SBF bail guarantor to go public, UK crypto framework and Celsius…

Top Stories This Week

SBF’s $250M bail guarantors should be made public, rules judge

The identities of two individuals who helped former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with his $250 million bail bond could be revealed next month following a recent ruling by United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan. Bankman-Fried’s legal counsel has until Feb. 7 to contest the decision. As bankruptcy proceedings continue, FTX and affected parties have requested subpoenas for information and documents from close relatives of Bankman-Fried, claiming not all members of his inner circle have responded to requests for information. Other recent news includes Alameda Research suing bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital in an attempt to claw back $445.8 million in loan repayments made before FTX collapsed.

UK Treasury publishes crypto framework paper: Here’s what’s inside

The United Kingdom’s HM Treasury published a long-anticipated consultation paper for its upcoming crypto regulation. The document covers a broad range of topics, from algorithmic stablecoins to nonfungible tokens to initial coin offerings. The authority aims to level the playing field between crypto and traditional finance by incorporating digital assets into the U.K.’s Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Celsius publishes list of users eligible to withdraw majority of assets

Bankrupt crypto lending firm Celsius came up with a withdrawal process for users who had funds in its custody in June 2022, when the company ceased withdrawals. Celsius released an official update on upcoming withdrawals, providing the list of users eligible to access approximately 94% of qualified custody assets. Users will also receive specific details related to gas and transaction fees associated with the upcoming procedures.

Silvergate faces DOJ investigation over FTX and Alameda dealings

Crypto bank Silvergate is being probed by the United States Department of Justice fraud unit over its involvement with the bankrupt FTX exchange and its affiliates. Investigators are trying to find out how deep the FTX and Alameda Research dealings went with the California-based bank. According to Silvergate, Alameda opened an account in 2018, before the launch of FTX. Silvergate was heavily impacted by the collapse of FTX in November, reporting a $1 billion loss last quarter.

Meta CEO Zuckerberg steadfast on metaverse plans despite $13.7B setback

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said the company plans to remain committed to its long-term strategy for the metaverse despite its Reality Labs business suffering operating losses amounting to $13.7 billion in 2022 — the largest ever yearly losses recorded for its metaverse-building division. The company’s overall revenue for the fourth quarter was $32.1 billion, surpassing Wall Street expectations.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $23,572, Ether (ETH) at $1,661 and XRP at $0.40. The total market cap is at $1.09 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Render Token (RNDR) at 94.86%, dYdX (DYDX) at 45.84% and ImmutableX (IMX) at 43.41%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are UNUS SED LEO (LEO) at -12.30%, eCash (XEC) at -5.50% and Toncoin (TON) at -5.30%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Regulators rightfully will scrutinize this industry much, much harder, which is probably a good thing, to be honest.”

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance

“The fact that both the SEC and CFTC took action against market manipulation by an alleged rogue trader is a credit positive for the industry as a whole.”

Cristiano Ventricelli, assistant vice president of decentralized finance at Moody’s Investor Service

“None of the signals that I’ve seen so far suggest that we should shift the Reality Labs strategy long term.”