The Week in Crypto – Sam Bankman Fried, Ordinals, and Stablecoins

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This week in the crypto world we saw Hong Kong lay out its plans for avoiding another Terra USD, Sam Bankman-Fried being told off for contacting witnesses (honestly, Sam), and Bitcoin maximalists kicking off about the blockchain actually being used for something.

Heave ho!

Hong Kong Gets Stable-serious

Hong Kong’s top financial regulator announced this week that mandatory licensing will be required for all stablecoin issuers in 2023 and that algorithmic stablecoins will not be permitted.

The rules also state that any entity carrying out regulated activity in Hong Kong must obtain a license to provide stablecoin services, with the regulations aiming to avoid a repeat of the Terra/LUNA crash, which has affected Hong Kong’s reputation given that it was the home of Do Kwon’s Terraform Labs.

SBF Told not to Contact Witnesses

He just can’t help himself, can he? Federal prosecutors this week filed to have Sam Bankman-Fried’s bond agreement changed so he stops trying to contact potential witnesses. Bankman-Fried was caught trying to contact FTX’s counsel Ryne Miller and other former FTX and Alameda employees over Signal, which prosecutors allege could be an effort to influence their testimony, an extremely serious offense and one that Bankman-Fried would do well to avoid being caught up in.

Bitcoin Ordinals Riles Community

NFTs on Bitcoin? Not in my name! The furor over NFTs running on the Bitcoin blockchain has got the community up in arms this week – almost like it should be able to actually work as a blockchain”. Some have labeled it a waste of the blockchain, while others have praised the, ahem, innovation.

One thing it has definitely done however is drive up fees. Great.

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