SBF Seeks to Overturn Conviction, Says Nobody Lost Money as Iran Pays Its Bills in Bitcoin
You know guys, one of the most beautiful things about crypto is the sheer, unfiltered audacity of everyone involved. I mean, think about it. In what other industry does a man serving 25 years for fraud petition the Supreme Court on the grounds that nobody really lost money? š Yeah, thatās right. In what alternate universe does a sanctioned nation-state just quietly update its central bank policy to "Yeah, Bitcoin works"?
Where else do hackers steal $300M worth of coins, return most of it, and then have the nerve to call themselves white hats before holding the last $47 million hostage? And where else can two guys write a combined $97 million check to a political party over a weekend, almost as an afterthought? Nowhere else but hereā¦. In the cryptoverse.
Here are the highlights:
- Sam Bankman-Fried Asks Supreme Court to Overturn FTX Fraud Conviction
- Iran Eases FX Rules to Use Crypto, Bitcoin to Evade U.S. Sanctions
- Blockstream Refuses to Pay Ransom for 600 BTC Stolen in Liquid Network Hack
- Crypto Billionaires Hand Reform UK $97M in Record Donations
Sam Bankman-Fried Asks Supreme Court to Overturn FTX Fraud Conviction
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the fraud conviction that put him in prison for 25 years, according to a petition reviewed by the New York Times. The odds are long. The court grants and hears arguments in about 1% of cases filed each term, by its own account, and review is discretionary. Bankman-Friedās lawyers argue the trial court should have let him show that no FTX customer lost money. There were "always more than enough assets available to repay customers (as they now have been repaid, with substantial interest)," the petition says, calling review "urgently necessary." Prosecutors reject that framing.
Iran Eases FX Rules to Use Crypto, Bitcoin to Evade U.S. Sanctions
Iranās central bank has eased foreign-exchange rules to allow the use of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin for trade settlement, in a move to bypass U.S. economic sanctions, the Financial Times reported on September 9. The Central Bank of Iran recently relaxed the rules to encourage domestic companies to repatriate earnings generated overseas, the FT said. The change allows Iranian companies to settle cross-border trade payments in Bitcoin or Tether through domestic cryptocurrency exchanges. Exporters can also use foreign-currency earnings directly to pay for imports rather than selling them on a government foreign-exchange platform at the official rate.
Blockstream Refuses to Pay Ransom for 600 BTC Stolen in Liquid Network Hack
Blockstream has refused to pay for the return of Bitcoin after a theft from the Liquid Network because it believes that security researchers should not steal. Most of the funds have already been returned, but nearly 600 BTC, which is worth about $47 million, remains with the people behind the attack. The incident began when attackers found a flaw in software used by Liquid, a Bitcoin-based network designed to support faster transfers and other financial services. Through the weakness, around 4,000 Liquid Bitcoins were generated, which were then exchanged for the real Bitcoin on the network. They [the attackers] described what they did as āwhite-hatā activity, and about 3,400 BTC was returned afterwards.
Crypto Billionaires Hand Reform UK $97M in Record Donations
Two crypto billionaires have given Nigel Farage's Reform UK Ā£72 million ($97 million) in two days, more than every British party raised last year combined. BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo went first, announcing Ā£36 million in the Telegraph on Friday, the biggest single donation ever made to a British party and more than four times the Ā£8 million he had already given this year. He is giving the equivalent of Ā£1 million a month until the latest date Labour could call an election in 2029, but paying up front in case the government caps large donations. Christopher Harborne, the Tether investor who has given Reform Ā£15 million since the last election, matched it Saturday.
Other Highlights Worth Mentioning
Crypto Trader Gains $10 Million with Aggressive HODL Strategy ā BeInCrypto
MetaMask Adds New Wallet Protections Against Crypto Scams ā Yahoo Tech
Mexican Authorities Seize 300 GPUs in Cartel-Linked Crypto Mining Raid ā KuCoin
Secret Service Freezes $52.8 Million in Crypto Tied to Telegram Bazaar Behind Global Scams ā Decrypt
COINIGY FACT OF THE DAY
On this day in 2021, Solana suffered one of its most infamous network outages, going down for hours due to āResource Exhaustionā.
On September 14, the Solana blockchain stopped producing blocks after being overwhelmed by a flood of transactions, with validators preparing to coordinate a network restart. The outage lasted for hours and hammered investor confidence, sending SOL down more than 13% during the disruption. The incident became an early reminder that even high-throughput blockchains could face serious reliability challenges when transaction demand overwhelmed network resources.
COINIGY MEME OF THE WEEK
