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OpenAI’s move to for-profit: Is it indeed ‘illegal’?

OpenAI’s potential transformation into a for-profit corporation is not impossible, but it will likely not be an easy process.

On Sept. 25, Reuters reported that ChatGPT developer OpenAI is working on a plan to restructure its core business from no-profit to for-profit.

The move has received controversial feedback from the community, with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk questioning the legality of such a business transformation.

Musk took to X on Sept. 26 to argue that one “can’t just convert a nonprofit into a for-profit,” adding that such a conversion is “illegal.” However, that’s not the case, according to several sources.

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

Will Trump pardon SBF? 6 weird Polymarket betting pools on US politics

As the US elections approach, crypto policy betting surges on Polymarket. From traditional political predictions to quirky, unexpected wagers, users are placing bets on what’s to come.

Crypto betting platform Polymarket has received mainstream attention as betting pools on the United States presidential elections have helped the platform surpass $1 billion in volume. 

Polymarket allows individuals to anonymously create market betting pools on almost any event, with outcomes determined in a binary “yes” or “no” format. While most users focus on straightforward bets, a subset of investors gravitate toward more unorthodox wagers.

As election day approaches and crypto policies become a prominent topic in the campaign, a wide range of wagers related to politicians and crypto policies are on the rise. These bets range from conventional political predictions to humorous and bizarre speculations.

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

Australia to require crypto firms to hold financial services licenses

Licensing requirements for crypto exchanges in Australia will be extended beyond those related to digital currency exchanges.

Australian regulators are reportedly preparing new legislation to require cryptocurrency exchanges to obtain financial services licenses.

Licensing requirements for crypto exchanges in Australia are set to be extended beyond those related to digital currency exchanges, The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported.

According to Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) commissioner Alan Kirkland, the new requirements are necessary because the regulator considers that the Corporations Act captures most major crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

Court approves Terraform Labs winding down in bankruptcy hearing

After collapsing in 2022, facing an SEC lawsuit in 2023, and filing for bankruptcy in 2024, many of Terraform’s legal cases in the US are beginning to wind down.

A judge approved Terraform Labs winding down its operations as part of the firm’s bankruptcy plan in the United States.

According to a Sept. 19 Reuters report, Judge Brendan Shannon of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved Terraform’s bankruptcy plan. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in January, claiming between $100 and $500 million in estimated liabilities and assets.

Judge Shannon reportedly called the plan a “welcome alternative” to further litigation to address investor losses. Terraform’s bankruptcy proceedings followed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing a lawsuit against the platform and its founder, Do Kwon, in February 2023.

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

US gov’t cites Caroline Ellison’s ‘extraordinary cooperation’ before sentencing

Lawyers representing the former Alameda Research CEO have requested time served and supervised release — an outcome that appeared more likely after a filing by US Attorneys.

Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, set to face a sentencing hearing on Sept. 24, may receive a lenient sentence after a recommendation from United States prosecutors. 

In a Sept. 17 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, US Attorneys wrote to Judge Lewis Kaplan to inform him of Ellison’s “extraordinary cooperation” in the prosecution of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, as well as her assistance into the “wrongdoing at Alameda Research and FTX.” According to prosecutors, she provided “credible and compelling testimony” against Bankman-Fried at trial and was “forthcoming about her own grave misconduct” in FTX’s collapse. 

“Ellison played a core role in Bankman-Fried’s criminal schemes, but as the Government noted in Bankman-Fried’s sentencing submission, only he was involved in all aspects of the schemes,” said the filing. “Ellison never worked at FTX and played no role in designing the coding systems that granted Alameda special treatment on FTX and permitted Alameda to accrue a negative balance on FTX by withdrawing FTX customer funds.”

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

UK finance regulator FCA a ‘deterrent’ to crypto industry, says CryptoUK

UK regulators have approved only four out of 35 crypto business registrations in the last 12 months, deterring others from engaging with the process.

The lengthy, difficult registration process for crypto firms in the United Kingdom is acting as a deterrent to business, according to one local industry group.

CryptoUK, a self-regulatory trade association for the UK crypto industry, said some of its members “have expressed reluctance about the process” under the scrutiny of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

A CryptoUK spokesperson told Cointelegraph that its members have “heard stories from organizations that have gone through it, and it’s quite a deterrent. The application is a huge ask in terms of resources, people and finances.”

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

‘Explosion’ in election gambling will harm public interest: CFTC

The US commodities regulator says prediction markets can be vulnerable to “spectacular manipulation.”

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission says prediction markets can fall to “spectacular manipulation” in the latest filing against US predictions market Kalshi.

“Documented cases of market manipulation have already been realized in the very markets Kalshi points to,” the CFTC stressed, pointing to recent incidents on competitor platforms in the Sept. 14 reply in support of a motion to stay.

Polymarket experienced a “spectacular manipulation” attempt by a group of traders gambling on Vice President Kamala Harris to win the 2024 US presidential election, claimed the CFTC, while a “fake poll” showing Kid Rock leading Senator Debbie Stabenow 30% to 26% in a senate vote on PredictIt impacted the price of Stabenow’s reelection contract.

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

North Carolina resists the CBDC tide with new payments ban

A new law in North Carolina seeks to ban CBDCs in the state, but there are questions about whether the new legislation is even legal. 

Privacy and sovereignty concerns over central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) mean that a digital dollar won’t be coming to the US state of North Carolina anytime soon.

On Sept. 9, the state’s Senate overrode the governor’s veto and passed into law a bill that forbids the state from accepting CBDCs as a form of payment.

The bill also prohibits the United States Federal Reserve from conducting any “testing” of a digital dollar in North Carolina.

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

Coinbase secures partial victory over SEC in motion to compel discovery

Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, said the SEC would be compelled to produce “important discovery” in its civil case after a judge’s order.

After a victory in federal court, lawyers for cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase may soon have access to United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents related to the regulator’s application of tokens as securities. 

In a Sept. 5 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Katherin Failla granted in part and denied in part Coinbase’s motion to compel discovery from the SEC. The exchange had been fighting with the commission since July over the scope of its request to compel the SEC to produce documents related to the regulator’s approach to digital assets.

According to Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, the Sept. 5 order would result in the SEC producing “important discovery” for the civil case. The SEC filed an enforcement action against Coinbase in June 2023, alleging the firm had been operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump

Celebrities boost crypto projects but don’t guarantee legitimacy

In some cases, celebrity backing for a crypto project is a red flag because it’s a scam ad made by criminals. 

Celebrity backing can make a big difference in the success of a crypto project, but that doesn’t mean the endorsement of a famous person makes it trustworthy. 

According to a 2023 research paper by two former United States Securities and Exchange Commission economists, Joshua White and Sean Wilkoff, there is a link between a celebrity endorsement of a crypto project and the likelihood of its dubiousness. 

During their research, White and Wilkoff found that in 2019, 26% of the initial coin offerings (ICO) they examined were likely scams. That number increased to nearly 40% by 2023. 

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Charles Schwab plans to offer spot crypto trading as US rules evolve under Trump