Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Backpack had about 90% of its capital parked on FTX when the exchange imploded in November 2022. Founder and CEO Armani Ferrante has been retelling that story publicly, and it is not the usual founder origin myth.

Ferrante’s account matters now because Backpack is no longer a scrappy Solana wallet. It is a regulated exchange that owns what used to be FTX Europe.

The hole FTX left
The research behind Ferrante’s comments puts the loss at approximately $14.5 million. That figure represents somewhere between 88% and 90% of Backpack’s operating capital at the time.

The timing made it worse. In September 2022, just weeks before the collapse, FTX Ventures co-led a $20 million funding round in Backpack. The investor and the custodian turned out to be the same sinking ship.

Ferrante discussed the exposure publicly during an October 19, 2026 interview. He has recounted the episode across several conversations, framing it as the defining crisis of the company’s early life.

Before founding Backpack, Ferrante worked at Alameda Research, the trading firm whose entanglement with FTX sat at the center of the 2022 failure. He is also known for building Anchor, a widely used development framework for Solana programs.

From near-zero to a regulated exchange
Backpack did not fold. The company leaned on community support to restart operations after the collapse, then launched an exchange in beta in 2023.

Early 2024 brought a $17 million Series A round. For a company that had lost most of its capital barely over a year earlier, that was a meaningful vote of confidence.

The real headline move came in January 2025. Backpack acquired FTX Europe for $32.7 million.

The acquisition came with a MiFID II license, the European Union framework that governs investment services across the bloc, and responsibility for claims tied to around 110,000 European customers of the old FTX entity.

By early to mid-2026, Backpack reported cumulative trading volume exceeding $420 billion and more than 420,000 verified users.

Building around the FTX lesson
Backpack’s pitch leans heavily on not repeating FTX’s mistakes. The company emphasizes regulatory compliance, decentralized architecture and user control as core design principles.

One concrete example: independent verification nodes for balances. The idea is that users and third parties can check that funds are actually where the exchange says they are. That is a direct answer to the FTX failure, where customer balances on screen did not match assets in reality.

The company has also signaled plans to expand into tokenized equities on Solana.

What this means for users and the market
For the roughly 110,000 European customers tied to FTX Europe claims, Backpack’s track record carries unusual weight. The company running their claims process is one that was itself a victim of the same collapse.

For the broader exchange landscape, the MiFID II license is the strategic prize. Regulated access to European users is hard to obtain from scratch, and Backpack effectively bought a shortcut through an acquisition.

Backpack’s founder had insider knowledge of the ecosystem and still kept about 90% of capital in one place. If a builder with an Alameda background got caught out, retail users should take note. Spreading custody across venues, or holding assets in self-custody, is what separates an inconvenience from a near-fatal blow.

Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Former FTX COO Constance Wang said she was upset by the upcoming Netflix drama’s depiction of the collapse of the exchange and its portrayal of some of the top executives.

“The first 30 seconds were enough to upset me,” so “I stopped watching,” Wang told Cointelegraph during an episode of the Chain Reaction X spaces show published on Monday.

Wang said the Netflix trailer’s depiction of some former FTX executives made her “feel physically upset,” adding that the portrayal of Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison didn’t match her personal experience. She explained that former FTX co-founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, was also more “socially awkward” than his Netflix portrayal.

Wang served as COO of FTX, which grew into one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges before collapsing in November 2022 due to customer fund misappropriation, causing an $8.9 billion shortfall in customer funds. FTX’s sister company, quantitative trading firm Alameda Research, used FTX customer funds that Bankman-Fried transferred without consent to fund Alameda’s trading losses, now referred to as the Alameda gap. 

Netflix released the trailer for the eight-episode series about FTX’s collapse in early October. The drama series, titled The Altruists, will premiere globally on Nov. 19, 2026, according to the streaming platform’s announcement.

Source: Cointelegraph

Wang bootstrapped AI-crypto venture following FTX collapseFollowing FTX’s collapse, Wang in early 2025 founded Pacifica, a crypto trading platform initially launched as a Solana-based perpetual futures decentralized exchange. 

She plans to add artificial intelligence capabilities to transform the platform into an intelligent trading infrastructure with strategic tools for investors.

“For Pacifica, we didn’t raise any funds, it’s completely bootstrapped,” said Wang, adding that some institutional investors faced compliance restrictions when speaking to former FTX personnel while the bankruptcy proceedings were still ongoing.

Bankman-Fried and Ellison were indicted in December 2022 following the exchange’s collapse and bankruptcy.

Ellison accepted a plea deal to testify against Bankman-Fried and was released from prison in January, after serving 440 days of a two-year sentence.

Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven felony counts and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024, with a scheduled release in 2044. In September, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers reportedly asked the Supreme Court to overturn his fraud conviction. He has also applied for a pardon from US President Donald Trump. 

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When crypto exchange FTX went up in flames in 2022 it lost billions of investors’ money and forever altered the public’s view of digital currencies.

It quickly emerged company CEO and Effective Altruist Sam Bankman-Fried had illegally moved billions from the exchange to prop up his hedge fund, run — at least on paper — by his one-time girlfriend and co-worker Caroline Ellison.

The incident has been made into new Netflix show “The Altruists,” billed as “a toxic love story inspired by a real fraud” which has appalled and gobsmacked those who had a ringside seat to the collapse.

Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle as Caroline Ellison and Sam Bankman-Fried in Netflix’s “The Altruists.” Former FTX staff say the real pair “barely spoke to each other at the office.” Netflix FTX’s former chief operating officer, Constance Wang, says trying to portray what happened through the lens of a love story is laughable.

“[Bankman-Fried’s] entire goal was to change the world, make an impact, do good. Love, relationship, family seemed a bit secondary to him.

“The ‘Me and you against the world’ romantic thing? No f—ing way,” Wang told The Post in her first exclusive interview about FTX’s fall.

Wang is even a character in the show, played by Madison Hu, but couldn’t even get through the trailer when a friend showed it her over breakfast. “I literally physically threw up because it just made me feel so uncomfortable,” after about 40 seconds, she said.

She also slams the romance storyline at the center of the show as laughable.

“For the longest time in the company we did not know they were dating, and we did not know Sam was capable of dating at all, because he was working all the time,” Wang said.

Constance Wang, FTX’s former COO, at the New York Stock Exchange at the height of the crypto boom. She says nobody from Netflix’s new series ever asked her what really happened. Courtesy of Constance Waing

Netflix bills “The Altruists,” as “a toxic love story inspired by a real fraud.” Netflix “I had a group chat with some of my close employees, and I was shocked. I was like, ‘Do you guys know this?’ They were like, ‘No. We thought you knew?’”

The show charts SBF, Ellison and their followers through their ill-fated journey to revolutionize the financial system along idealistic Effective Altruist lines, supposedly using their money and intelligence to make the world a better place.

However, SBF bought $35m party home in the Bahamas and took $8 billion of FTX investors’ money to use in Alameda Research, causing the whole project to collapse. As federal law doesn’t make allowances for people who claim they will do good later, he’s now serving a 25-year sentence for fraud and money laundering.

Constance Wang speaking for FTX at a crypto conference. She joined in early 2019 and went on to run its global growth. Courtesy of Constance Waing Wang said she went to a couple of Effective Altruist parties thrown by SBF and the movement — also at the center of AI company Anthropic and other tech giants — wasn’t for her.

“They are really smart people. They talk about math, physics, biology. If it’s a dinner gathering on a Friday or Saturday evening, I would prefer more relaxed topics. But for them, those are their relaxed topics.

“You can hang out once, twice. But for a long time, it becomes hard.”

At the center of the operation were around 10 people who lived in the Bahamas with SBF and Ellison and were “all paired up in romantic relationships with each other,” at one point, according to industry news site Coindesk.com

Bankman-Fried asleep on the office floor while staff kept working around him. ‘He was working all the time,’ former staff said. Courtesy of Constance Waing Ellison — who was also federally prosecuted after the collapse — claimed she had been polyamorous in since-deleted Tumblr post from 2020, writing: “When I first started my foray into poly, I thought of it as a radical break from my trad past. But tbh I’ve come to decide the only acceptable style of poly is best characterised as something like ‘imperial Chinese harem.’”

Such salacious behavior was never witnessed by Wang. “I honestly did not know the word ‘orgy’ until I saw it in an article,” she said. “I had to Google it.”

Instead, she claims “the company was a bunch of nerds” and parties she attended were mostly filled with “chess and board games.”

Caroline Ellison leaves Manhattan federal court after testifying against Sam Bankman-Fried in October 2023. In her diary, she worried their on-again, off-again romance was ‘causing drama’ at the company. Gregory P. Mango It’s unclear which version of the parties Netflix — who did not respond to a request for comment — has dramatized in its series, but Wang claims from what she’s seen they’ve already taken significant artistic liberties.

She noted the SBF she knew could barely hold another person’s gaze — in stark contrast to the confident hustler in the trailer for “The Altruists,” played by Anthony Boyle.

“When I first met Sam in 2018 in Singapore, he was entirely incapable of looking at people’s eyes when talking to others,” she said. “He would look at the floor and then he’d shake his legs.”

Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan federal court in June 2023, months before he was convicted of fraud. When Wang first met him in 2018, she says, he couldn’t look people in the eye. Alec Tabak for NY Post Ellison, portrayed by Julia Garner on-screen, appears somewhat forward and aggressive in the trailer, but was “gentle” and “soft-spoken” in real life, Wang said. “She’s never aggressive. If you ask her a question, she will take a split second to think, and then start talking.”

Quinn Li, a former FTX marketing manager who also moved to the Bahamas to work alongside SBF thought the trailer was “very, very bad.”

“It brings in so much romance and emotional drama, when there really wasn’t much of that. The reality is that everyone was a very rational person,” Li told The Post. 

“In the trailer, I didn’t see how smart Sam was, or how smart Caroline was. It looked like two silly cats in love.”

Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison in ‘The Altruists.’ Wang says the real Ellison was ‘gentle’ and ‘soft-spoken,’ and ‘never aggressive. Netflix Wang recalled the fateful night in November 2022 when the exchange crashed. Triggered by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao saying he would dump his FTX tokens, customers pulled about $6 billion from the exchange in 72 hours.

Wang ran the VIP team that handled the biggest traders, and she said the word from the top was to stay calm.

“The internal message we got from Sam is, ‘Let people withdraw. We’re fine,'” she said.

Constance Wang, with Bankman-Fried and FTX colleagues, on her first grocery run in the Bahamas in October 2021. Courtesy of Constance Waing Some loyal customers even put their money back in. “No one, including me, doubted what Sam was telling us, because we had this deep, deep trust in him,” Wang said.

When withdrawals stopped going through, “we were told, ‘Oh, it’s because the system has some problems. Please tell people to be patient. We are fine.'”

Then, around 3 a.m., SBF finally admitted why withdrawals had been stuck.

“He said, ‘We do not have enough money to meet all the withdrawals on the exchange,'” she said. “I just bounced from my bed. I was in shock. I was shaking.”

SBF invited Wang to the company’s “war room,” where she found him, Ellison, co-founder Gary Wang and engineering chief Nishad Singh.

Ex-FTX COO Constance Wang learned the exchange was out of money from a 3 a.m. message from Sam Bankman-Fried in November 2022. Courtesy of Constance Waing “That was the first time I saw a spreadsheet laying out how much FTX was in the hole. I think $8 billion. And I was shocked. I was like, ‘How? How could this happen?'”

The crash came at great cost to everyone in the FTX team.

In her final conversation with SBF in the Bahamas, Wang said she asked whether he understood what his employees were going through: being blamed for something they knew nothing about, losing their life savings and years of hard work.

“He reacted quite mildly,” she said. “I remember not being sure he really felt the weight of it, and wondering whether the human cost had ever been part of how he weighed his decisions.”

“Sam’s mistake was that he overestimated his own intelligence,” Li added. “He really was smart. He could spot a lot of opportunities in the market. But the rest of the market wasn’t as easy to fool as he thought, honestly.”

Ellison, who pleaded guilty and testified against SBF, was released in January after about 14 months behind bars. She now works at Manifund, a San Francisco charity, using the alias “Carol.”

Constance Wang at work in FTX’s Bahamas office in 2022. As the crypto market crashed that spring, she says, FTX kept growing. Courtesy of Constance Waing The collapse left an estimated nine million customers and investors facing billions of dollars in losses.

FTX’s bankruptcy team has since clawed back around $16.5 billion to repay customers at least 118% of their balances, but priced at November 2022 levels. Then, Bitcoin traded around $16,000 — a fraction of the more than $80,000 it fetches today.

Wang has never been accused of wrongdoing but knows people ask: how could the COO not know?

“If people want to hide something from you, they make sure they hide it well.”

She ran FTX’s global growth, opening offices in Japan, Singapore and Dubai and points out she invested huge sums of her own money into the exchange and its related coin. Although her holdings hit 10 figures at their peak, she returned home to Hong Kong with just $80,000.

The Justice Department also investigated her for about a year, Wang said, but she was never charged and not called to testify at SBF’s trial. “I do not possess material information that would help them make the case,” she said. “That’s basically a reflection of how little I know.”

Constance Wang speaking for Pacifica, the crypto trading platform she founded in 2025. Courtesy of Constance Waing The trial was especially hard for her, though. Reading the coverage for mentions of her name, she said, everything shattered “from the inside out, except my body.” She fell into a depression and even had suicidal thoughts, until old friends rallied around her and eventually brought her out of it.

She has since gone back into business and in 2025 co-founded Pacifica, a crypto trading platform that has made $10 billion in trades in the past month, according to DefiLlama.

“I feel very grateful that I’m not only free, but I’m able to start another company,” she said.

However, she was very surprised Netflix never contracted her to hear her side of the story, or even got in touch with her, before writing a whole character based around her.

“I searched my mailbox and didn’t find anything from Netflix. I certainly did not receive anything about the story, about the script.

“I do not know how I am going to be portrayed, and I am a bit nervous, to be honest with you.”

However, she doesn’t harbor grudges against the people who she helped build the exchange and her career with.

“I don’t hate Sam. I don’t hate any of them. I’m just sad and disappointed,” Wang added.

Bitcoin Seizures Are Raising A $5 Billion Question Linked To Who Should Benefit From The Gains

After being convicted in 2023, losing his appeal to a Second Circuit court in 2026 and awaiting a decision on a presidential pardon that may never come, former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried is hoping to take his criminal case to the US Supreme Court.

Jeffrey Fisher, counsel at the law firm Hecker Fink LLP and representing Bankman-Fried in his Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) appeal, spoke to Cointelegraph about the potential timeline surrounding the former FTX executive’s case and what onlookers could expect to see should the justices choose to accept his petition for a writ of certiorari, possibly resulting in a new trial.

Bankman-Fried is pursuing the high court’s review while also seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump. According to Fisher, SCOTUS rules require SBF to file a petition for a writ of certiorari within 90 days of a decision from an appellate court, requesting that the justices consider the case.

The Supreme Court initially gave the US government until Oct. 15 to respond to SBF’s petition, but it already granted an extension to Nov. 16, which could allow the justices to decide whether to hear the case in late 2026 or early 2027. If the court grants review of his client’s case, it could issue a decision in the current term, which ends in June 2027, or during its next term, which begins a year from now.

Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven felony fraud counts related to the misuse of customer funds by FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange he founded and led, and which filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture.

‘Assets are fine’: Why FTX’s losses and recoveries were irrelevant at trialBankman-Fried’s petition to the Supreme Court presents two main arguments for justices, should they consider the case, based on lower courts weighing “evidence indicating victims lost money” and that the $11 billion forfeiture order following his conviction violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on “excessive fines.” 

“The Supreme Court has expressed concern over the years for prosecutorial overreach in criminal fraud prosecutions,” Fisher told Cointelegraph. “This kind of evidence introduced in this prosecution raises a real question about prejudice to the defendant.”

The argument presented by prosecutors at SBF’s criminal trial and reiterated by the Second Circuit ruling found it was “immaterial as a matter of law” whether the former CEO had the funds and planned to repay FTX’s victims for their losses at the crypto exchange. 

“As the district court made clear, FTX customers were defrauded as soon as Bankman-Fried transferred their money to Alameda regardless of how strongly he believed he might later return the money,” the Second Circuit said in its June 2026 decision.

According to Fisher, this theory differs from many fraud cases in which a defendant “swindled people out of money and enriched himself at their expense.” 

“Our whole point is the theory the government chose makes it irrelevant whether any customers lost money or, if so, how much,” the lawyer said.

The Supreme Court petition noted that the highest court had ruled in Kousisis v. United States in 2025 that prosecutors could “seek decades-long prison sentences anytime people are induced by misrepresentations to part with their money — even if they suffer no pecuniary harm.”

SBF’s lawyers instead argued the 2007 ruling by the First Circuit in United States v. Carpenter, in which a defendant “intended all along to ensure his customers suffered no financial losses,” was more applicable to the FTX case. The appellate court initially ruled in that case that a jury’s decision may have been based on “moral disapproval“ rather than evidence related to fraud.

Mark Bini, a former federal and state prosecutor and currently a partner at Reed Smith, told Cointelegraph he believed that the chance that the court would accept SBF’s arguments and grant a new trial “seems low,“ but the conditions around forfeiture were “really interesting“ based on the size: $11 billion. He called reliance on United States v. Carpenter instead of Kousisis v. United States an “uphill battle“ for Bankman-Fried, legally.

While many FTX users were eventually paid out for their losses at the exchange beginning in 2025, the token values were based on the price at the time of the 2022 collapse, meaning many could have missed gains in the three years between bankruptcy and repayments.

How forfeiture could affect SBF’s ‘future livelihood’Bankman-Fried’s forfeiture order could follow him long after his release from prison, potentially allowing the government to make claims on his future earnings. The former FTX CEO is expected to remain in prison until 2043.

“He has no money to pay it,” said Fisher. “Under the terms of the penalty, it is an $11 billion debt for the rest of his life, to the government. Any dime he would ever make upon release would have to be turned over to the government [...] There’s rules, maybe he gets to keep a dime.”

If the court accepts the forfeiture argument but rejects the claim that SBF had a right to present evidence related to repaying users, Bini said it’s more likely to reduce the forfeiture amount than to warrant a new trial.

“It’s a huge forfeiture amount and there is this tension because the case law is such that the government is entitled to seek both forfeiture and restitution,” said the Reed Smith lawyer, adding: “It’s a very unusual case where the defense is arguing that ‘gosh, everyone is being made whole’ [...] yet you have this tremendous forfeiture.”

Cointelegraph reached out to the Justice Department for comment on the case but did not receive a response.

Caroline Ellison now employed at a charitable organizationFormer Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, one of the central figures tied to the downfall of FTX, has been working at Manifund, a charitable fundraising organization connected to the effective altruism movement, after serving time in prison as part of a plea agreement with US authorities. 

According to Manifund co-founder and CEO Austin Chen, Ellison began on a work trial at the company on July 13, about six months after she was released from federal custody. She accepted a full-time role on Aug. 10.

“I believe in redemption,” said Chen. “Caroline has admitted her faults, worked to make creditors whole, and served her time in prison. I’d like to give her the opportunity to contribute back to the world; I hope that the world will concur.”

In a rare public statement, Ellison said that she was “grateful to Austin for giving me a second chance, and judging me on my current work performance rather than my past.” 

Many of the comments on Chen’s Substack post were extremely negative, ranging from calling Ellison’s hiring an “extremely rogue move” to an action showing “truly terrible judgment.” 

“[Ellison is] a cynical opportunist who stole billions, and got a sweetheart deal because prosecutors were willing to give everything up to get Sam,” said Coin Metrics co-founder Nic Carter. “She was extremely lucky that she got such a light sentence. The utmost shame on you for attempting to rehabilitate her.”

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Asian semiconductor stocks tumbled early this week, triggering roughly $800 million in leveraged crypto liquidations, with perpetual futures on SanDisk recording more forced closures than those on XRP.

The selloff, concentrated in South Korean names, illustrated how crypto venues have become venues for leveraged bets on traditional chip equities.

Data from multiple exchanges showed about $803 million in positions liquidated over 24 hours, with bullish longs accounting for roughly 86 percent of the total.

Bitcoin and ether led the losses, but stock-linked contracts ranked high as well. SanDisk perpetuals saw about $19 million liquidated, edging out XRP and nearly matching another token.

Contracts on SK Hynix, Micron, and the triple-leveraged semiconductor ETF SOXL also appeared among the liquidations.

The pressure aligned with sharp declines in Seoul: Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each fell around 8 percent amid concerns over AI-related valuations and competition from Chinese memory makers, while the Kospi dropped more than 6 percent.

Bitcoin briefly traded under $81,000 during Asian hours before recovering above $83,000, at which point short positions began to account for the majority of newer liquidations.

The episode underscores the growing overlap between crypto derivatives and traditional tech equities.

Traders can now hold continuous, leveraged exposure to individual chip stocks on crypto platforms without expiry dates, concentrating risk when regional equity markets move sharply.

Separately, SWI Group raised €800 million (approximately $894 million) from institutional investors at a €6.1 billion valuation to convert former FTX-linked bitcoin miner Genesis Digital Assets into AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.

The Amsterdam-listed digital infrastructure firm, which took control of the miner this year, plans to rebrand the unit SWI Digital and repurpose its US and Swedish sites while divesting remaining Kazakh mining locations.

Combined with its European AiOnX platform, the group now controls roughly 3.6 gigawatts of grid-connected capacity, including more than 1.3 gigawatts from the Genesis portfolio across about 15 facilities.

Genesis Digital had received substantial investment from Alameda Research during the FTX era.

SWI’s founder and CEO has stated he has zero interest in continuing bitcoin mining and intends to market the power connections and sites to hyperscale cloud providers.

The move reflects a broader shift among former miners toward AI workloads, where electricity access and data-center capacity command higher returns than hashrate alone.

The capital will support power infrastructure upgrades and compute deployments across Europe and the United States.

In more concerning hardware wallet news, OneKey terminated its reseller relationship with CryptoBilis and offered free replacements for eligible devices after Ledger confirmed an unauthorized hardware implant in at least one affected unit sold through the Southeast Asian distributor.

Ledger stated that all confirmed cases in a wave of reported fund losses involved devices purchased via CryptoBilis, while its own systems and direct sales channels remained unaffected.

On-chain estimates of total losses have ranged above $86 million across multiple chains, though Ledger has not verified a precise figure.

OneKey reported no related losses among its users but ended CryptoBilis’s authorization, paused new reseller approvals, and began reviewing its entire existing network.

The company will replace any OneKey device bought from CryptoBilis between March 1 and October 12, 2026, whether activated or unopened, with applications accepted through the end of December.

Buyers are advised to move any held assets to a fresh recovery phrase if they have already set up a device from the channel.

The incident has raised questions about supply-chain controls for hardware wallets distributed through third-party resellers.

In adjacent AI developments, Palantir’s head of UK and European markets, Louis Mosley, warned that Europe risks repeating its earlier failure to capture value from the internet boom.

Speaking in an interview, he noted that the United States built major digital businesses and became the backbone of the online economy while Europe largely missed the opportunity.

He argued the two regions were roughly comparable two decades ago on measures such as GDP per capita and capital-market depth, after which US growth compounded and Europe advanced more slowly. ASML stands as a rare European technology champion from that era.

Mosley described European companies as largely taking a cautious, wait-and-see stance on enterprise AI, while US firms move more aggressively.

He positioned AI as even more consequential than prior technology waves and characterized Palantir as a public-market proxy for the pace of adoption, citing the company’s ability to deploy models from multiple providers on customer data.

The comments come amid ongoing debate in Europe over the company’s government and defense contracts, which Mosley has linked in part to political controversy that can overshadow discussions of productivity gains.

THE STREET: FTX's old Bitcoin mining assets have a new mission, and it's not crypto

The investment company SWI Group has raised about $900 million in capital as part of plans to scale its data center and AI computing capacity, which includes a mining operation previously tied to cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

In a Monday notice, SWI Group said the 800-million-euro, or about $900 million, capital raise would fund its AI and data center expansion plans in Europe and the United States. The group reportedly now has majority control over one of FTX’s mining companies, Genesis Digital Assets, which will now be a part of the network of data centers’ computing capacity.

SWI announced in June that it had acquired “significant shareholding” in Genesis for $500 million. At the time, the company reported that Genesis had 15 facilities with 1.3 gigawatts of capacity. The firm said that it held a 70% stake in Genesis as of August, allowing it to rename the mining venture to SWI Digital.

The acquisition of Genesis, one of the assets embroiled in FTX’s downfall, came as the debtors behind the crypto exchange’s bankruptcy proceedings sought to claw back funds. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly directed the exchange’s sister firm, Alameda Research, to spend more than $1 billion to buy a 20% stake in Genesis between 2021 and 2022. 

FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, leading to criminal charges for many executives over the misuse of customer funds. SWI’s co-founder and CEO Max-Hervé George reportedly said all the legal disputes related to FTX’s stake in Genesis had been resolved.

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

SWI Group, the Singapore-incorporated, Amsterdam-listed digital infrastructure company that took control of former Bitcoin miner Genesis Digital Assets this year, has raised €800 million (about $900 million) to expand its data centre and AI compute capacity, the company announced on Monday. The capital increase, from unnamed institutional investors, values SWI at €6.1 billion and takes the equity it has raised since March past €1 billion.

SWI said the money will go into power infrastructure, compute deployments and its development pipeline in Europe and the US. Founder and CEO Max-Hervé George told the Wall Street Journal that the company plans to market the Genesis Digital sites in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Sweden to hyperscale cloud providers, and that he has "zero interest" in bitcoin mining. SWI is selling Genesis Digital's last three small mining sites in Kazakhstan, he said.

Genesis Digital carries one of the more awkward histories in crypto mining. Alameda Research, Sam Bankman-Fried's trading firm, put about $1.15 billion into the company from 2021, ending up with a 20% stake. After FTX collapsed, the estate's administrators sued Genesis Digital to recover the money, calling it "one of Bankman-Fried's most reckless investments" and describing its Kazakh assets as "virtually worthless," according to the WSJ.

FTX dropped that suit on June 15. The same day, SWI closed a $500 million purchase of about 38.3% of Genesis Digital's shares, including roughly 77.2% of the $1.124 billion liquidation preference on its preferred stock. It has since moved to majority ownership. SWI says Genesis Digital holds more than 1.3 gigawatts of energised and approved grid connections across 15 facilities, which together with its 2.3-gigawatt European platform AiOnX gives the group over 3.6 gigawatts. George said all legal disputes with FTX and other shareholders have been settled.

The deal values Genesis Digital mainly for its grid connections. "Power connectivity is the most valuable commodity in digital infrastructure today," George said when the stake closed. Listed bitcoin miners have been making the same argument for two years as they convert sites to host AI workloads, and SWI is applying it to a distressed asset that never made that transition on its own.

It also adds to the list of Bankman-Fried bets that look better in hindsight than they did when FTX failed. The FTX estate sold its 7.8% stake in Anthropic for $1.3 billion in 2024, a holding the WSJ estimates would now be worth about $75 billion.

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WSJ: FTX's Old Bitcoin-Mining Assets Are Now Part of the AI Boom

Crypto: Netflix’s FTX Series Sparks Outrage from Former Executive

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CFTC Moves to Build a Federal Guardrail for Crypto MarketsThe U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (@CFTC) is pushing ahead with its most ambitious effort yet to regulate digital asset trading. On October 5, 2026, the agency released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking covering two new frameworks: Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions (CTX) and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets (CAM). The proposals would establish a federal registration pathway for crypto exchanges, particularly those offering retail customers the ability to trade on margin, leverage, or financing.

The move comes after the U.S. Senate failed to pass the CLARITY Act, the sweeping congressional bill that would have imposed a broader crypto market structure. With legislation stalled, @ChairmanSelig said the agency will act using its existing statutory powers.

The emphasis on segregated accounts is deliberate: it is widely seen as the structural safeguard that FTX lacked before its collapse in November 2022.

Selig Warns That Opposing Federal Standards Protects Fraudsters

The new framework is designed to end that era of litigation-driven oversight and replace it with proactive, rules-based supervision.

The CFTC has opened a 60-day public comment period on the proposals.

Sources:
Bitcoin Magazine: CFTC Chair Says New Crypto Rulemaking Will Prevent Another FTX-Style Collapse
Fenwick: CFTC Previews Regulation CTX and CAM
Benzinga: CLARITY Act Failure Spurs New CFTC Crypto Rules

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Video streaming platform Netflix released a trailer for its eight-episode series about the lead-up to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, centered on former CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried and his colleague and girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, who headed the company’s sister arm, Alameda Research.

In a Thursday X post, Netflix showed footage from the upcoming series to be released on Nov. 19 “about the love scorned prodigies behind the FTX scandal.” The series, starring Anthony Boyle as Bankman-Fried and Julia Garner as Ellison, seemed to focus on the idea that “going all-in every time is the mathematically optimal strategy,” likely referring to the crypto exchange’s high-risk investments using user funds.

“Lying isn’t bad for a good cause,” said Garner as Ellison in the trailer. The line echoes Ellison’s testimony at Bankman-Fried’s 2023 criminal trial, when she said he believed rules against lying and stealing did not necessarily apply to effective altruism. The philosophy emphasizes doing the most good possible, including through “earning to give,” the practice of accumulating wealth to donate to charitable causes.

Bankman-Fried, Ellison and others tied to FTX and Alameda were indicted in December 2022 following the exchange’s collapse and bankruptcy. Ellison took a plea deal and testified against SBF, while Bankman-Fried chose to go to trial. 

He was found guilty on seven felony counts related to fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison. As of October, Bankman-Fried had pending motions requesting a presidential pardon from Donald Trump and having his conviction overturned by the US Supreme Court. Ellison was released from federal custody in January.

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Netflix has released a trailer for The Altruists, its eight-episode drama about Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and the $8 billion FTX scandal, ahead of a Nov. 19 premiere.

Summary

All eight episodes of The Altruists will arrive on Netflix on Nov. 19. Anthony Boyle plays Bankman-Fried, while Julia Garner portrays former Alameda Research chief Caroline Ellison. The trailer follows the pair’s relationship and decisions before the collapse of their crypto businesses. Bankman-Fried is serving 25 years in prison and has requested Supreme Court review of his conviction. Netflix announced the trailer on Oct. 8, presenting the series through the relationship between FTX’s former chief executive and Ellison, who ran its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research. The platform’s accompanying account describes two young idealists whose plans to remake finance ended in crimes involving billions of dollars.

Netflix’s FTX trailer follows the pair’s relationship In the footage shared by Netflix, Garner’s Ellison says, “Lying isn’t bad for a good cause.”

Another line in the trailer describes “going all-in every time” as “the mathematically optimal strategy,” placing the characters’ approach to risk alongside their stated beliefs about doing good.

During Bankman-Fried’s 2023 criminal trial, Ellison testified that he believed restrictions on lying and stealing did not necessarily apply under his interpretation of effective altruism. Her account concerned a philosophy focused on doing as much good as possible, including by earning money to give to charitable causes.

For the series’ creator and co-showrunner Graham Moore, the story follows people he believes began with charitable intentions before persuading themselves to commit crimes, according to Netflix’s trailer feature. Moore described an escalating pattern of dishonesty, starting with a “little white lie” and growing over time.

Co-showrunner Jacqueline Hoyt told the platform that the couple encouraged each other to build a company they believed could change finance, before their relationship contributed to its destruction. Both writers frame the drama around the characters’ motives and personal decisions.

The Altruists brings FTX executives and family members to screen As crypto.news reported in May 2025, Netflix confirmed its lead actors for the production, with Boyle cast as Bankman-Fried and Garner as Ellison. The earlier announcement identified Higher Ground, the production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama, as a producer.

According to that report, Boyle’s previous credits include Say Nothing, Masters of the Air, Tetris and Tolkien. Garner’s Netflix work includes Ozark, Inventing Anna, Maniac and The Get Down.

Beyond the two leads, Netflix’s cast list names Alex Lawther as former Alameda co-chief Sam Trabucco, Matt Rife as former FTX executive Ryan Salame, Karan Soni as Nishad Singh and Eugene Young as Gary Wang.

The platform also lists Paul Reiser as Bankman-Fried’s father, Joe Bankman, and Robin Weigert as his mother, Barbara Fried. Jennifer Grey plays Ellison’s mother, Sarah Fisher Ellison, while Terry Chen portrays Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.

In its production notes, Netflix identifies Moore and Hoyt as co-showrunners, co-writers, and executive producers. James Ponsoldt directed the first episode, and the series draws inspiration from New York Magazine reporting.

Moore told Netflix that the drama explores private interactions beyond events recorded publicly. The platform’s release notice confirms that viewers will receive all eight episodes on Nov. 19.

U.S. prosecutors traced customer funds to Alameda Following FTX’s November 2022 collapse and bankruptcy, U.S. authorities brought criminal cases against Bankman-Fried and other executives. Ellison pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, later testifying against her former colleague and boyfriend.

In its March 2024 sentencing release, the U.S. Department of Justice said Bankman-Fried stole more than $8 billion from customers, defrauded FTX investors of more than $1.7 billion and defrauded Alameda lenders of more than $1.3 billion.

According to the department’s account of trial evidence and court filings, customer deposits financed investments, political contributions, real estate and repayments of Alameda’s loans. Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried publicly represented customer funds as safe and separate from company assets while directing money to the trading firm.

The department also said he instructed colleagues to change FTX’s systems so Alameda could withdraw effectively unlimited cryptocurrency. Its account described false financial statements for lenders, inflated revenue and profit figures for investors, and backdated documents used to conceal the conduct.

After a jury convicted Bankman-Fried on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan imposed a 25-year prison sentence, three years of supervised release and more than $11 billion in forfeiture. The Justice Department said Kaplan authorized recovered forfeiture funds to compensate victims.

Bankman-Fried challenges his conviction as Ellison faces restrictions In coverage published Aug. 6, the exchange founder’s 25-year sentence was upheld through a Second Circuit mandate filed Aug. 4, putting the appeals court’s June judgment into effect.

According to that report, the appellate panel rejected Bankman-Fried’s argument that potential repayment to customers undermined the fraud case. The judges found that customers were defrauded when their money went to Alameda without authorization, regardless of whether he believed he could return it later.

On Sep. 11, a subsequent report detailed his request for Supreme Court review, filed the previous day. His lawyers challenged restrictions on defense evidence concerning FTX’s assets and potential customer repayments.

The petition also disputes the approximately $11.02 billion forfeiture order under the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause, according to the report. Bankman-Fried has separately sought a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.

For Ellison, federal prison records cited in a Dec. 25, 2025 report listed a Jan. 21 release date. The report said she had moved into community confinement in October 2025 after receiving a two-year sentence in September 2024.

In a separate December 2025 enforcement notice, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Ellison consented to a 10-year officer-and-director bar. The agency also said she, Wang, and Singh agreed to permanent injunctions against securities antifraud violations and five-year restrictions on specified conduct, subject to court approval.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Netflix's "The Altruists" series depicts Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison navigating the FTX scandal. Netflix Netflix has released its first trailer for "The Altruists," its upcoming series dramatizing the massive multibillion-dollar fraud scheme that led to the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency empire, FTX.

In the eight-episode series, which hits the streaming giant on November 19, Anthony Boyle stars as Bankman-Fried, opposite Julia Garner, who plays Caroline Ellison, a former crypto executive and Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend.

"Over the course of the years that our show depicts, Sam and Caroline, with the very best of intentions, talked each other and themselves into committing a number of terrible crimes," creator and showrunner Graham Moore said.

Ellison, who had pleaded guilty to conspiring with Bankman-Fried and served about 11 months in prison, was recently hired at Manifund, a grantmaking platform.

Bankman-Fried was sentenced in 2024 to 25 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.

He remains behind bars at a low-security federal prison in California.

Federal prison records show Bankman-Fried is projected to be released on Christmas Day in 2043.

Read next

Natalie Musumeci You're currently following this author! Click to unsubscribe from email alerts.

Natalie is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Business News team covering the AI and data center boom.She was previously on BI's Legal Affairs team, where she handled major cases coming out of state and federal court, as well as bankruptcy. Her coverage often focused on stories at the intersection of law, business, politics, and technology. Natalie has covered Donald Trump’s criminal and civil cases, the wave of lawsuits against the second Trump administration, the indictment and criminal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the legal battles facing Elon Musk and his companies. Natalie came to Business Insider in June 2021 as a breaking news reporter, focusing on the most interesting angles on the day's trending news. Natalie largely drove BI’s coverage around the fatal “Rust” shooting involving Alec Baldwin and the disappearance and murder of Gabby Petito.Prior to joining BI, Natalie worked for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and The Brooklyn Paper. She has an extensive background covering crime and courts. During her more than 12-year journalism career, she did a stint covering the police beat out of the New York Police Department's headquarters. Natalie, a Brooklyn native, graduated from Brooklyn College in 2012 with a degree in journalism. 

Sam Bankman-Fried Netflix

Convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison, but his now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, remains top of mind for federal regulators. 

On Monday, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking intended to clarify its regulatory approach to the cryptocurrency market. In a statement explaining the agency's stance, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig attributed the agency's expansively broad reading of its federal authority to the need to "prevent, rather than only prosecute after the fact, fraudulent schemes such as FTX."

The proposal would create a "tailored subcategory" under futures exchanges—designated contract markets (which include prediction markets) already fall under the CFTC's purview—with the cryptocurrency or digital asset as the commodity rather than the contract. This agency's newly regulated category would allow retail customers to trade "on a margined, leveraged or financed basis," according to Selig. 

The proposal only covers crypto platforms that offer customers financing for trades they can't cover with their own funds, leaving most Americans who trade or own cryptocurrency unaffected unless their exchange offers leveraged trading.

Crypto platforms that offer leveraged, or borrowed-money, trading would also operate much the same way they do now, keeping listing, trading, settlement, and custody services in one company so long as they're individually registered, rather than having the CFTC regulate each market segment separately, as it does with futures exchanges. The proposal effectively gives crypto exchanges a choice between operating within a patchwork of state licenses or under a "single federal regulatory scheme," Selig wrote in The Wall Street Journal. 

However, the proposed rule would extend federal protections, and thus federal oversight, to every transaction on a crypto exchange if the platform chooses to lend customers money to trade. This includes financing offers from third parties if offered through the exchange. Once a crypto exchange offers customers the opportunity to make borrowed-money trades, the offer "attaches to all agreements, contracts, or transactions" on the platform, even when a customer turns down the offer and pays in full with their own money. 

As federally registered exchanges, the crypto platforms would be required to enforce rules regarding market manipulation and abusive trading. In a nod to the scandal that sank FTX, the agency is considering whether exchanges would also be required to keep customer money separate from the company's account and provide proof of reserves showing they can cover what they owe. That raises legitimate questions about the CFTC's view of liability if a broker goes bankrupt.

Under the CFTC's interpretation of the Commodity Exchange Act, the law that regulates commodities trading in the U.S., the agency is authorized to regulate spot cryptocurrency trades—transactions immediately settled at the current asset price—if the crypto assets are purchased with borrowed money. In 2010, Congress gave the CFTC authority to regulate any retail commodity trade that is "entered into, or offered (even if not entered into), on a leveraged or margined basis, or financed by the offeror." The statute doesn't include a standard for what constitutes an offer, leaving it to the CFTC to create one. In its proposal, the agency uses a definition for offer broad enough to cover a wide swath of situations. This includes "standard customer documentation," such as onboarding documents or terms and conditions agreed to when signing up for a platform. 

If a cryptocurrency exchange offers leveraged trading, it must use a CFTC-registered broker or sponsor a bank that agrees to follow the agency's broker rules. However, the agency acknowledges this as a potential conflict of interest, since one company could act as a lender while also setting rules for borrowing and selling off borrowers' positions. 

The proposal comes weeks after the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act. That law would have given the CFTC explicit authority to regulate spot cryptocurrency markets irrespective of whether a platform offers leverage trading. 

Using a creative reading of federal law, the CFTC's proposal effectively gives it a version of the authority outlined in the bill, without Congress' blessing. It's jurisdictional creep, although the alternative is the status quo: the federal government regulating crypto through case-by-case enforcement. Still, Congress could simply treat American crypto enthusiasts as adults willingly engaging in a credible financial market. 

The proposal is open to public comments, due 60 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register, after which the agency will likely draft a formal proposal.

Pro-crypto regulator Mike Selig has said that pushing ahead with new rules will stop another collapse like FTX. 

Speaking on Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co. show Wednesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair said that crypto exchanges will have the chance to register with the regulator in order to safeguard digital asset spot markets. 

Once one of the most popular crypto exchanges, FTX quickly and abruptly went bankrupt in 2022 due to mismanagement. Its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is now serving 25 years in prison for fraud and other crimes after $8 billion in customer funds was stolen. 

The CFTC and other regulators are pushing ahead with rulemaking for the crypto space, despite lawmakers last month blocking the long-awaited Clarity Act. 

“Four years ago, we saw the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, where he stole over $8 billion in customer funds. That can’t happen under our regime,” Selig said. 

“Actually, Sam Bankman-Fried’s subsidiary that was CFTC registered, all the funds were safe and secure because they were segregated, and we have some of the most stringent requirements of any federal agency when it comes to markets — we want to bring that to the crypto world,” he added. 

Selig added that some exchanges may choose to remain under the state regimes, while others will register federally. 

The CFTC is relying on powers it already has to regulate crypto markets. The watchdog this week sought public comment on a framework that would create a new federal registration category, called a “crypto asset market,” for exchanges offering leveraged, margined or financed crypto trades to retail customers. 

Exchanges that don’t offer leverage could stay under state licenses. But the agency reads “leverage” broadly, which could bring even fully paid trades under its oversight unless customers take delivery of their crypto.

CFTC Chair Selig, formerly chief counsel at the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, last month said that the regulator was preparing for the transition of markets moving “24-7, on-chain.”  

Both the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission have taken a more friendly approach to regulating the crypto industry since U.S. President Donald Trump took power. 

Mathew Di Salvo

Mathew is a reporter who's covered the space since 2019, reporting on everything from Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele's Bitcoin bet to crypto exchange FTX's bankruptcy.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) opened public comment on Monday for new crypto trading rules that exchanges could choose to join. Chairman Michael Selig cited FTX, whose founders misappropriated about $8 billion in customer funds.

The CFTC regulates futures and other bets on commodity prices. Yet the one FTX unit it oversaw kept customer money safe, while about 130 sister companies went bankrupt.

What the CFTC Wants to Regulate in Crypto TradingThe notice is an early step that asks for public feedback before any rule is written. It covers retail crypto trades made with borrowed money or platform financing.

Federal law already requires such deals to run on a CFTC-regulated exchange. The agency now wants crypto-specific rules, including a new exchange category called a “crypto asset market.”

“Under my leadership, the Commission will take every necessary step to establish regulations that are designed to prevent, rather than only prosecute after the fact, fraudulent schemes such as FTX,” Selig wrote.

Selig’s announcement revisited an old CNBC coverage of FTX’s $32 billion valuation.

The lesson from FTX’s failure should have been obvious. America shouldn’t have to choose between responsible innovation in crypto and protecting market participants from fraud and abuse. It needs prophylactic rules that reasonably ensure both. Today, the @CFTC is taking action to… https://t.co/7vm8o1Wrt6

— Mike Selig (@ChairmanSelig) October 5, 2026 What Exchanges Gain and Give Up by Signing UpIn a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Selig said the rules would not force crypto onto CFTC platforms. The agency lacks that power without Congress, where the stalled CLARITY Act failed in the Senate.

Selig’s proposition is that:

Registered exchanges could offer retail traders leverage and margin, which state money transmitter licenses, the kind FTX relied on, do not allow. In return, under the notice:

Registered exchanges must keep customer money separate Watch for manipulation, and Limit conflicts of interest. Bitnomial said it is the first crypto-native US exchange to hold all three CFTC licenses for this business. It launched leveraged retail spot crypto trading in December 2025.

Kraken parent Payward agreed in April to buy Bitnomial for up to $550 million. It then planned a Hyperliquid route for US clients through Bitnomial, pending approval. Hyperliquid, an offshore trading platform, bars US users.

Comments are due 60 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register. A formal proposal and final vote must follow before any rule binds.

Whale deposits 654,288 $UNI ($5.96M) into Coinbase Prime, realizes $1.27M profit

Whale 0xf7AD, who bought 654,288 $UNI ($5.96M) at an average price of $7.17 over the past month, deposited all of it into #CoinbasePrime 3 hours ago, making a profit of ~$1.27M.

13 minutes ago

US Representative Proposes Banning Candidates From Trading Prediction Market Contracts Linked to Their Own Elections

According to CNBC, U.S. Democratic Representative Don Davis of North Carolina introduced the "Ban on Betting on Your Own Election Act" on Monday, which proposes to ban federal public office candidates from trading contracts related to their own elections on prediction markets. Violators will face a fine of $10,000 or three times the net profit from the trade, whichever is higher. The proposal stems from Davis' Republican election opponent Laurie Buckhout, who was previously penalized by prediction market platform Kalshi. Buckhout reached a settlement with the platform in August for trading contracts related to her own candidacy, paying a fine of just under $2,600 and being suspended from Kalshi for three years. She said at the time: "I bet on myself, that's exactly what I did. That was a stupid mistake." Prediction market platforms had previously already imposed self-restrictions on candidates trading contracts related to their own elections to guard against insider trading. Davis hopes to formalize these relevant restrictions into law. However, both the House of Representatives and the Senate are scheduled to resume sessions only after the midterm elections, so the bill is almost impossible to implement during this election cycle. The Senate passed a resolution in April banning senators and their staff from participating in prediction market trading, but it did not cover non-incumbent senatorial candidates.

13 minutes ago

OpenAI is in talks with Emirati funds and BlackRock for $30 billion in financing, with a pre-money valuation of approximately $1.4 trillion.

According to a Bloomberg report, OpenAI is in discussions with multiple UAE investment funds to secure a core investor for a funding round worth at least $300 billion. The funds include Abu Dhabi-based MGX, with several UAE funds planning to form an investment consortium that could contribute up to $100 billion in total. BlackRock is also in talks to join the consortium for this round. OpenAI has also approached existing investors including the University of California Endowment, Thrive Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz about participating. The fundraising is still ongoing, and the final investors and specific terms may change. OpenAI plans to raise funds at a pre-money valuation of approximately $1.4 trillion, offering this valuation as a fixed price to investors even though a lead investor has not yet been finalized. In March this year, OpenAI completed a $122 billion funding round at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. The company has delayed its IPO plans until at least next year, citing a focus on AI safety work as the reason.

13 minutes ago

Crypto PAC releases its midterm election endorsement list, with all 32 House of Representatives candidates on the list having previously supported the CLARITY Act.

Fairshake, the crypto political action committee (PAC) backed by institutions including Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and A16z, announced it will support 32 incumbent U.S. House members in the 2026 midterm elections, comprising 19 Republican lawmakers and 13 Democrats. Fairshake plans to initially deploy $6 million, providing $1 million each in campaign support to 3 Republican and 3 Democratic candidates. Spokesperson Geoff Vetter stated: “We support pro-crypto candidates from both parties who back U.S. innovation.” All 32 candidates voted in 2025 to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act), though the bill failed to pass a key Senate vote and remains uncertain. Fairshake expects to invest over $100 million this year on ads supporting House and Senate candidates, with at least $30 million allocated to Ohio’s Senate race, backing Republican candidate Jon Husted against Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown. Vetter previously noted that as of August, Fairshake held $122 million in cash, with the goal of building the largest pro-crypto congressional coalition in U.S. history.

13 minutes ago

Smart money that bet on UNI in September appears to have taken profits, reaping $1.27 million in just one month.

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa), two hours ago, address 0xf7A…147AB deposited all 654,288 UNI tokens into Coinbase, valued at approximately $5.96 million, an apparent profit-taking move. The tokens were withdrawn from a trading platform between September 3 and October 1, at an average price of around $7.16. Using the withdrawal price as the cost basis and selling at the deposit price, the estimated profit is about $1.27 million, with a return rate of roughly 27.23%.

13 minutes ago

Polymarket launched Protocol V2, overhauling the underlying architecture of its existing protocol.

Polymarket has launched Polymarket Protocol V2, its next-generation prediction market smart contract system that fully overhauls the underlying architecture of its existing protocol. The current protocol is built on the 2019 Gnosis Conditional Tokens Framework, requiring additional adapters, trading contracts, and authorization processes to be deployed for every new market type. V2, by contrast, standardizes on a single ERC1155 position token contract, uses pUSD as collateral, and integrates a trading platform contract and router. V2 features a modular architecture, with initial support for binary, atomic zero-risk, incremental zero-risk, and composite markets. It connects UMA, Chainlink, and future oracles via the new OracleAggregator, and natively supports cross-chain functionality for positions, collateral, and settlement outcomes—laying the foundation for future multi-chain deployments. All contracts are upgradeable via a secure governance process. Polymarket Protocol V2 has undergone audits by Cantina, Certora, Quantstamp, SigmaPrime, Zellic, and Pashov, with formal verification completed by Certora, and offers a critical bug bounty of up to $5 million. Polymarket will run a small number of gray-scale production markets from October 5 to 30, with plans to switch new markets to V2 starting November 2. The platform is also launching Data API V2, built on Rust and an in-house on-chain indexer.

13 minutes ago