Phoebe's Bitmingham Beat

Montenegrin prosecutors have appealed the decision to extradite Terra co-founder Do Kwon to South Korea, CoinGecko reports Solana as the leading blockchain ecosystem by web traffic, Google integrates Ethereum Name Service data into search results, Worldcoin open-sources its Orb device software amid privacy concerns, Estonia proposes strict crypto regulation, and Pakistan's ITU announces the country's first metaverse classes.

Kraken Institutional launches a new crypto custody service for corporate clients, Ether experiences significant price volatility following SEC developments and Ethereum Foundation investigation, FTX's former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried faces a potential 40-50 year prison sentence, Montenegrin court approves the extradition of Terra co-founder Do Kwon to South Korea, and Immutable partners with King River Capital and Polygon Labs to launch a $100M fund for blockchain-based games.

U.S. prosecutors recommend a 40-50 year prison sentence for FTX's former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for his role in the exchange's collapse, a study reveals 135 countries are exploring CBDCs with China leading the pilot projects, Binance tightens token listing requirements to enhance investor protection, OKX ends support for Tether trading pairs in the European Economic Area ahead of new EU crypto regulations, and Starbucks shuts down the beta platform of its NFT rewards program, Odyssey.

Binance has made its venture capital arm, Binance Labs, an independent entity with $10B AUM, while a survey reveals crypto owners favor Trump in the upcoming U.S. elections, and El Salvador moves $400M of Bitcoin to a cold wallet amidst a market rally, as SuperRare expands into Bitcoin-based NFTs and blockchain startup Berachain becomes a unicorn with a $69M funding round.

Coinbase announces a $1B convertible senior notes offering for debt repayment and acquisitions, Ethereum's Layer-2 tokens surge ahead of the Dencun upgrade, Terraform Labs gets court approval to hire Dentons amidst SEC lawsuit, Block begins shipping its self-custody Bitcoin wallet BitKey, OKX gains in-principle approval for a payment institution license in Singapore, and Tensor reveals plans to issue a governance token for its Solana-based NFT marketplace.

U.S. President Joe Biden proposes new taxes on crypto mining and digital asset rules expected to generate $42B over the next decade, Bitcoin surpasses silver in market cap becoming the eighth largest asset globally, Wyoming legalizes decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), the London Stock Exchange plans to accept applications for Bitcoin and Ether backed exchange-traded notes in Q2 2024, South Korea to launch a crypto-focused asset management system by 2025 to combat tax evasion, and Nexon Group partners with Ava Labs to launch MapleStory on the Avalanche blockchain network.

The U.S. DOJ continues to seek the extradition of Terra co-founder Do Kwon despite a Montenegrin court favoring his extradition to South Korea, Ether hits a 27-month high amid a broader market rally, the Athens Stock Exchange plans to launch a fundraising tool on the Sui blockchain, and Nissan introduces a new metaverse experience on Meta's Quest VR headsets.

Binance.US laid off two-thirds of its workforce following an SEC lawsuit, Coinbase's app surged in rankings amid a Bitcoin rally, ShapeShift settled with the SEC for $275,000, Revolut partnered with MetaMask for crypto purchases, Bitstamp received approval for a payment license in Singapore, and Spain's data protection agency halted Worldcoin's operations over privacy concerns.

The U.S. Department of Energy halts a controversial survey on crypto miners after reaching an agreement with The Texas Blockchain Council and Riot Platforms, Tether's market cap briefly surpasses $100B, U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. accuses Congress members of being influenced by banking monopolies to ban Bitcoin, Nigeria summons Binance's CEO over suspicions of terrorism financing and money laundering, Hungary prepares a draft law to allow financial institutions to offer crypto services, and Singapore's Bitdeer Technologies develops a new, more efficient Bitcoin mining chip.

Bitcoin surpasses the Russian ruble to become the world's 14th-largest currency, Hong Kong emerges as a top crypto market in East Asia with new licensing regime, U.S. states challenge SEC's authority in Kraken lawsuit, Binance recovers $4.4B in mishandled crypto funds, LedgerPrime rebrands and resumes operations as MNNC Group post-FTX bankruptcy, and Ethereum Layer-2 network Blast launches with a significant initial TVL.

Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers recommend a maximum of six and a half years in prison for the FTX founder, the NFT market shows signs of recovery with $1.8B in sales in December 2023, the IRS hires former crypto executives to enhance digital asset expertise, VanEck launches a self-custodial NFT marketplace called SegMint, and Strike expands its Bitcoin payment services to seven African countries.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX sells its European arm for $32.7M to settle a lawsuit, a PwC survey reveals Bitcoin remains the most popular digital asset among retail investors, a U.S. judge grants a temporary restraining order in favor of crypto miners against an energy use survey, MicroStrategy's Twitter account hack leads to a significant crypto theft, OANDA announces the launch of crypto trading services in the U.K., and BitForex goes offline after a $56.5M withdrawal incident.

Kraken seeks to dismiss an SEC lawsuit over jurisdiction issues, Avalanche's AVAX price drops following a network outage, Reddit invests in cryptocurrencies ahead of its IPO, FTX plans to sell its stake in AI firm Anthropic to boost cash reserves, the EU selects Frankfurt for its Anti-Money Laundering Authority headquarters, and Swiss researchers find blockchain outperforms other tech sectors in startup investment returns.

Former CEOs of collapsed crypto firms Celsius Network and FTX appeared in court over potential legal team conflicts, while a Chainalysis report showed a 30% drop in crypto laundering in 2023, and Gemini's co-founders donated $4.9M to a pro-crypto PAC, as Hack VC raised $150M for a new venture fund, and Switzerland's PostFinance launched crypto trading and custody services in collaboration with Sygnum.

FTX's creditors have filed a lawsuit against law firm Sullivan & Cromwell over its role in the crypto exchange's bankruptcy, OpenAI's Worldcoin sees a 204% price surge following the launch of a new AI tool, Y Combinator adds stablecoin finance to its investment focus, Yuga Labs acquires NFT firm Proof, Honduras bans crypto trading for financial institutions, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin explores AI's potential to identify bugs in the blockchain.

Citigroup successfully tested tokenizing a private equity fund on the Avalanche blockchain, the U.S. now leads in Bitcoin ETF assets with $34.78B, Tiger Global Management sold its entire stake in Coinbase, Bakkt received regulatory approval to issue $150M in securities, and Superchief Gallery announced the opening of the world's first Bitcoin Ordinals art gallery in San Francisco.

Ripple acquires digital asset custody firm Standard Custody & Trust Company, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index hits a 27-month high amid Bitcoin's surge past $50,000, Ledger partners with Coinbase for easier crypto transfers to hardware wallets, StoneX Group expands its digital asset team and plans new crypto services, Banxa's U.K. subsidiary becomes a regulated entity by the Financial Conduct Authority, and The Glenlivet launches a 50-year-old whisky collection paired with Ethereum-based NFTs.

Bitcoin's price surged past $50,000, reaching a 26-month high due to investor interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs and anticipation of the upcoming halving event, while venture capital funding in the crypto space showed a significant increase in January despite a general downturn in investment following high-profile collapses in the industry.

Genesis Global settles a lawsuit with the New York Attorney General over the Gemini Earn program, agreeing to repay funds to former customers and creditors, while Bitcoin's price surge is attributed to investor interest in U.S.-based spot Bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming halving event, and the SEC faces criticism from U.S. senators over its handling of crypto enforcement actions.

U.S. Judge orders FTX's former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to court over potential legal team conflicts, Bakkt's stock plummets due to financial concerns, investors sue the NBA over Voyager Digital promotions, Montenegrin court cancels Do Kwon's extradition again, and TradeStation Crypto settles with SEC and NASAA for $3M over unregistered securities charges.

Prometheum announces Ether (ETH) as its first crypto custody offering, Tether's (USDT) market dominance raises concerns amid regulatory scrutiny, CleanSpark plans to double its hash rate with new mining facilities ahead of Bitcoin's halving event, Fireblocks lays off 3% of its workforce amid restructuring, and Bitsonic's CEO receives a seven-year prison sentence for stealing $7.5M of customer deposits, while Thailand boosts its digital asset hub ambitions by eliminating value-added taxes on crypto trading.

Vast Bank exits the crypto industry and shuts down its mobile app following regulatory pressures, Singapore-based Oobit's token surges after a $25M funding round, Solana blockchain recovers from a major outage, South Korean prosecutors arrest Haru Invest executives over a nearly $830M crypto embezzlement, and a new website, OnlyFake, challenges crypto exchanges' KYC processes by generating fake IDs through AI.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX seeks to sell its stake in AI firm Anthropic to repay customers, Ethereum's NFT market share drops as Bitcoin and Solana rise, Terraform Labs' former CFO extradited to South Korea facing fraud charges, the SEC settles with the founder of a fake crypto hedge fund, GoDaddy partners with Ethereum Name Service for domain integration, and South Korea proposes regulatory approval for new crypto company executives.

Genesis Global agreed to a $21M settlement with the SEC over securities law violations, crypto exchange OPNX announced its shutdown following a significant price drop in its tokens, Binance faces challenges re-entering the U.K. market due to regulatory concerns, Polygon Labs announced a 19% workforce reduction, Hong Kong set a deadline for crypto firms to apply for a license, and Tether launched an educational arm, Tether Edu, to foster blockchain talent.

Families of Hamas attack victims have sued Binance for allegedly facilitating the group's violence, while the crypto exchange previously admitted to allowing transactions by terrorist groups and agreed to a $4.3B fine and leadership changes after U.S. charges; Ether experienced significant price volatility, reaching a 20-month high; Celsius Network exited bankruptcy, transforming into a Bitcoin mining company; the U.S. will track crypto mining companies' electricity consumption; DZ Bank in Germany plans to pilot a retail crypto trading service; and Bybit applied for a license in Hong Kong to offer crypto trading services to retail investors.

FTX abandons plans to relaunch its crypto exchange due to high costs, Ripple's XRP price drops following a hack, Terraform Labs files for bankruptcy to appeal SEC lawsuit, the SEC seeks to dismiss its lawsuit against DEBT Box after misleading statements, Coinbase hires former U.K. Chancellor George Osborne to combat regulatory challenges, and Block begins layoffs as part of a workforce adjustment plan.

Binance introduces a new custody option allowing institutional clients to keep assets at independent banks, Coinbase implements a conversion fee for large USDC transactions, and Visa partners with Transak for direct crypto withdrawal and payment services, while Uncorrelated Ventures raises $315M for a new fund targeting infrastructure software startups in traditional and crypto sectors.