The ruble-dollar exchange rate soared to mid-year highs - The ruble continues to strengthen, accelerating its rise on Wednesday — since the start of trading on Wednesday, the USD/RUB pair has already lost over 2.5%.
Bloomberg explains why Bitcoin surged to $80,000 - True cryptocurrency enthusiasts have renewed cause for optimism. Just a few days ago,
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the bankrupt exchange FTX, claimed his 2022 arrest was politically motivated and related to his donations to Republicans.
He accused the SEC and the US Department of Justice of pressuring him and attempting to prevent him from testifying before Congress on a cryptocurrency bill.
Meanwhile, the US is investigating the deletion of Gary Gensler's emails, raising suspicions of evidence destruction.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, claimed his 2022 arrest was politically motivated. He claimed this occurred after he shifted his political donations toward Republicans, angering the Biden administration.
Bankman-Fried wrote on the GETTR microblog that he had shifted from a center-left stance in 2020 to a more centrist stance in 2022. This was influenced by observations of aggressive cryptocurrency enforcement by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and the Department of Justice. He added:
"By 2022, after seeing Gensler/DOJ actions on cryptocurrency, I became a centrist and (privately) donated tens of millions to Republicans."
Government Harassment
Bankman-Fried claimed that the SEC and DOJ timed his arrest to coincide with a vote on a cryptocurrency bill he supported. House Republicans claimed the arrest was timed precisely to "prevent Sam Bankman-Fried from testifying" and demanded Gensler turn over internal communications.
Last month, the SEC's Office of Inspector General admitted that Gensler's government phone had been subjected to a "corporate wipe," deleting text messages from October 2022 to September 2023. The agency said the phone stopped syncing with the agency's system in July 2023 and was marked "inactive" for 62 days despite functioning normally.
Coinbase accused the SEC of deleting nearly a year's worth of Gensler's messages, calling for sanctions for what it called "destruction of evidence."
House Republicans have also launched an investigation into the deletion of nearly a year's worth of former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's text messages. They cite concerns about transparency, poor management of IT systems, and compliance with federal data retention laws.
Bankman-Fried remains incarcerated at FCI Terminal Island after his arrest in one of the largest financial fraud cases. Prosecutors alleged he funneled billions of dollars in client funds to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and used them for risky trades, real estate investments, and political donations.