Author: James Wilson

U.S. prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison sentence for Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky, calling his actions a calculated fraud that left thousands of customers with billions in losses. The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal judge to sentence Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky to 20 years in prison for what it called a “deliberate” fraud that caused billions in customer losses. In a memo filed on Monday, prosecutors said Mashinsky “refuses to accept responsibility” despite being faced with “overwhelming evidence of guilt, and having pled guilty to the offenses for which he will be sentenced.” “He has abandoned…

AI16Z surged by as much as 22% today, ahead of its upcoming listing on South Korea’s Bithumb exchange. According to data from crypto.news, Ai16z (AI16Z) an agentic AI crypto spiked to an intraday high of $0.305 during morning hours in Asia on April 29, extending its gains to nearly 200% from its monthly lows and lifting its market cap over $328 million. The main catalyst driving its gains today is a listing announcement by South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb, which will launch a KRW trading pair for AI16Z later in the day at 6:00 PM KST. The listing price is…

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial. In just the past few months, several high-profile wallet exploits have shaken the crypto world, from sophisticated phishing campaigns to browser vulnerabilities that exposed users’ private keys. Crypto wallets are supposed to be the bedrock of democratized finance—tools that give users direct, sovereign control over their assets. Instead, they often feel like rickety scaffolding: unstable, unforgiving, and ready to collapse under the weight of a single mistake. For all the innovation in web3, wallets remain one of…

Key Takeaways  Half of the funds from Bankera’s 100 million euro ICO were moved to a bank in Vanuatu that was then bought by the founders, Vytautas Karalevičius, Justas Dobiliauskas and Mantas Mockevičius. Some of the transfers from Bankera-associated firms were labeled simply as movements between “own accounts.” A cross-border investigation has found that the founders of Bankera, a Lithuania-based crypto company, redirected tens of millions of euros raised from their 2017–2018 BNK token sale into personal real estate investments. Documents reviewed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) show that funds moved from investor wallets through a network…

Hyperliquid will adopt a new system to calculate fees on the platform, which includes different tiers for staking as well as separate fee schedules for perpetual contracts and spot trading. In a recent post, the decentralized exchange announced that it will start implementing the new fee system and staking tiers starting from May 5 at 03:00 UTC. The new fee system includes lower trading fees when users stake HYPE (HYPE), the platform’s utility token. Based on the staking tiers, users will be eligible for trading fee discounts ranging from 5% to 40%. Divided into six staking tiers, the discounts will…

Bitcoin miners with the right infrastructure and management talent can gain substantial value by pivoting into the booming AI and HPC data center market, analysts say. As demand for AI infrastructure grows, crypto miners with access to power and cooling could be well positioned to profit from supporting high-performance computing workloads, according to a Galaxy Digital research report. The analysts believe miners with experienced management teams capable of executing AI and HPC buildouts have a “tremendous opportunity” to bring “significant incremental value to their companies.” The appeal lies in the long-term contracts and strong, steady cash flow models of AI…

Key Takeaways The stablecoin project is being developed by ADQ, the Emirate’s sovereign wealth fund; First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the country’s largest lender by assets; and International Holding Company  The currency will be deployed on the ADI blockchain, an infrastructure developed by the ADI Foundation Three of Abu Dhabi’s financial powerhouses are preparing to launch a new digital currency pegged to the UAE dirham. The stablecoin project is being developed by ADQ, the Emirate’s sovereign wealth fund; First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the country’s largest lender by assets; and International Holding Company (IHC), a major investment firm with deep…

Samourai Wallet co-founders and U.S. prosecutors have asked a federal judge to delay court proceedings as they weigh a possible dismissal of the case. In an April 28 letter to Judge Richard Berman, Samourai Wallet defense attorneys said they had jointly requested a 16-day extension of the pretrial motions schedule with the government. If approved, the new timeline would push the deadline for motions to May 29, with responses due June 26 and replies by July 10. The trial date, currently scheduled for early November, would remain unchanged. Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and CTO William Hill were indicted by…

Virtuals Protocol’s price has woken up after weeks of sideways action, potentially tracking towards $4 if momentum persists. Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) price is 20% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $1.45, with the volume surging over 100%. Today’s surge extends the rally that began on April 25, when VIRTUAL price broke out of the $0.4-0.8 range, where it has been consolidating from mid March, following the breakout from the steep downtrend that ensued after it hit ATH of $5.07 on Jan. 2. Since breaking out of this consolidation range, VIRTUAL is up by about by over 60%. The…

Californian venture capital firm Pantera Capital tapped former Kraken legal head Marco Santori as a general partner amid growing investor interest in token deals and crypto IPOs. Pantera Capital has appointed Marco Santori, the former chief legal officer at crypto exchange Kraken, as a general partner to help the Californian venture capital firm navigate regulatory issues and support startups preparing for public listings. Time to put my money where my mouth is.Correction: Time to put *your* money where my mouth is, because today I am joining @PanteraCapital as a General Partner. I’m making the jump from lawyer to investor, and…