More than 500 days after the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, users have an answer for the number of years former CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried will face in prison: 25.
In a March 28 hearing, Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced the former FTX CEO to 300 months in prison for his conviction related to misusing customer funds. Prosecutors had suggested up to 50 years in prison for SBF, while his defense attorneys requested the judge be lenient and only impose up to 6.5 years. The judge added the former CEO had committed perjury and intimidated witnesses.
Immediately following the announcement in the New York courtroom, crypto users jumped onto social media to express their thoughts. Many suggested that 25 years wasn’t enough time given longer sentences handed down for seemingly less serious crimes. The judge] gave him less than Chelsea Manning (35 years) for a waaaaay worse crime,” said Edward Snowden on X, referring to Manning’s 2013 conviction for violations of the Espionage Act.
Source: Mandrik
Though the sentencing guidelines allowed Judge Kaplan to put SBF in prison for more than 100 years, many pointed out before the hearing that this outcome was unlikely. Several legal experts speculated Bankman-Fried would serve between 10 and 30 years, and others suggested it may be an effective deterrent for figures in the crypto space.
“Judge Kaplan weighed all of the sentencing factors, including the magnitude of the crime, his conclusion that SBF lied on the witness stand and tampered with a witness, and handed down a serious sentence,” Mark Bini, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, told Cointelegraph. “While less than the prosecutors’ request for 40-50 years, it is a very significant sentence and sends a message that people convicted of crimes in the crypto space will face serious consequences.
Swan Bitcoin Managing Director Terrence Yang largely disagreed, telling Cointelegraph “justice is not served” and 25 years was “too light” based on the number of suicides in the wake of the collapse of FTX, SBF’s perjury, and the misuse of user funds. “The damage SBF did was permanent and severe,” said Yang.
“He ruined a lot of families and lives with his felonious acts and put salt in the deep wounds with his total lack of remorse. I get that he has ADHD and ADHD families filed a statement with the court asking for leniency but SBF is the only person with ADHD in the world who stole billions of dollars in customer funds and destroyed or hurt millions of lives.”
Bankman-Fried was taken out of court on March 28 to start his sentence at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been since Judge Kaplan revoked his bail in August 2023.
Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, will likely be the next figure in the case to face sentencing on May 1. Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh — other former executives associated with FTX and Alameda Research — have already pleaded guilty and accepted deals.
#FTXFraud #FTXJustice #FTT #ustc

KuCoin saw over $1 billion in withdrawals over the past 24 hours, Nansen data shows.Assets held by the exchange dropped to $4.8 billion from $6 billion, according to Arkham blockchain data.
The exchange "is operating well, and the assets of our users are absolutely safe," KuCoin said.Crypto exchange KuCoin saw about $1 billion in crypto withdrawals over the past 24 hours and assets under management (AUM) slumped 20% as the trading platform faced charges from U.S. authorities, data from Nansen and Arkham Intelligence shows.
The exchange experienced $1.083 billion in outflows via Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible (EVM) chains during the period, and only $144 million of inflows. Nansen data did not include bitcoin {{BTC}} withdrawals. Net outflows on the Ethereum network reached $840 million, according to Nansen."This is more than a 15% drop in assets held by the exchange," Nansen said in an X post Wednesday.
An update on @kucoincom withdrawalsAt the time of writing, over the past 24 hours, there has been an outflow of over $842m on Ethereum and $938m on EVM chains from an initial $6b base in holdings.
This is more than a 15% drop in assets held by the exchange.

Blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence shows that the amount of crypto assets (including BTC) held by tagged KuCoin crypto addresses plummeted to $4.8 billion from $6 billion on Tuesday.
Arkham's figure includes price fluctuations, but crypto markets were generally little changed over the period, so the decrease was most likely a result of investors withdrawing assets from the platform.
The withdrawal surge happened as the exchange and two of its founders were charged Tuesday with violating anti-money laundering laws by U.S. federal prosecutors. A Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent called the exchange "an alleged multibillion-dollar criminal conspiracy.
Some users complained about delays in withdrawals, spurring concerns about the exchange's health. Blockchain data, however, showed that outgoing transactions from KuCoin were processed, with the delays most likely due to the pent-up withdrawal requests. KuCoin said in a social media post that the exchange "is operating well, and the assets of our users are absolutely safe."

According to deep tide TechFlow news, on-chain detective ZachXBT disclosed in the telegram community that Munchables was stolen for 62.5 million U.S. dollars or because it hired North Korean hackers disguised as developers.

South Korean police have arrested two individuals for defrauding a senior citizen of 5.5 billion won ($4.1 million) through a cryptocurrency investment scam.
The arrests were made by the Haeundae Police Station in Busan, targeting two men in their 20s and 30s. Between September and December 2022, the suspects convinced the victim to send a total of 5.5 billion won across six transactions, promising 70% returns on a monthly investment of 1 billion won, according to a local report. Also, these scammers claimed it was a “boom period for cryptocurrency,” ensuring lucrative returns on the investment.
To maintain the illusion of legitimate transactions, the fraudsters presented the victim with forged balance certificates and fake balance sheets, falsely showing 20 billion won worth of cryptocurrencies and real estate contracts.
Despite the elaborate scam, none of the victim’s funds were actually invested in crypto trading accounts. The police have detained the individuals responsible for the deception, although there has been no update on the recovery of the stolen funds.
Meanwhile, Cryptopolitan earlier reported that Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon was released from prison in Montenegro on March 23. 
Kwon had been detained for using fake documents but was released as his regular prison term ended. Following his release, Kwon, a South Korean citizen, was taken for an interview to the police directorate for foreigners, amidst ongoing extradition requests from the United States and South Korea. Kwon faces legal challenges related to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022, with further proceedings expected to address his extradition and legal status.
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Ethereum developers have launched a new initiative to increase the blockchain network’s long-standing static gas limits, a change they believe could be used to help scale Ethereum, Cointelegraph reports.
On March 20, Ethereum core developer Eric Connor and MakerDAO’s former smart contract leader Mariano Conti announced a new website called Pump The Gas, which aims to increase the Ethereum Gas limit.
“This could result in a 15% to 33% reduction in Tier 1 transaction fees,” Connor said in a March 19 article on , mining pools, and community members to help.”
The#pumpthegashashtag has started to gain support from Ethereum users, stakers, and decentralized finance (DeFi) investors on X. Conti also observed that Rocket Pool validators proposed a block on March 20 with a gas limit of 40 million.Over the past few months, there have been growing calls to increase Ethereum’s gas limit.
In January, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested increasing the gas limit to 40 million, up from 30 million since August 2021.Base contributor Jesse Pollack responded that he "strongly supports" increasing the Ethereum gas limit to 40 million or 45 million.
"We have cyberspace, which is beneficial to all parties," he added.The Ethereum gas limit refers to the maximum amount of gas spent executing a transaction or smart contract in each block.
The website explains that each operation has a predefined gas cost, and a contract cannot exceed its gas limit during execution. This prevents malicious contracts from overloading the network by looping endlessly or excessively consuming resources.
“Increasing the Gas block limit by 33% enables Layer 1 Ethereum to handle 33% more transaction load in a day,” it states. It also noted that data blobs with Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844, introduced in the Dencun upgrade, significantly helped reduce layer 2 transaction fees, but not layer 1 fees. “The combination of blob and gas limits helps scale Layer 1 and Layer 2 Ethereum,” it added.

#Ethereum✅