What a week for the crypto market: Bitcoin hits $93,000, FTX sues Binance and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Chao for $1.76 billion, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF hits $40 billion, investors drop appeal of Dogecoin case against Elon Musk, and 'cryptocurrency' dad denies interest in becoming SEC chairman.
Let's take a look at these and reflect on what happened with cryptocurrencies this week.
Bitcoin reaches $93,000
Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $93,000 earlier this week, thanks in part to Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election in early November.
At the beginning of the week, Bitcoin breached the $82,000 mark, then rose to $84,000 and then $87,000. Given Trump’s pro-crypto stance during his campaign, Trump’s victory helped propel Bitcoin to new heights, but it’s not the only reason for its recent bull run.
The main reason, according to OnRamp Bitcoin co-founder Jesse Myers, is that the crypto market is “more than six months from the halving.”
In Myers' view, “supply shocks are building up,” meaning “at current prices there is not enough supply to meet demand,” and “we need to restore equilibrium between supply and demand.” he added.
Earlier this month, James Tordeano, chief operating officer of self-custody wallet Unity, said it would be “disingenuous” to say that the US election results were directly responsible for the rise in Bitcoin prices. As Bitcoin reaches new heights, Matthew Siegel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, predicted that the current Bitcoin rally is in its infancy.
FTX sues Binance and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Chao for $1.76 billion
Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has filed a lawsuit against Binance and Qiao Changpeng for allegedly fraudulent transfers.
According to a Nov. 10 filing, FTX's former co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman Freed told Binance and Binance executives in July 2021 that “at least 1.7 billion fraudulently transferred 60 million dollars.
In 2019, Binance acquired a 20% stake in FTX, and in 2020 acquired an additional 18.4% stake in WRS, a subsidiary of US-based Bankman Freed. However, in July 2021, the two exchanges agreed to an agreement under which FTX would buy back Binance and its executives' entire shares in FTX and WRS.
This equates to approximately $1.76 billion in FTX's FTT token, BNB, and BUSD (Binance's stablecoin).
The filing said the transfer was fraudulent because FTX's sister company Alameda Research, which financed the transfer, was bankrupt at the time and could not afford to disburse the funds.
Alameda “used approximately $1 billion of the FTX Trading capital received from depositors to fund share buybacks,” according to testimony from former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison.
BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF reaches $40 billion
BlackRock's Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) hit a new record this week. Net worth reached $40 billion in 211 days.
The record comes two weeks after he reached a net worth of $30 billion in 293 days at the end of October. BlackRock's new results surpass the previous record of 1,253 days held by the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.
“[BlackRock]is currently in the top 1% of all ETFs based on assets, and at 10 months old, it's larger than all 2,800 ETFs launched in the past 10 years,” Balciunas added. Ta.
As of the publication of this article, BlackRock holds more than 471,000 Bitcoins (worth $42.8 billion), according to iShares data.
Investors drop appeal in Dogecoin lawsuit against Elon Musk
Investors who earlier this week sued Elon Musk and his company Tesla for manipulating the Dogecoin cryptocurrency have dropped their appeal.
The lawsuit, filed by Dogecoin investors, alleges that Musk used his influential public platform to artificially inflate Dogecoin's price for personal gain. Investors cited Musk's tweets and public appearances as evidence of a pattern of market manipulation.
But U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who dismissed the case, said the investors could not prove their securities fraud claims based solely on Musk's public statements.
The judge found that Musk's claims that Dogecoin was “Earth's future currency” or that it could be “floated on the moon” by SpaceX were not credible grounds for insider trading or fraud claims. He said no.
“Crypto Dad” denies interest in becoming SEC Chairman
Former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo, known as the “Dad of Cryptocurrency,” has addressed rumors that he is being considered to replace Gary Gensler as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). I denied it.
Giancarlo, known as Crypto Dad, said in a post on X:
“I have already cleaned up the mess that Gary Gensler previously made at @CFTC and have made it clear that I don't want to do it again,” he added, “DC Rumors of interest in the role of cryptocurrencies @USTreasury are also false.
Mr. Giancarlo served on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2014 to 2019. He was appointed acting chair of the CFTC in January 2017 and confirmed in August 2017 to serve as chair until 2019.
Speculation over the future head of the SEC came after President Donald Trump vowed earlier this month to fire Gensler after re-election to the White House. Other candidates for the role include SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, and current SEC Commissioner Mark Ueda.
