In the crypto realm, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial was the center of attention this week. Friday marks the fourth day of the trial, which is expected to last at least six weeks.
Crypto community members, especially FTX customers, are glued to the ongoing high-profile trial of Bankman-Fried. Meanwhile, the US added more than a quarter of total crypto market capitalization to its debt in a single day.
Throughout the week, there was also controversy about the return of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s Friends Testify Against Him
On Thursday, Gary Wang testified in Bankman-Fried’s trial. He co-founded the FTX exchange and used to be the roommate of Sam Bankman-Fried at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
According to The Guardian, Wang admitted to committing financial crimes and fraud at FTX. He also mentioned that Bankman-Fried, his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, and FTX’s former co-lead engineer Nishad Singh were involved in the crimes.
Singh and Ellison are expected to testify next week. Bankman-Fried’s inner circle members have already pleaded guilty to various charges.
Another of Bankman-Fried’s college roommates, Adam Yedidia, testified on the second day of the trial. Yedidia admitted that he was involved in writing the code that allowed Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, Alameda Research, the ability to withdraw FTX’s funds.
Read more: Crypto Hedge Funds: What Are They and How Do They Work?
Also, on the second day, 12 jurors were selected who would decide the fate of Bankman-Fried. The jury includes nine women and three men. They are of varied professions, including an investment banker, a postal service worker, a physician’s assistant, a train conductor, a nurse, and a teacher.
Romantic Memos of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison
Amidst the court trial, crypto researcher Molly White revealed the memos between Bankman-Fried and the former boss of Alameda Research.
Through the memos, Bankman-Fried analyzed the pros and cons of having a sexual relationship with Caroline Ellison. The FTX co-founder was concerned that it could result in a negative PR and destroy the image of Alameda Research.
Read more: FTX Collapse Explained: How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Empire Fell
Crypto – Socially Speaking
The screenshot below shows that Ethereum was the most talked about crypto on social media. It had 65,623 social mentions in the last seven days.
Notably, the meme coin PEPE also made it to the top 10 ranking of social mentions. As per LunarCrush, it garnered 3,204 social media mentions this week.
Read more: 11 Hot Meme Coins and Altcoins that Trend in 2023
US Debt Soared by $275 Billion in One Day
The rising US debt has been a concern for quite a while. On September 19, the national debt crossed the $33 trillion mark for the first time ever.
Notably, the amount of daily debt added crossed $275 billion. It is worth mentioning that the number is more than Ethereum’s market capitalization, which stands at $196.6 billion. Moreover, the amount is equivalent to a quarter of the total crypto market capitalization.
Is Satoshi Back?
An X (Twitter) handle, @satoshi, has started posting actively on X since October 2. The account has been inactive since 2018, and the sudden posts aroused speculation that Satoshi was back.
Due to the first post from the @satoshi account, the price of Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) pumped over 30%. However, now, it has slowly started to retrace back.
Read more: Satoshi Nakamoto – Who is the Founder of Bitcoin?
Eventually, the community started suspecting Craig Wright, who often claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, was running the account. So far, Wright has not given any clarification regarding the matter.
Solana’s TVL Hits Yearly Highs
On October 2, BeInCrypto reported that Solana’s (SOL) Total Value Locked (TVL) surged to a new 2023 high. As of writing, the TVL stands at $326.99 million.
However, the SOL price is over 30% down from their yearly highs.
The Week’s Crypto Top 10
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