United States prosecutors have opposed a motion by a former employee of nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea to remove “insider trading” references from his charges. Prosecutors said the phrase accurately describes the crimes the former OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain is accused of in a memo filed on Oct. 14. It was responding to a motion by Chastain to stop referring to the phrase on Oct. 3, according to Law360. Chastain was charged in June for allegedly buying 45 NFTs from June to September 2021 through anonymous wallets and selling them for a profit. He allegedly used his position at …

Perhaps one of the most captivating signs of the industry’s maturity is the increasing amount of court cases in which crypto companies fight back against perceived regulatory abuses. Last week saw some major advancements in that direction. Digital asset manager Grayscale has filed its opening brief against the United States Securities Exchange Commission to challenge its decision denying Grayscale’s application to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to Grayscale, the SEC must submit its brief by Nov. 9. A U.S.-based crypto policy advocacy group, Coin Center has followed through with its intention …

A judge has partially denied a motion moved by Aptos Labs CEO Mo Shaikh to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Shari Glazer, who claims to be cheated out of equity as an early investor. According to a court transcript published on Oct.10, fraud and other three legal claims were dismissed by the court, while three others were allowed to proceed, specifically breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and Glazer's alleged entitlement to 50% of Matonee. Aptos was founded by former Meta employees Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching. The founders were also involved in Mark Zuckerberg's failed Diem project. Diem Association and …

Publicly available court documents related to Celsius’ bankruptcy proceedings has revealed data concerning thousands of its customers in a financial disclosure form filed on Oct 5. The document contains over 14,500 pages and while addresses of customers have been redacted, it includes customer names, amounts, types, description and timing of transactions on the platform, along with the U.S. dollar amounts and cryptocurrency type used among other details. There has been a general unease in the crypto community over the publicly available information included in the court documents. Henry de Valence founder of Web3 startup Penumbra Labs told his 9,000 Twitter …

After months of investigation without any single arrest and the main offender on the run teasing the enforcers on Twitter, South Korean police have reportedly captured the first person involved in the Terra blockchain ecosystem collapse. The news about the arrest of Yoo Mo, the head of the business team of Terraform Labs, appeared in Korean media on Nov. 6, later the district prosecutor Choi Sung-kook confirmed the information to Forkast. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office issued a bench warrant on Yoo on Nov. 5, reportedly charging him with the violation of the Capital Markets Act and fraud by …

Celsius Network founder and former CEO Alex Mashinsky allegedly withdrew $10 million from the crypto lending platform just weeks before the company froze customer funds and declared bankruptcy. The withdrawal was cited by sources from the Financial Times who said Mashinsky withdrew the funds in “mid to late May” prior to the Jun. 12 pause on all withdraws. Celsius was a popular crypto-lending platform with 1.7 million customers and $25 billion in assets under management but the prevailing poor crypto market conditions eventually led the company to a $2.85 billion gap in its balance sheet. This led Celsius to pause …

Israeli-based crypto exchange Bits of Gold became the first crypto firm in the country to receive a license from the Capital Markets Authority according to social media posts from the company on Sept. 18. As a result of attaining the license, Bits of Gold will be able to store digital currencies through secured custody in a “Bits of Gold Wallet” they have been working on for some time. It will also start providing a service that enables banks and other financial institutions to connect to its digital asset services. In a public statement, Bits of Gold said that the license …

Crypto markets are flashing a bit of green on Sept. 22 as Bitcoin (BTC) price tacked on a 4.7% gain to trade above $19,300 and Ether (ETH) surged 6.5% to recapture the $1,300 level. RSR and and Astar Network (ASTAR) also surged by 23% and 17% respectively, but the more notable mover of the day was XRP. Currently, XRP price reflects a near 25% gain and the asset is up 41% in the past month. According to defense lawyer, James K. Filan, on Sept. 18 Ripple Labs filed a motion for summary judgement - a legal process which involves the …

A United States crypto advocacy group, the Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC), has been granted approval from the Court of Southern District of New York to participate as an amicus curiae in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against Ripple Labs. The status of “friend of the court” permits them to assist a court by providing information, expertise or insight. An order was signed by Judge Analisa Torres on Sept. 21. The CDC shall file its brief by Sept. 26. While explaining its interest in the case, the CDC legal team emphasized the far-reaching consequences of the court …

The judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Katherine Polk Failla, ordered Tether to prove 1-to-1 backing of its eponymous stablecoin, Tether (USDT). The company is required to provide “general ledgers, balance sheets, income statements, cash-flow statements, and profit and loss statements” and other documents to the court. The order was published on Sept. 20 as a part of a case that started back in 2019 — the initial complaint by a group of investors against iFinex, Tether and Bitfinex's parent company, alleged that the firm manipulated the crypto market by issuing unbacked …

Quantitative trading company Alameda Research will return an estimate of $200 million to Voyager Digital, which is proceeding through bankruptcy. Alameda borrowed the funds in cryptocurrencies in September 2021. At that time, the sum was close to $380 million. Per a recent filing in the Bankruptcy Court of Southern District of New York, the parties have reached an agreement, and Alameda will return around 6,553 Bitcoin (BTC) and 51,000 Ether (ETH) by Sept. 30. In its corporate Twitter account Alameda confirmed its readiness to return the funds: happy to return the Voyager loan and get our collateral back whenever works …

Despite enforcing a major cryptocurrency ban one year ago, the Chinese government still protects local crypto investors as crypto is recognized as virtual property protected by the law. One of the world’s most hostile countries toward Bitcoin (BTC), China has not yet banned the possession of cryptocurrencies, according to David Lesperance, founder of Lesperance & Associates law firm. Crypto holders in China are protected by the law in case of theft, misappropriation or breach of a loan agreement, Lesperance told Cointelegraph. He emphasized that crypto exchanges are still banned in China. The lawyer referred to a recent Chinese court case …