The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), joined by 16 state attorney generals, filed an antitrust lawsuit against tech giant Apple, claiming its app store rules create a monopoly that hampers competition and stifles innovation. The lawsuit argues that practices such as forcing developers to use Apple’s payment system and restricting them through various rules […]
Bitcoin News
Singapore High Court Denies 3AC’s Bid to Dismiss Suit by Defiance Capital Founder
The High Court of Singapore has denied Three Arrows Capital’s (3AC) attempt to dismiss a lawsuit by Defiance Capital founder Cheong Jun Yoong, affirming the legal standing of digital assets in trust disputes.
Singapore Court Upholds Defiance Capital’s Suit Against 3AC in Crypto Case
The High Court of Singapore has rejected a motion by the beleaguered crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Cheong Jun Yoong, founder of Web3 investment firm Defiance Capital.
Cheong, also known as Arthur Cheong, filed the suit in April 2023, asserting that Defiance Capital investors were the rightful beneficial owners of assets held in trust by 3AC. He argued that these funds should not be used to satisfy creditor claims against 3AC.
The genesis of the dispute traces back to the establishment of Defiance Capital as an “independent and standalone fund” on the 3AC platform. Under the arrangement, Cheong had access to 3AC’s resources, including its middle and back office infrastructure, fund administrators, and auditors. Despite its close operational ties with 3AC, Defiance maintained separate accounts and wallets under Cheong’s control, contributing 25% of its fees to 3AC founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies.
By May 2022, Defiance Capital’s holdings included 22.3 million USDT and .8 million in various cryptocurrencies and fiat. Although Defiance Capital was later transferred out of 3AC and restructured as two separate entities in Singapore following 3AC’s move to Dubai, certain assets were not transferred as per a prior agreement.
The High Court’s decision, made public recently, delves into the nuanced legal arguments presented by both parties. Notably, the judgment acknowledged the potential for a trust relationship to exist, despite the wording of legal documents to the contrary. This point is critical, as it suggests that the assets under Defiance’s control might be exempt from being used to settle 3AC’s debts.
The court further established that the crypto assets in question, particularly those in Fireblocks wallets under 3AC control, were in trust. This finding challenges 3AC’s stance that such claims were without merit. Additionally, the court determined Singapore as the appropriate forum for the lawsuit, given the location of the individual controlling the wallet keys and the country’s legal nexus to the case.
This ruling marks a crucial milestone in the case and offers a glimmer of hope to Defiance Capital and its investors. It also sets a precedent in the crypto legal landscape, particularly concerning the treatment of digital assets and the application of trust law.
With the lawsuit against 3AC cleared to move forward, do you think Defiance Capital will be successful? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Donald Trump Launches ‘Mugshot Edition’ Digital Cards With Suit Scraps and Gala Dinner Invitations
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a new digital trading card collection, the Mugshot Edition, and this is the first time he is also offering physical cards. Buyers who purchase 47 of these Mugshot Edition cards will receive a scrap of the suit Trump wore for his mugshot photo, along with an invitation to a gala dinner at his Mar-a-Lago home.
Donald Trump’s Mugshot Digital Trading Card Collection
Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social Tuesday the launch of his new digital trading card collection, citing the success of his previous non-fungible token (NFT) collections. Trump wrote:
Due to the great excitement and success of my previous Trump digital trading cards, we’re doing it again — The Mugshot Edition, available right now.
“Plus, buy 47 cards and get a piece of the suit I wore for the ‘Mugshot Photo,’ and also get an invite to a gala dinner with me at Mar-a-Lago! Don’t wait, they’ll go fast (I believe!),” Trump emphasized. The former U.S. president is keeping the price of his NFT cards at per card.
In a video accompanying the announcement, Trump explained: “For the first time, we’re creating a real physical Trump card. Purchase 47 digital cards and we will mail you a beautiful trading card. It is an authentic piece of the suit I wore when I took that now-famous mugshot.” He noted that he will be “autographing some of them.”
Trump already launched two non-fungible token (NFT) collections. In December last year, he launched a digital card collection featuring art of his life and career. His second NFT digital card collection was launched in April, which was 19 days after he was indicted with 34 felony counts of allegedly falsifying business records.
In August, Trump’s mugshot photo sparked a surge in sales for his existing digital cards, driving a staggering 426% increase within 24 hours. In July, the former U.S. president revealed in a filing with the Office of Government Ethics that he received more than billion in income from sources including NFT sales.
What do you think about former U.S. President Donald Trump launching the Mugshot Edition of digital trading cards? Let us know in the comments section below.
Litecoin Hashrate Taps New All-Time High, Will LTC Price Follow Suit?
The Litecoin hashrate has been going up steadily over the last year. This was mainly driven by the anticipation leading up to the Litecoin halving that was slated to take place in August. Now that the halving event has come and gone, the hashrate has risen to a new all-time high, but the question is, whether the price of LTC will follow suit.
Litecoin Hashrate Taps New ATH Of 1.03 PH/s
The steady rise in the Litecoin hashrate is a testament to the growing interest in the network. The hashrate points to the fact that there are more miners on the blockchain trying to guess the correct answers to each block. And this translates to better security overall for the Litecoin network.
Interestingly, this increase in hashrate has seen the network hit not only a new all-time high but a significant milestone. According to data from CoinWarz, the Litecoin hashrate rose as high as 1.03 pentahashes per second (PH/s) on August 4.
This means that for the first time, LTC’s hashrate has left the terahashes per second (TH/s) territory and crossed into the pentahashes per second (PH/s) territory. Although it is still a long way from Bitcoin’s exahashes per second (EH/s), it is a testament to how much the Litecoin network has grown.
The Litecoin hashrate has since retraced back into the TH/s territory, now sitting at 739.88 TH/s as of Monday, August 7. But a look over the last year’s hashrate chart shows that even this is a high level for the blockchain’s hashrate.
Will LTC’s Price Follow The Hashrate?
Since the Litecoin hashrate hit its new all-time high, the price of LTC has been more volatile than normal. This is not out of the ordinary though as the altcoin has been following the general market trend and LTC’s is a testament to that trend.
So far though, it doesn’t seem like LTC has made any effort to break out of this trend. If anything, it has suffered more declines than recoveries, even dipping to as low as $.65 on August 4. This decline shows that the new hashrate ATH has not moved investors to invest more in the coin.
For now, something that could lead to an uptrend for Litecoin’s price is if Bitcoin begins another rally and the crypto market starts to see improved sentiment. Otherwise, LTC will likely continue to toe the line for the better part of the week.
At the time of writing, LTC price is trading at .80, down 0.47% in the last day and 11.67% in the last week.
NBA Hall of Famer Shaq Served in FTX Investor Suit
A law firm representing FTX investors has served former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal in a class-action case against celebrities who endorsed the failed crypto exchange. The lawsuit accuses Shaq, along with other public figures and the platform’s founder, of defrauding people who put money into FTX.
Shaquille Served Legal Notice in FTX Lawsuit Outside His Home, Lawyers Say
Following multiple attempts in the past months, legal representatives of a group of FTX investors have managed to serve Shaquille O’Neal in a suit against several celebrities who promoted FTX. The latter was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges before it filed for bankruptcy.
Plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit served Shaq outside his house, the Moskowitz Law Firm announced Monday on Twitter, quoted by CNN. The lawyers also pointed out that the service has been recorded by his home video cameras.
UPDATE: Plaintiffs in the billion $ FTX class action case just served @SHAQ outside his house. His home video cameras recorded our service and we made it very clear that he is not to destroy or erase any of these security tapes, because they must be preserved for our lawsuit.
— The Moskowitz Law Firm (@moskowitzesq) April 17, 2023
Court documents show O’Neal was the last among the celebrities named in the case, including Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen and Stephen Curry, to be served a legal notice. The lawsuit accuses them, along with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, of defrauding investors.
According to the lawyers, the basketball star has repeatedly evaded agents hired to serve the documents in person. After an attempt to serve the notice to O’Neal via his official Twitter and Instagram accounts was denied by a judge last week, Adam Moskowitz commented:
Mr. O’Neal’s conduct over the last 5 months in evading service in this action is unprecedented, and frankly shocking.
The attorney has previously called FTX “a massive Ponzi scheme” the organizers of which enlisted the help of sports and entertainment figures to promote it. “A lot of people think I’m involved, but I was just a paid spokesperson for a commercial,” Shaq was quoted as saying in December.
The major crypto asset exchange collapsed in mid-November, last year, amid problems with liquidity. Former CEO Bankman-Fried and several other executives have been charged with running a large-scale financial fraud scheme. While some of them have pleaded guilty, he has denied over a dozen counts of fraud and conspiracy.
What do you think will be the outcome of the court case against celebrities accused of promoting FTX? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.
Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC Moves Below $27,000, Following CFTC Suit Against Binance
Bitcoin moved below ,000 during Tuesday’s session, as the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance. The suit claims that Binance knowingly offered unregistered crypto products to U.S. customers. Ethereum was also lower on the news, briefly falling below ,700.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) fell below ,000 in today’s session, as markets reacted to the news that the CFTC had filed a lawsuit against Binance.
BTC/USD fell to an intraday low of ,606.69 on the news, which comes a day after trading at a peak of ,979.07.
As a result of today’s sell-off, the world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to its lowest level since March 17.
Looking at the chart, this drop comes after a recent floor at the ,100 mark was broken, which coincided with the relative strength index (RSI) also experiencing a breakout.
As of writing, the index is now tracking at the 58.51 level, which is marginally below its support at 60.00.
Overall, bulls have somewhat reentered the market, and as of writing, bitcoin is trading at ,126.85.
Ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) also moved lower on Tuesday, after nearly climbing back above ,800 to start the week.
Following a high of ,797.88 on Monday, ETH/USD dropped to a bottom at ,690.52 earlier in today’s session.
Similar to bitcoin, this decline sent ethereum to its weakest point since March 17, when prices fell to a floor at ,666.
The drop comes following a drop in price strength, which saw the RSI move to its lowest level in two weeks.
As of writing, the index has now bounced back from this floor at 51.00, and is currently tracking at 54.50.
Overall, ETH is down 1.52% over the last seven-days.
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Could this CFTC lawsuit be applied to other cryptocurrency exchanges? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Litecoin’s Hashrate Reaches All-Time High, Difficulty Follows Suit
The blockchain network Litecoin’s computational power reached an all-time high (ATH) on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, at block height 2,411,048, reaching 798.43 terahash per second (TH/s). In addition, Litecoin’s difficulty also reached an all-time high this week, hitting 23,505,031 the following day.
Litecoin’s Computational Power Climbs 38% in 30 Days
A significant amount of hashrate has been dedicated to the Litecoin (LTC) network over the last 30 days as the blockchain’s computational power climbed 38% higher from 576 terahash per second (TH/s) on Dec. 28, 2022, to the all-time high of 798 TH/s recorded on Jan. 25, 2023. Currently, Litecoin’s hashrate on Jan. 28, 2023, is around 691 TH/s, which is 20% higher than the hashrate last month. Litecoin’s price has also been climbing higher as LTC’s value increased by 34% against the U.S. dollar in the past 30 days.
The all-time high hashrate of 798 terahash per second (TH/s) is roughly 202 TH/s away from a single petahash per second (PH/s), which equates to 0.798 PH/s. Viabtc is the top Litecoin mining pool with 192 TH/s, or 27% of the total Litecoin hashrate. The crypto mining pool Viabtc is followed by F2pool (121 TH/s), Antpool (104 TH/s), Litecoinpool.org (77 TH/s), and Binance (69 TH/s), respectively. All five Litecoin mining pools also participate in dogecoin (DOGE) merge mining through a process called auxiliary proof-of-work (AuxPoW).
Litecoin will be the first of a few proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies to halve its mining reward, as its network precedes protocols like Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoinsv (BSV), and Bitcoin (BTC). The LTC network is expected to reduce its reward from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC on or around Aug. 3, 2023. Litecoin’s difficulty increased to 23.50 million on Jan. 26, and it was 3.28% higher over the last three days. Like Bitcoin, Litecoin’s difficulty adjustment occurs every 2,016 blocks, but LTC blocks are discovered at a rate of about 2.5 minutes per block.
This means Litecoin’s difficulty adjustment retargets every three days to keep the block time at a consistent rate. In the last month, the difficulty increased by 14.80%, and it rose 32.41% in the last 90 days. LTC has lost much of its market dominance since its early days, as it was once the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at the end of Jan. 2014. By the next year, around the same time, it was knocked down to the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. In the years following, LTC has gradually dropped to its current 17th position.
Interest in LTC has also dropped since 2013, as data from Google Trends (GT) indicates that, out of a score from 1-100, the search term “Litecoin” reached a score of 6 in 2013. In Dec. 2017, the term reached the highest score of 100, but today the score is half of what it was in 2013, at 3. GT data further shows that the search term “Litecoin” saw a rebound at the end of 2020, and a much larger spike throughout 2021. Most interest in Litecoin comes from Nigeria, the Netherlands, Czechia, the United States, and Slovenia.
What do you think the future holds for the Litecoin network as it approaches its next mining reward halving in August 2023? Share your thoughts and predictions in the comments below.
Miramax & Tarantino Settle Suit Over The Pulp Fiction NFTs, Hint At Future Plans
The Miramax and Quentin Tarantino partnership has been incredibly successful over the years. It wasn’t logical for it to end over NFTs. The two parties are once again on the same page, and the Pulp Fiction NFTs saga might’ve gotten a new chapter. Instead of fighting over scraps, the longtime partners decided to work together on future digital ventures. A production company like Miramax needs a director like Tarantino and vice versa. Do they need The Secret Network, though?
It’s unclear what will happen to the original Pulp Fiction NFTs that Tarantino produced in conjunction with The Secret Network. After selling the first one for over M, the company stopped on its tracks and canceled future auctions citing “extreme market volatility.” The move was suspicious, but the reasons for it were not immediately obvious. Did the Miramax lawyers scare them off? Or was it because the entity that bought that first NFT had tight affiliations to The Secret Network? Did the collection fail to attract the necessary attention? Were the buyers scared of future legal action by Miramax?
So far, The Secret Network’s official channels remain silent on the matter. And they recycled what used to be the Pulp Fiction NFTs’ Twitter account and gave it to a whole different project. Plus, the collection’s website seems to be dead as well. So, The Secret Network might be out of the Miramax and Tarantino deal.
What Do We Know About The Miramax And Tarantino Deal?
We don’t know much about who won in the negotiations or what exactly happened between Miramax and Tarantino. The only thing we know for sure is that “Miramax’s lawyers filed a brief statement in court,” and it was a joint statement by both entities. According to Variety, it said:
“The parties have settled this case and expect to file their dismissal papers within two weeks. The parties have agreed to put this matter behind them and look forward to collaborating with each other on future projects, including possible NFTs.”
Short and to the point.
Miramax’s news page didn’t mention the matter either.
SCRT price chart for 09/11/2022 on Kraken | Source: SCRT/USD on TradingView.com
What’s The Pulp Fiction NFTs’ Story?
In NewsBTC’s initial report on the matter, we explained the rights issue:
“On the one hand, Miramax was “Pulp Fiction’s” production company and still holds the rights to the 1994 masterpiece. On the other, Tarantino preserved the right to publish the screenplay, and the NFTs are based on that historical artifact.”
And the situation’s caveat was that under The Secret Network’s system, the NFT holder is the only person that can see what’s inside the file. That means, Miramax sued without knowing the NFTs’ content. And Tarantino and The Secret Network were determined to go ahead with the auction, and they heavily changed the NFTs content to be compliant. NewsBTC reported:
“The people involved in the sale fazed out all images related to Pulp Fiction and replaced them with just text or high contrast images of Quentin Tarantino himself. The content of the NFTs also changed, now The Secret Network describes them as:
“In collaboration with SCRT Labs, Tarantino has turned chapters from this historic document into a one-of-a-kind NFT publication. Each NFT in the collection consists of a single iconic scene, as well as personalized audio commentary by Tarantino himself.”
The initial ending was anticlimactic. The company’s press release said, “In light of extreme market volatility, we’ve decided to postpone the remainder of the auction to put the needs of our community first.” NewsBTC asked:
“Why did they do that? Nobody knows for sure. But the cover story is terrible, volatility? Really? Miramax didn’t take credit for the kill. And the Secret Network did not admit to low interest in the series or to technical difficulties. They just shut down the whole operation.”
And that was the story… until Tarantino and Miramax inked a deal to keep exploring the digital realm together.
Featured Image: Pulp Fiction in icons from Miramax’s site | Charts by TradingView
NewsBTC
Here’s Why The XRP Securities Suit Is Worse Than Past SEC Charges
In what has had an enormous ripple effect across the crypto industry, the SEC has filed a lawsuit that deems the XRP cryptocurrency token to be an unregistered security. Those on the defensive look to past instances of EOS and KIN as examples of tokens launched that barely got a slap on the wrist, paid a fine, and went on their merry ways.
However, one crypto analyst with a strong understanding of law explains exactly why this Ripple lawsuit is especially bad, and why XRP investors in the US are right to be worried.
Ripple Lawsuit: SEC Fires Shot Heard Round The Crypto Industry
This week, Ripple CEO first broke the news to the media that he was expecting a lawsuit from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The crypto market took pause to digest the new information and consider the potential impact of what was to come, and then XRP plummeted once investors came to grips with the severity.
Related Reading | Ripple Lawsuit Triggers XRP Led Altcoin Apocalypse
Retail investors panic sold, and even large hedge funds based in the US have now liquidated their holdings to stay compliant with US law. The expectation is that major exchanges like Coinbase will delist the altcoin next.
It immediately caused the cryptocurrency to fall in overall market cap, bleeding billions in hours. And while the “XRP army,” analysts, and supporters came out in droves with reasons why Ripple will be fine and so will their favorite centralized cryptocurrency, there is serious risk in this situation compared to others.
A look at the aftermath of the SEC lawsuit. However, support is still holding... | Source: XRPUSD on TradingView.com
Why The XRP Suit Doesn’t Compare To EOS Or KIN Cases
XRP supporters holding on to what they still can, might find comfort in knowing that the companies behind EOS and KIN tokens were able to successfully settle with the SEC, pay their fines, and move on.
Adam Cochran professional analyst and partner at Cinneamhain Ventures breaks down why the Ripple case is different.
First, the SEC asserts that XRP today is still an unregistered security, while EOS and KIN tokens were only at the time of sale. They also have documentation of centralization, which is what the crypto community often disliked most about XRP.
Related Reading | Ripple Effect: What The XRP SEC Lawsuit Says To New Crypto Projects
Ripple execs Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen are explicitly named in the case as liable. Cochran also says that exchanges will need to delist XRP immediately or risk being in violation of securities laws themselves. The SEC has issued a statement offering clarity around the situation, but others have added that although some leniency is being given to exchanges that have offered the token to customers thus far, it doesn’t give them the freedom to keep doing so now that XRP has been deemed a security.
Lastly, the case could drag out for years, causing XRP to suffer significantly as a result.
Featured image from Deposit Photos, Charts from TradingView.com