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Coinbase Granted Permission For Support On SEC Vs Ripple

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has been granted permission to file its amicus brief to join Ripple Labs in supporting its ongoing lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On Monday, US District Judge Analisa Torres granted motions for the 12 Ripple supporters to submit their amicus briefs. Among the list of growing supporters are Coinbase and the Blockchain Association. Backers have until November 18 to submit their abstracts, but Coinbase has already confirmed their submission. Earlier this month, she asked the court to consider her request for an amicus brief. An amicus brief is known as a “friend of the court” and is a legal brief that contains advice or information related to a court case from an organization that is not directly involved in the case.

The case between Ripple Labs and the SEC took a big step forward in October, when it was decided in Ripple’s favor and Judge Torres ordered the SEC to turn over Hinman’s disputed documents. These documents contain internal SEC emails and drafts from former corporate CFO William Hinman. The documents contain discovery material from a speech given by Hinman in which he claimed that Bitcoin and Ether are not securities. In his speech, Hinman said:

Based on my understanding of the current state of Ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, the current offers and sales of Ether are not securities transactions.

The documents are more broadly related to the lawsuit against Ripple Labs, its former CEO Chris Larson and its current CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The SEC filed the lawsuit in 2020 alleging that the three entities, Ripple Labs, Garlinghouse, and Larsen, illegally profited from the sale of Ripple’s native XRP token as unregistered securities.

After a week of great uncertainty for the broader cryptocurrency market, XRP was leading in terms of gains and gained more than 10% following developments.

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AIBC European Summit kicks off with full featured agenda

In November, the AIBC European Summit returns to awaken Malta from its autumn stupor. By prioritizing quality over quantity, extra care has been taken to ensure delegates get the most for their investment; from top-notch networking opportunities to KOL-led keynotes and panels for maximized visibility for all startups. Read the highlights not to

I want to miss AIBC Summit Malta Week 2022.

Schedule

A lot of effort went into putting together the event agenda. It was calibrated to be as strategic and fluid as possible.

Day 1 will begin with the VNTR Capital Breakfast, where delegates will have the opportunity to network and

discuss the latest technology trends with active Venture Capital investors, business angels and HNWIs. The day’s conference is scheduled to start early and is packed with important information on recent 2022/2023 bull and bear market trends. The best VCs will take over from 10:40 am to cover the best market and investment strategies. The AIBC Startup Pitch will follow immediately, ensuring maximum VC visibility for emerging entrepreneurs.

The lectures will take place in two stages over the two days and have been structured to cover a wide range of

topics at any time. From Crypto and Blockchain technologies to GameFi and Web3 education, delegates will benefit from keynotes and panels featuring the brightest minds in the industry.

The launch of AIBC Europe

More than keynotes and panels, the AIBC Summit is about envisioning and building an exciting future for innovative technology. The SiGMA Group is all about honoring the vision, courage and determination required to elevate any company from a localized idea to a global phenomenon. It does this by providing startups with a stage to showcase their exciting ideas, ensuring maximum visibility from high-priority investors.

We put out the call and over 100 startups responded, now ready to take advantage of a highly coveted spot at the AIBC Summit! The best start-ups will also compete on stage in front of a panel of judges, hand-picked to ensure the highest quality and diversity of backgrounds and experiences.

The judging panel comprises Scott Stornetta, Marianna Tavella, Efrem Borg, Johan Zammit, David Orban and Saeed Aldarmaki, bringing together decades of experience in Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, BizDev and regulation. Our key launch competitors include Arena Games, Farcana, Encore Fans and Nanit Robot, covering SocialFi, GameFi, EdTech, Robotics, Crypto, Blockchain and Web3 infrastructure innovation.

Launch of AIBC Startup | AIBC United Arab Emirates 2022

Join us: 14th to 18th November for Malta Week

One of the first European countries to regulate the gaming industry, Malta is a global business hub. The island is an obvious choice for AIBC’s presence in Europe and a solid base for the future of the sector. With a wealth of perspectives for investors and entrepreneurs looking to shape the future of this multibillion-dollar business, Malta Week will bring together industry giants across gaming affiliates, operators and providers.

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Bank of Russia Proposes Regulating Taxation of Digital Assets, Exchange, Still Opposes Cryptocurrency

The Central Bank of Russia supports the development of digital financial assets but remains opposed to the legalization of cryptocurrency payments, its top management reiterated. The monetary authority is now working on a set of regulatory proposals that will be presented to parliament at the end of the year.

Central Bank of Russia Takes Legislative Initiative on Regulation of Digital Assets

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) intends to present a legislative package on the regulation of digital financial assets (DFA) in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. Under current Russian law, the term DFA refers to coins and tokens with an issuing entity, as opposed to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Speaking during Finopolis, a forum dedicated to financial innovations, the bank’s vice president, Olga Skorobogatova, explained that the proposals pursue three main goals: improve taxation and eliminate tax arbitrage, develop exchange platforms, and regulate smart contracts.

The CBR executive highlighted the great interest in the development of DFA in Russia. “We think this is a very good new tool for financial market participants,” she said, quoted by cryptocurrency news site Forklog.

Skorobogatova revealed that the monetary authority is currently reviewing nine applications from companies seeking a license to issue and circulate digital financial assets. Three “information system operators” (Sberbank, Atomyze and Lighthouse) have already been authorized to do this, she noted.

The Bank of Russia maintains its opposition to the legalization of cryptocurrency deals

Meanwhile, speaking in the Duma, CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina stated that while the Bank of Russia supports the development of digital financial assets, it is against the use of private cryptocurrencies in deals. Quoted by the Tass news outlet, she also insisted that digital financial assets are not just limited to cryptocurrencies and emphasized:

We have not changed our position that private cryptocurrencies, for which it is unclear who and how is responsible, which are opaque and carry high volatility risks, should not be used in liquidations.

Discussions about the state of cryptocurrencies and the regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Russia have been ongoing for more than a year. The CBR has traditionally maintained a strict stance, proposing a blanket ban on related activities such as mining and trading in January.

However, sanctions over the war in Ukraine, including restrictions on international payments, have softened his stance. In September, the monetary authority agreed with the Ministry of Finance that, under current conditions, it would be impossible for Russia to dispense with cross-border cryptocurrency deals.

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Has the FTX Exchange finally reopened withdrawals for clients?

According to on-chain data provider Nansen, the indebted FTX has finally reopened withdrawals for its clients. According to the data, one user was able to withdraw $2.6 million worth of ETH, while another was able to withdraw $1.3 million worth of USDC from the exchange.

Strangely, the data also shows that a user deposited $21,000 on the exchange to try to arbitrage odd prices on FTX and withdraw to some other niche asset.

Hearing rumors FTX reopened withdrawals and it seems to be true: one address got just over $2 million

Follow him here: https://t.co/YnE8gJPyvo pic.twitter.com/lp1Arag5vk

— Andrew T (@Blockanalia) November 10, 2022

FTX stopped withdrawals earlier this week due to liquidity issues with its sister company Alameda Research. Rival exchange Binance stepped in and signed a non-binding letter of intent to buy FTX only to pull out of the transaction 24 hours later.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in a tweet on Thursday:

“We spent the week doing everything possible to increase liquidity”
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Brazilian Bitcoin Nonprofit Vinteum Announces Utreexo Developer Grant

Fellow Davidson Souza will continue to develop various Bitcoin projects after a Summer of Bitcoin internship, including Utreexo.

Vinteum, a Brazilian non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Bitcoin research and development, announced its second recipient of donations for protocol development, in a statement sent to Bitcoin Magazine.

Davidson Souza will receive the second Vinteum grant to continue providing wallet-enabled implementations for the Rust Utreexo library. Souza will then integrate the library with Spiral’s Bitcoin Development Kit (BDK). Additionally, Souza will develop bitcoin improvement proposals (BIPs) around implementations, assist with protocol development, and contribute to other projects such as Rust Bitcoin.

Utreexo is a Bitcoin hash accumulator initially proposed by Tadge Dryja, co-author of the Lightning Network white paper. The hash accumulator serves as an alternate database used to represent unspent transaction output (UTXO). The alternate dataset allows nodes to obtain and verify information related to UTXOs. By doing this, the information provided to nodes enables scalability benefits, decreasing the amount of storage needed by full nodes without changing anything regarding the security of the Bitcoin protocol. The process can also make running a node cheaper, speed up initial block downloads, and be used as an oracle for pools of UTXOs for different projects.

Souza initially attended some unofficial Venteum seminars that led him to participate in the Summer of Bitcoin, where he met his future mentor Calvin Kim, who is a Bitmex beneficiary. Kim began guiding Souza to port the Go Utreexo library to Rust so that anyone could validate Utreexo tests against Rust code.

“Davidson performed strongly during the Summer of Bitcoin program, demonstrating his understanding of Bitcoin at the protocol level and was productive in understanding and implementing the Utreexo algorithms,” Kim said.

Vinteum launched in August with a mission to train and fund open source developers for the Bitcoin ecosystem in Brazil. The nonprofit organization announced its first member at the launch, Bruno Garcia, who also joined the group as a founding member.