unchanged, and there is confidence in economic operations and the capital market. Additionally, the attending experts provided specific suggestions for better promoting the stable and healthy development of the capital market, which mainly include: continuously strengthening the mechanisms for market stability, further broadening the sources, channels, and methods for medium- and long-term funds to enter the market, and developing patient capital; encouraging listed companies with conditions to increase dividend repurchases and improve mechanisms for investor returns and rights protection; optimizing the issuance and listing system to support the development of high-quality enterprises from various types and industries; enhancing trading supervision and strengthening cross-border risk monitoring and response; and researching and reserving more incremental policy tools, among others. Wu Qing expressed that listed companies and industry institutions are important entities in the market and hopes that everyone will actively provide suggestions to jointly build a better capital market, which will better reward investors and contribute positively to the construction of Chinese-style modernization. Relevant officials from the CSRC also participated in the seminar.

  • Changxin Technology's New Breakthrough: 4F² Architecture Products Expected by Year-End

    On October 10, Changxin Memory's 4F² DRAM architecture research and development recently made significant progress. Dr. Cao Kanyu, the company's president, delivered a speech at the Fourth Integrated Chips and Chiplet Conference, providing a comprehensive overview of Changxin Memory's technological explorations and accumulations in DRAM devices, 4F² architecture, and hybrid bonding. He officially announced that a new generation of DDR5 RDIMM products, incorporating these advanced technologies, is expected to be launched by the end of the year.

  • Hyperliquid Whale Holds $32.36 Million Bitcoin Short Position on 10/10 Crash Anniversary

    On October 10, Bitcoin.com reported that a Hyperliquid whale holds a short position of 391.48 BTC, valued at $32.36 million, on the anniversary of the '10/10 Crash.' The average entry price is $82,863.10, utilizing 13x leverage, with an account equity of $7.19 million and a liquidation price of $99,801.20, approximately 20% higher than the current price. Data shows that this address has conducted a total of 4,726 transactions, with perpetual contracts yielding a profit of $952,000 in the past week and a maximum drawdown of 11.03%. As of the time of writing, the short position has an unrealized profit of about $75,500. On October 10, 2025, the crypto market experienced the largest liquidation event in history, clearing over $19.1 billion in leveraged positions. Bitcoin is currently priced at approximately $82,754, down about 34% from its historical peak of $126,080. According to Coinglass, if BTC rises to $85,000, around $3.3 billion in short positions will be at risk. Hyperliquid has approximately 38,040 BTC in open contracts, with this whale accounting for about 1%.

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