Disgraced Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Seeks Access to Crypto Assets

• Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder of FTX, is seeking access to crypto assets associated with FTX and Alameda Research.
• Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, has requested that the existing bail conditions „related to crypto asset transfers should be removed.“
• Cohen is asking for two additions to be removed from Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions, including a restriction on speaking with certain individuals and a restriction on crypto asset transfers.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder of crypto asset trading platform FTX, is seeking removal of bail restrictions on crypto asset transfers. Bankman-Fried, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan and faces eight charges, was released from custody on bail with certain restrictions. His attorney, Mark Cohen, has written a letter to the Southern District of New York (SDNY) judge Lewis Kaplan, asking for two additions to be removed from Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions.

The first request is that Bankman-Fried be allowed to speak with Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, two redacted witnesses, and George Lerner (Bankman-Fried’s therapist). Cohen argues that this restriction is „overbroad“ and Bankman-Fried’s intentions to contact these individuals are attempts to „offer assistance in FTX’s bankruptcy process.“

The second request is that Bankman-Fried be allowed to transfer his crypto assets. Cohen explains that Bankman-Fried’s crypto asset transfers are „necessary to meet his obligations to creditors and other financial obligations associated with his business and personal affairs.“ He adds that Bankman-Fried will be unable to meet these obligations without access to his crypto assets.

Cohen also stresses that Bankman-Fried has been „forthcoming and fully compliant“ with the government and the court since his arrest. He believes that Bankman-Fried should be allowed to transfer his crypto assets in order to meet his obligations and that the existing bail conditions are an unnecessary restriction on his freedom.

It remains to be seen whether the SDNY court will accept Cohen’s request and remove the bail restrictions on Bankman-Fried’s crypto asset transfers. In the meantime, Bankman-Fried is unable to access his crypto assets and is unable to meet his obligations to creditors and other financial obligations associated with his business and personal affairs.

Solana and Cardano Surge to 12 Week Highs as Crypto Market Cap Rises

Solana (SOL) rose by as much as 20% on Saturday, breaking out of a key price ceiling in the process.
Cardano (ADA) also rose to its strongest point since November, with the global cryptocurrency market cap up 6.86%.
Both tokens have seen notable gains over the weekend, with bulls looking to drive prices higher in the near term.

The crypto markets saw some notable gains to start the weekend, with several tokens moving to their highest points since November. Solana (SOL) was one of the major movers, as the token rose by as much as 20% in Saturday’s session. This surge saw SOL/USD break out of a key price ceiling of $25.00, with the token hitting a 12-week high of $26.41 as of writing. The 14-day relative strength index (RSI) also broke out of a ceiling of its own at the 73.00 mark, tracking at 73.84 as of now. This surge follows on from Friday’s low at $21.27, with bulls looking to drive prices higher in the near term.

Cardano (ADA) was also one of Saturday’s notable gainers, as the token moved to its strongest point since November. Following a low of $0.3364 on Saturday, ADA/USD raced to an intraday peak of $0.3726 earlier today. This surge saw cardano jump to its strongest point in the past 12 weeks, breaking out of a resistance of $0.3650 in the process. The move took price strength to a ceiling of 73.00, however, it has so far failed to overcome this hurdle. As a result, earlier gains have somewhat eased, as traders moved to secure gains, leading to ADA currently trading at $0.366.

The global cryptocurrency market cap also saw a notable rise on Saturday, with the index up 6.86% as of writing. This surge followed on from a period of sideways trading over the past week, with traders now looking to drive prices higher in the near term. With both solana and cardano looking to break out of key resistance levels, the next few days could prove to be quite interesting in the crypto markets.

Crypto Markets Surge: Bitcoin and Ethereum Hit Two-Month Highs

• Bitcoin surged to a fresh two-month high on Jan. 14, as crypto markets were significantly higher on Saturday.
• Ethereum traded above $1,500 to start the weekend, also hitting its strongest point since November.
• Both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have added over 20% in value in the past seven days.

The crypto markets have seen a significant surge in prices on Saturday, as both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) hit two-month highs. Bitcoin surged to its highest point since November, climbing above the $21,000 mark and posting a 10% gain in the last 24 hours. Ethereum followed a similar trajectory, trading above $1,500 and recording a 23% increase in the last seven days.

The Bitcoin rally came as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) continued to surge, reaching its highest point in two years. Typically, a reading of 70.00 is seen as overbought, and with this print, many traders are expecting bearish sentiment to grow and for traders to begin to short the market.

For Ethereum, the bullish momentum was driven by the 10-day (red) moving average extending a crossover of its 25-day (blue) counterpart. This bullish trend has been bolstered by Ethereum 2.0, the latest update to the Ethereum blockchain, which was released on December 1. The update is expected to bring a number of new features, including sharding and staking, which could improve the platform’s scalability and security.

The current rally in the crypto markets could be driven by a number of factors, including increasing institutional interest and the weak US dollar. The Biden administration is expected to launch a new round of stimulus measures, which could further weaken the greenback and lead to more demand for alternative assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Overall, the current surge in crypto prices is a positive sign for the industry, and could be a sign of further gains in the coming weeks. However, traders should remain cautious, as a sharp correction could occur if the rally loses momentum.

Bitmex Co-Founder Criticizes Bankman-Fried for Alameda Failure: ‚Explain Liquidation Feature‘

• Bitmex Co-Founder Arthur Hayes has criticized former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for not liquidating his hedge fund Alameda.
• Hayes says that Bankman-Fried’s explanation of Alameda’s failure is misdirection and that it does not matter what was in their portfolio.
• Hayes insists that Bankman-Fried should explain why he thought it was a good idea to give his hedge fund an account with the liquidation feature turned off.

Bitmex Co-Founder Arthur Hayes had some choice words for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried this past Friday. In a tweet, Hayes criticized Bankman-Fried for not liquidating his hedge fund Alameda after Bankman-Fried published his first blog post on his new Substack newsletter.

„All this talk about what Alameda did is misdirection,“ Hayes insisted. „It doesn’t matter how they hedged or didn’t hedge, or what dogsh** was in their portfolio.“ Hayes then told Bankman-Fried if he truly wanted to explain what happened, he should tell the community why he thought it was a good idea to give his hedge fund an account with the liquidation feature turned off.

The Bitmex co-founder’s criticism of Bankman-Fried comes after the former FTX CEO wrote a blog post in which he discussed the failure of his hedge fund. In the post, Bankman-Fried said that „Alameda failed to sufficiently hedge its market exposure“ and „an extreme, quick, targeted crash precipitated by the CEO of Binance made Alameda insolvent.“

Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda, has explained that executives had implemented special settings on Alameda’s FTX.com account that allowed them to turn off the liquidation feature. This meant that even if the hedge fund was in danger of becoming insolvent due to market movements, the liquidation feature would not be activated.

Hayes has significant knowledge about cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges, as Bitmex was one of the largest since its inception in 2014. He believes that the exchange should never lose money if a customer gets liquidated.

In response to Bankman-Fried’s post, Hayes tweeted, „The exchange should never lose money if a customer gets liquidated. There is no excuse [for] giving [your] hedge fund Alameda an account with liquidation turned off. All this talk about what Alameda did is misdirection. It doesn’t matter how they hedged or didn’t hedge, or what dogsh** was in their portfolio.“

The Bitmex co-founder had some harsh words for Bankman-Fried, but it is clear that he believes that the former FTX CEO should be more transparent about what happened. Hayes believes that Bankman-Fried should explain why he thought it was a good idea to give his hedge fund an account with the liquidation feature turned off. This could provide some valuable insight into the failure of Alameda and help prevent similar issues from happening in the future.

Bitcoin Hits All-Time High of 361 EH/s: Cost of Production Drops Sharply

• Bitcoin’s hashrate reached an all-time high of 361.20 exahash per second (EH/s) on Jan. 6, 2023.
• The network is currently coasting along at 290 EH/s after reaching its ATH the day prior.
• Block generation times have been much faster than the 10-minute average and the cost of Bitcoin production has dropped.

The Bitcoin network has broken yet another record during the first week of the new year. On Jan. 6, 2023, the blockchain-based cryptocurrency hit an all-time high (ATH) of 361.20 exahash per second (EH/s) at block height 770,709. This number is more than 4% higher than the previous record of 347.16 EH/s recorded on Nov. 12, 2022, at block height 762,845.

The rapid surge in Bitcoin’s hashrate is a testament to the increasing number of miners joining the network and the security of the blockchain. The higher the hashrate, the more secure the network is and the faster blocks can be mined. This is evident in the current block intervals, which have been between 8:51 and 7:31 minutes, much faster than the 10-minute average.

As a result of this hashrate surge, the cost of BTC production has dropped significantly. Statistics from macromicro.me indicate that the cost of bitcoin production is $16,568 per unit, while the spot price is $16,920 per unit. This means that miners are able to make a profit while still producing Bitcoin at a faster rate. In addition, data from theminermag.com shows that the average cost of bitcoin production might even be much lower, at around $13.6K per unit.

As the hashrate continues to climb, the network’s difficulty is expected to increase. This is because the higher the hashrate, the more difficult it will be for miners to find new blocks and earn rewards. As such, difficulty adjustments are expected to be made in the coming days in order to keep the network secure and keep the block times consistent.

With the recent surge in Bitcoin’s hashrate, the network is set to break more records in the coming months. This could lead to a new wave of miners joining the network and a higher demand for Bitcoin. It remains to be seen how this will affect the network and the prices of Bitcoin in the future.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Surge on U.S. Jobs Data, Technical Indicators Bullish

• Bitcoin (BTC) moved closer to the $17,000 level as traders reacted to the latest U.S. nonfarm payrolls (NFP).
• Ethereum (ETH) also moved higher, with prices nearing a three-week high.
• Technical indicators suggest that the bullish momentum is likely to continue in the short-term.

The weekend has started off with a bang for cryptocurrency traders, as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) both surged in response to the latest U.S. nonfarm payrolls (NFP) data. December’s payrolls came in at 223,000, which was better than the 200,000 markets had expected. In response to this, BTC/USD surged to a peak of $16,991.99 to start the weekend, hovering close to a three-week high in the process.

The technical analysis for BTC/USD shows a bullish picture, with the 10-day (red) moving average closing in on a crossover with its 25-day (blue) counterpart. This, as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) also rallied, climbing above a key resistance point at 50.00 Currently, the index is tracking at 52.24, with the next visible ceiling at the 55.00 mark, which is likely where bulls are targeting.

For Ethereum (ETH), prices moved gradually closer to $1,300, following a low of $1,240.95. ETH/USD raced to an intraday high of $1,273.22, which is its highest point since December 17. Today’s move came as an upwards crossover of moving averages has recently occurred, with the 10-day (red) trend line moving higher versus the 25-day (blue) line. This is typically seen as a sign of current and future bullish momentum, and traders are likely to continue to take advantage of the current bullish trend in the short-term.