Top Stories of The Week US VP Vance to speak at Bitcoin conference amid Trump crypto controversies US Vice President JD Vanc
Top Stories of The Week
US VP Vance to speak at Bitcoin conference amid Trump crypto controversies
US Vice President JD Vance will speak at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, roughly a year after then-presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke at the same event.
According to a May 9 notice from the event’s organizers, Vance will address conference attendees in person on May 28, making him the first sitting US vice president to speak at a digital asset conference.
Trump provided a pre-recorded video of himself from the White House to the organizers of the Digital Asset Summit in March — his first appearance at a crypto event since taking office in January — and spoke in person at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville while campaigning.
Former FTX exec’s wife says gov’t ‘induced a guilty plea’
Michelle Bond, the wife of former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame, who faces federal campaign finance charges, is pushing for dismissal on the grounds that US prosecutors deceived her husband in a plea deal.
In a May 7 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bond’s lawyers reiterated some of the claims Salame made in opposing his plea deal with the government, which ultimately still led to him serving time in prison. She claimed that prosecutors obtained a deal with Salame through “stealth and deception” by allegedly agreeing they would not file charges against Bond.
“Mr. Salame and Ms. Bond’s attorneys were advised that the agreement to cease investigating Ms. Bond could not be placed within the four corners of the Salame plea or other written agreement, but the government still offered it as an inducement to induce the plea,” said the filing.
Mashinsky’s 12-year sentence sets tone of enforcement in Trump era
The US federal court for the Southern District of New York has sentenced former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky to 12 years in prison for fraud.
Mashinsky’s legal team sought a light sentence. They highlighted his spotless record before the Celsius incident, along with his military service and willingness to plead guilty. But US prosecutors were less inclined to leniency, suggesting on April 28 that the judge deliver a 20-year sentence for his actions.
Betting markets predicted a light sentence ahead of the May 8 hearing. Polymarket showed only 11% odds for a 20-year sentence or higher.
Zerebro dev’s death in question as ‘proof’ surfaces on X
Members of the crypto community are circulating apparent “proof” that Zerebro developer Jeffy Yu faked his suicide as he promoted his new memecoin during a Pump.fun livestream on May 4.
The belief appears to come from an unverified private letter supposedly sent by Yu to a Zerebro investor, trading activity linked to crypto wallets owned by Yu, and the removal of his obituary from Legacy.com.
Others speculate that Yu used a tool to pass off a pre-edited video as if it were filmed in real-time during the Pump.fun live stream.
The unverified letter from Yu to an early investor states that he deliberately created a livestream pretending to shoot himself as it was the only “viable exit” from persistent harassment, blackmail, threats and hate crimes.
North Korean spy slips up, reveals ties in fake job interview
For months, Cointelegraph took part in an investigation centered around a suspected North Korean operative that uncovered a cluster of threat actors attempting to score freelancing gigs in the cryptocurrency industry.
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The investigation was led by Heiner Garcia, a cyber threat intelligence expert at Telefónica and a blockchain security researcher. Garcia uncovered how North Korean operatives secured freelance work online even without using a VPN.
Garcia’s analysis linked the applicant to a network of GitHub accounts and fake Japanese identities believed to be associated with North Korean operations. In February, Garcia invited Cointelegraph to take part in a dummy job interview he had set up with a suspected Democratic People’s Republic of Korea operative who called himself “Motoki.”
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $103,024, Ether (ETH) at $2,338 and XRP at $2.35. The total market cap is at $3.26 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Pepe (PEPE) at 46.63%, dogwifhat (WIF) at 27.96% and Ether…
cointelegraph.com