Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has largely denied the allegations against him in a ‘pre-mortem overview’ of the crypto exchange’s insolvency. In a Jan. 12 post on Substack, Bankman-Fried — differentiating between companies under the FTX umbrella — claimed FTX US had been “fully solvent” at the time the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with roughly $350 million in cash on hand. He pointed to Sullivan & Crowell and the FTX US general counsel as parties who pressured him into naming John Ray as the CEO of FTX prior to the firm’s bankruptcy, seemingly disrupting a path toward making …

In the fourth episode of Hashing It Out podcast series, Cointelegraph’s Elisha Owusu Akyaw discusses the evolution of decentralized finance (DeFi) with DeFi Dad, a DeFi educator and investor at Fourth Revolution Capital (4RC). DeFi Dad got into the cryptocurrency industry in 2017; however, things really took off for him after the bull market top in early 2018. Despite the downturn that followed, he decided to double down on crypto with a specific focus on decentralized finance. His love for DeFi translated into somewhat of an addiction, which led to the creation of a series of educational videos to onboard …

FTX’s bankruptcy judge has reportedly slammed the joint letter from four United States senators calling for an independent examiner in the FTX bankruptcy case. As reported by Cointelegraph, the senators sent a letter on Jan. 9 highlighting concerns about the ties between FTX and their legal representative, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. However, in a Jan. 11 hearing, Judge John Dorsey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware called the letter “inappropriate ex parte communication” which he would not take into account in his decision. “I will make my decisions on the matters based only upon admissible evidence …

The names of up to nine million FTX customers are set to remain confidential for at least three more months following the latest ruling in FTX bankruptcy proceedings. The decision was reportedly made by Judge John Dorsey in the Delaware-based bankruptcy court on Jan. 11 in response to a 168-page filing by FTX on Jan. 8 which requested the court to withhold confidential customer information. Judge Dorsey said that he remains “reluctant at this point” to disclose the confidential information, as it may put creditors “at risk,” despite increased pressure from several media outlets: "We're talking about individuals here who …

Miami-Dade County will soon start to remove FTX's advertising brand from the NBA’s Miami Heat arena, after granting the right from a United States bankruptcy judge in Delaware on Jan. 11, the Associated Press reports. County officials negotiated in 2021 a $135 million deal with the crypto exchange for renaming rights to the Miami Heat's arena as FTX Arena until 2040. A number of entrances, the roof of the arena, the basketball court, the security polo shirts, as well as many of the cards employees use to access the facility are branded with FTX logos. Following FTX’s bankruptcy filing, officials …

According to an attorney familiar with the matter, troubled cryptocurrency exchange FTX has "recovered $5 billion in cash and liquid cryptocurrencies." However, the exchange is still "working to rebuild transaction history," and the total amount of customer shortfall is "still unclear." Cointelegraph previously reported that FTX has $8.8 billion in total liabilities. At the time, sources said the exchange had very little in cash and liquid digital assets, amounting to an estimated $8 billion hole in its balance sheet. Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of FTX, has pled not guilty to all criminal charges related to the exchange's fallout. The …

The crypto community woke up to another drama-filled day after the Digital Currency Group (DCG) chief's reflection went wrong. DCG chief Barry Silbert penned a letter to the shareholders on Jan. 10, reflecting on the state of the crypto market and the growing FUD around the company. DCG is the parent company of Genesis Global Capital, a crypto lending firm and Grayscale, the world’s leading crypto asset manager. In the letter, Silbert addressed the growing issues around DCG and its subsidiaries owing to the bear market and FTX contagion. He said that bad actors and the implosion of leading crypto …

A group of four United States senators have criticized one of the law firms involved in the bankruptcy case of crypto exchange FTX for conflicts of interest. In a Jan. 9 letter to Judge John Dorsey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Senators John Hickenlooper, Thom Tillis, Elizabeth Warren, and Cynthia Lummis — a bipartisan group — called on the judge to approve a motion appointing an independent examiner into FTX’s activities prior to its collapse in November. The U.S. lawmakers said Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm currently tasked with the investigation, had previously provided …

As the investigation into FTX continues, the crypto exchange’s former engineering chief Nishad Singh followed former FTX and Alameda Research executives Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison by reportedly meeting with federal prosecutors to cut a deal. Singh attended a proffer session sometime last week at the United States Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York for prosecutors to determine if he has valuable information to offer in the lawsuit against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a Jan. 10 Bloomberg report. Prosecutors are interested in Singh’s insight regarding FTX’s political donations as one of the charges Bankman-Fried faces …

As many as 117 parties have expressed interest in buying up one or more of FTX’s independently operated subsidiaries including FTX Japan, FTX Europe, LedgerX and Embed. In a Jan. 8 court filing made by Kevin Cofsky, a partner at Perella Weinberg, the investment bank representing FTX US and affiliated firms. Cofsky stated: “Approximately 117 parties, including various financial and strategic counterparties globally, have expressed interest to the Debtors in a potential purchase of one or more of the Businesses.” He added that the debtors have entered into 59 confidentiality agreements with potential counterparties who have expressed interest in any …

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has pled not guilty to all criminal charges he’s facing, including wire fraud, securities fraud and violations of campaign finance laws. In total, the entrepreneur faces eight criminal counts, which could result in 115 years in prison should he be convicted. Meanwhile, Daniel Friedberg, the controversial lawyer who served as top compliance chief at FTX, has reportedly cooperated with prosecutors and provided them with his knowledge of SBF’s use of customer funds to finance his illegal business scheme. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has formed the FTX Task …

The power that influencers have in affecting public perception and therefore causing alterations in the value of a product, service, asset or currency has increased to the point where they can crash or uplift entire markets with their content and takes. The Elon Effect In 2021, Elon Musk could send the price of the famous memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE) up by 50% with just a single tweet. He still has a lot of power over the crypto markets, and several people in the cryptocurrency world and traditional finance have accused Musk of manipulating the cryptocurrency market with just a few tweets. …