| Bitcoin | $49,053 | 7 day: +5.6% | | Ethereum | $1,770 | 7 day: +1.4% | | All crypto | $1.49T | 7 day: +8% | | Bitcoin dominance | 61.5% | 7 day: -1.6% | Prices as of 11:30 a.m. EST
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 The $3.3B of crypto seized by the U.S. Dept. of Justice from "Individual X" does not belong to Ross Ulbricht. The bitcoin belongs to ex-Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges and former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Carl Mark Force IV. Bridges is incarcerated in a federal penitentiary in Nashville, scheduled for release in November. Force was released from prison in October due to COVID-19. Connections between Shaun Bridges and Individual X: - Last November, there were rumblings that a Dept. of Justice seizure of 70,000 bitcoin from "individual X" might have actually been an attempt by Mt. Gox creator Ross Ulbricht to negotiate an early release from jail.
- Per a recent Forbes report, it now appears that feds seized the funds as part of a new case against corrupt federal agents.
- The FBI convicted Ulbricht in 2015. He is currently serving a double life sentence for seven criminal counts, including creating Silk Road, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and money laundering.
- For anyone not familiar with the fascinating story of Ross Ulbricht's arrest in a California library, including two double-crossing agents, see this interview of the federal prosecutor on the case, Kathryn Haun.
Fortune 
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A researcher for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Fabian Schär, suggests that decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols "potentially contribute to a more robust and transparent financial infrastructure." Although DeFi could provide traditional financial services in a "more open, interoperable, and transparent way," Schär notes that DeFi is still a "niche market with certain risks." Schär is a professor for distributed ledger technologies at the University of Basel, Switzerland's oldest university. DeFi champion: - Schär's article is unabashedly positive on the topic of DeFi, claiming that it "can create an immutable and highly interoperable financial system with unprecedented transparency, equal access rights, and little need for custodians, central clearing houses, or escrow services, as most of these roles can be assumed by smart contracts."
- His praise continues into his conclusion: "DeFi has unleashed a wave of innovation."
- "Atomic swaps, autonomous liquidity pools, decentralized stablecoins, and flash loans are just a few of many examples that show the great potential of this ecosystem," he adds.
- He made no mention of any hacks nor exit scams.
- The majority of crypto hacks during 2020 were from DeFi protocols and exchanges.
Click to tweet the following text (you can edit it before sending): A researcher for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Fabian Schär, suggests that DeFi is a promising technology and has unleashed "a wave of innovation." St. Louis Fed
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 Oki Matsumoto Monex Group (8698.T) says central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could help Japan attract foreign direct investment. CBDCs will also help boost international trade by providing a more convenient platform for converting cryptocurrencies into legal tender, said Oki Matsumoto, head of Japan's Monex Group. More: - "CBDCs will significantly enhance the interoperability of cryptocurrencies. It would make the cryptocurrency market more lively," he said in his interview with Reuters.
- Matsumoto also suggested that CBDCs could transform Japan into a more efficient and digitized economy by providing an ideal platform for converting cryptocurrencies into legal tender.
- Monex Group owns Coincheck, a Japan-based bitcoin exchange launched in August 2012 that suffered one of the largest hacks in crypto history.
- The Bank of Japan is actively developing its CBDC, the digital yen, in parallel with several other central banks.
Reuters
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 Sam Bankman-Fried New York Magazine has profiled the "mysterious crypto magnate," billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). SBF was one of Joe Biden's largest campaign donors. The 28-year-old estimated his net worth to New York Magazine at "a mostly illiquid $10B." Trading and lobbying: - Crypto derivatives exchange FTX and its co-owned market-making company, Alameda, were two of the top contributors to Joe Biden's presidential campaign, according to Opensecrets.org data.
- Both were among Biden's 20 largest donors.
- Organizations cannot donate by themselves per federal law. SBF confirmed to The Block Crypto that he donated via his crypto exchange and his market-making company.
- FTX is a centralized derivatives exchange, which reported $472M in spot plus $2.3B in derivatives transactions during the past 24 hours.
- FTX processed millions of dollars in its U.S. election-based futures contracts, TRUMP and BIDEN (now in post-settlement status).
- New York Magazine confirmed that SBF was personally betting on the election outcome and netted a "nontrivial" profit.
Allegations regarding FTX, Alameda Research, and SBF: - In 2019, Bitcoin Manipulation Abatement (BMA) LLC filed a $150M lawsuit in California federal court against FTX.
- BMA LLC alleged that FTX, its incubator Alameda Research LLC, and its CEO SBF, manipulated bitcoin futures prices on the Binance exchange in September 2019.
- Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao ("CZ") tweeted that a futures exchange's market-maker attacked Binance but failed to cause harm on Sept. 15, 2019.
- CZ followed-up an hour later, saying "Had a chat with the client. It was an accident, due to a bad parameter on their side. Not intentional."
- BMA LLC cited in their complaint that FTX's alleged market manipulations affected Binance's futures platform.
- The 89-page long complaint names additional defendants: Caroline Ellison, Constance Wang, Andy Croghan, Darren Wong, and Gary Wang.
- BMA LLC also alleged that FTX's affiliates led other manipulations on bitcoin spot and futures markets, including pump-and-dumps and spoofing. Additionally, it accuses FTX and Alameda's over-the-counter (OTC) desk of acting as covert, illegal money transmitters.
Denials and dismissal: - Alameda Research published a blog on Nov. 3 ridiculing the lawsuit, calling it a "nuisance" and full of inaccuracies. The blog also pointed out that the suit misdescribed Alameda's business model.
- On Dec. 16, 2019, Alameda Research published another blog post announcing BMA LLC's voluntary dismissal with prejudice.
- Alameda reiterated its position: "Neither Alameda nor any of the other named defendants have ever manipulated the market for bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies."
Connection with SushiSwap's (SUSHI) demise: - SBF was a SUSHI tokenholder since the inception of the popular decentralized finance (DeFi) project.
- SBF reportedly accumulated significant yield farming positions with capital linked to FTX.
- Synthetix liquidity protocol's CEO pointed out that an account associated with FTX was at times responsible for 20-30% of SushiSwaps total value locked (TVL).
- Chef Nomi, the lead developer of SushiSwap, exit-scammed in a heist worth $15M on Sept. 6, 2020.
- SBF criticized Chef Nomi on Twitter and shared a proposal to build a branch of SushiSwap on Serum (SRM), a decentralized exchange project championed by FTX.
- Curiously, Chef Nomi decided to transfer control of SushiSwap to SBF, saying, "I'm sorry if my decision did not follow what you expected."
- Following this, a rumor circulated on Twitter that SBF was Chef Nomi all along or was otherwise connected to him.
- Decrypt was able to interview SBF and published his version of the events. Decrypt noted SBF's former employer, the quantitative trading giant Jane Street, as well as the potential conflicts of interest regarding his simultaneous operation of a market-maker and an exchange.
Click to tweet the following text (you can edit it before sending): New York Magazine has profiled the "mysterious crypto magnate" and Joe Biden donor, billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. Read more at https://inside.com/cryptocurrency New York Magazine
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- JPMorgan analysts wrote that "there is no doubt" that Tesla's purchase of $1.5B worth of bitcoin fueled the price rally above $40,000.
- Forbes Crypto listed the 10 scientific papers — starting in 1979 — that underpin the crypto industry.
- The chair of France's regulatory watchdog said that a single financial authority, like the European Securities and Markets Authority, would help to level the playing field for European crypto companies.
- Incoming SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is seeking an ethics waiver to allow him to receive royalty payments from intellectual property rights in his "MIT Media Lab Cryptocurrency Online Course."
- Lawmakers in Rhode Island have proposed the creation of a regulatory sandbox and blockchain filling system, allowing the Ocean State "to compete in the twenty-first century economy."
- Crypto lending platform BlockFi has launched the BlockFi Bitcoin Trust with low management fees(1.75%) and already $30M in AUM.
- The Street founder and CNBC celebrity Jim Cramer says bitcoin is "exciting" and "an alternative to a cash position, where you [earn] absolutely nothing."
- Former British Member of Parliament Nick Boles suggested the world should ban proof-of-work currencies, tweeting that "central banks should ban the trading of [bitcoin]."
- Months after initially promoting it, Elon Musk has now acknowledged that Dogecoin (DOGE) is centralized. He is offering to pay its majority owners to "void their accounts" so that he can assume control of the project.
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 |  | Curated by Associated Press fanboy, eye-strained news terminal watcher, and bitcoin follower since $1, Aaron Wise. Temporarily listening to news squawk boxes in Florida while awaiting the construction of cryptopia. |  | | Editor | Charlotte Hayes-Clemens is an editor and writer based in Vancouver. She has dabbled in both the fiction and non-fiction world, having worked at HarperCollins Publishers and more recently as a writing coach for new and self-published authors. Proper semi-colon usage is her hill to die on. | |
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