- Stocks are in the red again after temporarily bouncing yesterday. The S&P 500 dropped 1.91%, while the Nasdaq fell 3.31%. Markets have shifted their attention from yesterday's strong December consumer sentiment data to the new regime of increasingly tighter financial conditions from central banks worldwide. BTC is currently trading near $16,600 while ETH trades at $1,186, down 1.45% and 2.21%, respectively. Crypto exchange Huobi Global's HT token is one of the few tokens in the top 50 by market cap to see gains over the last day, rising 2.00%. The outperformance follows a recent announcement that they have partnered with Visa to launch a worldwide Huobi-branded Visa Card. The card will be linked to Huobi user accounts, offer numerous benefits on the platform, and allow them to spend their digital asset balance to pay for goods or services at any of the 80 million merchants that accept Visa worldwide.
- The FTX saga continues with two of Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle accomplices pleading guilty to criminal charges, according to a statement from the Southern District of New York yesterday. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the office filed charges against former CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, and co-founder of FTX, Gary Wang. Ellison was charged with manipulating the price of FTX's FTT token and misusing FTX customer funds for prop trading at Alameda, while Wang was accused of programming the software that allowed FTX client funds to be redirected to Alameda. They subsequently pled guilty and have agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation against FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. According to the plea agreement, Ellison will not face any criminal charges for her role in the FTX collapse, only facing a fine and forfeiture of assets gained from funds stolen on FTX. The news comes as SBF arrived in the U.S. to face multiple fraud charges this morning after agreeing to be extradited from the Bahamas.
- The SEC has labeled FTX's FTT token a security in a filing against Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang. Per the filing, when the FTT sale raised $10 million from its initial exchange offering (IEO) in 2019, it incentivized investors by promising higher returns if they purchased the FTT token. The SEC alleges the sale constituted an investment contract, as FTX used the funds from the sale for further development, marketing, and business operations while encouraging investors to hold FTT in anticipation of profit as the trading platform grew. The Howey test, used by the SEC to classify securities, considers a transaction as an investment contract when there is "an investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others." One notable aspect of the filing compares the tokens buy-and-burn program to stock buybacks, as FTX used a portion of its revenue to repurchase and burn FTT from the open market. The language is significant as it has implications for rival exchange tokens with similar tokenomics, including Binance's BNB, OKX's OKB, and KuCoin's KCS, among others. Should the criteria for the allegation set a precedent, it could have massive repercussions for crypto industry regulations in the U.S.
SEC labels FTT a security, FTX and Alameda Execs Plead Guilty
Dec 22, 2022
|
Reports you may have missed
By Tom Couture
•
May 17, 2024
MARKET COMMENTARYU.S. EQUITIES ARE RELATIVELY FLAT AS THEY CONSOLIDATE ABOVE PRIOR ALL-TIME HIGHS. THE SPX IS TRADING AT 5,300, AND THE NDQ IS HOVERING NEAR $18,600, WHILE THE DXY 0.00% (-0.07%) IS SHOWING A SLIGHT DECLINE, TRADING AT $104.4. Crypto assets are showing strength, with BTC 0.38% rising 2.84% to $67.1k and ETH 0.64% surging 4.86% to $3,090. Liquid staking tokens are building on Ether's outperformance, as LDO -4.01% and PENDLE -0.41% have gained 10.11% and 13.43%, respectively. Similarly, layer-2...
By Sean Farrell
•
May 16, 2024
CRYPTO MARKET UPDATETODAY, WE ARE SEEING SOME MINOR CONSOLIDATION IN THE CRYPTO MARKET COINCIDING WITH THE SLIGHT BOUNCE IN THE RATES AND DXY 0.00% . BTC 0.38% is trading just north of $65k, while ETHBTC continues to struggle, with ETH 0.64% moving lower for the 5th consecutive day and still trading below the $3k mark. Despite the market consolidation, SOLBTC is still green on the day as SOL 1.05% works to regain the $160 level....
By Tom Couture
•
May 15, 2024
MARKET COMMENTARYINVESTORS WELCOMED THIS MORNING’S SLIGHTLY SOFTER THAN EXPECTED CPI DATA AND A LARGE DOWNSIDE MISS ON U.S. RETAIL SALES, ALLEVIATING INFLATION CONCERNS AND HELPING TO PROPEL STOCK INDICES TO NEW INTRADAY ALL-TIME HIGHS. The SPY 0.14% and QQQ -0.07% have gained over 1% to surpass $528 and $451, respectively, while US treasury rates have turned significantly lower, with the US10Y dropping below 4.34%. Crypto is responding in similar fashion with BTC 0.38% ...
Tornado Cash Developer Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison, LayerZero Succeeding Against Sybils
Crypto Research
By Tom Couture
•
May 14, 2024
CRYPTO MARKET COMMENTARYAPRIL PPI CAME IN MIXED THIS MORNING, WITH A LARGE UPSIDE SURPRISE IN MOM READINGS (0.5% VS. 0.3% EXP.) AND YOY METRICS LARGELY IN LINE WITH EXPECTATIONS. The upside in the MoM reading was offset by March figures being revised downwards. Yields initially spiked upon the data release but have turned negative across the curve. Equities are showing mild gains as attention shifts towards tomorrow’s CPI data release. The SPY 0.14% has gained 0.17% and the QQQ -0.07% has gained 0.31%. Crypto assets are...
