Crypto NFT Today: The latest news in blockchain, cryptocurrency and NFT: 7-13 December 2022
Welcome to another edition of Crypto NFT Today! If you like cryptocurrency, NFTs and riding emotional roller coasters, this is the place to be.
Are you ready for the crunch? Let’s get started.
FTX founder arrested, charged with fraud by SEC
FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with defrauding investors.
Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities on Monday at the request of the US government. Just 24 hours later, the now infamous former crypto underworld has been charged with violating the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The SEC’s complaint seeks an injunction against future violations of securities laws prohibiting Bankman-Fried from engaging in the issuance, purchase, offer or sale of securities except for his own personal account.
FTC Opposes Microsoft Activision Blizzard Acquisition
Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard hit a roadblock on Thursday when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reportedly opposed the deal.
According to the FTC, the acquisition could violate antitrust regulations, citing Microsoft’s penchant for freezing out other gaming rivals by withholding content.
Microsoft CEO and Chairman Satya Nadella had previously stated that the acquisition would “play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”
However, the FTC is caught between two media megaliths, as the regulator filed a lawsuit against Meta in July alleging “its ultimate goal to own the entire ‘metaverse’.”
Whether the FTC will side with Microsoft to allow more competition in the metaverse space or with Microsoft’s gaming rivals is yet to be determined.
The report suggests that Bahamas officials are asking Bankman-Fried to mint new assets after the FTX Fallout
According to a December 12 Bloomberg report, Bahamian government officials asked Sam Bankman-Fried to mint hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new digital assets, following the collapse of FTX in November.
The authorities also reportedly asked the former FTX boss to transfer the new tokens to the control of the island’s officials. FTX’s lawyers also said in a Bahamian lawsuit that officials were trying to help Bankman-Fried regain access to key computer systems of the now-defunct FTX trading platform.
According to US lawyers, Bahamian officials were “responsible for directing unauthorized access” to FTX systems to seize control of digital assets under the supervision of a US court.
The report has strained ties between the United States and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas during the same period when Bahamian officials arrested Bankman-Fried at the behest of the US government.
Mintlayer to launch new token
Mintlayer – a layer-2 solution that unlocks decentralized finance (DeFi), smart contracts, atomic swaps, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and apps for Bitcoin – has announced its token launch event: March 21, 2023. The team has decided to issue payments to all token holders who have supported the project in the form of ERC-20 tokens. The Mintlayer tool can be used to purchase various services from RBB Lab.
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