A federal judge in California has dismissed a class action lawsuit against reality TV star Kim Kardashian, boxing champ Floyd Mayweather and the founders of EthereumMax, explaining that the submissions failed to meet the “heightened pleading standards” for fraud claims. The judge has, however, left room for the plaintiffs to refile the proposed class action lawsuit if certain provisions are amended. In the original Jan. 7 court filing submitted by Scott + Scott Attorneys At Law, the plaintiffs argued that Kardashian, Mayweather, and also former NBA superstar Paul Pierce didn’t disclose they were being paid to promote EthereumMax (EMAX). The …

Chainlink has a busy start to December when it comes to development launches. The Chainlink (LINK) staking program opened up for early access on Dec. 6 and will expand access on Dec. 8. According to Chainlink, staking will further secure the project’s node ecosystem and alerting mechanism: “Stakers gain access to staking rewards for securing the network through timely and valid alerts, and in the future, for slashing and loss protection.” Historically, mainnet launches and staking incentives stir up a flurry of blockchain activity and data from on-chain analytics firm Arkham shows a sharp uptick in activity. Chainlink Staking went …

The FTX crisis kept Bitcoin’s (BTC) price under pressure in November, but data from Bitstamp exchange shows institutional investors may have viewed the dip as a buying opportunity. The exchange told Cointelegraph that compared to October, its revenue from institutions increased by 34% in November. In another positive sign, Goldman Sachs executive Mathew McDermott told Reuters that the bank was doing some due diligence on crypto companies since they were “priced more sensibly” after the FTX crash. ARK Invest said in the latest edition of its monthly “The Bitcoin Monthly" newsletter, that the FTX implosion “could be the most damaging …

Cardano’s decentralized exchange has announced a new feature to draw in liquidity. Called “organic APR,” the feature increases token emissions as more liquidity is put into the pool, according to a Twitter thread from the team. It will be introduced into a single pool on Dec. 8 and may be offered in other pools later. The new feature has elicited praise from some Cardano users, but others have expressed dissatisfaction with it. We have developed something special for you! Organic APR ‍ Introducing Organic APR in one sentence: The more people contribute to a pool, the higher the APR Why …

The United States lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 that includes information on crypto rewards and payouts. The proposed amendment under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requires the Department of State, an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations, to inform about any crypto payouts or rewards within 15 days of making it. The NDAA is the name for each of a series of United States federal laws specifying the annual budget and expenditures of the U.S. Department of Defense. The official document …

A federal judge overseeing Three Arrows Capital’s (3AC’s) bankruptcy proceedings has signed an order approving subpoenas to be delivered to 3AC’s former leadership, including co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies. The subpoenas require the founders to give up any “recorded information, including books, documents, records, and papers” in their custody that relates to the firm’s property or financial affairs. The infamous hedge fund, worth $10 billion at its peak, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy on Jul. 1 with its troubles tied up in too much leverage and the collapse of Terra Luna (LUNA), known now as Terra Classic (LUNC), and …

Cryptocurrencies tied to national soccer teams have failed to keep the attention of 2022 FIFA World Cup fans, with many soccer-linked fan token prices plummeting since the tournament began. Between Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Argentina, the associated digital fan tokens have fallen between 60% to 88% percent in price since the start of the World Cup on Nov. 20, according to CoinGecko. This is despite Brazil, Argentina and Portugal reaching the quarter-finals, while Spain was a strong contender up until they were knocked out on Dec. 6. The tokens do generally react to immediate results, with Spain's SNFT token down …

Ether (ETH) rallied 11.3% between Nov. 28 and Dec. 5, peaking at $1,300 before facing a 4.6% rejection. The $1,300 resistance level has been holding ground for twenty-six days and is the most likely explanation for the correction to $1,240 on Dec. 6. So from one side, traders are relieved that Ether is trading 16% above the $1,070 low reached on Nov. 22, but it must be frustrating to fail at the same level the entire week. In addition to the price rejection, investors' mood worsened after three members of the United States Senate reportedly requested information from Silvergate Bank …

For over 14 years, central banks worldwide have seen blockchain technology deliver highly secure, immutable, verifiable and transparent financial ecosystems, starting with the Bitcoin network. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) stood out as one of the ways for fiat currency to harness a part of what cryptocurrencies achieve today. To not only keep up with rising inflation and cut down on operational costs but also to counter money laundering and related concerns, 98 of 195 countries — representing over 95% of global GDP — have either launched or are researching and developing their own versions of CBDC. With CBDCs joining …

Silvergate Capital CEO Alan Lane has slammed “short sellers” and “other opportunists” for spreading misinformation over the last few weeks — just to score themselves a quick buck. In a Dec. 5 public letter, Lane said there was “plenty of speculation – and misinformation” being spread by these parties to “capitalize on market uncertainty” caused in part to FTX’s catastrophic collapse in November. His crypto-focused bank was recently forced to deny one of these so-called FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) campaigns last week when there was speculation that the firm was exposed to the bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi. Lane also …

It’s the final month of the year and analysts are out with their projections for the next year. In a note to investors, Standard Chartered suggested that “The financial-market surprises of 2023” will include Bitcoin (BTC) price diving to $5,000 at some point in the year. The fall will be triggered by a liquidity crunch, which could result in more bankruptcies and a fall in investor confidence in the crypto sector. If this feels like an extreme, venture capitalist Tim Draper went in the opposite direction and predicted that Bitcoin could skyrocket to $250,000 by the middle of 2023. While …

Litecoin (LTC) could rise another 20% amid a rare trend reversal breakout that has already resulted in LTC outperforming most crypto assets in recent days. LTC's not-so-bearish symmetrical triangle LTC's price broke out of what earlier appeared to be a bearish symmetrical triangle. Symmetrical triangles are trend continuation patterns, meaning breaking out of their range typically prompts the price to move in the direction of their previous trend. Litecoin formed a symmetrical triangle pattern between May and November after dropping 70% to nearly $40 in the prior trading sessions. Ideally, the LTC/USD pair could have resolved the pattern by breaking …