GM, frens! Ambire here with our weekly newsletter. This week we’re discussing Tether lawsuit, former FTX exec opening a new exchange, fake ETF filing causing an XRP pump, Binance client gets kidnapped and forced to empty out his crypto wallet and six figure prices for pet NFT rocks on Ethereum.

Let’s get down to it!

USDT lawsuit gets dismissed by judge

Tether and Bitfinex, two major players in the world of crypto, have recently won a significant legal battle. A class-action lawsuit filed by Shawn Dolifka has been dismissed by Chief Judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Dolifka's lawsuit alleged that Tether was not transparent about its reserves, which could potentially harm investors. However, the judge rejected this claim and denied Dolifka's request to amend his complaint.

Tether FUD is as old as the coin itself, the way it usually goes is that someone accuses Tether of being dishonest, printing USDT without proper backing, and manipulating the market.

The ruling in favor of Tether and Bitfinex was seen as a major victory for the companies. They released an official statement expressing their satisfaction with the decision.

Not everyone in the space is happy about it though, as many were closely following the case and hoping for a different outcome. Some critics have labeled the decision as a “slap in the face” to investors who were concerned about Tether's practices.

But for Tether and Bitfinex, this is just another lawsuit to add to the list of legal battles they have successfully fought off, and probably not the last one either. As the overall crypto marketcap grows and more attention is given to the industry, it's likely that we will see similar cases in the future.

Former FTX lawyer will lead a new crypto exchange

A former FTX executive is leading the launch of Backpack, a new crypto exchange that will be available in beta later this month. The Wall Street Journal reported that Can Sun, who was once the general counsel at FTX is leading the venture, along with other former FTX employees including CEO of Web3 digital wallet company Backpack, Armani Ferrante.

Can Sun has recently testified against ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, which resulted in a no-prosecution agreement. Despite this, Sun is now teaming up with Ferrante and other former FTX staff to start their own exchange.

Backpack Exchange has received licensing from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) which regulates digital assets in the region. Along with Ferrante and Sun, Claire Zhang, Ferrante's wife and former legal deputy of Sun, is also on the executive board of Trek Labs, the Dubai-based entity that will operate Backpack Exchange.

According to reports, Trek Labs has hired other former FTX legal and compliance employees, making it clear that Sun's experience at FTX will be put to use in this new venture.

So should anyone expect anything good out of Backpack Exchange, given the past legal controversies surrounding Sun and his involvement with FTX? That's an open question. However, the fact that Sun has disclosed his FTX affiliations in investor materials and regulatory filings shows a level of transparency that may put some at ease.

Fake ETF filing triggers XRP pump

A filing for a BlackRock Inc. fund based on the XRP appeared on the official Delaware website that registers investment trusts incorporated in the state, causing the coin to pump very fast.

However, it wasn't real. The filing was fake.

XRP briefly spiked almost 13% as news about the fake filing made its rounds on social media, but quickly reversed gains when it was confirmed to be false by a spokesperson for BlackRock.

Interesting news spread extra quickly in crypto circles, so it's no surprise. Too bad half the time it's fake.

Just last week, BlackRock filed for an Ether-based fund, and interestingly, the paperwork showed up on the same Delaware website as Monday's filing. That one was indeed real and actually helped boost the price of Ether. So, it's highly likely that the scammers got inspired by this and decided to do the same to pump their XRP bags. Well, it worked... for a little while.

Binance client gets kidnapped, forced to hand over crypto

While cyber-attacks were always a concern, but nobody probably expected a physical robbery to happen.

While on a business trip, executives of a Binance client were abducted and forced to empty their crypto wallets, resulting in a total loss of about $12.5 million. It appears that even with advanced security measures, one can still become a victim of a physical robbery.

It didn't go very well for the robbers though, Binance was able to track the stolen funds and reach out to one of their partners to freeze the wallet. This resulted in the recovery of $11.8 million, or 94.4%, of the stolen funds.

This raises an interesting question: in this scenario, the funds were frozen to safeguard the user. However, what if this tool were to be misused to freeze the wallets of political opponents or for other malicious intentions? After all, isn't the essence of crypto to maintain complete control over our assets?

CZ's answer was that it ultimately comes down to personal choice and finding the right balance between security and control.

In our opinion, this incident really emphasizes the significance of prioritizing self-custody. Luckily, there are plenty of decentralized tools available, such as multisigs and hardware wallets, that can help users to maintain control over their funds, while also keeping those pesky robbers at bay.

As Benjamin Franklin (the dude on $100 bill) once said, "those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety".

Can NFT mania return? Six figure prices for EtherRocks suggest so

The recent resurgence of NFTs in the market has sparked renewed interest and speculation among the investors. With the sale of an EtherRock NFT for over $200,000 and a Bitcoin Rock Ordinal for over $100,000, it is clear that the hype surrounding these digital assets is far from over.

EtherRock is a popular collection of 100 grey boulder NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Each NFT is indistinguishable from one another, yet they have garnered massive value in the market due to their rarity and uniqueness.

Similarly, the Bitcoin Rock Ordinals are also a set of rock images inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain, with each image being nearly identical to one another. Despite lacking any special benefits or utilities, these seemingly basic images have captured the attention of investors and have been sold for six figure prices.

The timing of these high-profile sales is no coincidence. With BTC and ETH prices pumping, there is renewed optimism among еру investors that the market may have reached a definitive low and is going to pump from now on. This optimism has also revived interest in NFTs, with many speculating that the hype surrounding these digital assets may return.

While it is impossible to predict the future of NFTs, there is no denying their potential impact on the market. With more and more people getting involved in the crypto space, it's possible that NFT mania could make a comeback and result in even more astronomical prices for these digital collectibles.

Other worthy reads:

Current narratives by Viktor:

BlackRock files for spot Ethereum ETF with SEC:

Another good thread on narratives by Crypto Koryo:

The fun page

That's all for now, frens.

We'll see you next week. And remember, the market conditions are temporary, but our commitment to building a better DeFi is here to stay. Thanks for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you back next week. Cheers!

Yours, The 🔥 Team

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