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Do Kwon dismisses Slack chat evidence as irrelevant; DOJ reveals FTX trial witness plan

Do Kwon dismisses Slack chat evidence as irrelevant; DOJ reveals FTX trial witness plan
Snapshot
Do Kwon, currently jailed in Montenegro, is sought by US authorities. Credit: Boris Pejovic/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Happy Sunday!

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon dismissed as irrelevant Slack messages submitted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission as evidence in a court filing. Also, the US Department of Justice has revealed its plans to question witnesses in the forthcoming FTX trial, a mysterious exploiter of FTX has suddenly begun moving crypto assets after 10 months, and the third quarter saw about $900 million in crypto losses to hacks and scams. Read on!

Do Kwon: SEC evidence irrelevant

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon disputed the significance as evidence of his Slack messages from 2019 discussing manipulating transactions to attract investors, Bitcoin Insider reported. Kwon and his legal team say the messages have been taken out of context.

The SEC included the messages between Kwon and co-founder Daniel Shin in a court filing. Kwon is currently jailed in Montenegro, from which US authorities are seeking to extradite him, and in a parallel effort, to depose him as well, DL News reported.

DOJ reveals FTX witness plans

The US Department of Justice plans to summon as witnesses former FTX clients, investors and cooperating former staff members in the forthcoming trial of the bankrupt company’s ex-chief executive, Sam Bankman-Fried, Cointelegraph reported, citing a letter submitted to the court.

The DOJ said the anticipated testimony is concerned with “how the witnesses understood their relationship with the defendant and his companies, and their interpretation of statements made by the defendant and his agents.”

FTX exploiter moves stolen crypto

About 10 months after FTX was apparently exploited for hundreds of millions of dollars, an unidentified hacker has moved more than $17 million worth of ETH, Cointelegraph reported, citing data from blockchain analyst Spot on Chain.

The original exploit happened last November, shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy, according to CryptoPotato, which also noted the sudden transfer of ETH, citing data from Arkham Intelligence.

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Q3 crypto exploits total $900m

Crypto projects lost almost $900 million to hacks, phishing scams, and rug-pulls during the third quarter, CryptoSlate reported, citing blockchain security company Beosin.

According to a report published by Beosin with other blockchain alliance members, 43 hacks accounted for losses of $540 million, $283 million was lost to rug-pulls across 81 incidents, and phishing schemes accounted for $66 million.

Coinbase extends India withdrawal date

Crypto trading platform Coinbase notified users in India by email that it has extended the timeline for withdrawing funds from their accounts to October 31 from September 25, Crypto News reported.

Since entering the Indian market in April 2022, Coinbase has faced regulatory pressures that led it to discontinue crypto trading services there, though the company maintains that it is committed to the India market in the longer term, according to the report.

What we’re reading around the web

Influential US Crypto Industry Leaders Say SEC Overstepped with Binance AllegationsBloomberg

Binance users brace for ‘cascading effect’ of potential US criminal chargesDL News

‘There’s no doubt we picked a side here’ — Chainalysis founder Michael Gronager talks analytics, Ukraine and crypto adoption in AsiaForkast News