The opening ceremony for the 2024 FIDE Candidates Tournament and 2024 FIDE Womens Candidates Tournament take place today in Toronto, Canada. This marks the first time that the two Candidates tournaments are held concurrently, and promises plenty of exciting chess over the next three weeks.

Round one begins tomorrow, April 4, at 1:30 p.m. CDT. Subsequent rounds take place at the same time, with one round per day, except on the rest days of April 8, 12, 16, and 19. Note that no rest day takes place over a weekend, allowing fans the chance to catch a round outside of working hours.

Chess Life Onlinewill feature in-depth reports from each round. A schedule of rounds and annotators is available here.

In the Open, Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi will seek a third consecutive win trip to the world championship, after falling short in 2021 against GM Magnus Carlsen and just short again in 2023 against GM Ding Liren. But the two odds-on favorites, who happen to be the two highest-rated competitors, are the two Americans.

With both coming off of great years, GM Fabiano Caruana qualified based on his third-place finish in the 2023 FIDE World Cup, while GM Hikaru Nakamura qualified based on his second-place finish in the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss. This is Caruanas fifth consecutive Candidates tournament, having won once in 2018. This is Nakamuras third trip to the Candidates, and second consecutive after falling just short of a second-place finish in 2022.

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Caruana capped off a strong 2023 with a victory in the Sinquefield Cup last winter (courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

The other front-runner is French GM Alireza Firouzja, a 20-year-old phenomenon who still holds the record for youngest player to achieve a FIDE classical rating over 2800. Firouzja indeed qualified via the ratings spot, but enters with a 2760 rating after a lackluster set of performances in 2023 before a flurry of late games to clinch the rating spot. He enters as the third highest-rated player, two points ahead of Nepomniachtchi (2758) but still 43 points behind Caruana (2803) and 29 points behind Nakamura (2789). This is also his second consecutive Candidates appearance.

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Nakamura after qualifying for the Candidates in the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss (courtesy Anna Shtourman/FIDE)

Of the four remaining players in the Open, three hail from India, and all are participating in their first Candidates tournament. GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, age 29, enters as the lowest-rated of the trio (2727), after winning the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss ahead of Nakamura and Caruana. The youngest, GM Gukesh D (age 17, 2743), qualified via amassing the most points on the 2023 FIDE Circuit. Finally, GM Praggnanandhaa R (age 18, 2747) qualified after a strong second-place finish (behind Carlsen, ahead of Caruana) in the 2023 FIDE World Cup.

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Vidit (R) qualified for the Candidates by winning the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss alongside his countrywoman, Vaishali Rameshbabu (more on her below) (courtesy Anna Shtourman/FIDE)

Finally, Azerbaijani GM Nijat Abasov enters as the dark horse of the event, as the only player outside the current top 100 world rankings. Rated 2632 (with a peak of 2679 and a top 60 world ranking as recently as last November), Abasov finished fourth in the World Cup after an impressive string of upsets. When Carlsen declined his qualifying spot from winning the World Cup, the rules stipulated that the fourth-place finisher in the World Cup would qualify instead.

In the Womens tournament, six of the eight participants are currently ranked in the world top eight, with only top-rated GM Hou Yifan (inactive) and second-rated GM Ju Wenjun (reigning world champion) missing from the line-up. Of the participants, third-ranked GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2553, Russia), is the highest rated.

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Goryachkina won her first FIDE Women's World Cup in 2023, and looks to follow it up with another Candidates victory (behind GM Ju Wenjun) and adds a World Cup title to her list of accolades (courtesy Stev Bonhage/FIDE)

Goryachkina qualified via her second-place finish in the 2022-23 FIDE Womens Grand Prix series (but also won the 2023 FIDE Womens World Cup), and she looks to repeat her 2019 Womens Candidates victory to earn a rematch with Ju. She should be considered a favorite due to her rating, strong results at the World Cup, and successful history in this event, but the next group of three players are certainly right up there with her.

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The challenger Lei Tingjie after her 2022 Candidates victory (courtesy FIDE)

Fourth-ranked GM Lei Tingjie (2550, China) won the previous Womens Candidates cycle of matches, losing in the last game of the 2023 Womens World Championship to Ju. Fifth-ranked GM Humpy Koneru (2546, India) earned the ratings spot, as Tingjie qualified in virtue of winning the previous Candidates cycle. Sixth-ranked GM Kateryna Lagno (2542, Russia) qualified via her victory in the 2022-23 FIDE Womens Grand Prix cycle. Lagno previously competed for the world championship in 2018, losing the knock-out finals to Ju.

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Anna Muzychuk (L)'s Women's World Cup Semi-Final against Salimova resulted in both players qualifying for the Candidates (courtesy Anna Shtourman/FIDE)

Next up is seventh-ranked GM Tan Zhongyi (2521, China), who qualified via her second-place finish in the 2023 FIDE Womens Grand Swiss. Tan was a finalist in the previous Candidates cycle, losing to Lei in their head-to-head finals match. Eighth-ranked GM Anna Muzychuk (2520, Ukraine) qualified via her third-place finish in the 2023 FIDE Womens World Cup. Like Abasov in the Open, she earned a spot in virtue of a higher-placing finisher not accepting their spot, although in this case it was because Goryachkina had already qualified for the Candidates.

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Salimova revealed she has been training with none other than Abasov (second from right). Both players earned unexpected Candidates slots from their strong World Cup performances. (courtesy Maria Emelianova/Chess.com)

The only two players outside of the world top ten, then, are Indian GM-Elect Vaishali Rameshbabu* (2475, world number 15) and Bulgarian IM Nurgyul Salimova (2432, world number 36). Vaishali earned her spot with a number of sharp wins resulting in a first-place finish in the 2023 FIDE Womens Grand Swiss, and Salimova earned hers via a second-place finish in the 2023 FIDE Womens World Cup after a string of upsets. At ages 22 and 20, respectively, both have seen substantial improvements in their games (and ratings) over the past year, and neither should be counted out.

*Vaishali is registered with FIDE as Vaishali Rameshbabu, while her brother*, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, is registered as Praggnanandhaa R. We will follow these conventions when referring to the two players.

**Yes, there is a brother-sister duo competing in Toronto!

The time control is slightly different for the two tournaments, with each time control corresponding to the time control used in the corresponding world championship event. In the Open, the players will have 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, with a 30-minute bonus on move 41 and a 30-second increment only beginning on move 41. In the Womens, the players will have 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, with a 30-minute bonus on move 41 but a 30-second increment beginning on move one.

Both tournaments follow a Double Round Robin format, with all pairings determined in advance. Players representing the same federation are slated to play each other in the first rounds of each half of the tournament.

The prize fund for the Open is double that of the Womens. For the Open: 48,000 euros for first, 36,000 for second, and 24,000 for third. For the Womens: 24,000 euros for first, 18,000 for second and 12,000 for third. Interestingly, rather than promise pre-determined prize amounts for all finishers, the remaining prizes are awarded based on score, with 3,500 euros awarded for each half-point scored for players in the Open and 1,750 for players in the Womens. These score prizes are awarded for all eight players in each event.

If two players tie for first, second, or third, the prizes are divided equally and not based on tiebreaks. For instance, if two players tie for second place, they split the second- and third-place prizes equally. If there is a tie for first place, then in addition to splitting the prizes equally, a tiebreak match will be played to determine who earns the right to challenge the current world champion. Full regulations are available for the Open here and the Womens here.

Quick Links

Official Website (Schedule|Pairings|Crosstables)

FollowChess Life Onlinefor daily recaps and annotations from top American players

Follow the games live onChess.com(Open|Women's) andLichess.org(Open|Women's)

Follow on social media with the tag #FIDECandidates

Stream Today in Chess, courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, with commentary from GM Yasser Seirawan, GM Evegeny Miroshnichenko, and IM Nazi Paikidze. This broadcast will focus on the games of the two American players. (YouTube|Twitch)

Link:

FIDE Candidates and Women's Candidates 2024: What To Expect | US Chess.org - uschess.org

Business suits, hands crossed across the chest or tucked in pockets Indias Vidit Gujrathi, R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh have been striking the perfunctory pre-tournament poses against green screens in Toronto. All three are first-timers at the Candidates. Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is the only Indian who has played in the Candidates. They go up against a fairly strong field one that carries two of the worlds top three players. All three Indians have had varied journeys leading up to this tournament starting on Thursday.

Vidit, the oldest among the Indians at 29, has been around for a while but his arrival on the elite level is fresh. He seems to have had something of an awakening in the past year a great run at the World Cup (quarterfinal finish) and a stellar win in a strong field at the Grand Swiss. He finished at the bottom in the Prague Masters last month. Since it took place too close to the Candidates it could perhaps be seen differently. A mature positional player, Vidit has waited for his turn to get here. A hustling pack of teen Indian GMs was perhaps the push he needed.

I have been very impressed by how Vidit has performed recently, said Anand. One area of concern is that he occasionally chokes. On multiple occasions, near a winning position, suddenly a blunder happens. I still think hes mostly on the right path. Surya (Ganguly) is a very good second and it explains Vidits recent agility. Prague should have poured some water on his face. Now he just needs to show up and start playing.

For Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, it can seem like the Candidates may have arrived a bit too soon. Theyre 17 and 18 respectively, which isnt to say they arent monstrously strong players. But the Candidates can be a whole different kettle of fish.

Alireza Firouzjas debut outing in the last edition can work as a cautionary tale. Then 18, the much-hyped French-Iranian GM was overambitious, erratic and put up uncharacteristically bad play. He traded a good nights sleep to play online bullet chess for seven hours the night before one of the later rounds. He eventually finished last.

Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa arent quite known for similar frenzied episodes during tournaments. Praggnanandhaa has an excellent second in former world No.4 Peter Svidler. The Russian GM brings tonnes of experience and the Indian teen has since last year shown that he can hold his own against some of the best names. His openings seem to have improved; his calculation skills are robust and itll be interesting to see how he fares in such a high-stakes tournament.

Gukesh is the second youngest player ever -- after Bobby Fischer -- to feature in a Candidates. He is known to play daring, high-risk chess and the nature of such a style doesnt lend itself to a whole lot of stability. But the payoffs can be great too. Its hard to overlook the kind of momentum and play he had at the Olympiad two years ago, the World Cup last year, or his joint-second finish at Wijk Aan Zee in January.

I think all Gukesh, Pragg and Vaishali should think of is settling in and playing a good tournament. All this will they win, wont they win talk around them is kind of funny from their point of view, said Anand. Good things can happen, but not if you overthink it.

Soon after she won the Womens Grand Swiss last November and qualified for the Women's Candidates, Indias Vaishali Rameshbabu did some search on the net. I looked up the rest of the field and realised that six (out of eight) players played the last Candidates and theres a former world champion too, she laughed. Its quite a tough field.

At 22, Vaishali is a first-timer in the Women's Candidates but shes also perhaps its most interesting name. Winners of the last two editions Lei Tingjie from China and Aleksandra Goryachkina from Russia are the favourites this time but if theres a player who is both dangerous and promising its probably Vaishali. Attacking, adventurous, creative theres rarely a dull moment in Vaishalis play and shes shown in past tournaments that she can beat former womens world champions and 2600 GMs. The training ecosystem of WACA and having a sibling, whos rated 300 Elo above her, for handy counsel have contributed to her rise and strength as a player.

The second Indian Koneru Humpy is the oldest in the women's field at 37. She hasnt played a whole lot of tournaments lately and it's hard to see her among the favourites.

Humpy is in a different stage of her career, said Anand. She plays less for obvious reasons. But she retains this memory of tough competitions and dramatic moments.

Recently she showed that she can lift her game when necessary. Its a healthy sign to do consistently well in the World Rapid. A lot will depend on her motivation. The Candidates is particularly long and classical so whatever she was doing before shell have to do it for a much longer stretch.

Original post:

Candidates chess: All eyes on Indias young stalwarts - Hindustan Times

Praggnanandhaa will be oneof the Indians to watch out for in the 2024 Candidates tournament. PTI

The stage is set for the FIDE 2024 Candidates Chess Tournament that will get underway in Toronto, Canada on 3 April. The tournament will go on till 22 April, with 16 players The top eight in the open and top eight in the womens category vying for the title. The winner of each of the two categories, will get to face the reigning World Champion Chinas Ding Liren in mens and Ju Wenjin in womens.

A total of five Indians R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and D Gukesh in open and R Vaishali and Konery Humpy in womens have qualified for the event from the country after undergoing an exhilarating qualification process where they had to win certain tournaments.

Heres all you need to know about the 2024 Candidates tournament:

Who are the players taking part in 2024 Candidates tournament?

Open

Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE rating 2758): Qualified as runner-up of previous World Championship match

R Praggnanandhaa (FIDE rating 2747): Qualified as runner-up of 2023 Chess World Cup

Fabio Caruana (FIDE rating 2804): Finished in third place at 2023 Chess World Cup

Nijat Abasov (FIDE rating 2632): Qualified after finishing 2023 Chess World Cup in fourth place, after Magnus Carlsen declined to participate

Vidit Gujrathi (FIDE rating 2747): Qualified as winner of 2023 Grand Swiss

Hikaru Nakamura (FIDE rating 2789): Qualified as runner-up of 2023 Grand Swiss

Alireza Firouzja (FIDE rating 2760): Qualified as best as per rating on 1 January, 2024

D Gukesh (FIDE rating 2743: Qualified as winner of the 2023 FIDE Circuit

Women

Lei Tingjie (2550): Qualified as runner-up pf previous World Championship match

Kateryna Lagno (2542): Qualified as winner of 2022-23 Grand Prix

Aleksandra Goryachkina (2553): Qualified as runner-up of 2022-23 Grand Prix

Nurgyul Salimova (2426): Qualified as runner-up of 2023 Womens World Cup

Anna Muzychuk (2520): Qualified after finishing third place at 2023 Womens World Cup

R Vaishali (2481): Qualified as winner of 2023 Womens Grand Swiss

Tan Zhongyi (2521): Qualified as runner-up of 2023 Womens Grand Swiss

Koneru Humpy (2546): Qualified as best as per rating on 1 January, 2024

2024 Candidates tournament format

Both the categories for the 2024 Candidates tournament will have a double round-robin format, which means each player will take on the seven competitors twice, once with white pieces and once with black pieces. A total of 14 rounds will be played with four rest days in between.

Each player will get one point for a win, half a point for a draw and zero points for a loss. The player with the highest number of points at the end of 14 rounds is declared the champion.

As far as time control is concerned, the time control for the first 40 moves in 120 minutes followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game in the open category. For the womens category, its 90 minutes for the first 40 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. There will also be a 30-second increment per move starting from move 41.

Should there be two players who are tied in first place, they will be requited to play two games of rapid round matches. Should there be more than two players who are level at the top, then single round-robin matches will be held. And if any more players are still tied in first place, then they will compete in blitz matches.

Indian players chances

At the moment, its difficult to say where the Indians will end up at the 2024 Candidates tournament. Among the current five players, only Koneru Humpy has played in the Candidates previously, but Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali along with D Gukesh have risen through the ranks on merit and have played several big players before.

Vidit, aged 29, has also showcased brilliance at performing at big tournaments, but in a tournament like Candidates, where you are put through exhausting 14 rounds of chess where you need mental strength and accuracy, there will be a lot of obstacles to be faces and eventually cleared.

India schedule (All matches start at 12 am IST, 2.30 pm Toronto time)

3 April

Opening ceremony

4 April (Round 1)

Alireza Firouzja vs Praggnanandhaa

Gukesh vs Vidit Gujrathi

Vaishali vs Koneru Humpy

5 April (Round 2)

Hikaru Nakamura vs Vidit Gujrathi

Praggnanandhaa vs Gukesh

Kateryna Lagno vs Koneru Humpy

Tan Zhongyi vs Vaishali

6 April (Round 3)

Gukesh vs Ian Nepomniachtchi

Vidit Gujrathi vs Praggnanandhaa

Vaishali vs Nurgyul Salimova

Koneru Humpy vs Tan Zhongyi

7 April (Round 4)

Hikaru Nakamura vs Praggnanandhaa

Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Vidit Gujrathi

Fabiano Caruana vs Gukesh

Nurgyul Salimova vs Koneru Humpy

Aleksandra Goryachkina vs Vaishali

8 April

Rest day

9 April (Round 5)

Gukesh vs Nijat Abasov

Vidit Gujrathi vs Fabiano Caruana

Praggnanandha vs Ian Nepomniachtchi

Vaishal vs Anna Muzychuk

Koneru Humpy vs Aleksandra Goryachkina

10 April (Round 6)

Gukesh vs Hikaru Nakamura

Vidit Gujrathi vs Alireza Firouzja

Praggnanandhaa vs Nijat Abasov

Vaishali vs Kateryna Lagno

Koneru Humpy vs Lei Tingjie

11 April (Round 7)

Fabiano Caruana vs Praggnanandhaa

Nijat Abasov vs Vidit Gujrathi

Alireza Firouzja vs Gukesh

Anna Muzychuk vs Koneru Humpy

Lei Tingjie vs Vaishali

12 April

Rest day

13 April (Round 8)

Praggnanandhaa vs Alireza Firouzja

Vidit Gujrathi vs Gukesh

Koneru Humpy vs Vaishali

14 April (Round 9)

Vidit Gujrati vs Hikaru Nakamura

Gukesh vs Praggnanandhaa

Koneru Humpy vs Kateryna Lagno

Vaishali vs Tan Zhongyi

15 April (Round 10)

Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Gukesh

Praggnanandhaa vs Vidit Gujrathi

Nurgyul Salimova vs Vaishali

Tan Zhongyi vs Koneru Humpy

16 April

Rest day

17 April (Round 11)

Praggnanandhaa vs Hikaru Nakamura

Vidit Gujrathi vs Ian Nepomniachtchi

Gukesh vsFabiano Caruana

Koneru Humpy vs Nurgyul Salimova

Vaishali vs Aleksandra Goryachkina

18 April (Round 12)

Nijat Abasov vs Gukesh

See the rest here:

Candidates Chess 2024: Indian players, schedule, match timings, live streaming and more - Firstpost

The entire cryptocurrency industry lost more than $200 billion from April 1st to 2nd, recording an 8.7% decline in the total market cap of the cryptocurrency space. This led to a significant liquidation of over $770 million.

On March 31st, Bitcoin rallied up to $71,300 before going into a 2.3% drop on the next day, which was then followed by an additional 6% price decrease on April 2nd, as indicated by data from TradingView. The rest of the cryptocurrencies also followed Bitcoin, with major altcoins like ETH and SOL losing 10% and 10.28% in price, respectively.

The sudden price drop has brought BTC down to $66,000. Which led to a major liquidation event, standing at more than $770 million, according to data on Coinglass. Liquidations in Bitcoin alone add up to $216 million, while Ethereum liquidations stand at $165 million.

Binance the worlds leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume recorded the largest amount of liquidation, i.e., $341 million in 48 hours. Similarly, OKX saw the second-largest liquidation, at $284 million.

The liquidations were dominated by long positions, amounting to more than $610 million, indicating an optimistic tendency that proved lethal for hundreds and thousands of traders. Short positions contributed to about $158 million. Due to these dramatic liquidations, perpetual funding rates dropped significantly, readjusting BTC spot prices from $60,000 to $72,000.

Apart from the price dips in the major altcoin, meme coins, which had been a driving factor of the crypto market for the past few weeks, also experienced big corrections in price. For instance, Dogecoin the largest meme coin by market cap had risen more than 170% since the end of February to reach the price level of 22 cents before crashing down to $0.178. Similarly, dogwifhat the most popular meme coin on the Solana blockchain underwent a gigantic rally of almost 1400% before it dropped to the $3.9 level at the time of writing this article.

The recent price drops and liquidations seem like a sizable setback in the current context. And this pullback could very likely be beneficial in the coming months. BTC & ETH margined contracts already into the negatives. All leverage must be destroyed before price discovery, said Jelle, a popular crypto analyst on X.

With Bitcoin at $71,000 and the total market cap of the crypto space having grown from $1.6 trillion to a whopping $2.7 trillion since the start of this year, prices throughout the market were over-extended. The market needed to come down and test the local support level. Before going further up to reach new all-time highs after the Bitcoin halving.

Currently, the BTC price sits at $66,000. While the RSI (Relative Strength Index) has come down to a neutral level of 50. On top of that, Bollinger Bands are also constricting. Which previously happened at the $42,500 level right before BTC underwent a 70% surge in price.

The overall market sentiment, along with all these technical indicators, continues to remain bullish in the long term. Experts suggest that despite the recent corrections and liquidation events, crypto investors need to HODL. Hold onto their investments and stay optimistic.

Read the original here:

Bitcoin and Crypto Prices Drop: Analyzing the $750 Million Liquidation - Coinfomania

Meet the 17 investors and entrepreneurs who made ten-digit fortunes on the blockchain. By John Hyatt, Forbes Staff

The crypto winter is over. Bitcoin has more than doubled over the past 12 months, hitting an all-time high of $73,000 in March after the U.S. legalized bitcoin-pegged exchange-traded funds. The total value of all outstanding cryptocurrencies increased by 170%, adding some $1.6 trillion in market value over the past 12 months, according to CoinGecko.

Thats helped make at least 17 people crypto billionaires, according to Forbes 2024 Worlds Billionaires list, up from nine crypto billionaires last year. These 17 investors and entrepreneurs are worth a collective $93 billion, between their estimated crypto asset holdings, publicly disclosed stock holdings and private assets. Thats more than double the $37 billion in collective crypto billionaire wealth last year.

For the third year running, Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Binance, is cryptos wealthiest person. Despite pleading guilty to U.S. money laundering charges in November, CZ, as hes known, is now worth an estimated $33 billion, up from $10.5 billion last year. That makes him the biggest crypto gainer in dollar terms since last year and the 50th-wealthiest person in the world. The bulk of his fortune comes from his majority stake in Binance, which remains the industrys largest global trading venue by volume.

Two of this years biggest gainers can thank investors in their publicly traded companies. Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, a software firm that has made heavy investments in bitcoin, is now worth an estimated $4.4 billion, compared to $760 million last year. Brian Armstrong, CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, is worth an estimated $11.2 billion, up from just $2.2 billion last year. Shares of Coinbase and MicroStrategy are each up more than fourfold over the past 12 months.

Making their debut on Forbes annual billionaires ranking are Giancarlo Devasini, Paolo Ardoino, Jean-Louis van der Velde and Stuart Hoegner, four large shareholders of Tether, a controversial but wildly profitable stablecoin issuer. Cryptos three-comma club also includes familiar faces like the Winklevoss twins (of Facebook fame), venture capitalist and Nikki Haley booster Tim Draper, and Ripple cofounder and budding space entrepreneur Jed McCaleb.

The two Stanford alumni cofounded Alchemy, a Web3 infrastructure provider whose developer suite powers crypto and blockchain projects, in 2020. Investors valued Alchemy at more than $10 billion in early 2022. Today the company is worth about $5.6 billion, based on secondary sales of private shares tracked by data provider Notice.co.

Draper is a venture capitalist and early Bitcoin investor. In 2014, he bought 29,656 bitcoins confiscated by U.S. Marshals from the shuttered Silk Road black market for $18.7 million, or $632 per coin. They are now worth $2 billion. He has also made dozens of VC investments in companies ranging from Tesla to Theranos.

Stuart Hoegner has served as general counsel for Tether and its sister company Bitfinex since 2014, and he holds an estimated 13% stake. A Canadian certified accountant, Hoegner began his career at Ernst & Young before starting Gaming Counsel Professional Corporation, a boutique law practice that catered to online gambling and cryptocurrency clients. He was also previously a director of compliance and deputy general counsel at Excapsa Software, an online poker company that became embroiled in a software-facilitated cheating scandal.

Tether has been accused of facilitating money laundering for terrorist groups and criminal organizations, including human trafficking rings that run Pig Butchering crypto scams. (Tether says it follows stringent Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering protocols and remains committed to expeditiously working with law enforcement to identify criminal activity.) In 2021, Tether and its sister company Bitfinex paid $18.5 million to settle fraud charges with the New York Attorney Generals office, which alleged Tether had overstated its cash reserves.

An early bitcoin investor, Novogratz heads crypto investment firm and merchant bank Galaxy Digital Holdings, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has about $6 billion in assets under management. His stake in the company is worth about $2 billion. Prior to his career in crypto, Novogratz worked on Wall Street. He spent a decade at Goldman Sachs and then led a macro-focused fund for private equity firm Fortress Investment Group, later becoming the firms president.

The Winklevoss twins, notorious for their dispute with Mark Zuckerberg over Facebooks founding (as depicted in the 2010 movie The Social Network), have most of their wealth tied up in bitcoin, which they first bought in 2013, and are believed to have large stashes of ethereum and Filecoin as well. The Winklevii also control 75% of Gemini, the crypto exchange they founded together, which aims to compete with the likes of Coinbase and Binance. Outside investors last valued Gemini at over $7 billion in 2021, but Forbes now estimates that Gemini is worth less than $1 billion because its trading volumes have plummeted amid investor and government lawsuits stemming from the 2022 collapse of its interest-bearing program, Gemini Earn.

Another early crypto pioneer, McCaleb created Mt. Gox, the first major bitcoin exchange, in 2010. He sold it a year later, before it was infamously hacked. Next, McCaleb cofounded Ripple in 2012, but soon left over disagreements with fellow founders. Most of his wealth comes from selling much of the original 9 billion XRP he pocketed as a Ripple cofounder. He sold the last of his coins in 2022. (McCaleb also founded Stellar, a Ripple competitor, in 2014.) These days, he spends his time and financial resources on Vast, a space exploration company that hes backing.

An early investor in bitcoin, Roszak made his first purchases in 2010. Most of his wealth comes from early bets on cryptocurrencies, including ethereum and BNB, Binances native token. Roszak also runs Bloq, a blockchain startup that invests in other crypto ventures and consults on projects.

Ehrsam founded cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in 2012 with Brian Armstrong. He left the company in 2017 but remains on the board and still owns about 5% of its stock. In 2018, he cofounded Paradigm, a cryptocurrency investment firm, which now has more than $8 billion in assets under management.

Coinbase generated $2.9 billion of revenue last year, down from $3.1 billion in 2022 and $7.8 billion in 2021, the last time crypto prices spiked. But the company has returned to profitability, generating net income of $100 million, compared to a $2.6 billion net loss in 2022.

Larsen cofounded Ripple in 2012 to facilitate international payments using the XRP cryptocurrency. He stepped down as Ripple CEO in late 2016 but remains executive chairman. He holds an 18% stake in Ripple, which investors value at $3.8 billion, according to recent secondary market data shared with Forbes. He also has a sizable stash of XRPover 2.8 billion tokensand nearly $1 billion of cash and investments, per Forbes estimates, largely from prior XRP sales.

As Tethers former CEO, van der Velde operates as a figurehead responsible for maintaining Tethers high-level strategic relationships with banks and regulators, and owns an estimated 20% of the company. He left the Netherlands in 1985 to attend university in Taiwan, and subsequently cofounded several IT and tech startups in Asia before joining Tether. He lives in Hong Kong.

Ardoino serves as Tethers CEO, its public face and owns an estimated 20% of the company. He joined Tethers sister company, Bitfinex, as a senior software developer in 2014. Ardoino previously worked in startups as a computer programmer.

Saylor is the biggest crypto billionaire gainer, in percentage terms, on this years list. Shares of MicroStrategy, the software firm Saylor started in the 1990s and refashioned into a bitcoin investment vehicle in recent years, are up nearly 500% from last year. The company now owns about 193,000 bitcoins, making it the largest corporate holder of bitcoin in the world, according to its CFO.

Then theres Saylors personal bitcoin stashSaylor said in 2021 he holds 17,732 bitcoins that he bought at an average price of $9,882 per coinand he is in the process of cashing out about $200 million of MicroStrategy stock, which he announced at the beginning of the year.

Devasini is the CFO and likely the largest individual shareholder of Tether, cryptos largest issuer of stablecoinsa form of cryptocurrency that is pegged to the U.S. dollar or other hard currency and used as a medium of exchange. Over 100 billion Tether tokens have been minted. Buoyed by higher interest rates, Tether generated $6.2 billion in profit last year from the interest it generates on customers collateral. Devasini owns an estimated 47% stake in Tether, which Forbes values by applying the average price-to-earnings multiples of a group of publicly traded mid-tier banks and asset managers.

Armstrong, who cofounded Coinbase in 2013 with Fred Ehrsam, is the companys largest individual shareholder, with an 18% stake. The crypto exchanges stock is up 50% year-to-date, and over three-fold since last year, giving it a market capitalization of nearly $60 billion. Since November, Armstrong has sold more than $170 million worth of Coinbase stock through an automated 10b5-1 trading plan.

Zhao, who goes by CZ, agreed to personally pay $200 million in fines last year to settle federal money laundering charges brought by the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. (Binance agreed to pay an additional $4.5 billion.) He also agreed to step down as CEO of crypto exchange Binance and is barred from involvement with Binance for three years as part of his guilty plea. (Zhaos sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 30). Yet it hardly left a dent in his fortune. His stake in Binanceestimated to be 90%, based on corporate documents and conversations with former employeesis worth some $32.5 billion.

Binance remains the largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume, generating an estimated $9 billion of revenue last year, according to Forbes analysis. To estimate Binances market value, Forbes applied the price-to-sales multiple of Coinbase, a publicly traded peer, then applied further discounts to account for Binances concentrated ownership, the possibility of further regulatory enforcement and key-man risks following CZs departure.

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The Richest Crypto And Bitcoin Billionaires In The World 2024 - Forbes

If it werent for potatoes, wed be hungrier people. While delicious in any form, fries hold a special place in our hearts; theyre carb-y, salty, deep-fried, and have saved us from having to settle for salads at many fast-food restaurants. But, sadly, not all fries are vegan. Were here to tell you which ones are.

Jump to the chains

All fries should be vegan, right? After all, theyre just fried, salted potatoes. While many fries are free from animal ingredients, sometimes they contain dairy or may be fried in lard.

Jay Gajjar

In most cases, the fries you order from a fast-food restaurant are cooked in the same oil thats used to fry meat and other animal products. Some vegans avoid ordering food that may be cross-contaminated, but others are okay with this as long as the fries themselves dont contain meat or dairy ingredients. Its a choice thats ultimately up to the individual.

While most fries are vegan, there are a few that actually contain animal ingredients:

McDonalds: These fries are cooked in oil with natural beef flavoring, which doesnt contain any actual meat, but it does contain dairy.

Checkers: Their fries are coated in milk powder and fried in animal lard, so theyre unambiguously not vegan.

Popeyes: Just like the majority of Popeyes menu, the fries are not vegan. In this case, theyre fried in beef tallow.

This isnt a definitive list of which fries contain animal products. Ask your server about the ingredients if youre visiting a smaller chain or a local fast-food establishment.

We dug through the top fast-food chains in the US to uncover which ones have vegan fries. In no particular order, here are 13 fast-food fries that are free from animal-derived ingredients.

Burger King

Unlike its competitor McDonalds, Burger King has vegan fries.

Served piping hot and salted, you wont have to eat them alone since the Impossible Whopper has been on Burger Kings menu since the summer of 2019.

Apart from a burger and fries, youll find a few other vegan options at Burger King that will ensure you dont have to endure hunger pangs.

KFC

It may be known for fried chicken, but KFC gets credit for putting vegan fries on the menu.

The Secret Recipe Fries are seasoned with a secret blend of herbs and spices, according to the website. But what that really means is that theyre tossed with onion, carrot, tomato powder, and a little bit of MSG. Beyond fries, the chains vegan options are rather sparse. Unless youre in a pinch, go elsewhere for sustenance; but if youre looking for a quick bite in between meals, check out our vegan guide to KFC for the low down on vegan-friendly options.

In the meantime, well also be waiting for Beyond Fried Chicken to return in some way, shape, or form.

Wendys

We may not know if Wendys black bean burger will ever make its debut, but we do know one thing: the fries are vegan.

Wendys fries differ from other fast-food fries in that they leave the skin on. Were about it.

There are a few other plant-based options on Wendys menu that can help you round out your meal. If you need more to your meal, you could get a baked potato and have a starch-filled meal of both fried and baked spuds. And there may not be a veggie burger, but the Premium Bun is vegan.

Taco Bell

Yes, Taco Bell has fries! The Nacho Fries are known to come and go, so give them a try the next time you spot them on the menu. Traditionally, vegans have had to omit the dairy cheese to make this menu item plant-based, but in October 2023, the chain launched Vegan Nacho Friescomplete with dairy-free quesonationwide. For even more oomph, gussy up your fries with pico de gallo and guacamole.

At the time of writing, Taco Bell has since removed the Vegan Nacho Fries and dairy Nacho Fries from its menu, but be sure to keep an eye out for their return. The chain has yet to confirm if the dairy-free queso will make a comeback, but were keeping our fingers crossed. In the meantime, learn how to order vegan at Taco Bell with our trusty guide.

Five Guys

At Five Guys, there are two types of vegan fries to choose from. Theres the regular option, which is deep-fried in peanut oil before being salted. Then, there are the Cajun-style fries which are also fried in oil and then seasoned with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, paprika, oregano, white pepper, and red pepper powder. As for other vegan options, Five Guys is one of those fast-food chains where youll have to make do with just fries.

In-N-Out Burger

Although its only located in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho and Texas, In-N-Out Burger has earned a name for itself in the fast-food world. If you ever find yourself near one, unfortunately, you wont be able to get a burger, but the fries are vegan since theyre only fried in sunflower oil.

Arbys

This meat-centric establishment has a surprising number of vegan options, including fries! Both the crinkle-cut fries and the curly friesa rare white whale on fast-food menusare free from animal-based ingredients. Plus, depending on your location, you might find a third, regional option: the thick-cut homestyle fries.

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The regular fries at Sonic are vegan and primed for dipping into ketchup. But if youre seeking potatoes in another form, then youll be glad to know that the tater tots are also made with just plant-based ingredients.

Dairy Queen

No animal fat hereDairy Queens fries and hash browns are both vegan. You wont find many other animal-free options here, but surprisingly, Dairy Queen has a non-dairy version of its Dilly Bar, so you can indulge in a salty-and-sweet combination of French fries and ice cream.

Jack in the Box

Get ready, because Jack in the Box has a whopping three fries to choose from. The French fries, seasoned curly fries, and the potato wedges dont contain beef tallow or any other kind of animal-based ingredients, for that matter. Plus, the hash browns are vegan, too.

Whataburger

Fries are one of the few things on the Whataburger menu that are actually vegan. You can pair your spuds with a cheese-less garden salad and some apple slices, but not much else.

Hardees

Carls Jr. and Hardees both share incredibly similar menusboth chains happened to be owned by the same parent company, which has chosen to market them in practically the same way. Both have natural-cut fries but while Carls Jr. has waffle fries, Hardees has curly fries. All of them are vegan, but unfortunately, only Carls Jr. sells the Beyond Burger to help round out your meal.

Its not always fun eating just fries, but we appreciate how fries have been there to satiate our hunger in desperate times.

Shake Shack

In 2023, Shake Shacks menu additions made the fast-casual chain slightly more vegan friendly. The company unveiled two dairy-free dessert options (a rarity among mainstream chains): a non-dairy chocolate shake and non-dairy chocolate custard, both made in collaboration with NotCo, a Chilean food-tech company. For a sweet-and-salty combo, opt for the plain crinkle cut frieswhich are vegan as isand a non-dairy shake. If youre looking for a little more sustenance, with a few modifications, Shake Shacks vegetarian burgers can be ordered vegan. For more on how to order vegan, check our guide to Shake Shack here.

Kat Smith is a Queens, NY-based freelance writer and editor who loves cooking and discovering local vegan hidden gems.

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13 Fast-Food Chains With Vegan French Fries: Quick, Cheap, and Plant-Based - VegNews

Andrew Haighs All of Us Strangers, which is still playing in some theatres, impressed upon me a lesson that I have learned with a lot of heartache over the last couple of years: Love is, in its simplest form, the ability to see and, in turn, be seen. Andrew Scott plays Adam, a lonely screenwriter in London, with a traumatic past. In the first few minutes themselves, the dimly-lit frames and scenes carefully induce a tangible feeling of heaviness.

Adam is visibly alone in his life. Time passes outside his window as the lights shift on the horizon, but in his apartment, time exists in a vacuum takeout food sits morosely in tin foils in the refrigerator, he sleeps on his couch, with no one to cover him with a blanket. Suddenly, his doorbell rings and the nauseating ghetto of loneliness is punctured He opens the door of his apartment to Paul Mescals Harry in a baby pink jumper, drunk and desperate, appealing to Andrew Scotts Adam to let him in both into his apartment and, by extension, his life.

Love, the movie suggests, is also the simple but infinitely brave act of keeping the door open long enough for someone to come in, and build a home with us. But Adam closes the door on an unnervingly starved and alone Harry, perhaps to protect himself from his clearly sexual advances, or simply because he is imprisoned by his loneliness so much that the choice to open the door is not even real to him he must keep the literal door closed too, as a comorbid condition of that loneliness.

Queer loneliness

After decades of struggles, protests and brutalisation, LGBTQ+ issues have become relatively more public and accessible. But we are far from addressing, let alone understanding how queerness is married to loneliness. The film makes sure that despite the bustling crowds around Adam whether he is on a train or in a club he is almost always alone.

Adam lives in this menacing high-rise, which is also depicted on the posters, but each window represents loneliness, more than other lives, because for all its splendour, modernity is after all a poor excuse for crippling communal estrangement and mutual disconnection from each other. In one of the most poignant scenes in the movie, Harry tells Adam: I always felt like a stranger in my own family anyway. Coming out just puts a name to the difference that had always been there.

The title of Andrew Haighs ghost romance suggests that all of us remain strangers to each other, because somehow the act of knowing the other even within our families comes at the discomfort of effort. To open our world to the possibility that the others own world too exists. Attitude magazine described the movie as a tender examination of love in the shadow of shame. Which perhaps also comes close to describing the radical costs of love: at so many levels, it requires us to wade through the complicated shame of vulnerability which is so tangibly demanding a feeling, perhaps especially for the LGBTQ community.

Everyone wants to be seen, to be found, but for queer people, the experience is often so postponed that they close themselves off from the possibility itself. Or worse, fear being vulnerable, lest they expose themselves to the defeat of rejection or abandonment a feeling they are already made to feel from a young age. Families often abandon them or stop talking to them out of anger, friends more often than not drift apart, relationships are somehow so much more challenging

Coming out the constant confessional nature of it notwithstanding is one of the most difficult things to do when queer individuals know how keeping the silence and repressing their truth buys them peace at home. In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the movie, Adam comes out to his father, and tells him how he was bullied in school: Theyd call me a girl. Refuse to play with me. Flick drawing pins at my face and flush my head down the loo. But Adam never told any of this at home as a child. As so many queer children dont. To avoid their parents the disappointment, perhaps, and so many times to avoid confronting the pain themselves. Silence and loneliness reinforce each other.

To love, to be loved

Adam (as so many of us will identify with) describes his helpless loneliness as a knot in his heart. It is falling in love with Harry, finally, which not only reveals the knot and its smothering force, but also permits Adam the tools to unravel this knot. Often queer individuals develop a structure/ghetto of loneliness around themselves as a survival mechanism. Growing into ones queerness, then, is so frequently (and sometimes tiringly) about unmaking and unlearning these survivalist behaviours.

There are so few happy queer stories, as Andrew Sean Greer has often talked about. And while Haighs movie is incredibly heavy with emotions, theres something so reassuring, uplifting about it too. In the simplest way, it is a testament to the triumphant quality of love, which even through the worst times or perhaps especially through the worst times can protect us so often from ourselves.

With an almost shocking ability to anticipate the next feeling, and present it with stunning accuracy, Haighs screenplay (available to read online) registers moments of tenderness and grief, and the heartbreaking process of healing old wounds with a double-layered plot. While Adam and Harrys relationship builds, Adam also finds his own past clouding over the tender bliss of new-found love. Adam tells Harry at one point how all the scabs that seem to have healed, really dont. It doesnt take much to be back there again, does it? Skin all fucking raw, feeling how you used to feel.

Haighs screenplay, inspired by Taichi Yamadas ghost novel Strangers, rallies for a simple message: While love begins with a sort of suspension of logic, it is indeed the most revolutionary and violent act of self-awareness. It makes us weak as it breaks all of our walls, and reveals to us the embarrassingly vulnerable and fragile children we are at heart. But isnt that itself paradoxically one of the most powerful things that can happen to us? Exposing to us the awful realisation that in the pursuit of self-preservation, we complied with the conditions of a cruel world, and forgot that that child exists within us who just wants to be loved, and to love.

The language of tenderness

One of my favourite scenes from the movie is when Adam and Harry talk about their respective childhoods after making love passionately, but its not the sex that builds intimacy as Haighs note in the screenplay directs: More than sex, its a mutual understanding of something shared that brings deepening intimacy. Harry leans in and kisses him.

While loneliness is one of the most challenging conditions of queerness, it seems that its consequences are far worse when we forget to care about ourselves. So often, whether its after enduring the grand heartbreaks of a breakup or everyday anguishes of living, we give up on ourselves, because its the easiest thing to do. And so often we also convince ourselves that we deserve our loneliness, too.

Haighs project with this movie seems to be to remind all of us strangers that we are capable of love, and being loved. That we too can find (or stumble upon) care and safety, even in this not-very-promising swipe-right world of modern relationships because these are the basic necessities of living and enduring, and indeed what else can we put all our hopes on, if not love?

Every response to the movie that I have read online has been deeply moving too, with so many people writing about how Adams story reflected theirs. How the loneliness of the movie became theirs. How the promise and incredible power of love is something they crave too. One review just said that they felt held by the movie. The language of touch is one of our most profound achievements, I would argue, because in so many ways its also something that makes us real to each other. All of Us Strangers triumphs in this understanding, too.

Much like Haighs phenomenal series released a decade ago, Looking which masterfully explores the parabolas of queer desire, with their crests and valleys All of Us Strangers presents passion with a careful intensity, fletched with mutual care and love. Intimacy that is more than physical, always. And so a movie about a London-based screenwriter finds resonance across borders because we all experience loneliness in similar ways, and we all know that to be cared for, and to care for someone is what can save us, change us, and keep us going in a burning world. Tennessee Williams wrote that we have not long to love: a night, a day and that we live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.

All of Us Strangers is the promise of a haunting forever, especially when we are all yearning for a forever that never seems to exist or is not enough. It is, in the most gut-wrenching, but also reassuring way, a guide, not a warning. That love is, in its most profound state, an awful feeling that pushes us to madness. But its all we have, and thats always enough.

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All of Us Are Strangers: How love is the most revolutionary act of self-awareness - The Federal

The US SEC has delayed the approval process for several highly anticipated Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), recent regulatory filings show.

The delays affect proposals from investment firms, including VanEck, Ark Invest, Hashdex, and Grayscale which has added a staking component to its ETH ETF application along with Fidelity sparking discussions about the future of crypto ETFs in the US.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, who has been closely monitoring the developments, expressed a shift from his previously cautiously optimistic outlook regarding the approval of Ethereum ETFs.

He noted that the SECs lack of engagement on Ethereum-specific issues contrasts sharply with their approach to Bitcoin ETFs in the previous fall, dampening hopes for a positive outcome by the crucial May 23 deadline.

Similarly, Eric Balchunas recently pointed out that the absence of bullish signs and sources that were present before the Bitcoin ETF approvals significantly reduces the chances of a favorable decision for Ethereum ETFs, estimating the odds at 35%.

The conversation extended beyond the ETF delays, touching upon the broader regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies. Some suggested the SEC might insist on a court order before approving Ethereum ETFs, citing potential differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin in terms of their designation.

However, Seyffart disagreed with the notion that Ethereum could be classified as a security, a designation that could fundamentally impact its regulatory treatment.

The discussion also ventured into the realm of potential outcomes and strategies. Seyffart speculated about the future of Grayscales Ethereum futures product and its implications for potential legal challenges against the SECs decisions.

Meanwhile, both Fidelity and Grayscale have added amendments to their Ethereum ETF applications to include a staking component.

Staking, a fundamental aspect of Ethereums proof-of-stake (PoS) model, involves the locking up of digital assets to support the networks security and functionality, offering participants rewards in the form of additional crypto.

Grayscales proposal, like Fidelitys, allows the ETF to allocate part of its holdings to staking through selected providers, potentially including affiliates. The move is designed to explore the income generation possibilities within a regulated financial framework, with the ETF expected to receive ether tokens as network rewards, which could be considered income for the fund.

However, this addition arrives amid increased scrutiny from US lawmakers, who have recently urged the SEC to halt the approval of new crypto-related ETFs due to concerns over investor risks.

As the May 23 deadline approaches, the crypto community remains on edge, awaiting further developments.

At the time of press 2:25 am UTC on Mar. 20, 2024, Ethereum is ranked #2 by market cap and the price is down 6.6% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum has a market capitalization of $384.94 billion with a 24-hour trading volume of $33.96 billion. Learn more about Ethereum

At the time of press 2:25 am UTC on Mar. 20, 2024, the total crypto market is valued at at $2.36 trillion with a 24-hour volume of $184.43 billion. Bitcoin dominance is currently at 52.29%. Learn more about the crypto market

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SEC delays lower expectations of Ethereum ETF approval by May despite staking additions - CryptoSlate

As crypto prices have risen, much more pressure has been placed on the FTX bankruptcy process.

The core tension is whether customers are paid out in the crypto they supposedly had at the exchange or in an equivalent dollar value. So far, FTXs bankruptcy lawyers have steamrolled ahead with dollarized claims. Yet with bitcoin breaking new highs, ether retesting old ones and solana rallying hard, customers are unsurprisingly asking the question: Why shouldnt they be paid out in crypto?

Its certainly been done in other bankruptcy proceedings. While Mt Goxs process has taken a decade, the plan is to repay creditors in a combination of bitcoin and fiat currency. More recently, BlockFi has repaid creditors in crypto and Celsius is set to follow. While the FTX estate might argue that it only had a fraction of some cryptocurrencies, it certainly has plenty of others.

This would also have a big impact on claims. For instance, someone holding bitcoin would see the dollar value of their claim increase from $16,871 to around $66,000 today. Now, they likely wouldnt get all of that value, but they could get a greater amount. Instead, that value trickles down to other claimants, such as shareholders and government entities.

Some creditors are pushing heavily for claims to be in-kind. Law firm Moskowitz and Boies, which represents creditors in a class action lawsuit against the estates bankruptcy lawyers, filed an objection to estimate the claims when the exchange went bankrupt. This motion was backed by FTX creditor activist Sunil Kavuri, who runs an FTX customer ad-hoc committee voting block of over 1,300 creditors with over $680 million of claims.

While its late in the process, it seems like the sands might be starting to shift.

In a draft filing on Thursday, debtors proposed a structure for handing out the assets that would prioritize customers over governmental entities. For the first time, this raised the notion that some creditors might get further assets based on the value of their crypto at a later date.

After FTX customers and Alameda lenders are made whole based on the dollarized value of their claims, potentially with interest, and expenses and IRS payments are made any remaining funds would go to a Civil Remission Fund. This fund would then pay customers and Alameda lenders who have seen the value of their cryptocurrencies increase between the time FTX went bankrupt and when the Chapter 11 Disclosure Statement is approved by the Bankruptcy Court (estimated for later this year). But this could mean a bit of extra value going to customers.

Now the question is whether any money would be left over. Thats hard to estimate. But one creditor advocate has run the numbers and reckons FTX is looking at a $4.5 billion surplus at current prices over dollarized claims. These are funds that could have been handed out if payment was made in-kind but will trickle down to shareholders and other entities instead because the claims are dollarized. However, if there are any funds left at the bottom of this waterfall structure, then these may actually be returned to customers.

This surplus appears to be part of the reason the plan for FTX 2.0 was scrapped. With creditors seemingly made whole, theres less incentive for the estate to take on the additional risk of restarting the exchangeand thats not for a lack of buyers.

A look at a selection of stories that caught my attention this week.

One of my most peculiar experiences this week was getting a tip that an unnoticed GitHub comment revealed that the Ethereum Foundation had received a confidential voluntary request from a state authority. The comment was made in order to remove the Warrant Canary from its website, which was a symbol that the foundation hadnt received such a request.

Shortly after, Fortune revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued subpoenas to firms that dealt with the Ethereum Foundation, citing people familiar with the matter. This further dampened hopes that the SEC will approve a spot Ethereum ETF any time soon. Although, some say thats a good thing.

Usually, when theres the notion of doubling your money in crypto, its a scam, but this time it was a bug. Just a few hours after I was put in touch with the Super Sushi Samurai team and had actually just tried out its idle Telegram game high volumes of its token were minted and sold on decentralized exchanges, draining funds from liquidity providers. This was possible because the token had a bug where if you sent your entire balance back to your own wallet it doubled the funds.

However, the funds may not entirely be lost. The person who drained the funds sent a message saying that it was a whitehat rescue hack. They provided details for contacting them and said that users should get reimbursed. The project has since reached out.

In the House, the stablecoin bill led by House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry has encountered challenges, Sarah Wynn writes, making the likelihood of the bill passing the full House uncertain. Cody Carbone of the Chamber of Digital Commerce suggests the chances of it passing could be as high as 50% in the House but only 5% of it becoming law overall due to the dynamics at play.

In the Senate, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis are working on their own stablecoin bill. While there's bipartisan support and willingness to move forward, uncertainties around details and strategy persist, causing frustration among stakeholders.

Overall, the timeline for passing stablecoin legislation remains uncertain, with stakeholders hoping for progress before the election cycle intensifies. The focus may shift to positioning legislative efforts for the next Congress if significant progress isn't achieved by the end of the year.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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The Pulse: FTX recovery may include recent prices; Ethereums missing canary - The Block

After leaving financial and crypto market watchers reading tea leaves to divine its next big move, investment titan BlackRock spilled the tea late Wednesday on its tokenized asset fund. Dubbed BUIDL, it will be built on the Ethereum network and is the company's first tokenized fund issued on a public blockchain.

The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund was first registered in the British Virgin Islands last year.

BUIDL will offer investors important benefits by enabling the issuance and trading of ownership on a blockchain, expanding investor access to on-chain offerings, providing instantaneous and transparent settlement, and allowing for transfers across platforms, BlackRock said in its announcement.

The funds initial investment minimum is $5 million, BlackRock said. That's a significantly higher bar than what was specified in its SEC filing, published yesterday. The Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities did not specify the fund size but said the minimum investment accepted from any outside investor would be $100,000. Investor application values ranged from $1 to $100 million.

In order to bridge between Ethereum and traditional markets, BlackRock is enlisting Bank of New York Mellon, a global provider of investment management and investment services. BNYMellon will serve as the custodian of the Funds assets and its administrator

BlackRock is also tapping Securitize Markets, LLC, an SEC registered transfer agent.

Tokenization of securities could fundamentally transform capital markets, Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo said in the announcement. Todays news demonstrates that traditional financial products are being made more accessible through digitization.

As part of the deal, BlackRock made a strategic investment in Securitize, and BlackRock global head of strategic ecosystem partnerships Joseph Chalom has been appointed to the Securitize board of directors.

After the explosive success of spot Bitcoin ETFs, approved by the SEC in January, crypto market watchers were eagerly anticipating the approval a similar investment vehicle for Ethereum. Such a development, analysts say, could push the price of ETH to $14,000. It's trading for $3,519 as of this writing.

Not everyone is as bullish. Analyst Eric Balchunas said that Ethereum spot ETF would be small potatoes next to their Bitcoin-based counterparts. Even so, BlackRock CEOLarry Fink may have telegraphed the plan for BUIDL when asked about a spot Ethereum ETF in January.

I see value in having an Ethereum ETF, Fink told CNBC at the time. As I said, these are just stepping stones towards tokenization.

The prospects of a spot Ethereum ETF have been less clear, however. The SEC has pushed back its decision on applications to offer such an ETF from BlackRock and Grayscale. And while there is a hard deadline coming in May, some experts say approval may not comeand that a delay is probably for the best.

BlackRock's spot Ethereum filing prompted a surge in the price of ETH in November.

This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.

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BlackRock Unveils BUIDL Tokenized Asset Fund on EthereumWith $5 Million Buy-In - Decrypt