Fortnightly Crypto Insights 8/11/2023

Sam Bankman-Fried Unanimously Found Guilty on All Counts

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has officially been found guilty of fraud and money laundering. US attorney Damian Williams argued that “[he] perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history - a multibillion-dollar scheme designed to make him the king of crypto”. The decision was unanimous, taking jurors just four and a half hours to deliberate. Bankman-Fried is set to face a maximum sentence of 110 years. 

Metamask Anti-Phishing Feature

Crypto wallet MetaMask and blockchain security firm Blockaid have partnered to create a new phishing attack feature, where users can be notified if a transaction is potentially malicious. The feature works offline and simulates all possible transaction scenarios while validating each of them. The feature is now available on an opt-in basis. 

PayPal Gains License in the UK

The latest news in PayPal’s ever-evolving crypto integration is that the payment platform has successfully registered as a cryptocurrency services provider with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The country’s anti-money laundering regulations for crypto are some of the strictest in the world and had originally resulted in PayPal temporarily suspending services to its UK customers.

Fake Ledger App on Microsoft App Store

Users were robbed of almost $600,000 worth of Bitcoin as a fake Ledger app, called “Ledger Live Web3”, made its way onto the Microsoft app store. This is not the first occurrence, with fake Ledger apps appearing in December and March. The company has urged users to only download the app directly from their website, ledger.com.

Turkey Crypto Laws to Tighten

Turkey has been placed on a “grey list” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), making it part of the list of countries that have not been deemed to have sufficient anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations in place. In order to reverse this decision, the country will be implementing new crypto laws in the near future. 

Adidas x Bugatti 

Luxury automobile company Bugatti has partnered with athletic apparel company Adidas to create a new soccer shoe, complete with its own digital twin. 99 total pairs will be released and auctioned off from the 8th to the 11th of November on the Adidas Collect Web3 platform.