SBF Pleads Not Guilty to Fraud and Money Laundering Charges

Welcome to another edition of Datawallet Daily, a place where we routinely cover all things crypto to help you stay ahead of the competition. Today’s drop covers the following topics:

• Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges
• Mantle has staked 40,000 ether (ETH) on staking protocol Lido
• Koimanu gains full license in Dubai
• BTC price stable as altcoins slide further 
• Balancer vulnerability announced affecting V2 pools

Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges

During his court appearance on Tuesday, Sam Bankman-Fried entered a plea of not guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering. These charges are related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire, FTX, which occurred last year. The founder of FTX was arraigned at the Southern District of New York courthouse after being indicted again with new allegations. This indictment accuses him of misusing customer funds for personal real estate purchases and political donations among other things. 

The original indictment was filed in December but has been modified to include a campaign finance charge along with other allegations. Prosecutors stated that they were unable to bring this specific charge due to treaty obligations with the Bahamas.

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Mantle has staked 40,000 ether (ETH) on staking protocol Lido

After being approved in a recent governance vote, Layer 2 network Mantle has placed a stake of 40,000 Ether (ETH) on the staking protocol Lido. This stake, valued at approximately $66 million, will earn a yield of 4.1% APR based on current rates. This will make Mantle one of the largest DAOs actively using liquid staking tokens to earn yield on their Ethereum.

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Koimanu gains full license in Dubai

Blockworks was informed by Komainu on Tuesday that it has been granted authorization by Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) to offer custody services to clients in Dubai. This makes Komainu one of the early recipients of a complete Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license in the region, where many companies in the industry have been looking to establish their presence. The establishment of VARA in March 2022 has further fueled interest from cryptocurrency firms in Dubai.

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BTC price stable as altcoins slide further 

Bitcoin has maintained a fragile position around the $26,000 mark, but there is potential for further downside pressure due to the strengthening of the US dollar and an upcoming announcement from the Federal Reserve on Friday.

Altcoins have also experienced declines, with BNB token falling to $209 at 7:30 a.m. ET as reported by CoinGecko. This represents a decrease of over 12% in the past week. XRP has seen a decline of 17.5% in the same period, now priced at $0.51. Cardano has also experienced a decrease of over 2.6% in just 24 hours, currently valued at $0.25.

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Balancer V2 pools reveal critical vulnerability

Leading DeFi protocol Balancer announced overnight a critical vulnerability affecting a number of their V2 pools. The team has advised that users should immediately withdraw capital from the affected liquidity pools until the exploit has been patched. According to their statement, the majority of funds on the platform are safe and only 1.4% of the TVL is at risk, specifically the pools that are earning boosted yields. 

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Other breaking news

• Sushi now launches V2 on Base
• Maple will re-lunch and offer its cash management solution on Solana
• Oman launches a $350 million crypto mining venture
• CoinDCX cuts staff due to the bear market 
• Blackpink launch Roblox metaverse experience

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Wrapping up

Wrapping up this edition of Datawallet Daily, we've delved into significant developments across the crypto landscape. From legal proceedings involving Sam Bankman-Fried to Mantle's major ETH staking, and the stable situation of BTC amidst a falling altcoin market, the dynamics remain complex and rapidly shifting. In addition, critical vulnerabilities in Balancer's V2 pools and various other industry moves underline the necessity for vigilance and informed decision-making.