Judge Keyser KC threw out James Howells’ attempt to sue a council to recover a hard drive from a rubbish tip containing access to about £600 million in bitcoin, according to the BBC.Howells had taken legal action to gain access to the landfill or pursue £495 million in compensation.
According to Cryptoslate, Coinbase、 Team members from Google, AI16Z, and other major players have teamed up to launch Aiccelerate, a new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) aimed at accelerating the integration of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI). The announcement on January 9th shows that the DAO will focus on promoting decentralized, open-source AI development and supporting high potential projects in different ecosystems. In addition, Aiccelerate positions itself as a DAO that emphasizes both investment and development. Its main mission is to drive innovation in the field of what it calls' proxy AI '. This DAO aims to establish a collaborative community composed of top developers from multiple frameworks. These experts will contribute to a range of agents and tools aimed at advancing organizational goals. In addition, Aiccelerate will unify its various initiatives through a token called AICC. DAO will use a portion of its profits to repurchase its native tokens. The list of development consultants includes Shaw, founder of ai16z, EtherMage, core contributor to Virtuals Protocol, Nader Dabit, head of developer relations at EigenLayer, and Jason Zhao, co-founder of Story Protocol. In terms of investment, Aiccelerate's advisors include Andrew Kang and Marc Weinstein from Mechanism Capital, Justin Lee from Coinbase Ventures, and Anil Lulla from Delphi Digital.
Coinbase Inc. (COIN) is warning customers that a U.S. regulator is demanding information about interactions with prediction market firm Polymarket, according to a person familiar with the situation, and Coinbase has sent messages to customers saying the exchange may have to share that data.Copies of the emails shared with some customers have circulated on social-media sites, and those warnings about the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) requests are accurate, the person said. The U.S. derivatives regulator has conducted a drawn-out legal battle with prediction markets firms, and this latest move comes just days before the leadership of the agency will flip from Democratic to Republican when President-elect Donald Trump takes office."When we receive requests for information from a government, each request is carefully reviewed by a team of trained experts using established procedures to determine its legal sufficiency," a Coinbase spokesperson said in an emailed statement, though the company declined to confirm receipt of the specific subpoena. "Where necessary, we will seek to narrow requests that are overly broad or vague in order to provide a more appropriately tailored response, and in some cases we object to producing any information at all."The CFTC lost an initial case against prediction market firm Kalshi when a U.S. federal judge ruled late last year that the agency couldn't bar the company from listing election contracts. However, the regulator quickly filed an appeal with a higher court, and Polymarket argued in that new legal clash that only Congress can halt election betting. U.S. Election Betting: Federal Court 'Erred' in Letting Kalshi Launch Prediction Markets, CFTC SaysNeither the CFTC nor Polymarket immediately responded to a request for comment on the effort to gather customer information.On January 20, Trump will reclaim the White House, and he'll be able to appoint a new chairman to replace Rostin Behnam, who has led the CFTC during its lengthy legal dispute with the prediction businesses. The sitting Republican commissioners, Caroline Pham and Summer Mersinger have drawn attention as potential candidates for the open chairmanship, as has former Commissioner Brian Quintenz.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, stated in an article on X platform that fintech company Block is expected to become the first company in the S&P 500 to hold Bitcoin. To be included in the index, a stock must meet six major criteria, including: 1) a market value exceeding $18 billion; 2) Public shareholding exceeds 10%; 3) The revenue for the most recent quarter should be positive, and the total GAAP revenue for the first four quarters should also be positive; 4) High liquidity; 5) Listed for at least 12 months; 6) The company's headquarters is located in the United States. After the release of the first quarter 2024 financial report, Block met the last criterion (revenue). However, inclusion in the S&P 500 index does not strictly follow the formula, but is determined at the discretion of the index committee. In history, companies that meet all requirements were included within 3 to 21 months (LULU was an exception, taking 65 months). Industry diversification is one of the factors considered by the index committee, which aims to maintain an industry composition that is generally consistent with the industry economy. The term 'consistent with industry economy' is not clearly defined, so the S&P Whole Market Index can be used as a reference: the financial industry currently accounts for 13.9% of the S&P 500, while it accounts for 14.6% of the broader index, indicating that there is still room for growth in the financial industry.
According to Bloomberg, less than two weeks before Trump's inauguration, cryptocurrency industry executives are vying for opportunities to interact with Trump himself and a seat on the planned cryptocurrency advisory committee, which is expected to be established shortly after Trump takes office. According to insiders, industry insiders plan to use this committee to influence the new government's digital asset policies, which may consist of around twenty CEOs and founders. According to informed sources, most of the potential appointees have already established relationships with Trump and have visited him in recent months. Trump and his inner circle, including the incoming White House AI and cryptocurrency expert David Sacks, are still weighing potential appointees. Since Trump's re-election in November, Mar-a-Lago has hosted a large number of cryptocurrency industry professionals, including Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com, and Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase. In addition, companies such as Circle, Coinbase, Kraken, Ondo, etc. have pledged to donate to Trump's inauguration ceremony. Previously, it was reported that the cryptocurrency industry will hold a dance party on January 17th to celebrate the inauguration ceremony of Trump and Vance, hosted by BTC Inc. and Stand With Crypto.
Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in August that he planned to create a digital-asset-focused panel. The Senate Banking Committee would also have to vote to create that digital assets subcommittee as well as its members, a Senate aide said.