Realtor may have accepted $3M offer for Washington DC property linked to Sam Bankman-Fried

June 19, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Realtor may have accepted M offer for Washington DC property linked to Sam Bankman-Fried

Business

The Washington D.C. townhouse owned by Guarding Against Pandemics was listed as “contingent” on a real estate website, suggesting the party handling the deal has accepted an offer.

An unidentified buyer or buyers could soon own a property previously linked to defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in Washington D.C.’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

According to an updated posting on Realtor.com, the D.C. property was listed as “contingent”, suggesting that the party handling the deal has accepted an offer but the transaction was not yet finalized. The townhouse located near the U.S. Capitol building was reportedly owned by Guarding Against Pandemics, a nonprofit organization established by Gabriel Bankman-Fried, brother of the former FTX CEO.

Cointelegraph reported in January that the property had been removed from real estate listings after having allegedly been purchased by misappropriated FTX user funds. Realtor.com’s listing at the time of publication showed a price of $3 million, while available photographs did not suggest any crypto or blockchain design to the house.

#CelebrityRealEstate
DC Townhouse Linked to Fallen FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Is Listed for $3.3M

420 3rd St NE, Washington, DC 20002

Bedrooms and bathrooms
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 4.5
Full bathrooms: 4
1/2 bathrooms: 1 pic.twitter.com/oBQslTGuV3
— Paul Argueta (@talktopaul_com) January 23, 2023

Amid the collapse of FTX and criminal charges brought against Sam Bankman-Fried, U.S. authorities investigated assets tied to the crypto exchange and its former CEO, including those used for political donations. Bankman-Fried will face two criminal trials — scheduled for October 2023 and March 2024 — for charges including allegations of campaign finance law violations.

It’s unclear who is behind the purchase of the D.C. property and what role the money behind the sale could play, if any, in FTX’s ongoing bankruptcy case in the District of Delaware. Gabriel Bankman-Fried reportedly stepped down from his position as executive director of Guarding Against Pandemics in November 2022. Cointelegraph reached out to the nonprofit, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Magazine: Can you trust crypto exchanges after the collapse of FTX?

White House questions impact of AI surveillance on workers

May 24, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Officials in Washington D.C. said they will hold a listening session to understand the experiences of workers and the usage of AI surveillance in the workplace.

Officials in the United States are making efforts to keep tabs on the development of artificial intelligence (AI), as new plans surface to examine workers’ experience with AI surveillance.

According to a Reuters report, officials at the White House said on May 23 that they would be asking workers how their employers use AI for monitoring purposes. This comes as federal investments are being allocated toward the development of the technology.

Regulators in the U.S. are planning to hold a listening session to hear out such experiences with AI for workplace surveillance, monitoring and evaluation. Also on the call will be gig work experts, researchers, and policymakers

The forthcoming listening session comes only a few weeks after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris invited executives from major tech companies to the White House to discuss the dangers of AI.

In attendance were nine of the top advisers to the Biden administration in science, national security, policy and economics, along with the CEOs of OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others.

Prior to the meeting, U.S. President Joe Biden addressed tech companies imploring them to address the risks of the technology.

On May 4, U.S. officials released standards for key and emerging technologies, which identified eight sectors within the tech industry that could have a significant impact on the economy in upcoming years.

Most recently, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAi which created ChatGPT, testified before Congress in a “historic” session that focused on the potential threats posed by generative AI.

The U.S. is not alone in forming a regulatory stance on emerging technology. Regulators in the United Kingdom recently pledged nearly $125M towards the creation of a ‘safe AI’ task force while the country focuses on AI “readiness.”

Meanwhile, in the European Union, officials are in the process of finalizing legislation that could be one of the world’s first set of legal measures and guidelines regulating generative AI tools. The most recent round of deliberations for the EU AI Act included a ban on facial recognition in public spaces and predictive policing tools.

Magazine: ‘Moral responsibility’: Can blockchain really improve trust in AI?

US-Saudi Tensions Escalate as Report Says Crown Prince Is No Longer Interested in Pleasing the United States

April 4, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Federal Investigators Probe Silicon Valley Bank Collapse; SVB and Top Execs Sued by Shareholders

March 14, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Michael Saylor is still on the hook for alleged tax evasion, says MicroStrategy filing

March 2, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

A D.C. court denied a motion to dismiss claims that Michael Saylor failed to pay personal income taxes, with a status conference on the matter scheduled for March.

The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia in the United States is moving forward on a lawsuit against business intelligence firm MicroStrategy executive chair Michael Saylor related to tax evasion.

According to a Feb. 28 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, MicroStrategy said the court had not dismissed a claim against Saylor for failing “to pay personal income taxes, interest and penalties due” following an October 2022 motion from the firm. However, the court granted a motion dismissing allegations that Saylor — on his own and acting in concert with MicroStrategy — violated the District of Columbia’s False Claims Act.

Former D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced a lawsuit against Saylor and MicroStrategy in August 2022, alleging the co-founder “never paid any DC income taxes” and the company “conspired” to assist him in tax evasion. At the time, authorities said Saylor owed more than $25 million in taxes for income earned while he was a D.C. resident, but penalties from both the former chief executive officer and MicroStrategy could total more than $100 million.

It's the 1st lawsuit brought under DC’s recently amended False Claims Act encouraging whistleblowers to report residents who evade our tax laws by misrepresenting their residence. Led by @ChmnMendelson, @councilofdc unanimously updated the law & gave us enforcement authority.
— Archive: AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) August 31, 2022

Racine left the Attorney General’s office in January after announcing he would not seek re-election. According to the MicroStrategy filing, there will be a “status conference” on the lawsuit on March 10.

“The final outcome of this matter is not presently determinable,” said the filing.

According to the Attorney General’s complaint, MicroStrategy had "detailed information” on Saylor's residency in Washington D.C., but the company collaborated with the former CEO to "facilitate his tax evasion" rather than reporting it to authorities. Saylor stepped down as the CEO of MicroStrategy in August 2022, succeeded by then company president Phong Le.

Crypto industry lobbying expenses rose by 120% in 2022 in the US

February 28, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance

Coinbase remains a leader for lobbying expenditure for the sixth year in a row, but Binance.US is accelerating its efforts.

Crypto industry has been raising its lobbying efforts amid the crypto winter that began last year. In 2022, the market participants spent $25.57 million on lobbying in the United States.

This number appears in a study, published by the Money Mongers on Feb. 23. The count is based on data from OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan nonprofit, tracking the lobbying expenses (which should be publicly accessible by law) in the U.S.

According to this data, the general rise of the industry’s lobbying budgets made up 922% in five years between 2017 and 2022. In 2017, when the price of Bitcoin rocketed for the first time, the young industry spent only $2.5 million on lobbying efforts, while in last year this number stood at $25.57 million. During the last year alone, the stakeholders raised their expenses by 121.41% from $11.54 million in 2021.

The leader of the spenders list is the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase, which paid $3.3 million to 32 lobbyists in 2022. The second places are held by Blockchain Association with $1.9M spent and 18 lobbyists hired, and Robinhood with the numbers of $1.84 million and 20 people respectively.

The American subsidiary of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance.US, occupied only the ninth spot of the list with $960,000 spent in 2022. However, Coinbase’s level of early expenditure remained steady — it’s been handling out around $1-1.5 million each year, whereas Binance.US started spending only in 2021 and raised its efforts from $160,000 to almost $1 million in twelve months.

The overall expenditure of crypto companies on lobbying in America stands slightly over $50 million in six years, which is more than modest, if we compare this number with some other industries. For example, pharmaceutical companies spent more than $350 million alone in 2022 on the federal lobbying efforts.

US crypto regulation happening ‘behind closed doors’ — Blockchain Association CEO

February 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain Association

The “work has been done” for stablecoin regulation in the U.S., but many in Washington D.C. are feeling “burned” and “betrayed” over the FTX collapse last year.

The United States Congress needs to take control of crypto legislation and make it a more “open process” where the entire marketplace is looked at “comprehensively,” suggests Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association — a prominent U.S. crypto industry nonprofit.

In a Feb. 22 Bloomberg interview, Smith said the industry needs U.S. lawmakers to lead crypto legislation despite it making the process “very slow,” with regulators “stepping in” in the interim.

Smith noted that despite regulators “moving very quickly,” progress on legislation is happening “behind closed doors,” suggesting it’s vital for more industry involvement in an “open process,” which would involve Congress.

Smith believes the issue with regulators leading legislation with enforcement actions and settlements relates to “very specific facts and circumstances.”

She explained it’s a difficult position for Congress at the moment, as many in Washington D.C. who “were close” to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX feel “burned” and “betrayed” over the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange in November 2022.

Smith is hopeful that stablecoin regulation will soon happen in the U.S., saying Congress has been looking at it “since 2019” and the “work has been done.” She said it “came close” to happening last year before the collapse of FTX.

She added that crypto risks are different from traditional financial services, so regulators must spend more time looking at market regulation and “tailor to those risks.”

Smith suggested that stablecoin and “market side” regulation should be a higher priority than focusing on legislating crypto-related criminal activity, saying that public ledgers make it “much more transparent” than we see in the traditional financial system.

This comes after the Blockchain Association’s chief policy officer, Jake Chervinsky, took to Twitter on Feb. 15, stating that no matter how many enforcement actions the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission bring, they are “bound by legal reality,” adding that “neither” has the authority to “comprehensively regulate crypto.”

Custodia Bank CEO slams Washington’s ‘misguided crackdown’ on crypto

February 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Caitlin Long

Caitlin Long revealed that she had warned government agencies of major “fraud” in the crypto space months before several firms went bankrupt.

The CEO of Custodia Bank Caitlin Long has slammed regulators and lawmakers in Washington D.C. for their “misguided crackdown” on the crypto sector, and also for ignoring her warnings of major “fraud” allegedly conducted by now-bankrupted entities.

In a Feb. 17 blog post titled “Shame On Washington, DC For Shooting A Messenger Who Warned of Crypto Debacle,” Long tore into the government for its approach to crypto regulation, failing to protect investors and alienating good actors in the space:

“Washington’s misguided crackdown will only push risks into the shadows, leaving regulators to play whack-a-mole as the risks continuously pop up in unexpected places.”

Long stressed that with her digital asset custody firm, she’s “been calling out the worst of crypto while trying to build a lawful, compliant alternative that relegates scams to the trash heap. But [...] most of today’s policymakers seem intent on killing the high-integrity innovators.”

The Custodia Bank CEO claimed that her efforts to work with government agencies were ultimately thrown back in her face, as she recounted the spate of negative run-ins her firm has had of late.

“Custodia was simultaneously attacked by the White House, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Kansas City Fed and Senator Dick Durbin (who conflated our non-leveraged, 100-percent liquid and solvent bank with FTX in a Senate floor speech),” she said, adding that:

“Custodia tried to become federally regulated – the very result bipartisan policymakers claim to want. Yet Custodia has been denied and now disparaged for daring to come through the front door.”

Her sentiments echo that of figures such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who has suggested on multiple occasions that the agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have reacted frostily to his firm’s efforts to maintain a dialogue in good faith.

Earlier this month, Armstrong also criticized the lack of regulatory clarity in the U.S. and what appears to be a “regulation by enforcement” approach following the SEC’s move to shut down Kraken’s staking services on Feb. 9.

“Today’s regulators and lawmakers in Washington are no doubt embarrassed that they failed to stop the criminals of crypto. DC is demanding scalps,” Long wrote in the blog post, adding that:

“Calls for a crackdown today are coming from many of the same policymakers who were charmed by the fraudsters. In a 180-degree turn, they’re now throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

Unheeded warnings

Over on Twitter, Long also suggested that well before the implosion of several crypto firms in 2022, she and many others had tried to warn Washington and “help law enforcement stop” major fraud, but to no avail.

Long stated that she was publicly disclosing for the first time that she had “handed over evidence to law enforcement of probable crimes” committed by an unnamed crypto firm “ months before that company imploded and stuck its millions of customers with losses.”

1/ IT'S TIME FOR ME TO REVEAL A FEW THINGS. I've just published a post "Shame On Washington, DC For Shooting A Messenger Who Warned Of #Crypto Debacle." Link to post is here:https://t.co/yTWWrEk3Os pic.twitter.com/rbo21DzOv3
— Caitlin Long ⚡️ (@CaitlinLong_) February 17, 2023

Kraken co-founder and CEO Jesse Powell responded to Long’s Twitter thread, and essentially corroborated her statements by noting that: “I can't tell you how infuriating it is to have pointed out massive red flags and obviously illegal activity to regulators only to have them ignore the issues for years.”

I can't tell you how infuriating it is to have pointed out massive red flags and obviously illegal activity to regulators only to have them ignore the issues for years. "They're offshore. It's complicated. We're looking at everybody." FOR YEARS. Then to be used as their example. https://t.co/YHdNazM2UE
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) February 18, 2023

Cleanspark Boosts Bitcoin Mining Capacity With Acquisition of 20,000 Bitmain Rigs

February 17, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Coinbase CEO invites DC residents over for ice cream and crypto talk

February 13, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong said he had about an hour at the Dirksen Senate Office in Washington, D.C. to “chat about crypto” and enjoy low sugar food at the building's snack bar.

Brian Armstrong, the chief executive officer of United States-based cryptocurrency firm Coinbase, is looking for lawmakers and regulators to discuss regulatory clarity in the crypto space.

In a Feb. 13 tweet, Armstrong put a call out for anyone with access to the Dirksen Senate Office in Washington, D.C. to meet him at the building’s snack bar and “chat about crypto”. According to the Coinbase CEO, he was looking for “low sugar options” amid the selection of soft serve ice cream and toppings.

"’I'm in Washington D.C. and had a meeting canceled," said Armstrong. "If anyone wants to come chat about crypto and how we get crypto legislation + regulatory clarity this year."

*Brian Armstrong at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Feb. 13. Source: Twitter*

Armstrong’s presence in D.C. followed the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing a $30-million settlement with Kraken on Feb. 9, in which the firm agreed to shut down its staking program for U.S. users. The Coinbase CEO argued in a Twitter thread responding to rumors that eliminating staking would be a “terrible path for the U.S.” On Feb. 12, he released a statement saying Coinbase would defend staking “in court if needed”.

The Coinbase CEO’s call to Senators, House Representatives, and other D.C. residents preceded U.S. lawmakers with the Senate Banking Committee preparing to hold a hearing on Feb. 14 exploring the impact of a crypto market crash. Representative Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, has also called on the committee’s leadership to hold another hearing on the collapse of FTX in which former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried could testify.

Washington

Unheeded warnings

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