Sam Bankman-Fried Behind Bars After Leaking Evidence

FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, found himself behind bars as Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York revoked his bail, raising concerns over witness tampering. Bankman-Fried, once a dominant figure in the crypto space, faced scrutiny after allegations surfaced regarding his violation of bond terms, notably sharing parts of former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison's diary with the New York Times. 

His defense contended that the measures taken against him were overly harsh, particularly given the challenges it would pose to his trial preparations. Yet, amid arguments from both sides, the judge upheld his decision. The upcoming trial, scheduled for October, will see Sam Bankman-Fried defending against charges ranging from wire fraud to money laundering

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Blockchain gaming sees $300 million inflows during the summer

Web3 gaming investments observed a remarkable resurgence in July, reaching a total of $297 million. This increase can be attributed to the formation of strategic partnerships and significant announcements made within the industry.

According to data from DappRadar, funds flowing into Web3 gaming experienced a significant decline in June 2023, dropping to its lowest point for the year at $68 million. The market faced various challenges during this period.

DappRadar's report reveals that there are currently approximately 712,611 unique active wallets being used daily in this sector. Although this represents a slight decrease of 0.5% from last month, it still accounts for 41% of overall industry activity.

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Kraken outpaces Coinbase

According to data from crypto research firm Kaiko, Kraken, a crypto exchange based in California, has emerged as the leading market for altcoin trading in the United States. This puts Kraken ahead of competitors like Coinbase. Kaiko's data shows that Kraken holds 47% of the market depth for the top 10 altcoins. 

Market depth refers to a market's capacity to handle large buy or sell orders without significantly affecting the asset's price. The decline in prices and FTX's failure last year have had adverse effects on market depth and liquidity across exchanges and cryptocurrencies.

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Bittrex settles with SEC

On Thursday, the SEC announced that it has reached a resolution with Bittrex, which is now bankrupt, and its former CEO. As part of the settlement agreement, the company has agreed to pay $24 million to the regulator. This settlement effectively puts an end to a lengthy dispute between Bittrex Inc., the parent company of two affiliates mentioned in the lawsuit, and William Shihara, its former CEO.

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Tokens and NFTs worth $4 million destroyed today

The crypto community is puzzled by a surprising action taken by an enigmatic wallet previously identified as nd4.eth. Over the course of the last two weeks, this wallet has engaged in a form of digital destruction, incinerating digital assets with a combined value in the millions.

Very recently, this wallet executed another burn, annihilating tokens such as GNS and GMX that were collectively worth $3.6M.

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Other breaking news

• BnB Chain-based DEX PancakeSwap is now live on Arbitrum
• Trader Joe has upgraded the algorithm of Auto-Pools
• BAC says PayPal stablecoin will not be used widely 
• Visa tests ETH gas fee payment
• Experts forecast the digital Euro to be dead on arrival

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Wrapping up

That’s all for today’s edition, folks. Today’s drop covered a shocking development as a wallet holder continues to destroy tokens, and NFTs nearing now the $4 million mark in destruction. Meanwhile, technical analysis is indicating that the time of altcoins may be upon us. Kraken and Bittrex were in the news, with the former outpacing Coinbase across all relevant metrics and the latter settling with the SEC. Stay tuned for more updates in our rapidly evolving space.