In this weekly recap, we cover:
- Worldcoin, a project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, launches its native WLD token on the Optimism Mainnet, despite criticism over its use of biometric data for identity verification.
- Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, along with its CEO Changpeng Zhao and former Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim, announce their intent to request that charges brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) be dismissed.
- Blockchain security firm Quantstamp agrees to settle charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) that raised $28 million in 2017.
- Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein and Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan, the infamous couple arrested for laundering $4.5 billion in stolen Bitcoin, reach plea deals with federal prosecutors.
- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is granted an extension by Judge John Koeltl to produce evidence in its case against Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of crypto lender Celsius.
- Arkham Intel Exchange, the recently launched platform which has drawn criticism for its “dox-to-earn” program, awards its first bounty to two blockchain sleuths who identified wallets connected to Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon.
- Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, finds himself under increasing legal pressure as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks his detention, alleging multiple attempts to tamper with witnesses.
- Crypto payments processor Alphapo suffers a significant loss estimated at $60 million, while Conic Finance and Era Lend also report significant breaches.
- Yearn Finance, a decentralized platform that uses automated smart contracts to help investors maximize their yield, invites the crypto community to try and steal the funds inside its V3 Vault.
