The founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, filed an appeal challenging his conviction on federal fraud and conspiracy charges, as well as his 25-year prison sentence.

Venture capital funding in the cryptocurrency sector, though rising in 2024, remains sluggish compared to previous years, posing a potential hurdle to a sustained market recovery, according to analysts at JPMorgan.

The issuer of popular stablecoin USDC, Circle, has announced a new integration with BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), allowing BUIDL investors to seamlessly convert their fund shares into USDC through a smart contract.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Against 25-Year Sentence
• Sustained Crypto Market Recovery Hinges on VC Funding Revival: JPMorgan
• BlackRock’s First Tokenized Fund Gets ‘Near-Instant’ USDC Redemptions
• Crypto Market Movers – TON, WIF, BCH

Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Against 25-Year Sentence

The founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, filed an appeal challenging his conviction on federal fraud and conspiracy charges, as well as his 25-year prison sentence.

Last month, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan sentenced Bankman-Fried, 32, and ordered him to pay $11 billion in forfeiture for his role in what prosecutors described as one of the largest financial frauds in history.

The appeal will be heard by a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

Federal criminal defendants have a low success rate in appeals, with reversals occurring in less than 10% of cases. If Bankman-Fried is unsuccessful in the 2nd Circuit, he would then have to petition the U.S. Supreme Court, but that path is considered even more challenging.

Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November of misappropriating billions of dollars in FTX customer funds. Prosecutors alleged that he used the money for investments, political donations, personal expenses, and to repay loans taken out by a hedge fund he controlled, Alameda Research.

Bankman-Fried’s charges carried a maximum penalty of 110 years, while his lawyers asked for a sentence of six and a half years. In court, he did not visibly react when handed down the sentence.

Four other former executives at FTX and Alameda have pleaded guilty to related charges. Their sentencing hearings are ongoing.

Sustained Crypto Market Recovery Hinges on VC Funding Revival: JPMorgan

Venture capital funding in the cryptocurrency sector, though rising in 2024, remains sluggish compared to previous years, posing a potential hurdle to a sustained market recovery, according to analysts at JPMorgan.

JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a report that indicators for cryptocurrency venture capital flows “look rather subdued” year-to-date relative to previous years, and added they’ve argued that a recovery in these is a “necessary condition for a sustained recovery in crypto markets.”

The rebounding cryptocurrency market has, however, seemingly spurred renewed activity among venture capital. This month alone saw 1kx raise $75 million to back early-stage crypto startups, while Paradigm reportedly seeks to raise between $750 million and $850 million for a new fund.

Additionally, Galaxy Digital, Hack VC, and Hivemind Capital are reportedly raising $100 million each for their respective funds, with Alliance, a crypto accelerator, securing $10 million each from Brevan Howard Digital and Galaxy Digital for its third fund, and aiming to raise an additional $80 million by July.

Despite the slow activity of VC funding, JPMorgan analysts noted that crypto hedge funds have been more active this year, with their assets under management rising sharply over the past six months to an estimated $20 billion.

The report also reiterated the analysts' stance that the likelihood of a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) being approved in May remains below 50%, although they believe the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will eventually greenlight these funds.

BlackRock’s First Tokenized Fund Gets ‘Near-Instant’ USDC Redemptions

The issuer of popular stablecoin USDC, Circle, has announced a new integration with BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), allowing BUIDL investors to seamlessly convert their fund shares into USDC through a smart contract.

Circle's smart contract is set to enable "near-instant" BUIDL redemptions for USDC, 24/7, providing investors with greater liquidity and flexibility.

Launched in March 2024, BUIDL is a first-of-its-kind tokenized fund for BlackRock, built on the Ethereum blockchain and offering investors exposure to U.S. dollar yields through blockchain tokenization of real-world assets.

Investors purchase ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum representing shares in the fund, which invests in assets like U.S. Treasury bills. The fund was first funded with a $100 million transaction on the blockchain.

Crypto Market Movers – TON, WIF, BCH

Several tokens are leading the charge in the last 7-day period. Some of these are well-known cryptocurrencies with more liquid trading pairs, so we’ll be focusing on these over low-cap cryptos that may have higher percentage changes.

The Open Network (TON) - The Open Network utilizes its native cryptocurrency known as TON Crystal. This decentralized token is based on the TON blockchain and plays a vital role in the functioning and governance of the entire network. Employing a multi-blockchain architecture, TON Crystal serves as the medium of exchange within the TON ecosystem. The TON blockchain is an ambitious, high-performance decentralized network designed to provide scalability and speed.

Dogwifhat (WIF) - Dogwifhat is a meme-inspired cryptocurrency that operates on the Solana platform. It is a meme cryptocurrency, drawing inspiration from the Dogwifhat meme and is categorised alongside other dog-themed tokens like BONK, FLOKI, and BONE, which have gained popularity recently. The token has seen a significant surge in value, indicating its growing attention in the cryptocurrency community​​.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) - Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a cryptocurrency that was created in August 2017 as a result of a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. It is a decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency that is based on the same underlying technology as Bitcoin, but it has a number of differences that make it unique.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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