SEC sees temporary setback in request to access Binance.US software
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has failed to win immediate access to Binance.US’s software, with the judge saying he isn’t “inclined to allow the inspection at this time.” The hearing was held on Sept. 18 to discuss the SEC’s motion to compel Binance to hand over detailed information and make its executives more available for depositions. In a hearing, Judge Faruqui said that he wasn’t “inclined to allow the inspection at this time.” Alternatively, he proposed that the SEC should come up with more specific requests for discovery and speak with a broader range of witnesses. In another headline, Binance global and its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao requested dismissal of the SEC’s lawsuit filed against them in June, claiming the regulator overstepped its authority in the case.
Mt. Gox trustee changes repayment deadline to October 2024
Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi has officially changed the deadline for paying back the exchange’s creditors from Oct. 31, 2023, to Oct. 31, 2024. Presently, the Mt. Gox estate holds some 142,000 Bitcoin (BTC), 143,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and 69 billion Japanese yen. Mt. Gox was one of the earliest cryptocurrency exchanges, once facilitating more than 70% of all trades made within the blockchain ecosystem. Following a major hack in 2011, the site subsequently collapsed in 2014 due to alleged insolvency; the fallout affected about 24,000 creditors and resulted in the loss of 850,000 BTC.
Tether authorizes $1B USDT to ‘replenish’ Tron network
Tether’s Treasury is set to provide a $1 billion near-term liquidity for the Tron network. The billionaire authorization was flagged by blockchain tracker WhaleAlert, which drew a quick-fire response from Tether chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino, who said that the USDT tokens would be used as inventory to “replenish” the Tron network. Authorizing USDT in the Tether Treasury allows the company to issue USDT instantaneously once customer funds are received to ensure that the issuer maintains 100% of its reserves. Ardoino added that the event was an authorization and not an actual issuance, with the allocated amount set to serve as inventory for upcoming issuance requests and chain swaps from the Tron network.
FTX founder’s parents sued, accused of stealing millions from crypto exchange
Debtors of FTX have launched legal action against the parents Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, alleging that they misappropriated millions of dollars through their involvement in the crypto exchange. The plaintiffs argued that Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried exploited their access and influence within the FTX empire to enrich themselves at the expense of the debtors in the FTX bankruptcy estate. The debtors alleged that SBF’s parents were “very much involved” in the FTX business from inception to collapse, contrary to what SBF has claimed. According to the complaint, Bankman and Fried extracted significant unearned rewards from their involvement in FTX Group, including a $10-million cash gift and a $16.4-million luxury property in the Bahamas.
Grayscale files for new Ether futures ETF — Official
Digital currency investment company Grayscale is the latest firm to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a new Ether (ETH) futures exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Grayscale Ethereum Futures Trust will hold Ether futures contracts with a “roughly constant expiration profile,” according to the filing. The trust will “never carry futures positions to cash settlement.” The nature of the Ether futures contracts in the ETF will not require the trust to use an Ether custodian. Grayscale’s application comes a few weeks after Valkyrie also filed for an Ether futures ETF with the SEC in mid-August, following several other firms filing for ETH futures ETFs.
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $26,525, Ether (ETH) at $1,590 and XRP at $0.51. The total market cap is at $1.05 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Immutable (IMX) at 27.07%, Curve DAO Token (CRV) at 16.16%, and Aave (AAVE) at 15.92%.
The top three altcoin losers of the week are Gala (GALA) at -8.57%, Axie Infinity (AXS) at -7.42%, and Optimism (OP) at -7.52%.
“There remains a real risk that the use of AI develops in a way that undermines consumer trust or is dominated by a few players […].”
Sarah Cardell, CEO of the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority
“Don’t give up on the United States. This too shall pass, the confusion shall pass. The United States is a good place to build things, and I want it to stay that way.
Hester Peirce, Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
“If the average end-user, who isn’t a computer scientist, who doesn’t understand blockchain, has to know about their private keys — we’ve got it wrong. They have to be abstracted away,”
“It is an inevitable future where there will no longer be any intermediaries between fans and creators — this is an obvious but unrealized potential of blockchain technology.”
Bitcoin fails to recoup post-Fed losses as $20K BTC price returns to radar
Bitcoin circled lower after the United States Federal Reserve decision on interest rates, with $20,000 BTC price predictions resurfacing.
The aftermath of the Fed interest rates pause on Sept. 20 offered little for Bitcoin bulls, BTC/USD having dipped almost $700 the day prior. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView covered a lackluster 24 hours for BTC price action, with $27,000 fading from view.
Now, market participants returned to a more conservative outlook in the absence of tangible volatility. “Something like this over the course of October would be perfect i would say,” popular trader Crypto Tony told X (formerly Twitter) subscribers.
“Slow grind up to $28,500, followed by hype and FOMO, to then dump it once more.”
FUD of the Week
Balancer blames ‘social engineering attack’ on DNS provider for website hijack
Ethereum-based automated market maker Balancer believes a social engineering attack on its DNS service provider was what led to its website’s front end being compromised on Sept. 19, leading to an estimated $238,000 in crypto stolen. Blockchain security firms SlowMist and CertiK reported that the attacker employed Angel Drainer phishing contracts. SlowMist said the exploiters attacked Balancer’s website via Border Gateway Protocol hijacking — a process where hackers take control of IP addresses by corrupting internet routing tables. The hacker has already bridged some of the stolen Ether (ETH) to Bitcoin (BTC) addresses.
Crypto influencer arrested in Hong Kong for JPEX association
A Hong Kong-based social media influencer has reportedly been arrested after investigations around the liquidity crisis of the crypto exchange JPEX traced back their involvement. According to a local report, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong recently issued a statement blaming JPEX for actively promoting the platform’s services and products to the public through online celebrities and over-the-counter money changers. Another unconfirmed report suggests that Lin Zuo presented “schemes” to a chat group created for cryptocurrency investment. Also related to this story, Hong Kong regulators are looking to tighten regulations around the crypto market following the failure of JPEX, which led to the arrest of over six individuals.
CoinEx hack: Compromised private keys led to $70M theft
Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx has revealed that compromised private keys allowed hackers to steal over $70 million worth of tokens. According to CoinEx representatives, the amount represents a small percentage of its total assets under management. CoinEx stated that affected users will be compensated entirely for any lost funds. The exchange explained that a preliminary investigation pinned the root cause to a compromised private key for its hot wallets. These were used to store exchange assets for carrying out deposits and withdrawals.
‘AI has killed the industry’: EasyTranslate boss on adapting to change
NFT Collector: William Mapan explains generative art using a crayon and dice
What even is generative art? William Mapan, whose 250-piece Distance collection just sold out at 2ETH each, explains using a crayon and die.
JPEX staff flee event as scandal hits, Mt. Gox woes, Diners Club crypto: Asia Express
Hong Kong crypto exchange JPEX busted in $166M scam, Mt. Gox delays repayments yet again, oldest credit card company in Singapore moves into blockchain.
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The Singaporean government released its updated national strategy for artificial intelligence (AI) 2.0 on Dec. 4, in which it outlined how it plans to embrace innovation and tackle the challenges coupled with the technology.
Singapore structured its AI strategy into three distinct systems, consisting of ten “enablers,” which drive those systems and then 15 action steps to make the system work. It’s first AI strategy was introduced in 2019.
The updated plan’s systematic approach focuses on three main areas of its society, including what it calls “activity drivers,” “people and communities,” and “infrastructure and environment.”
Building a smart nation
Among the action steps is Singapore’s plan to develop new AI “Centers of Excellence” (CoEs) across companies operating in the country to foster “sophisticated AI value creation and usage in key sectors.”
The updated AI plan also has benchmarks of equipping governmental agencies with “specialized knowledge, technical capabilities, and regulatory tools” and “sharpening” AI proficiency in all Singaporean public officers.
According to the vision, Singapore plans to use its government capacity to create resources to support AI adoption in the public sector.
Additionally, it said it plans to boost its quantity of “AI practitioners” or local experts to 15,000 through scaling up AI-specific training programs and technology and AI talent pipelines, and that it “remains open” to global talent.
The report said that various tech training programs centered around AI development have placed over 2,700 individuals in “good jobs” to date.
To do this, Singapore said it plans to “deepen” partnerships with major players in the industry, including chipmakers and cloud services providers (CSPs), as well as support local Singapore-based compute industry firms.
It plans to implement its action steps over the next 3-5 years to support its ambitions in the AI sector.
Singapore follows other countries in its push to embrace AI. Recently, at its AI Safety Summit, the United Kingdom said it plans to invest 300 million pounds into obtaining and operating 2 AI supercomputers to boost its own footprint in the global AI race.
OpenAI, one of the world’s leading AI developers, announced a partnership with G42 in Dubai to expand its reach into the Middle East region.
Meanwhile, the United States, one of the world’s top chip manufacturing hubs, has begun to tighten export controls targeting certain countries on its technology to develop and power high-level AI systems.
Taiwan’s principal financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), is considering allowing crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the country, but only after analyzing the product’s development in other markets worldwide. At the moment, the FSC considers itself to be “in the exploratory phase.”
According to a Dec. 5 report in the Taiwanese newspaper, the Commercial Times, the FSC is closely watching developments in the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission will review spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs in January. It also monitors developments in Canada and Australia, where local exchanges trade crypto ETFs.
The FSC also reportedly acknowledged the launch of numerous cryptocurrency futures commodities listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, among others.
The FSC intends to gradually liberalize the rules for digital asset trading, but it should rely on “self-discipline and regulation.” According to the report, Taiwanese regulators have repeatedly blocked crypto ETF initiatives by local investment banks in recent years due to the high volatility of cryptocurrencies.
Cointelegraph reached out to the Financial Supervisory Commission for further information.
Crypto regulatory developments have recently accelerated in Taiwan. In October, local legislators introduced the Virtual Asset Management Bill, a 30-page document outlining regulatory demands for the industry.
It suggests some common-sense obligations for virtual asset service providers, such as separating customer funds from the company’s reserve funds, and, at the same time, doesn’t require stablecoin issuers to hold a 1:1 ratio of reserve funds and doesn’t prohibit algorithmic stablecoins.
Smart contract development firm Thirdweb reported a security vulnerability that potentially “impacts a variety of smart contracts across the Web3 ecosystem.”
On Dec. 4, Thirdweb reported a vulnerability in a commonly used open-source library that could impact specific pre-built smart contracts, including some of its own. However, Thirdweb’s investigations concluded that the smart contract vulnerability has not yet been exploited, allowing a small window of opportunity for Web3 firms to avoid a possible hack.
Highlighting the vulnerability’s potential to cause massive damage if not rectified immediately, Thirdweb stated:
“The impacted pre-built contracts include but are not limited to DropERC20, ERC721, ERC1155 (all versions), and AirdropERC20.”
Following the proactive warning to Web3 ecosystem, the firm cautioned users who deployed its contracts before Nov. 22 to “take mitigation steps” independently or by using a company-provided tool.
IMPORTANT
On November 20th, 2023 6pm PST, we became aware of a security vulnerability in a commonly used open-source library in the web3 industry.
This impacts a variety of smart contracts across the web3 ecosystem, including some of thirdweb’s pre-built smart contracts.…
Thirdweb also advised developers to help users revoke approvals on all affected contracts using revoke.cash, “which will protect your users if you choose not to mitigate the contract,” DefiLlama developer “0xngmi” commented on the request to revoke approvals.
btw this seems important, theyre asking to revoke all approvals to third web contracts (you might have interacted with them without knowing as theyre white-labelled, especially if you do stuff around nfts) https://t.co/T1YU9xnIRb
Thirdweb has contacted the maintainers of the open-source library at the root of the vulnerability and contacted other teams potentially impacted by the issue.
It also pledged to increase investment in security measures and double bug bounty payouts from $25,000 to $50,000 while implementing a more rigorous auditing process. The firm also offered a grant to cover contract mitigations.
“We understand that this will cause disruption, and we are treating the mitigation of the issue with the utmost seriousness. We will be offering a retroactive gas grant to cover fees for contract mitigations.”
Full details of the vulnerability were not disclosed for security purposes, and Cointelegraph contacted Thirdweb for further updates but was redirected to the blog post.
The firm raised $24 million in a Series A funding round with Haun Ventures, Coinbase, Shopify and Polygon in August 2022.
The Web3 company, which provides multichain smart contract deployment tools for gaming, minting, marketplaces and wallets, claims to have more than 70,000 developers using its services monthly.