Sam Bankman-Fried Finally Testifies

Sam Bankman-Fried finally testifies

Sam Bankman-Fried testified in his fraud trial, facing questions about his interactions with FTX's legal team. This questioning took place out of the jury's hearing, with Judge Kaplan deciding later if it can be included in the defense. Kaplan, who is seen many big cases, allowed this unusual procedure due to disagreements about the relevance of these interactions.

Dressed in an oversized grey suit, Sam talked about how he got help from FTX's top lawyer, Daniel Friedberg, for business stuff. But when asked about certain details, he provided ambiguous answers. He did, however, stress that he often relied on legal advice and documentation.

The most contentious point raised by prosecutor Sassoon, which questioned Sam’s awareness of Friedberg's alleged illegal activities, was dismissed by the judge. The judge and Sassoon seemed skeptical of the defense's attempts to place responsibility on FTX's lawyers.

The trial continues, with its conclusion anticipated next week.

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Solana Labs starts Web3 incubator

Solana Labs is kicking off a new incubator program, aimed at helping startups eager to build on its platform. The program will offer engineering and market-entry support. 

With a total value locked (TVL) of $1.254 billion and 114 dApps on its platform, Solana recognizes the technical hurdles startups face in blockchain development. Emon Motamedi from Solana Labs emphasized the goal of easing these challenges, especially when integrating Web3. 

They have not said how much money they are giving, but they will adjust the support for each team's needs. They are especially excited about helping out tech-savvy founders who are all about solving real problems. 

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Arbitrum's "Orbit" for Layer-3 Networks is Now Ready for Mainnet

Arbitrum the leading layer-2 platform on top of Ethereum announced that new "layer-3" networks, developed through their "Orbit" program, can now connect to the main Arbitrum network. 

Orbit, launched earlier this year, lets blockchain developers create their own layer-2 or layer-3 networks with Arbitrum tech. This is a similar dynamic how Base uses the OP Stack infrastructure by Optimism to launch their own chain. Before this, these new networks were just on an Arbitrum testnet network. 

The move comes as large Ethereum layer-2 networks are now offering their tech for others to replicate or tweak for their own projects.

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Yuga Labs wins $1.6M in Ripps NFT case

A US judge ordered Ryder Ripps and his associate Jeremy Cahen to pay Yuga Labs $1.57 million. This penalty arose from Ripps and Cahen's satirical NFT series, which Yuga Labs claimed infringed upon their trademarks and diminished the value of their original NFTs. 

Ryder and Jeremy said their NFTs critiqued Yuga's alleged promotion of extremist ideologies. However, the court found they exploited Yuga's trademarks for profit. On top of that, the judge said they can not make more copies and had to give over some website names and accounts to Yuga Labs.

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Other breaking news

• DYdX Chain goes live on Cosmos Layer 1
• Bloomberg's SBF Documentary: Could've Been Better
• HTX's Justin Sun reports record profits amid staff cuts
• ‘Buy Bitcoin’ search queries on Google surge 826% in the UK
• Kraken to give user data to IRS after June court order

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Wrapping up

Concluding today's Datawallet Daily edition, the ongoing FTX/SBF story grows increasingly captivating. On the development front, we witness ongoing innovation as Solana launches a Web 3 incubator, and Arbitrum introduces Orbit for layer 3 networks. Meanwhile, the Ripps NFT case serves as a stark reminder of the potential financial repercussions when duplicating someone else's artistic work, even in the name of parody.