Texas court issues judgment against Bancor DAO after it ignored summons
A Texas federal judge has entered a default judgment against Bancor DAO, which operated the decentralized finance platform Bancor, after it failed to respond to an online summons. Judge Robert Pitman issued the judgment after Bancor DAO did not appear to defend itself following a summons that was posted on the DAO’s forum in January 2024.“Defendant Bancor DAO has failed to answer or otherwise defend itself within the time allowed, and that plaintiffs have demonstrated that failure,” wrote district court clerk Philip Delvin on March 13.The class action involves investors who claim they lost tens of millions of dollars due to the exchange’s failure to warn about liquidity issues during a 2022 withdrawal spike.Clerk’s entry of default against Bancor. Source: Law360According to the plaintiffs, who filed the suit in May 2023, Bancor deceived investors about its impermanent loss protection mechanism for liquidity providers and also claimed its token was an unregistered security. They said Bancor’s ILP operated at a deficit and tried to cover by launching a new product, v3, which promised “some of the most competitive returns anywhere […] without asking users to take on any risk.”Impermanent losses occur within DeFi automated market maker models when liquidity providers deposit assets into a pool, and one of the tokens loses value against another in the pool. Bancor paused impermanent loss protection, citing “hostile” market conditions in June 2022.The plaintiffs also argued that Bancor DAO is an “unincorporated general partnership” consisting of vBNT tokenholders and could be sued in that capacity, according to Law360.The case was previously dismissed entirely because the protocol developers were not based in the United States, but was reopened in December.The plaintiffs said that the DeFi platform “does not appear to be registered in any jurisdiction and has no physical office location, mailing address, officers, directors, or appointed agents.”Bancor is an onchain liquidity protocol that enables automated, decentralized exchange across blockchains. It has $38 million in total value locked, a figure that is down 98% since its peak in May 2021, according to DeFillama.Related: Lawsuits could be catastrophic for DAOs if denied ‘limited liability’The ruling follows precedent from a similar case where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission won a default judgment against Ooki DAO.A California federal judge also ruled in November that DAOs and their governing members can be sued in cases involving unregistered securities.Magazine: Mystery celeb memecoin scam factory, HK firm dumps Bitcoin: Asia Express
Court says Bitcoin mining host can’t block tenant access to its rigs
A Delaware court has granted a temporary reprieve to a Pennsylvanian Bitcoin mining firm currently in a payment dispute with its hosting company — barring the hosting provider from blocking access and otherwise commandeering the miner’s 21,000 rigs at the property. Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn granted a temporary restraining order on March 12, requested by Bitcoin miner Consensus Colocation and systems owner Stone Ridge Ventures against Mawson Hosting, which provides hosting and colocation services for Bitcoin miners. The firms have been in disagreement over alleged unpaid fees, the terms of their agreement and Consensus’ plan to relocate, allegedly leading to Mawson blocking the miner’s personnel from accessing the site. The firms have also alleged Mawson has been operating the rigs since Feb. 28 for their own gain after preventing Consensus from entering the premises. Mawson, however, claims they are allowed to use the rigs under the terms of its agreement with Consensus, and they have the right of first refusal for its relocation plans. The Bitcoin miner has been seeking injunctive relief to regain control of their equipment and prevent Mawson from using them. As part of the March 12 order, Mawson is barred from using the hashrate from the miners and will no longer be allowed to restrict Consensus’s digital and physical access to the rigs in the Midland, Pennsylvania, facility. A Delaware judge has granted a temporary restraining order barring Mawson Infrastructure Group from using the rigs at the Midland, Pennsylvania, facility. Source: Law360The temporary restraining is in force until the matter can be heard in a preliminary injunction hearing.Mawson Infrastructure Group and Consensus Colocation did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. How the dispute beganIn a March 6 legal complaint, lawyers acting for Consensus accused Mawson of mining Bitcoin (BTC) with their rigs — valued at $30 million — since Feb. 28, generating daily profits of between $100,000 and $200,000 while blocking access to them both physically and through VPN access. Consensus and Stone Ridge signed a colocation agreement with Mawson in December 2023. They agreed to terminate the partnership by the end of March 2025, with a gradual reduction in capacity leading up to the deadline and a removal process scheduled to begin on March 3.Mawson argues that it was owed fees and electricity prepayments for February and March, and its colocation agreement gives it the right to redirect the hashrate of Consensus’ miners and use the proceeds to replenish the deposit.Related: US-Canada tariff flip-flops have Bitcoin miners on their toes“On its face, it was operative only prior to April 1, 2024, and only in narrow circumstances relating to the replenishment of a deposit,” lawyers acting for Consensus said in the suit. “When Mawson began redirecting the hashrate on Feb. 28, the deposit was fully paid. And in any event, Mawson has stolen hashrate worth many times more than the $17,505.45 Mawson claims, without justification, that Consensus owes in purported late fees.”Magazine: Train AI agents to make better predictions… for token rewards
Solana proposal to cut inflation rate by up to 80% fails to pass
Solana, a popular blockchain network, recently faced a major decision regarding its inflation system. The proposal to change the current fixed schedule to a dynamic, market-based model was rejected by stakeholders, but the process itself was hailed as a victory for the network’s governance.
The proposal, known as SIMD-228, aimed to reduce Solana’s inflation rate by up to 80%. Currently, the network’s inflation begins at 8% annually and decreases by 15% each year until it reaches 1.5%. The new system would have adjusted inflation based on staking participation, potentially stabilizing the network and minimizing unnecessary token issuance.
However, the proposal failed to pass with only 43.6% of participating votes in favor, falling short of the required 66.67% approval. Despite this, Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain commented that it was a major victory for the Solana ecosystem and its governance process. He also noted that this was the biggest crypto governance vote ever, with a high turnout of participants and market cap.
The rejection of the proposal may have been a disappointment for some, but it also highlights the strength of Solana’s governance process. The network was able to handle a significant decision with a wide range of opinions and interests, showcasing its resilience and maturity.
The proposed changes to the inflation system were aimed at increasing network security, encouraging more active use of SOL in DeFi, and reacting to real-time staking levels. However, concerns were raised about the potential impact on smaller validators and the complexity of the new model.
Despite the rejection of the proposal, Solana’s prices remained relatively stable, with a slight dip of 1.5% on the day. However, the network has seen a significant drop in prices and revenue in recent months, partly due to the burst of the memecoin bubble.
In conclusion, while the proposal to change Solana’s inflation system may have failed, the network’s governance process has proven to be robust and effective. This decision serves as a reminder of the importance of community involvement and collaboration in the development and growth of blockchain networks.
Democrat lawmaker urges Treasury to cease Trump’s Bitcoin reserve plans
A Democratic lawmaker has recently called on the US Treasury to halt its plans of creating a strategic cryptocurrency reserve in the country. Representative Gerald E. Connolly of Michigan has criticized the proposed reserve, stating that it would not benefit the American people and would instead enrich President Donald Trump and his donors.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Connolly expressed concerns about the conflicts of interest between Trump and the reserve, as well as the lack of consultation with Congress and potential waste of taxpayer dollars. He also pointed out that the Federal Reserve has described the idea as “the dumbest ever.”
The proposed reserve, which has been referred to as both the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the Digital Asset Stockpile, has faced criticism for its potential to favor certain cryptocurrencies over others and for its lack of transparency.
Connolly also raised concerns about Trump’s ownership of the crypto platform World Liberty Financial and the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, which he referred to as a “money grab” that has allowed Trump-linked entities to profit from trading fees.
The Democrat’s letter also questioned whether the Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, which Bessent serves on, has reviewed financial disclosures from administration officials, including Elon Musk.
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve would initially use cryptocurrency forfeited in federal criminal or civil cases, while the Digital Asset Stockpile would consist of other cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Solana, Cardano, and Ether.
Overall, Connolly’s letter highlights the concerns and controversies surrounding the proposed cryptocurrency reserve and calls for more transparency and accountability in its creation and management.
Ethereum pushes back Pectra upgrade to conduct third testnet ‘Hoodi’
Ethereum core developers have decided to create a third testnet, Hoodi, to better prepare for the Pectra upgrade, which has now been delayed until at least late April after the first two testnets encountered several bugs.The Hoodi testnet will launch on March 17 and the Pectra upgrade for it will be activated on March 26, Ethereum Foundation developer Tim Beiko said following the Ethereum All Core Dev Call on March 13.If Pectra runs smoothly on Hoodi without major issues, core developers could set a mainnet launch date for Pectra as soon as 30 days after Hoodi’s activation, Beiko said.That would mean Pectra could go live on Ethereum mainnet as early as April 25.Tim Beiko’s latest announcement on the Pectra upgrade: Ethereum MagiciansPectra, which combines features from the Prague and Electra proposals, will implement over 10 Ethereum Improvement Proposals mostly aimed at bringing more functionality to Ethereum wallets and improving user experience.It will also include scaling proposals to double the blob count for data availability from three to six.Pectra was initially slated to launch on Ethereum mainnet in late 2024 but has faced repeated delays due to client readiness issues and synchronization bugs in the first two Ethereum testnets, Holesky and Sepolia.Pectra was rolled out on Sepolia on March 5, but soon after, Ethereum developers started seeing error messages on their geth nodes and empty blocks being mined.Galaxy Digital vice president of research Christine Kim said Hoodi would look to “mimic” the Ethereum mainnet as closely as possible by launching a validator set similar to how mainnet currently operates.That would see at least 20 million test staked-Ether (ETH) distributed across 11 client teams and five staking operators.Source: Christine KimBeiko noted that aspects of Pectra may still be tested on Sepolia and Holesky.Related: Ethereum average gas fees drop 95% one year after the Dencun upgradeThe third testnet comes as Ethereum core developers agreed to deploy future Ethereum protocol upgrades at a faster cadence during an “All Core Devs” meeting on Feb. 13.Crypto-focused venture capital firm Paradigm also called on Ethereum core developers to ship faster protocol updates to achieve more milestones on its technical roadmap and maintain its competitive edge as a leading layer 1 blockchain.Magazine: MegaETH launch could save Ethereum… but at what cost
Vermont follows SEC’s lead, drops staking legal action against Coinbase
US state Vermont has dropped its “show cause order” against crypto exchange Coinbase for allegedly offering unregistered securities to users through a staking service.Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation said in a March 13 order that in light of the US Securities and Exchange Commission tossing out its case on Feb. 28, it would follow suit and rescind its action against Coinbase without prejudice.“The SEC has announced the formation of a new task force to, among other things, provide guidance for the promulgation of rules regarding the regulation of cryptocurrency products and services,” the department said.Vermont’s financial regulator has decided to drop its legal action against Coinbase. Source: Vermont’s Department of Financial Regulation“In light of the dismissal of the Federal Action and likelihood of new federal regulatory guidance, the Division believes it would be most efficient and in the best interests of justice to rescind the pending Show Cause Order, without prejudice.”On the same day the SEC filed its lawsuit in June 2023, the US states of Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin said they were launching legal proceedings against Coinbase.The show cause order asserted that Coinbase was violating securities laws by offering staking to its users without a license and demanded the exchange provide a reason why the courts shouldn’t hit them with an order directing them to halt the service. Now that Vermont has opted out, Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal said in a March 13 statement to X that the other states with staking actions should take a “page from Vermont’s playbook.”Source: Paul Grewal“As we have always said: staking services are not securities. We applaud Vermont for embracing progress and providing clarity for its citizens who own digital assets,” he said.“Our work isn’t over. Congress must seize the bipartisan momentum we’re seeing across the House and Senate to pass comprehensive legislation that takes into account the novel features of digital assets, such as staking,” he added.Related: YouTuber says SEC will recommend dropping lawsuit over 2018 token ICOA growing number of firms facing legal action from the SEC have had their cases dismissed in the wake of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who took a hardline stance toward crypto, resigning on Jan. 20.Crypto trading firm Cumberland DRW was among the latest to have its case dropped on March 4, while the regulator is reportedly wrapping up its enforcement action against Ripple Labs after more than four years.Grewal has also launched a request under the Freedom of Information Act to find out how many enforcement actions were brought against crypto firms under Gensler’s tenure between April 17, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2025, and the cost to the taxpayer. Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
DOGE proposes slashing Internal Revenue Service staff by 20%
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is reportedly proposing cutting the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) workforce by 20% in a change expected to take effect by May 15, 2025.According to CNN, the cuts would impact an estimated 6,800 employees at the government agency, in addition to the 6,700 probationary employees who have already been let go and 4,700 IRS agents who were given severance packages to retire.However, a recent ruling from US district judge William Alsup ordering federal agencies to reinstate probationary workers terminated due to the DOGE cost-cutting programs could hinder the layoffs if the order is not overturned.President Trump has promised comprehensive tax reform in the United States, including potentially eliminating the federal income tax and funding the federal government exclusively through tariffs on foreign goods.President Trump discussing his policy proposals with reporters inside the Oval Office. Source: The White HouseRelated: Crypto taxes, DOGE, Trump and avoiding an IRS audit: Taxbit exec spills the teaDOGE pursues cost-cutting and efficiency strategiesThe Department of Government Efficiency, headed by businessman Elon Musk, is exploring methods to reduce the $36 trillion US national debt by substantially reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy and introducing cost-cutting measures.One of the more unique measures proposed included putting all public spending onchain to reduce deficits and ensure transparency.On Feb. 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it was cutting its regional office directors to comply with the Trump administration’s cost-saving directives.However, under the reorganization plan, the regional offices, which are spread out across major US cities, would stay open, and the SEC recently submitted its 2025 budget proposal to Congress requesting $2.6 billion.The US national debt has exploded to over $36 trillion. Source: US Debt ClockPresident Trump and Elon Musk have considered passing on 20% of the DOGE savings to Americans in a stimulus check or potential tax credits.Research from accounting automation company Dancing Numbers argued that Trump’s plan to eliminate federal income tax could save the average American $134,809 in taxes throughout their lives.The company added that these lifetime tax savings could extend to as much as $325,561 per person if other wage-based taxes at the state level are also repealed.Despite this, not everyone is convinced by DOGE’s cost-cutting tactics, including US Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is highly critical of Elon Musk, Trump, and DOGE.In January 2025, the Massachusetts Senator sent a letter to the DOGE proposing increasing taxes and federal spending to make the government more efficient.Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
Solana CME futures tip impending US ETF approvals — Exec
The upcoming launch of Solana (SOL) futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), a US derivatives exchange, signals that the first US SOL exchange-traded fund (ETF) listings are coming soon, Chris Chung, founder of Solana-based swap platform Titan, told Cointelegraph. On March 17, CME is preparing to launch SOL futures contracts. They will be among the first regulated Solana futures to hit the US market after Coinbase’s launched in February. The listing “paves the way for the eventual approval of SOL ETFs,” Chung told Cointelegraph.Chung said he expects the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve asset managers VanEck and Canary Capital’s proposed spot Solana ETFs as soon as May.The existence of regulated Solana futures “signals to regulators that Solana is maturing as an asset, making it easier for them to greenlight additional financial products of similar risk and type,” Chung said. Futures contracts are standardized agreements to buy or sell an underlying asset at a future date. They play a crucial supporting role for spot cryptocurrency ETFs because regulated futures markets provide a stable benchmark for measuring a digital asset’s performance.CME already lists futures contracts for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). US regulators approved ETFs for both of those cryptocurrencies last year. CME already lists crypto futures, including Bitcoin contracts. Source: CMERelated: CME Group reports record crypto volumes for Q4Beyond memecoinsAdditionally, Solana futures and ETFs will help expand Solana’s growth story beyond memecoins, which were central to the blockchain network’s success in 2024, Chung said.These products “will bring more serious, sticky capital and pave the way for the development of other real-world use cases, such as payments and remittances,” according to Chung. Those use cases are “[f]ar more boring than memecoins, perhaps, but a reliable source of long-term revenue that will buoy Solana’s price in the next bear market.”Memecoin trading, largely tied to the popular Pump.fun platform, comprises roughly 80% of the Solana blockchain network’s revenues, according to asset manager VanEck.However, activity on the Solana network declined in February after a series of memecoin-related scandals soured sentiment among retail traders. Solana vs. Ethereum price chart. Source: TradingViewRivaling EthereumStill, cryptocurrency trading volumes on Solana continue to rival those of the entire Ethereum ecosystem, including its layer-2 scaling chains, VanEck said on March 6. Chung said he expects Solana ETFs to take off among retail investors, partly because of the challenges facing rival smart contract platform Ethereum. Solana’s native SOL token has performed about twice as well as Ether since early 2024, according to TradingView. Ethereum’s spot price has struggled since March 2024, when the network’s Dencun upgrade cut transaction fees by approximately 95%. “With the extremely weak price action we’re seeing in ETH, Solana is now the only option for retail investors wanting to get exposure to crypto beyond Bitcoin, but not willing to go full degen,” Chung said.Bloomberg Intelligence has set the odds of the SEC approving spot Solana and Litecoin ETFs at 70%. Magazine: What Solana’s critics get right… and what they get wrong