FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s entire crypto empire was a “house of cards,” which was “built on a lie,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in its opening statement at the FTX founder’s trial. Bankman-Fried’s defense team countered that the former FTX head acted in good faith – even as his businesses grew too quickly and collapsed dramatically through no fault of his own, his lawyers said. They assigned some of the blame to his former paramour and employee, Caroline Ellison, and said she failed to install safeguards. Ellison has already pleaded guilty and will testify during the trial.

(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The crypto winter hit fundraising in Q3, which fell to its lowest lowest level in three years, blockchain intelligence firm Messari found. The amount raised by crypto firms in Q3 totaled just under $2.1 billion across 297 deals, the lowest on both counts since Q4 2020, according to Messari's latest State of Crypto Fundraising report. From a peak of nearly $17.5 billion across over 900 deals in Q1 2022, the returns diminished throughout the year as conditions in the crypto industry worsened, coming to a head with the sudden collapse of exchange FTX in November.

Some of FTX's employees in the U.S. knew about the backdoor in the exchange that allowed Alameda Research to withdraw billions in customer funds, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday. The employees flagged their discovery to FTX's director of engineering Nishad Singh but the problem never got fixed, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The team, who worked for LedgerX, the crypto derivatives exchange bought by FTX in 2021, was examining whether the code for FTX's main exchange could be used in the U.S when they made the discovery. LedgerX's chief risk officer Julie Schoening raised the concerns to her boss Zach Dexter, who then discussed it with Nishad Singh, one of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's closest deputies.

The ether-to-bitcoin (ETH-BTC) price ratio dropped to a fresh 15-month low this week, confounding at least some who expected excitement around the Monday launch of futures-based ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to generate buying interest.

The early returns show fairly sluggish volumes for these new investment vehicles. According to K33 Research, first day trading volumes on the ETH ETFs were just 0.2% of similar futures-based BTC ETF products launched in late 2021.

The ETH-BTC trading pair on key crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase slid firmly below 0.06 this week near its lowest level since July 2022 and erasing what had been a modest rally for the ratio in September, per TradingView data.

Several lawmakers and regulators shaping the future of digital assets policy have committed to joining CoinDesk’s inaugural State of Crypto: Policy and Regulation, a one-day boutique event uniting key policymakers, regulators and government officials with legal, policy and compliance executives representing the largest and most influential TradFi and DeFi leaders in asset management and financial services.

The gathering provides an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate, dissect and ultimately shape crypto regulatory frameworks that support a vibrant, secure and healthy future for the digital economy.

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