Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried addressed a New York courtroom under oath without the 12-member jury present.
According to reports from the courtroom on Oct. 26, SBF’s highly anticipated testimony kicked off in a hearing with defense attorney Mark Cohen questioning the former FTX CEO on his use of the messaging app Signal and retention of communications data at the crypto exchange. Bankman-Fried reportedly claimed he acted in accordance with company policies on records, and none of the media set to “auto-delete” were “channels for decisions.”
“Why did you turn off auto-delete?” Cohen asked Bankman-Fried.
“I had heard from regulators,” he replied.
Cohen pressed the former FTX CEO on the creation of North Dimension, an alleged “shadowy entity” used to launder customer funds from the crypto exchange through Alameda Research. According to SBF, former chief regulatory officer Dan Friedberg provided him with the papers setting up the firm, which he signed without question.
“Did you believe taking FTX deposits through Alameda was legal?” Cohen asked SBF.
“I did,” he replied.
“I was CEO of both at that time,” said Bankman-Fried on establishing North Dimension under Alameda and FTX. “FTX didn’t have a bank account.”
One of the key issues in the U.S. government’s case against SBF centers around allegations the former FTX CEO used customer funds from the crypto exchange to make investments through Alameda without users’ knowledge. Bankman-Fried testified that he communicated with Friedberg, law firm Fenwick & West, and FTX former general counsel Can Sun regarding the investments.
“I thought, only to futures trading,” said Bankman-Fried on whether he believed parts of FTX’s terms of services concerned the use of customer funds. “And Alameda was authorized to do that.”
Bankman-Fried will be the last witness to take the stand after more than three weeks in court laying out details of the alleged commingling of funds between FTX and Alameda. According to Kaplan, the jury will “decide in the first few days of next week” without hearing the entirety of the former FTX CEO’s testimony.
SBF has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges in his criminal case, but he is expected to face five more counts in a second trial scheduled to start in March 2024.
Hong Kong’s Cyberport, a government-backed business hub focused on Web3, blockchain and artificial intelligence, is ramping up its investment in emerging technologies to position the city as a global tech leader.
On Feb. 27, Cyberport hosted the “AI Safety, Trust, and Responsibility” forum with international AI academic institutions to discuss AI governance, safety and responsible innovation initiatives.
Hong Kong Cyberport hosts AI summit. Source: Cyberport
A day prior, on Feb. 26, the Hong Kong government’s 2025–26 budget paid special attention to emerging technologies, aiming to “seize the critical opportunities presented by technological reform and artificial intelligence development.”
Hong Kong invests heavily in Web3 and AI via the Cyberport hub
The Chinese Special Administrative Region allocated 1 billion Hong Kong dollars ($125.5 million) to establish the Hong Kong AI Research and Development Institute, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced during the Hing Kong budget speech.
The institute is dedicated to “facilitating upstream R&D, transforming midstream and downstream R&D outcomes, and expanding application scenarios.”
To fuel the Web3, blockchain and AI innovation, Cyberport’s Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Centre (AISC), which launched on Dec. 9, 2024, will grow to a computing power of 3,000 petaFLOPS and will be able to process 3,000 quadrillion floating-point operations per second.
Streamlining AI research and talent development
Additionally, one of the co-organizers of the AI forum, the World Digital Technology Academy (WDTA), also announced the establishment of the “WDTA Asia-Pacific Institute (preparatory)” at Cyberport.
Yale Li, the executive chairman of WDTA, highlighted the institute’s three core initiatives. These include building a “safety-native” technological framework, establishing a “human-oriented” value system and commitment to “responsible innovation.”
Cyberport has signed numerous Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with universities and institutions to help students with internship and employment opportunities. Lastly, the Hong Kong government allocated $3 billion Hong Kong dollars ($385.6 million) to Cyberport for the launch of a three-year AI Subsidy Scheme to support the innovations.