The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Samuel Bankman-Fried, co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its sister trading firm Alameda Research, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The United States and the United Kingdom are investigating more than $20 billion in cryptocurrency transactions that flowed through a Russia-based exchange, raising concerns about potential sanctions evasion by Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

Bitwise Asset Management has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list and trade shares of a spot Ethereum ETF.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Given 25-Year Prison Sentence
• U.S. and U.K. Investigate $20 Billion in Crypto Transactions to Russian Exchange
• Bitwise Files for Spot Ethereum ETF Amidst Regulatory Uncertainty

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Given 25-Year Prison Sentence

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Samuel Bankman-Fried, co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its sister trading firm Alameda Research, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The sentence, delivered by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, also includes three years of supervised release and an order for Bankman-Fried to pay $11 billion in forfeiture. The 25 years given are shorter than the 40 to 50 years federal prosecutors had sought after Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.

While his charges carried a maximum penalty of 110 years and his lawyers asked for a sentence of six and a half years, Sam Bankman-Fried was ultimately sentenced to 25 years. In court, Bankman-Fried did not visibly react when handed down the sentence.

The DOJ elaborated on SBF's misdeeds, detailing he misappropriated billions of dollars of customer funds deposited with FTX and defrauded investors in FTX of more than $1.7 billion and lenders to Alameda of over $1.3 billion. These actions led to SBF being found guilty of multiple charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland commented on the case saying that "anyone who believes they can hide their financial crimes behind wealth and power, or behind a shiny new thing they claim no one else is smart enough to understand, should think twice."

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York also weighed in, characterizing SBF's actions as one of the largest financial frauds in history:

"The scale of his crimes is measured not just by the amount of money that was stolen, but by the extraordinary harm caused to victims, who in some cases had their life savings wiped out overnight."

Judge Kaplan granted permission for the authorities to allocate the assets obtained via forfeiture to reimburse the victims of Bankman-Fried's offenses.

U.S. and U.K. Investigate $20 Billion in Crypto Transactions to Russian Exchange

The United States and the United Kingdom are investigating more than $20 billion in cryptocurrency transactions that flowed through a Russia-based exchange, raising concerns about potential sanctions evasion by Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

The probe centers on Garantex, a Moscow-based cryptocurrency exchange, and transactions made using leading stablecoin Tether. If confirmed, the $20 billion would represent a significant breach of sanctions imposed on Russia since the invasion began, according to sourced cited by Bloomberg. However, the complexity of the cryptocurrency transactions makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions.

Tether, the world's most-traded cryptocurrency, is often used to move between different cryptocurrencies or convert them to traditional currencies. While there is no indication of wrongdoing by Tether Holdings, the company behind the digital currency, its ease of use has made it attractive to cybercriminals.

The sources noted that there’s no sign of wrongdoing by Tether. Founded in Estonia in 2019, Garantex now operates primarily out of Moscow's Federation Tower, according to U.S. government reports. Estonia revoked the exchange's license in February 2022, aligning with U.S. efforts to restrict its operations.

The U.S. Treasury Department has previously accused Garantex of failing to prevent its systems from being “abused by illicit actors” and neglecting anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing protocols. The exchange was sanctioned by the Treasury in April 2022, linked to over $100 million in illicit transactions, including by groups the Russian ransomware gang Conti.

Bitwise Files for Spot Ethereum ETF Amidst Regulatory Uncertainty

Bitwise Asset Management has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list and trade shares of a spot Ethereum ETF.

In a March 28 filing, Bitwise filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the SEC amid speculation that the regulator was seeking to label Ether a security under its regulatory purview, putting future listings of spot ETH ETFs in question.

Based on a 19b-4 amendment filing with the SEC, Bitwise intends to list shares of its ETH investment vehicle on NYSE Arca. The asset manager was among the first to obtain approval from the SEC for listing and trading shares of its spot Bitcoin ETF in January.

The final SEC deadline for approving or denying the next round of spot ETH ETF applications will be May 23. Starting with VanEck’s investment vehicle, various firms, including Fidelity, Hashdex, and ARK 21Shares, have spot applications pending approval or denial.

Though many experts seemed to be optimistic about approval in 2023, some have suggested going into 2024 that the commission could deny applications.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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