A raft of liquidations forced MakerDAO to spend half of the $500 million it holds in a Coinbase Custody account to protect the peg for its DAI stablecoin.

DAI’s USDC reserves — which needed to be above at least $200 million to be considered safe — nearly sank below $60 million Tuesday morning before the manager of Maker’s Coinbase trust transferred $250 million into DAI’s so-called peg stability module (PSM). 

The liquidity fire drill highlighted the permissioned process by which the largest decentralized stablecoin refills its reserves.

The PSM is a collateral pool that lets users mint USDC for DAI 1:1 and arbitrage DAI back to its dollar peg. If the PSM’s reserves empty…

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Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial is nearing its end. 

The former executive, charged with seven counts of fraud, launched what was perhaps a final attempt at swaying the jury that included a lot of yup’s, yep’s and awkward answer-dodging. 

The trial lasted throughout October, although it looks as if it will bleed a little into November. It’s still unclear how the jury will find Bankman-Fried, though the rest of his inner circle have all pleaded guilty. 

Read more: Judge Kaplan chides Sam Bankman-Fried: ‘Don’t ask a question, answer it’

That inner circle includes ex-FTX Digital Markets CEO Ryan Salame, co-founder Gary Wang, former head of engineering Nishad Singh…

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The reserves for stablecoin issuer Tether contained approximately 86% cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, according to a new attestation report from accounting firm BDO. This is the highest percentage of cash and cash equivalents that have ever made up Tether’s reserves.

Tether today releases its attestation for Q3 /2023.- cash & cash equivalent portion of reserves is all time high at 85.7%, yielding ~$1B

– US T-bill (direct and indirect) exposure at $72.6B- reduced secured loans by $330M- investments in energy, bitcoin mining and P2P tech… pic.twitter.com/ibKJRPlBAg

— Paolo Ardoino (@paoloardoino) October 31, 2023

According to the report, $56.6…

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The ongoing criminal trial involving FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) will move into closing arguments on November 1. 

On Day 15 of the SBF trial, lead defense attorney Mark Cohen’s request for acquittal was denied by presiding judge Lewis Kaplan. Instead, the case will move to closing arguments from both sides at 9:30 a.m. ET (1:30 p.m. UTC) on Nov. 1, with all evidence discovery concluded. Attornies from both sides declined to call any further witnesses. 

SBF has pleaded not guilty to all seven fraud-related charges in his criminal case, but is expected to face five more counts in a second trial scheduled to start in March 2024, including the alleged $150 million bribe of a Chinese…

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Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial, where he faces seven federal counts of fraud and conspiracy, is coming to a close. 

The jury heard the last of the evidence Tuesday morning, and now all that’s left is some final quibbling between counsel and closing arguments. 

After subjecting their client to two-and-half days on the witness stand, the defense rested its case Tuesday, and the government declined to put on a rebuttal. In his final hours under oath, Bankman-Fried gave the jury more of the same: a relatively muted tone, sparse eye contact and lots of details he was never asked to give.  

“Look, Mr. Bankman-Fried,” Judge Lewis Kaplan started, continuing on to remind the…

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Anyone who’s ever listened to or participated in a “roast” knows the fine line between innocuous observation and painful truth is often crossed, even when the jabs are delivered in a friendly manner. 

And few are more sensitive to clever digs than the most dedicated crypto community members — often exhibiting passionately blind loyalty to their selected blockchain tribe.

So it was with some trepidation that Superteam founding member Kash Dhanda and Framework Ventures principal Brandon Potts stirred up a few frank critiques for a Solana “roast” on the Lightspeed podcast (Spotify/Apple).

“If you’re trying to get me in trouble, I’ve got a few ideas,” says Dhanda as he…

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