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In a hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Kudla said the Department of Justice estimated the case could last four to five weeks.
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried will spend at least 21 days in court as part of his criminal trial, which will begin in earnest on Oct. 4 and last until Nov. 9, according to a newly released trial calendar posted to the public court docket.
The burgeoning trial calendar, released on Sept. 28, begins on Oct. 3 with jury selection. The first official date of the Bankman-Fried trial is Oct. 4, where they will begin discussing seven fraud charges laid against him.
There are two substantive charges where the prosecution must convince a jury that Bankman-Fried had committed the crime. Five other “conspiracy” charges involve the prosecution convincing a jury that Bankman-Fried planned to commit the crimes.
There are 15 full trial days in October and another six in November. The court will not be in session between Oct. 20 and Oct. 25 and on weekends. Public holidays also fall on Oct. 9 and Nov. 10 and there is also no trial slated for Nov. 3.
The former FTX CEO has been serving pre-trial detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center since Aug. 11. Through his attorneys, Bankman-Fried has filed numerous motions for temporary release to prepare for his upcoming trial.
His latest attempt was knocked back again on Sept. 28 by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, suggesting Bankman-Fried might be a flight risk, given his young age and a “very long sentence” if convicted.
“If things begin to look bleak … maybe the time would come when he would seek to flee.”
However, Kaplan said that he was sympathetic to the defense’s concerns, and has granted Bankman-Fried permission to arrive at court at 7am local time on most trial days to speak with his lawyers before testimony begins.
Related: Sam Bankman-Fried’s temporary release request denied as trial date looms
During the hearing on Sept. 28, assistant U.S. attorney Danielle Kudla said the Department of Justice estimated the case could last four to five weeks.
SBF, who pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy following the collapse of FTX, faces a statutory maximum of 110 years in prison.
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Ethereum spot ETF request, Ripple’s potential win against the SEC, and growing decentralized app dominance retain hope for ETH investors.
Ether (ETH) has seen a 36% year-to-date increase in its price in 2023 in U.S. dollar terms. This recovery, however, is modest given that ETH is currently trading 66% below its November 2021 peak of $4,870.
Moreover, on Sept. 20, Ether reached its lowest levels against Bitcoin (BTC) in 14 months, breaching the critical 0.06 BTC support. This has raised questions among Ether investors about the factors behind this price decline and what it will take to reverse the trend.
ETH buyers placed their biggest hopes on protocol upgrades that significantly reduced the need for new coin issuance when the network transitioned to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism.
These hopes were realized in mid-September 2022, resulting in an annualized issuance rate of just 0.25% of the supply. This transformation aligned with the Ethereum community's vision of "ultrasound money."
Furthermore, the subsequent Shapella upgrade on April 12 allowed for withdrawals from the native staking protocol, addressing a major concern for investors. Previously, both the 32 ETH deposits and the yield from participating in the network consensus were locked up indefinitely.
Confidence among Ethereum enthusiasts grew as these significant hurdles were crossed with minimal issues. They anticipated that the price of Ether would surpass $2,000, a prediction that came true on April 14.
However, this optimism was short-lived, as ETH's price promptly fell back to the same $1,850 level just a week later.
Notably, instead of witnessing a net withdrawal, Ethereum staking experienced a net inflow of 3.1 million ETH in the 30 days following the Shappela upgrade, surpassing even the most optimistic expectations.
Given that the Ethereum network's planned developments have generally been on track, albeit with the customary delays, investors now need to explore other potential catalysts for reversing the current downtrend in Ether's price relative to BTC.
One of these potential catalysts lies in the ongoing legal battle between Ripple (formerly Ripple Labs) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which could significantly impact Ether's price momentum.
The SEC contends that XRP sales to retail investors constitute a security offering. However, in July, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP generally does not qualify as a security under SEC guidelines, especially when distributed through exchanges.
As noted by the "American Lawyer and Bitcoiner" Bryan Jacoutot on a social network, the Ethereum Foundation remains exposed due to the pre-sale of ETH directed toward institutional investors and subject to a lock-up period.
(1/12) ANALYSIS: I've reviewed the district court ruling on XRP and it rests on very shaky ground. Expect an appeal.
— Bryan Jacoutot (@BryanJacoutot) July 13, 2023
AND Ethereum Foundation remains at risk even if its upheld because of important distinctions in the methods used by Ripple to sell the "pre-mine"
⬇️⬇️
According to Jacoutot, even if Ripple were to secure a favorable outcome, it wouldn't immediately mitigate the risks for Ethereum. Nevertheless, it's undeniable that the regulatory uncertainty surrounding the Ether ICO remains a source of concern for investors.
On Sep. 20, an Ethereum address associated with the ICO era showed its first activity, transferring 32.1 ETH (valued at $52,000 at the time) directly to Coinbase. This additional movement only amplified regulatory concerns since there are no apparent incentives for addresses that have remained dormant for four to eight years to divest at this particular point in the market cycle.
An Ethereum ICO participant who has been dormant for 8 years transferred 32.1 $ETH to #Coinbase just now.
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 20, 2023
The address received 200 $ETH at Ethereum Genesis.
And the address appears to be related to shemnon.eth (@shemnon).https://t.co/nj5eF8iRT0 pic.twitter.com/6Viytn4dU5
A similar occurrence unfolded with an address linked to Vitalik Buterin, which sent 300 ETH (worth $490,000 at the time) to the Kraken exchange on Sep. 19.
On the news side, Ethereum has seen some positive surprises, such as the unexpected request for a spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) by ARK Invest and 21Shares on Sep. 6. This development reduced the risks associated with excessive institutional concentration in Bitcoin, particularly if the ETF is approved.
Additionally, Canto, a layer-1 Cosmos-native blockchain, announced its migration to Ethereum's layer-2 on Sep. 18. This Zero-Knowledge, permissionless rollup, compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), is primarily focused on bringing traditional finance into the Ethereum ecosystem.
Should Bitcoin's price surge be driven solely by the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF or inflation concerns in the U.S., Ether is well-positioned to follow suit, benefiting from the same catalysts.
Meanwhile, Ethereum's primary competitors in the decentralized applications sector, namely Solana (SOL) and BSC Chain (BNB), face similar risks pertaining to ICO and securities regulations, making it unlikely for them to challenge Ethereum's dominance in terms of total value locked, or TVL, and trading volumes.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
United States District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla is also the judge overseeing the SEC's lawsuit against crypto exchange Coinbase.
A United States District Court judge has called Ether (ETH) a commodity in her dismissal of a class action lawsuit against the decentralized exchange Uniswap.
In an Aug. 30 dismissal order of the case brought by Uniswap users who claimed they lost money due to scam tokens on the exchange — Judge Katherine Polk Failla wrote ETH and Bitcoin (BTC) were “crypto commodities.”
The distinction was also part of her reasoning for dismissing the case — Failla said she wasn’t convinced by an argument that Uniswap’s token sales were subject to the Exchange Act.
Interestingly, Failla is also the judge overseeing the SEC lawsuit against Coinbase. She has also had previous experience in overseeing other crypto cases in the past, including one involving Tether and Bitfinex.
The SDNY (Failla, J.) also explicitly found in its August 29 decision in Risely v. Uniswap that
— Bill Hughes : wchughes.eth (@BillHughesDC) August 30, 2023
Ethereum is a commodity, not a security.
No analysis of the issue, just the conclusion, but still, pretty definitive statement if you ask me.
pic.twitter.com/KEc5Pf5kTC
While her comment is not a distinct ruling on Ether’s legal classification in the U.S., it comes as other judges have made decisions on cryptocurrencies such as a July ruling classing XRP (XRP) as a security when sold through programmatic sales on exchanges.
In recent years, two U.S. financial regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have tussled over jurisdiction concerning cryptocurrencies.
SEC chair Gary Gensler had once claimed “everything other than Bitcoin” is a security under his agency’s remit.
Meanwhile, the CFTC has laid claim to ETH and other cryptocurrencies as commodities — per a suit it filed against Binance in March for alleged Commodities Exchange Act violations.
Related: SEC’s first deadlines to approve 7 Bitcoin ETFs coming over the next week
However, U.S. lawmakers are yet to decide how the SEC or CFTC will be handed authority over crypto.
Multiple bills to provide digital asset regulatory clarity are inching their way through Congress which vary in how to divvy authority between the two regulators.
Some, such as the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, aim to create a process for categorizing cryptocurrencies into either securities or commodities.
Others explicitly hand power to a regulator such as the Digital Commodity Exchange Act which sees crypto spot exchanges registered and regulated under the CFTC.
The Digital Asset Market Structure Bill, meanwhile, would see cryptocurrencies undergo SEC certification to prove adequate decentralization before being given commodity status.
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Lawyers representing Sam Bankman-Fried want all but three charges against him dismissed in a filing on May 8.
FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is seeking to have up to 10 criminal charges against him dismissed in court, arguing for several counts that there has been a failure to state an offense.
According to court documents filed in the southern district court of New York on May 8, SBF’s legal team has pushed to dismiss everything apart from three counts of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Sam Bankman-Fried has filed motions to dismiss all but three charges in the criminal case against him.
— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) May 9, 2023
The charges he is not contesting atm are:
5. Conspiracy to commit commodities fraud
6. Conspiracy to commit securities fraud
and
11. Conspiracy to commit money laundering pic.twitter.com/0Dk1zxEw4j
Commenting on the move, crypto researcher Molly White suggested that “at least part of it seems to come down to the fact that additional charges were added after SBF's extradition agreement was made.”
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan will hear arguments on June 15 on this dismissal request, and prosecutors will have until May 29 to respond.
Related: FTX bankruptcy judge approves sale of LedgerX
Despite the rest of SBF’s inner circle all pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors, the man himself has pleaded not guilty to the charges laid against him.
SBF has been on house arrest in his parent’s home in Paolo Alto since December, and in the most recently development, Judge Lewis Kaplan approved the taps on SBF’s parents’ phones as meeting bail conditions, despite SBF’s legal team requesting a revision.
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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
A U.S. judge scolded the SEC over its non-specificity on its objection to Voyager’s restructuring deal and asked for specifics on its concerns.
The bankruptcy judge on Voyager Digital’s case has reportedly scolded the United States securities regulator over its ambiguous reasoning for objecting to the crypto lending firm’s proposed sale to Binance.US.
At a Mar. 2 hearing in a New York court, U.S. bankruptcy judge Michael Wiles said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had basically asked to “stop everybody in their tracks” without explaining how to address concerns it had over the deal according to a Reuters report.
The court was considering a restructuring plan announced on Dec. 19 last year to bring Voyager out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy that would see crypto exchange Binance.US acquire its assets for $1.02 billion — an option Voyager said at the time represented the “highest and best bid for its assets.”
The SEC however filed an objection to the sale on Feb. 22 claiming aspects of the restructuring plan could breach securities laws, namely the crypto transactions that will need to happen to rebalance funds to redistribute to Voyager account holders.
In court, SEC attorney William Uptegrove offered a reserved answer to Judge Wiles when asked if the regulator believes the plan violated the law, saying:
"We can't take a position at this point. The SEC is a deliberative body, and its process is a nonpublic one by federal law."
Wiles hit back saying "deliberative is one thing, but what have you done?" and added, "if there are reasons to be concerned here, I need to hear specifics."
⚠️ Judge Wiles slamming the SEC rep about their objection. ⚠️
— VGX Heroes (@VGX_Heroes) March 2, 2023
Says, (paraphrase) "You're asking the debtor to prove that the cryptos being transacted are not securities, but you've given no regulatory guide as to what that is."
The sale requires court approval, along with the go-ahead from the SEC and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) which is probing the deal to review if it will entail a foreign investment and raise national security concerns.
Judge Wiles is set to hear continued arguments on the bankruptcy plan on Mar. 3.
Related: FTC announces investigation into Voyager’s ‘deceptive and unfair marketing’ of crypto
The proposed Binance.US plan would transfer Voyager customers to the crypto exchange, who would be able to withdraw their funds for the first time since the platform filed for bankruptcy in July last year.
Customers would reportedly recover over 70% of their deposited value as at the time of the bankruptcy, in a poll of 61,300 account holders with claims against the crypto lender, the plan was favored by 97% of Voyager’s customers.