Need to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting the Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.
FTX.com released a re-organization plan as it prepares for a comeback. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing Hex founder Richard Heart on allegations of unregistered crypto security sales. Meanwhile, several stable pools on Curve Finance were exploited on July 30 due to a reentrancy vulnerability in certain versions of the Vyper programming language. Losses topped $52 million, leading to a plummeting of Curve’s native CRV token.
FTX.com releases restructuring plan, hints at rebooted offshore exchange
FTX.com released a re-organization plan that outlines the company’s intended path to settle an “exceptionally large and complicated collection of claims”.
The document features recognition of special “shortfall” claims by the two FTX exchange organizations against this third pool of general assets. This is intended to “compensate” the exchanges for the unauthorized borrowing and misappropriation of assets that former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his close associates are accused of carrying out.
SEC v. Terraform case to go ahead, judge disagrees with Ripple ruling
A United States federal judge has denied a motion from Terraform Labs to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the U.S. securities regulator.
In handing down the order, the judge also rejected a decision from another judge who made a distinction between institutional and retail sales when it came to a ruling made in the Ripple case.
The SEC first filed a suit against Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, on Feb. 16, alleging them of “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud.” In April, Terraform Labs’ legal representatives filed a motion for the dismissal of the suit.
However, the judge has dismissed the motion as of July 31, rejecting a number of objections filed by Terraform Labs.
Judge presiding over SEC/Terraform Labs case in new court filing rejects approach taken in Ripple ruling. Says he won't distinguish between crypto assets based on how they're sold — ie directly to institutional investors versus to retail investors on exchanges. pic.twitter.com/6ar0ocXjd8
— Ally Versprille (@allyversprille) July 31, 2023
One of the opinions from the judge was around whether a distinction should be drawn depending on the manner of sale of the coin, such as in Ripple’s case with XRP (XRP).
The court however declined to “draw a distinction between these coins [MIR and LUNA] based on their manner of sale.”
“The Court rejects the approach recently adopted by another judge of this District in a similar case, SEC v. Ripple Labs Inc. […] Howey makes no such distinction between [primary and secondary] purchasers.”
Its rejection here could bode well for the SEC, if other judges follow Rakoff’s example.
Hex founder faces SEC complaint over unregistered securities offering
Controversial crypto entrepreneur and investor Richard Heart faces a lawsuit from federal regulators over an alleged unregistered securities offering.
In a July 31 filing, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claimed that Heart had raised more than $1 billion through the unlawful sale of Hex, PulseChain (PLS) and PulseX (PSLX). According to the complaint, Heart made claims of “grandiose wealth for investors” in marketing the tokens. The Hex founder faces charges related to federal securities violations and defrauding retail investors.
Today we charged Richard Heart (aka Richard Schueler) and three unincorporated entities that he controls, Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX, with conducting unregistered offerings of crypto asset securities that raised more than $1 billion in crypto assets from investors.
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) July 31, 2023
Like other crypto assets, Hex surged in popularity in 2021, reaching an all-time high around $0.48. The token is currently trading at around $0.00616, having declined over 28% on the day.
It has been speculated that Heart was aware that a federal complaint was incoming. Heart appears to have removed certain references from Hex and PulseChain in his social media profiles in the months leading up to the SEC complaint.
Ethical hacker retrieves $5.4M for Curve Finance amid exploit
An ethical hacker managed to retrieve $5.4 million worth of Ether from an exploiter and return it to DeFi protocol Curve Finance amid a recent hack.
#PeckShieldAlert c0ffeebabe.eth has returned 2,879 $ETH (~$5.4m) to #Curve deployer https://t.co/33BJLaq12A pic.twitter.com/2Jq0JOsrhV
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) July 31, 2023
A maximal extractable value bot operator with the username “c0ffeebabe.eth” used a front-running bot against a malicious hacker to secure almost 3,000 ETH. The funds were then returned to the Curve deployer address, which looks to be its rightful custodian.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
