Crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain has reported it had been negotiating to sell assets and “engage in an equipment financing transaction” in an effort to avoid filing for bankruptcy. In a Dec. 12 announcement, Argo Blockchain said it was at risk of having insufficient funds to continue operating within a month, and was in the middle of “advanced negotiations” to sell certain assets. Though the mining firm said it had not filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States, “inadvertently published materials” related to the company’s financial situation led to the suspension of trading on the London Stock Exchange, …

Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of crypto derivatives platform BitMEX, thinks the worst might be over for Bitcoin (BTC) this cycle as the "largest most irresponsible entities" have run out of BTC to sell. "Looking forward, pretty much everyone who could go bankrupt has gone bankrupt,” he said in the Dec. 11 interview with crypto advocate and podcaster Scott Melker. Hayes elaborates on his stance by explaining that when centralized lending firms (CELs) have financial troubles, they will often call in loans first, then sell BTC first because it operates as the “reserve asset of crypto” and “the most pristine …

A former top crypto regulator in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will represent Caroline Ellison, ex-Alameda Research CEO, in an ongoing federal probe, according to a report from Bloomberg on Dec. 10. Caroline will be represented by Stephanie Avakian and a team of attorneys from WilmerHale. Avakain is currently chair of the Securities and Financial Services department at the law firm. At the SEC, where she was a director at the Enforcement Division and responsible to expand cryptocurrency oversight, bringing cases against Robinhood and Ripple Lab. According to the law firm website, "Ms. Avakian oversaw the Division’s …

Shark Tank star and investor Kevin O’Leary, known in some circles as Mr. Wonderful, has claimed he has all but lost the $15 million FTX paid him to be its official spokesperson. Speaking at CNBC’s Squawk Box on Dec. 8, O’Leary outlined that after taxes, agents fees, a $1 equity investment into FTX, and buying a whole lot of crypto that's now stuck on the FTX exchange, he's got nothing left to show for his time with FTX. “Total deal was just under $15 million, [...] I put about $9.7 million into crypto. I think that’s what I’ve lost. It's …

The number of lawsuits against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been racking up since the fall of his crypto empire, with the former “white knight” of crypto finding himself a defendant in seven class action lawsuits filed since FTX’s bankruptcy. These lawsuits are separate from the numerous probes and investigations examining FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, such as a reported market manipulation probe by federal prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission’s likely investigation into Bankman-Frieds dark money donations to the Republican Party. Below is a summary of the class-action lawsuits brought against Sam Bankman-Fried since Nov. 11. Dec. 7: Podalsky …

A federal judge has ordered crypto lender Celsius to return crypto worth around $44 million to the platform’s custody program customers. According to Bloomberg, the verbal order was delivered by United States Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in a Dec. 7 hearing, with the judge noting: “I want this case to move forward. I want creditors to recover as much as they possibly can as soon as they possibly can.” The amount — which applies only to crypto held within custody accounts — is a tiny fraction of the billions Celsius owes creditors, and the latest decision comes after an agreement …

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 …

In an interview with Yahoo Finance on Dec. 6, Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary called for calm in the wake of FTX’s collapse. The exchange’s former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, should be understood as innocent unless evidence comes to light that shows he has committed fraud, O’Leary stated. Sam Bankman-Fried is also known as “SBF.” O’Leary called for an audit of FTX to reveal where the exchange’s money went so that investors can get their funds back. The narrative on the @FTX_Official situation is quickly changing from "throw everyone in jail" to "where is my money?" Time for a forensic audit and …

In a recent interview Michael Saylor, the MicroStrategy executive chairman and major Bitcoin (BTC) bull, shared his perspective on the fall of the FTX empire. Saylor said that for years there has been a low-grade “boiling Guerrilla war” between the BTC community opposite the crypto community over industry practices such as, what he repeatedly calls, “shitcoinery." In Saylor’s perspective, Sam Bankman-Fried was “the poster child” of the latter. “There is something ethically broken about being able to issue your own unregistered security. Sam and most of the people in the crypto world were always guilty of the sin of shitcoinery.” …

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius was granted an extension on its exclusivity period until Feb. 15, 2023. The court approval would give the troubled crypto lender another couple of months to file for a Chapter 11 restructuring plan. The approval to extend the exclusivity period came after two court hearings on Dec. 6. Celsius, in an official tweet, said that they requested approval to permit the sale of stablecoin, aimed at providing liquidity for continued operations The Judge has indicated that he will share his decision soon, likely next week. Celsius hopes to use the extension period to develop a plan …

Mike Novogratz-led investment firm Galaxy Digital Holdings has won the bidding to buy GK8, an institutional digital asset self-custody platform owned by Celsius Network — pending court approvals and certain closing conditions. According to a Dec. 2 blog post from GK8 and a press release from Galaxy, if the acquisition goes ahead, Galaxy will acquire the platform's nearly 40-strong team as part of the deal including cryptographers and blockchain engineers and the GK8's team office in Tel Aviv. GK8 is a self-custody platform for managing blockchain-based assets which offers custody, staking, DeFi, NFT support, tokenization and trading. The team behind …

Former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has signaled he's unwilling to testify before the United States Congress until he’s “finished learning and reviewing what happened.” Bankman-Fried was responding to a Dec. 2 tweet from U.S. Representative Maxine Waters inviting him to testify in a scheduled U.S. House Committee on Financial Services hearing on Dec. 13 to discuss "what happened" at FTX. In a Dec. 4 response on Twitter, the former FTX CEO said he feels it is his “duty to appear before the committee and explain,” but only once he's “finished learning and reviewing what happened," adding he wasn't “sure” …