Here are some developments in the crypto world over the past few days
Former FTX crypto exchange CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, on October 27, 2023, acknowledged that "a lot of people got hurt" due to the exchange's collapse. He's currently on trial for alleged fraud. The 31-year-old is accused of lying to investors and lenders and stealing money from customers, a report from BBC said.
"We thought we might be able to build the best product on the market," he told his attorneys in his opening questioning. "It turned out basically the opposite of that," BBC News quoted him as saying. "A lot of people got hurt, customers, employees, and the company ended up in bankruptcy," he added.
Bankman-Fried told the Manhattan federal court he made "a number of small mistakes and a number of larger mistakes" while running the now-bankrupt exchange. The biggest mistake, he said, was not having a dedicated risk management team.
Despite the charges, he maintains that he acted in good faith and didn't defraud anyone. The trial is ongoing.
Google is substantially increasing its investment in Anthropic, the creators of Claude AI. The $2 billion investment, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by an Anthropic spokesperson to Decrypt, will be made in two payments of $500 million and another of $1.5 billion.
This $2 billion commitment from Google is a significant step up from the $400 million the global search giant put into Anthropic in February. Last month, e-commerce titan Amazon committed to investing $4 billion in Anthropic.
A Google spokesperson declined to comment on the deal, Decrypt said in its report.
The hefty investment from Google is the latest move in the ongoing AI arms race between Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a partnership worth $3.2 billion with the Australian government to build data centres and provide training in artificial intelligence to Australian citizens. Like Microsoft, Google also invested in the Oceanic country to the tune of $1 billion.
Crypto mining representatives visited Capitol Hill to counter the perception that their operations harm the environment. They argued that crypto mining can stabilize the power grid, utilize renewable energy, and contribute to domestic technology. Their goal was to educate lawmakers
about the positive impact of Bitcoin mining on energy and national security, challenging misconceptions surrounding energy consumption.
"The core message that we're delivering to congressional offices today is that bitcoin mining is helping achieve and advance America's energy security and national security," Coin Desk quoted Perianne Boring, CEO of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, as saying.