Coindesk

Alex Mashinsky, the founder and one-time CEO of bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Network, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud on Tuesday afternoon, according to reports from Reuters and Inner City Press.He has reportedly agreed to a maximum sentencing guideline of 360 months, or 30 years, in prison.Last July, Mashinsky was arrested in New York and charged with seven criminal counts tied to the operation of and the 2022 collapse of his company, including securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the price of Celsius’ native token, CEL.“I said that Celsius had approval from regulators. It was false. I falsely said I was not selling my CEL tokens, I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Inner...

A lot of stars would need to align for Paul Atkins, reportedly president-elect Donald Trump’s top candidate to chair the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to take the job.It is an unattractive role for him because of the amount of work needed to turn around the bloated agency he believes was mismanaged by outgoing SEC chair Gary Gensler, a person familiar with Atkins' thinking said.Reluctance to clean up Gensler's “mess” has been shared by former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair Chris Giancarlo, who has advocated for Atkins to take the SEC job and was once considered a candidate himself.Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, was spotted at Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort this week, one industry source said. He was scheduled to interview...

The analyst who co-wrote this piece owns shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR).Despite all the weird memecoins and degen behavior in 2024, ETFs are in the running for story of the year in cryptocurrency investing.And that story — which began when bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds debuted to great fanfare — might not be over. After a sixfold surge in its stock price this year, Michael Saylor's bitcoin (BTC) investment firm MicroStrategy (MSTR) looks poised to join one of the biggest exchange-traded funds around, the $312 billion Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ).That fund tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index. Every December, Nasdaq shakes up the membership list for that benchmark, which then filters into the Invesco fund (which copies Nasdaq's decisions exactly). The Nasdaq-100, roughly...

Whales made a splash on the South Korean exchange Upbit, swooping in with significant amounts of Tether's USDT stablecoin to snap up coins at discounted prices after the declaration of martial law led to a flash crash in bitcoin (BTC) and other token prices. The large traders transferred over $163 million in USDT to Upbit within an hour of President Yoon Suuk Yeol declaring emergency martial law, according to data tracked by blockchain sleuth Lookonchain. The president accused the opposition of siding with North Korea and undermining the nation’s constitutional order. USDT, the world's leading dollar-pegged stablecoin, is commonly used for cryptocurrency purchases. The influx hints at a wave of bargain-hunting among traders. "Many whales transferred large amounts of USDT to Upbit,...

Major crypto tokens quickly plunged as much as 30% against the Korean won on South Korean exchanges as the government declared emergency martial law late on Tuesday.South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared "emergency martial law," accusing opposition parties of undermining the government, sympathizing with North Korea, and paralyzing the nation’s legislative process.Negative sentiment spilled over to the crypto markets in the minutes following. Bitcoin, XRP — two of the most traded tokens by volumes on local exchanges — plunged as low as 30% on Upbit before quickly recovering. BTC fell from $96,000 to $63,000 in U.S. dollar terms, assuming current exchange rates.In crypto circles, South Korean traders are known for pushing euphoric rallies on tokens, contributing to buying pressure...