lawyer

According to FinanceFeeds, the victim's lawyer from North Korea attempted to redefine the rsETH attack incident that occurred on Aave as "fraud" rather than "theft" before a hearing at the Manhattan federal court, in order to maintain a freeze order on assets worth $71 million in ETH.The lawyer argued that the attacker borrowed assets using worthless collateral and did not repay, which constitutes a fraudulent loan transaction, aiming to use these frozen assets to pay for terrorism judgment compensation under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.Previously, hackers associated with the Lazarus Group minted unsecured rsETH through a cross-chain bridge vulnerability and borrowed approximately $230 million in assets from Aave, of which $71 million was intercepted by Arbitrum developers. The victim's lawyer also questioned Aave's standing, pointing out that its terms of service state it does not have control over user assets. Additionally, DeFi United has raised $327 million, exceeding the amount in dispute.

According to Bloomberg, this week, the lawyer of Chen Zhi, who is accused of being the head of a large-scale "pig butchering" scam gang, filed a motion in a New York federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's seizure of a batch of Bitcoin related to him. The lawyer argued that the prosecution's allegations regarding Chen Zhi's oversight of the scam operation lack specific evidence and are merely a vague description of the overall situation in Cambodia. They also questioned the timeline of the cryptocurrency seizure, stating that these Bitcoins could not possibly be the proceeds of fraud or money laundering.The U.S. Department of Justice announced the seizure of 127,271 Bitcoins controlled by Chen Zhi last October, which were valued at approximately $15 billion at the time. Chen Zhi had his nationality revoked by Cambodia in January this year and was extradited to China. Following sanctions from the U.S. and the U.K., over $1 billion in assets have been frozen or seized in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. Human rights organizations pointed out that after the closure of the scam operation, thousands of trafficked workers have flowed out from places like Sihanoukville, facing the risk of being sold again.

According to Techcrunch, the AI platform Legora, aimed at lawyers, has completed a $550 million Series D funding round, led by Accel, with existing investors Benchmark, Bessemer, General Catalyst, ICONIQ, Redpoint Ventures, and Y Combinator continuing to participate; new investors include Alkeon Capital, Bain Capital, Firstmark Capital, Menlo Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Sands Capital, and Starwood Capital.Legora is built on large language models, primarily based on Claude, but its positioning as a platform to support lawyers in handling complex cases is different, as stated by CEO Max Junestrand during a live broadcast at the Techarena conference in Stockholm: "While everyone can have their own 'pocket lawyer' in Claude, our solution targets different use cases." Legora focuses on embedding into clients' workflows, and currently, 800 law firms and legal teams are using its platform.In addition to New York and Stockholm, Legora also has offices in Bangalore, London, and Sydney, and plans to expand further. Meanwhile, Legora announced that alongside the completion of its Series D funding, it will open offices in Houston and Chicago, with plans to establish more local branches in the future, aiming for a total of over 300 employees across its U.S. offices by the end of 2026.

According to Fortune magazine, the decentralized derivatives trading platform Hyperliquid has officially established the Hyperliquid Policy Center in Washington, D.C., with veteran crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky serving as the first CEO.The center aims to create legal pathways for the widespread adoption of DeFi in the United States, helping Congress and federal agencies understand the underlying technology of DeFi and providing professional support for regulatory rule-making. Chervinsky stated that the current regulatory framework was formed in the analog era and cannot cover new trading forms such as decentralized protocols. One of the center's primary tasks is to develop a legal framework for perpetual contracts.The Hyperliquid affiliated foundation has donated 1 million platform native tokens HYPE (currently valued at approximately $28 million) to support the center's operations. The founding team also includes policy advisor Brad Bourque (former lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP) and policy director Salah Ghazzal (former policy head at Variant). The center is currently hiring for positions such as Chief of Staff, Director of Communications, and Director of Government Relations.

According to two people familiar with the matter, the Federal Reserve is expected to appoint Randall Guynn as the new Director of Regulatory Affairs. This veteran Wall Street figure, who has deep ties to the banking industry, will oversee industry regulation. Guynn was a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and has represented several large U.S. banks. He will succeed Michael Gibson, who announced his retirement last July after more than thirty years at the Federal Reserve. Since May 2025, Guynn has served as an advisor to Federal Reserve Governor and Vice Chair for Supervision, Michelle Bowman.According to sources, Guynn's appointment plan still requires a vote by the Federal Reserve's seven-member Board of Governors. The specific timing of this closed-door vote has not yet been determined. After taking office, he will continue to report to Bowman. Choosing Guynn as the Director of Regulatory Affairs will mark a significant shift in the Federal Reserve's personnel arrangements, as this position has been held by long-serving internal staff since at least 1977.

Crypto KOL and Rollbit partner Alex Wice posted on X platform that Ryan Salame is in prison for refusing to testify against SBF, which reflects flaws in the U.S. judicial system. Alex Wice believes that SBF was deprived of the right to present evidence during the trial, as Judge Kaplan rejected his defense based on "relying on legal advice" and excluded evidence related to solvency and service terms.Alex Wice pointed out that the narrative of the trial was a fabricated story conceived by the prosecutors and Sullivan & Cromwell, aimed at placing all blame on SBF. In fact, FTX had only a small funding gap at the time of bankruptcy; although SBF had management failures, there was no fraudulent intent, and he always tried to keep FTX running to repay customers. He believes that if SBF had not signed the bankruptcy agreement, FTX customers might have received repayments more quickly. Alex Wice calls for the release of Ryan Salame and SBF.In response to this matter, SBF's account on X platform stated: "I fundamentally agree with all of the above points. But FTX never went bankrupt. I never filed for bankruptcy. The lawyers took over the company, and 4 hours later, they submitted a false bankruptcy filing to steal the company's assets."

In response to a recently circulated so-called "lawyer's letter," Binance stated that the document was not issued by Binance and is a forged document. Previously, X user Lewsiphur accused Binance of being insolvent and claimed that it would have a more severe impact on the market than FTX. Subsequently, he shared a suspected cease-and-desist letter allegedly issued by Binance, stating that failure to delete the relevant content within the specified time would result in legal action.The official Binance customer service account responded, stating: "This letter did not come from Binance, but is a forged document with strong subjective speculation. We remind users to be vigilant against false documents and misleading information." As of now, the aforementioned related accusations have not been deleted.Regarding the recent bankruptcy rumors surrounding Binance, the company has repeatedly denied them and stated that such claims lack factual basis. Binance co-founder He Yi also mentioned that the concentrated withdrawal behavior initiated in the community can be seen as a stress test to some extent, and on-chain data shows that the related activities have not led to a decrease in the platform's asset scale.

According to Cointelegraph, the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Michael Selig, announced the appointment of senior crypto lawyer Michael Passalacqua as a senior advisor to the CFTC, who has extensive experience in cryptocurrency and blockchain litigation. Michael Passalacqua previously participated in drafting a letter that prompted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue a no-action letter, allowing state-chartered trust companies to act as cryptocurrency custodians.As the CFTC's role in cryptocurrency regulation becomes increasingly important, the appointment of a new advisor with extensive experience in the crypto space represents the CFTC's effort to make its regulatory approach "future-facing."

According to The New York Times, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who has been sentenced to over 20 years, has become a "prison lawyer" in jail, providing legal advice to multiple inmates.The report shows that SBF has provided legal consulting services to several inmates, including former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, music producer Sean Combs (Diddy), and Chinese exile businessman Guo Wengui. He advised Hernández to testify on his own behalf during the trial, and although he ultimately lost, Hernández's wife still expressed gratitude.In an interview, SBF stated that the standards for federal defense are "shockingly low," and he believes he is not replacing lawyers but that lawyers "were not doing much to begin with." Many lawyers are unable to give enough attention to clients due to the overwhelming number of cases.Currently, SBF is serving his sentence in a California prison while appealing his case and seeking a presidential pardon.

U.S. Senators Elissa Slotkin (Democrat) and Jerry Moran (Republican) introduced the Strengthening Agency Frameworks for Enforcement of Cryptocurrency Act (SAFE Act) this Monday. The bill aims to coordinate the actions of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and the private sector to combat cryptocurrency fraud and scams.Gabriel Shapiro, Chief Legal Officer of Delphi Labs, stated on the X platform that if the bill is effectively implemented, cryptocurrency fraudsters and scammers may feel panic. He pointed out that senior officials, including the U.S. Attorney General, the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the director of the U.S. Secret Service, will be involved in pursuing cryptocurrency criminals. The FBI reported that in 2024, Americans lost $9.3 billion due to cryptocurrency-related investment scams, a 66% increase from 2023.

The People's Bank of China recently held a "Coordination Meeting on Cracking Down on Virtual Currency Trading Speculation" (i.e., the 1128 meeting) in conjunction with multiple departments, reiterating the policy on prohibiting virtual currency business activities as stated in the September 24, 2021 notice.Lawyer Xiao Za's team pointed out that, as is well known, China has a relatively strict foreign exchange control system, where generally, each person can exchange no more than 50,000 US dollars per year. Now, with the stablecoin market gradually expanding, application scenarios continuously increasing, and the number of cryptocurrency businesses surging, many capital outflow demands have been addressed by stablecoins such as USDT and USDC. Furthermore, there are even cases where stablecoins facilitate money laundering or concealment of criminal proceeds for upstream crimes. In judicial practice, there have been bold foreign trade merchants who used USDT and USDC to circumvent United Nations sanctions, assisting sanctioned countries in foreign trade.The focus of this meeting was: first, to guide the judicial ruling trend back, curbing the tendency of courts to handle cryptocurrency-related contracts leniently; second, to crack down on serious violations such as illegal foreign exchange, money laundering, and assisting sanctioned countries in trade using stablecoins like USDT and USDC. In addition, Lawyer Xiao Za believes that this meeting does not represent a policy shift and will not affect Hong Kong's open policy towards virtual assets. Currently, a pattern of "Mainland restrictions, Hong Kong openness" has formed, with clear regulatory intentions: financial innovation can be pursued, but it must be compliant and promoted within designated areas and frameworks. For domestic practitioners, they should remain vigilant about legal red lines, operate in compliance, and avoid complacency.

The People's Bank of China held a coordination meeting on combating virtual currency trading speculation (hereinafter referred to as the 1128 meeting) in conjunction with more than ten departments, emphasizing the need to continue adhering to the relevant provisions of the 2021 "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with Risks of Virtual Currency Trading Speculation" (hereinafter referred to as the 9.24 notice). It was stated that a prohibitive policy should be adopted for the operational business of virtual currencies in mainland China, with a particular focus on combating money laundering and illegal capital outflow using virtual currencies.In response to this policy, lawyer Xiao Za interpreted that, overall, the 1128 meeting is a reiteration of old themes, and what really needs to be regulated is the illegal foreign exchange transactions using stablecoins, which severely disrupt financial order. This issue is a real problem that regulatory agencies must face. It is well known that China has a relatively strict foreign exchange control system, where generally, each person can exchange no more than 50,000 US dollars per year. Now, with the gradual expansion of the stablecoin market, the continuous growth of application scenarios, and the significant increase in the number of cryptocurrency merchants, many capital outflow demands have been addressed by stablecoins such as USDT and USDC.Moreover, there are instances where stablecoins can facilitate money laundering or concealment of criminal proceeds for upstream crimes. Furthermore, in judicial practice, there have been bold foreign trade merchants who used USDT and USDC to circumvent United Nations sanctions, assisting sanctioned countries in foreign trade. From a judicial perspective, in the past year or two, China's judicial authorities have gradually increased their regulatory efforts against cryptocurrency merchants, with many being convicted and punished for illegal business operations, aiding and abetting crimes, money laundering, and concealing criminal proceeds. In addition, lawyer Xiao Za believes that the 1128 meeting will not affect Hong Kong's open policy towards virtual assets. Hong Kong and mainland China have gradually formed a basic pattern of openness and restriction regarding virtual assets, with a clear regulatory attitude: it is not that financial innovation is not allowed, but it must occur in the designated areas.

CZ's private lawyer Teresa Goody Guillén stated in an interview with The Pomp Podcast on the 15th that Binance still faces restrictions from multiple agencies, including the U.S. DOJ and CFTC. The regulatory personnel stationed by the U.S. Treasury through FinCEN are still monitoring its compliance, even though Binance has exited the U.S. market and has no U.S. customers.Regarding the relationship between Binance, Trump, and World Liberty Financial, she pointed out that there is no evidence to support the media's claim that the financial company is a Trump enterprise. She described its issuance of stablecoins on BSC as a transparent and normal business practice, using the analogy "buying wheat with Swiss francs does not equate to investing in or bribing Swiss politicians" to refute the allegations of bribing the president for a pardon.

FTX creditor Arush disclosed on social media that there were three final bidders with financial strength for the FTX 2.0 reboot project, but they were ultimately rejected by the bankruptcy lawyers.Arush revealed that he was recruited by Arj to be responsible for the FTX 2.0 reboot bidding, and his consortium became one of the three final bidders. The three bidders were: Arj/Tribe in partnership with an undisclosed public exchange; Thomas Farley's Bullish; and Mike Cagney's Figure.According to him, each bidding proposal included significant equity components, which could have brought hundreds of billions of dollars in value to FTX creditors.