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Top Stories This WeekUS officials announce $4.3B settlement with Binance, plea deal with CZ

Binance and its co-founder, Changpeng CZ Zhao, have reached a settlement over criminal and civil cases with the United States Department of Justice. CZ will plead guilty to one felony charge as part of the negotiated agreement. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the settlement, claiming Binances policies allowed criminals involved in illicit activities to move stolen funds through the exchange. As part of the settlement, CZ announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he had stepped down as CEO and that Binances global head of regional markets, Richard Teng, will assume the position. He added he was proud to point out that U.S. officials didnt allege that Binance misappropriated funds or manipulated markets. CZ was released on bail and is battling government efforts to bar his return to the United Arab Emirates to be with his family. His sentencing is scheduled for February.

Representatives from BlackRock and Nasdaq met with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss the proposed rule allowing the listing of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). BlackRock provided a presentation detailing how the firm could use an in-kind or in-cash redemption model for its iShares Bitcoin Trust. Many reports have suggested the SEC could be nearing a decision on a spot BTC ETF for listing on U.S. markets. SEC officials also met with Grayscale representatives this week to discuss the listing of a Bitcoin ETF. BlackRock is one of many firms with spot crypto ETF applications in the SEC pipeline awaiting a response, including Fidelity, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Valkyrie, VanEck and Bitwise.

A Bitcoin user paid $3.1 million in fees for transferring 139.42 BTC. The transaction fee is the eighth-highest in Bitcoins 14-year history. A wallet address tried transferring 139.42 BTC only to pay more than half the actual value of the transaction fee. The destination address received only 55.77 BTC. The mining pool Antpool captured the absurdly high mining fee on block 818087. This is the largest Bitcoin transaction fee ever paid in dollar terms, knocking off Paxoss September transfer of $500,000.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Kraken, alleging it commingled customer funds and failed to register with the regulator as a securities exchange, broker, dealer and clearing agency. Additionally, the SEC alleged Krakens business practices and deficient internal controls saw the exchange commingle up to $33 billion worth of customer assets with its own. The SEC said this resulted in a significant risk of loss for its clients. In a follow-up blog post, Kraken said the SECs commingling accusations were no more than Kraken spending fees it has already earned, and the regulator doesnt allege any user funds are missing.

Sam Bankman-Fried will stay jailed after failing to convince a United States appellate court that he should be freed while his legal team appeals his conviction. Government prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of leaking Caroline Ellisons journals to The New York Times in July, which caused his bail to be revoked by a New York District Court. Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven fraud and money laundering-related charges on Nov. 2. The former FTX CEO will remain behind bars while he awaits his sentencing on March 28 next year.

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $37,710, Ether (ETH) is at $2,079, and XRP is at $0.62. The total market cap is at $1.43 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Blur (BLUR) at 99.25%, FTX Token (FTT) at 39.05% and KuCoin Token (KCS) at 24.82%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Celestia (TIA) at -19.89%, ORDI (ORDI) at -17.63% and THORChain (RUNE) at -15.53%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraphs market analysis.

The U.S. has a financial regime that basically has been weaponized.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano

I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility.

Changpeng CZ Zhao, former CEO of Binance

We, the employees of OpenAI, have developed the best models and pushed the field to new frontiers, [but] the process through which you terminated Sam Altman [] has jeopardized all of this work and undermined our mission and company.

OpenAI employees

Get your crypto company out of the U.S. warzone.

Jesse Powell, co-founder of Kraken

The regulatory uncertainty that permeates the U.S. market is having an impact on the rest of the world.

Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex Global

Im looking forward to returning to OpenAI and building on our strong partnership with Microsoft.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

Enjoy sub-$40K Bitcoin PlanB stresses $100K average BTC price from 2024

Bitcoin buyers should enjoy the chance to add to their stack below $40,000, according to PlanB, pseudonymous creator of the stock-to-flow family of BTC price models. He believes Bitcoin will rise much higher than its recent 18-month highs.

Bitcoin bear market bottoms are characterized by the spot price dipping below the realized price, while bull markets begin once the spot crosses the two-year and five-month realized price levels. BTC/USD is now once again above all three realized price iterations.

Enjoy sub-$40k bitcoin while it lasts, PlanB commented on an accompanying chart.

Asked whether the market should expect lower levels from here, PlanB would not be drawn, saying that he simply expected an average BTC price of at least $100,000 between 2024 and 2028 Bitcoins next halving cycle.

Crypto exchange HTX, formerly known as Huobi Global, resumed deposits and withdrawals within 24 hours after suffering a $30 million exploit on Nov. 22. The exploit was reported to be $13.6 million around the time of the incident, but has since increased in value. HTXs hot wallets were compromised alongside a coordinated $86.6 million attack against the HTX Eco (HECO) Chain bridge, consisting of HTX, Tron and BitTorrent. The company has promised to fully compensate users for any losses incurred as a consequence of the hack.

United States prosecutors are trying to stop former Binance boss Changpeng CZ Zhao from leaving the country, expressing concern about his potential flight risk. The government requested a review and overturn of a judges decision that would allow Zhao to return to his home in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a $175 million bond under the condition that he returns to the U.S. two weeks before his February 2024 sentencing. In a proposed order, prosecutors wrote that Zhao presents an unacceptable risk of flight, arguing that his ties and favored status in the UAE, along with the countrys lack of an extradition treaty with the U.S., are reasons to block him from leaving the country.

The decentralized exchange KyberSwap has offered a 10% bounty reward to the hacker who stole $46 million on Nov. 22 and left a note of negotiation. The exchange wants 90% of the loot returned. The hacker made away with roughly $20 million in Wrapped Ether, $7 million in wrapped Lido-staked Ether and $4 million in Arbitrum tokens. The hacker then siphoned the loot across multiple chains, including Arbitrum, Optimism, Ethereum, Polygon and Base.

This is your brain on crypto: Substance abuse grows among crypto traders

According to some addiction experts, the high-stress atmosphere of cryptocurrency trading can provide a perfect environment for substance abuse.

Michael Saylors a fan, but Frisby says bull run needs a new guru: X Hall of Flame

Bitcoin enthusiast Dominic Frisby has a wild journey, from penning one of the first-ever Bitcoin books to plastering Bitcoin fixes this on the Bank of England.

6 Questions for Alex ODonnell about financial journalism and the future of DeFi

Alex ODonnell spoke to Cointelegraph Magazine about his career as a financial journalist and how it led to his involvement in crypto and Umami DAO.

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Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.

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BlackRock meets with SEC over ETF, Binance's new era begins and ... - Cointelegraph