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Franklin Templeton has become the latest financial institution to file for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, currently on bail facing multiple charges of criminal fraud and market manipulation, has filed a motion seeking the dismissal of the FTC case against him. Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has confirmed the hacking of his X (Twitter) account over the weekend was caused by a “SIM-swap attack,” a technique used by hackers to gain control of a victim’s mobile phone number.
Franklin Templeton joins Bitcoin ETF race
Multi-trillion-dollar asset manager Franklin Templeton has filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF, upping the ante on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to finally approve a spot BTC product.
The S-1 registration was officially filed on Sept. 12 and came mere weeks after the SEC delayed its ruling on several filings from BlackRock, WisdomTree, Fidelity, VanEck and Bitwise.
#bitcoin Spot ETF applications:
– BlackRock ($10T AUM)
– Fidelity ($4.5T)
– Franklin Templeton ($1.5T)
– Invesco Galaxy ($1.5T)
– WisdomTree ($87B)
– VanEck ($61B)
– GlobalX ($40B)
– ARK Invest ($14B)
– Bitwise ($1B)
– Valkyrie ($1B)Total: $17.7T
Probably nothing…
— Bitcoin for Freedom (@BTC_for_Freedom) September 12, 2023
According to the application, Franklin Templeton would structure the fund as a trust, with Coinbase serving as BTC custodian and Bank of New York Mellon as cash custodian and administrator. The fund’s shares would trade on the Cboe BZX Exchange.
The SEC has until Oct. 16 to reach a decision or request more time in the review process.
A spot ETF is considered by many to be the gold standard for onboarding institutional investors into Bitcoin. Until now, the SEC has only approved futures-linked products. Its rejection of spot applications is tied to concerns about market manipulation, according to the regulator.
Former Celsius CEO Mashinsky seeks dismissal of FTC case
Alex Mashinsky, founder and former CEO of now-bankrupt crypto lender Celsius, filed a new motion in court seeking the dismissal of the United States Federal Trade Commission case against him “in its entirety.”
The legal counsel for the former Celsius boss argued that the allegations against their client do not support the claim that he knowingly made a misstatement to “fraudulently obtain customer information from a financial institution.” According to the lawyers, the accusations do not meet the standards for a claim under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This 1999 law requires knowingly making false claims to collect customer information fraudulently from a financial institution.
Additionally, the lawyers claimed that because Mashinsky resigned from his position as CEO of Celsius on Sept. 27, 2023, the complaint cannot prove that he “is violating” or “is about to violate” the law.
The FTC issued a $4.7-billion fine against bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network in July and filed a lawsuit against the Celsius founder along with Celsius’ co-founders, Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein. Mashinsky’s legal team was also representing Goldstein.
His lawyers claimed that the FTC seems to be basing its case against Goldstein solely on the fact that he retweeted a blog post by Celsius. According to Goldstein, this behavior is being misconstrued as a sign of complicity or participation in the alleged misconduct.
Celsius was one of the largest crypto-lending platforms, headed by Mashinsky, before it imploded in 2022. The founder resigned as CEO in September later the same year, and by the end of 2022, the United States Justice Department had indicted the former CEO on multiple charges of criminal fraud. Mashinsky has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges filed against him and is out on bail on a $40-million bond.
Vitalik Buterin says SIM swap led to his X account being taken over
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has confirmed that the recent hack of his X (Twitter) account was the result of a SIM-swap attack.
A SIM-swap or simjacking attack is a technique used by hackers to gain control of a victim’s mobile phone number. With control of the number, scammers can use two-factor authentication (2FA) to access social media, bank, and crypto accounts.
Confirmed sim swap for Vitalik. Pretty disappointing, there's no excuse to have sms based 2fa in this day and age. pic.twitter.com/1pMZgxM7ca
— quit (,) (@0xQuit) September 11, 2023
On Sept. 9, Buterin’s X account was taken over by scammers who posted a fake NFT giveaway prompting users to click a malicious link which resulted in victims collectively losing over $691,000.
Speaking on the decentralized social media network Farcaster on Sept. 12, Buterin said that he has finally recovered his T-Mobile account after the hacker managed to gain control of it via a SIM swap attack.
“Yes, it was a SIM swap, meaning that someone socially-engineered T-mobile itself to take over my phone number.”
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.
