 Elon Musk, Tesla, and SpaceX have been sued for $258B for promoting Dogecoin. Keith Johnson, a dogecoin investor, seeks $86B in damages plus tripled damages of $172 billion for losses incurred from trading dogecoin since Musk began promoting the meme coin in April 2021. More: - Musk and his associated companies are being accused of fraud and of violating federal and state racketeering and gambling laws. They are being sued for $258B.
- Keith Johnson filed a lawsuit on Thursday in Manhattan federal court on behalf of dogecoin investors that have lost money with the following statement:
- “Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all,” the lawsuit says. “Dogecoin is not a currency, stock or security. … It is not based upon or tied to anything of value. … It’s simply a fraud whereby ‘greater fools’ are deceived into buying the coin at a higher price.”
- In April 2021, Musk dubbed himself "The Dogefather," and the value of the coin tumbled a day after; the lawsuit also cites multiple tweets from Musk that promoted dogecoin and claims that he was artificially pumping its price.
- Tesla also started accepting dogecoin for transactions in its online store earlier this year, and SpaceX might also start accepting the crypto coin in the future.
- In the court filing, Johnson argued that “Dogecoin is not a currency, stock, or security. It’s not backed by gold, other precious metal, or anything. You can’t eat it, grow it, or wear it,”. He later went on to say that Dogecoin is a fraud and investors are deceived into buying the coin.
- The lawsuit also seeks to block Musk and his companies from promoting dogecoin in the future.
Market Watch 
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 Babel Finance temporarily suspended withdrawals on Friday as the company faces "unusual liquidity pressure" due to the recent downturn in crypto. Crypto valuations took a massive hit in recent weeks as investors dump riskier assets. More: - The Hong Kong-based firm had temporarily suspended its withdrawals and redemption of crypto assets early Friday morning.
- The crypto industry has entered a bearish environment as investors dump riskier investments and as a result "Babel Finance is facing unusual liquidity pressures," the statement reads.
- Crypto lenders often promise their retail customers a double-digit return on their investment; however, due to the recent turmoil in the industry, most lenders cannot redeem their client's assets.
- Babel limits itself to bitcoin and currently has 500 clients; the company raised $80M in funding last month at a $2B valuation.
- In 2021, the company had a $3B loan balance, up from $2B the previous year.
- It averaged $800M in monthly derivatives trading volume and had traded over $20B in options products.
- “Babel Finance is taking action to protect the interests of our clients. We are in close communication with all related parties and will share updates in a timely manner", said a company spokesperson.
Yahoo Finance
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 A message from PATCH The crypto x climate conversation continues to grow. Companies are embracing sustainability to engage their customers - and seeing real benefits from that work. More: - Patch is hosting a free webinar focused on the ROI of climate action, sharing 5 ways companies can get started.
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Three Arrows Capital (3AC) is battling ongoing rumours of insolvency. Su Zhu, the co-founder of 3AC, wrote on Twitter that the company is "in the process of communicating with relevant parties and fully committed to working this out." More: - The risk of potential insolvency has many lenders exiting Three Arrows Capital. These lenders include BitMEX, Finblox, and Deribit.
- BitMEX confirmed today that it is liquidating its position in 3AC. The company's co-founder Benjamin Delo has also reached a $10M settlement with CTFC to avoid prison time for failing to implement an Anti-Money Laundering Program.
- Finblox, a company in which 3AC invested $3.9M in March, has also reduced its customer withdrawal limit. The company statement reads we "paused all reward distributions, updating withdrawal limits and disabled the creation of new crypto addresses until further notice,". Users can withdraw up to $500 of daily assets with a $1500 monthly cap.
- Deribit, a crypto derivatives exchange that has listed 3AC as a shareholder of its parent company (DRB Panama), said on Twitter that "Deribit has a small number of accounts with a net debt to us that we consider as potentially distressed". The statement was made in response to recent market developments.
- 3AC is also hiring lawyers and financial advisers to help negotiate with its current lenders. The company is considering selling more of its assets or being acquired by another firm.
Decrypt
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 A message from INCOGNIA How to achieve the right balance between friction and fraud in crypto mobile apps? Current fraud prevention methods in crypto apps are not effective against the increasing fraud scams in crypto, which hit losses of $14 Billion in 2021. On the other hand, users hate the friction imposed by authentication methods. Incognia has analyzed twenty-one major cryptocurrency mobile apps for a complete review of the login authentication, password reset and device change process. This report includes an investigation of the level of friction that security measures, designed to keep out fraudsters, introduce for all users. Download this report to: - Learn which apps provide the lowest friction for password reset and device change.
- Access the full friction index ranking of all exchanges and wallets tested.
- Learn which authentication methods are used by the twenty-one apps.
- Which types of multi-factor authentication are supported in the apps
Download now
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 FTX plans to acquire Canadian Crypto platform Bitvo, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. More: - FTX has entered into an agreement to purchase Bitvo and expects to close the deal in the third quarter of 2022.
- The goal is to expand into the Canadian market and offer its products and services to Canadian users. "We are delighted to enter the Canadian marketplace and continue to expand FTX's global reach,” said FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
- The company also acquired Liquid Group, a Japanese crypto firm and its subsidiaries in February 2022. In 2021, FTX purchased LedgerX as part of its global expansion efforts.
- FTX will establish its first Canadian location in Calgary following the acquisition of Bitvo. It chose Alberta for its location due to the region's business-friendly environment, talent pipeline and established Finance and innovation hubs.
The Globe and Mail
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 U.S. lawmakers want the EPA to consider the benefits of crypto mining for the economy. “Digital assets, and their related mining activities, are essential to the economic future of the United States," said 14 lawmakers. More: - Republicans wrote a letter to the EPA in April; they raised concerns about crypto mining and said, “Cryptocurrency mining is poisoning our communities,” and sought to ban crypto mining operations that did not comply with the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
- The Bitcoin Mining Council responded to this letter, arguing that many of the lawmakers’ claims about mining were inaccurate.
- This week, 14 United States senators and House representatives have signed a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, including Senator Cynthia Lummis, Representative Tom Emmer, and EPA administrator Michael Regan.
- The letter highlights the benefits of crypto mining and wants decision-makers to balance innovation with environmental concerns. It also claims that crypto mining can help stabilize energy grids.
- The letter stresses that mining operations can use flared gas and renewable energy sources and that “Favoring one technology over another, including proof-of-work versus proof-of-stake, can stifle innovation, erode future economic gains, and limit affiliated efficiencies."
Coin Telegraph
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 Elon Musk plans to integrate payments and crypto on Twitter to make the platform indispensable to people's lives. He said, “I think it would make sense to integrate payments into Twitter so that it’s easy to send money back and forth. And if you have currency as well as crypto. Essentially, whenever somebody would find it useful.” More: - Musk wants to focus on three key areas: news, entertainment, and payments on the micro-blogging site.
- "Money is fundamentally digital at this point and has been for a while, It would make sense to integrate payments into Twitter so that it's easy to send money back and forth." Musk said, speaking at a virtual meeting.
- The Tesla CEO also acknowledged the problem with crypto scams and wants the platform to potentially be "open source" so that users and developers can critique and make improvements which will lead to transparency and build trust.
- It still remains unknown if Elon Musk will remain committed to buying Twitter as he proceeds with the due diligence process by looking into the prevalence of fake accounts and automated bots.
- Under Jack Dorsey's leadership in 2021, Twitter had already added a new business unit focused on crypto and blockchain strategy.
Crypto Potato
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 |  | Gia Mattu is based in Calgary, Alberta. She is an entrepreneur with experience in climate technology, drones, AI, machine learning, and blockchain technology. When she's not working, she loves to hike the Canadian Rockies, try new cuisine, and travel. | | | | Editor | Gregory Bridgman is a writer and researcher with an academic background in politics and the philosophy of science and technology. He holds a BA from the University of Cape Town, an MS from University College London, and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Cambridge. He is interested in climate issues, technological changes, and the implications of the fourth industrial revolution. | |
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Incognia is a privacy-first location identity company that provides frictionless mobile authentication for reduced fraud. | |
