Binance has filed a motion to dismiss a $1.76 billion lawsuit brought by the FTX estate, accusing the defunct crypto exchange of trying to deflect blame for its own failure.

Filed on May 16 in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court, Binance’s legal team called the suit “legally deficient,” stating that FTX’s collapse was not triggered by market manipulation or hostile action but by internal misconduct.

“Plaintiffs are pretending that FTX did not collapse as the result of one of the most massive corporate frauds in history,” the filing said, pointing to Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried’s conviction on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.

FTX’s estate alleges that Binance received billions in crypto during a 2021 buyback deal, funded improperly with customer assets.

Binance rejects this claim, stating that “FTX remained a going concern for 16 months” after the share repurchase and that there was “no plausible claim” the exchange was insolvent at the time.

Related: Binance wants arbitration for all members of securities class suit

Zhao’s tweet and FTT crash

The lawsuit also accuses former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao of triggering a collapse through a tweet on Nov. 6, 2022 announcing the liquidation of FTT tokens.

In response, Binance argued that Zhao’s tweet was based on publicly known concerns. “Binance’s decision to liquidate its remaining FTT was, in fact, ‘due to recent revelations ’— in particular, the Nov. 2, 2022, CoinDesk article” that exposed Alameda Research’s balance sheet.

The company further defended Zhao’s comment that Binance would aim to minimize market impact. “The Complaint contains no such facts” to prove Binance had no intention of following through.

In challenging the court’s jurisdiction, Binance said none of the foreign entities named “are incorporated in or maintain their principal place of business in the United States,” and thus fall outside the court’s reach.

The filing also criticizes the plaintiff’s narrative as “a grab bag of state law claims” based on “pure conjecture — much of it sourced from a convicted fraudster’s hindsight speculation.”

Binance has asked the court to dismiss all claims with prejudice. The FTX estate has not yet filed its response.

Related: FTX EU creditors can now withdraw money from Backpack exchange

FTX to disburse $5 billion in second round of creditor repayments

FTX is set to begin its second round of repayments to creditors more than two years after filing for bankruptcy.

In a May 15 notice, the FTX Recovery Trust announced that over $5 billion will be distributed starting May 30 through BitGo and Kraken, targeting parties in the second eligible group under the exchange’s reorganization plan.

According to the plan, five creditor groups categorized as “convenience classes” are expected to receive between 54% and 120% of their claims. In total, FTX may repay up to $16 billion, depending on the final number of valid claims.

Magazine: Father-son team lists Africa’s XRP Healthcare on Canadian stock exchange

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/binance-seeks-to-dismiss-1-76b-ftx-lawsuit-blames-sbf-for-collapse/feed/ 0 37273 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/tron-blames-social-engineering-attack-to-hacked-x-account/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/tron-blames-social-engineering-attack-to-hacked-x-account/#respond Mon, 05 May 2025 01:04:56 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/tron-blames-social-engineering-attack-to-hacked-x-account/

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TRON’s official X account was compromised on May 2, and the team has now confirmed that the attack was due to a social engineering attack. The hackers utilized the account to advertise a contract address and allegedly sent direct messages to users and followed suspicious accounts before TRON took back control.

As reported by TRON DAO, any direct message posted by its X account on May 2 must be disregarded. Users were also instructed to remove any direct message from the same day since this was included in the hacker’s plan to distribute malicious information and engage with unsuspecting users.

Attack Linked To Team Member’s Compromised Account

TRON DAO announced that the attack began with one of its team members becoming a victim of social engineering hack. After the hackers gained access to the team member’s account, they were then able to take control of the blockchain’s master X account. Even after the recovery of access by TRON, the attackers kept contacting others using the hijacked personal account.

We’re aware that our X account was compromised from 9:25 AM PST on May 2, 2025. During this time, an unauthorized party published a post containing a contract address (CA), sent direct messages (DMs), and followed various accounts unknown to us.

Please be reminded: TRON DAO will…

— TRON DAO (@trondao) May 3, 2025

TRON reported that it is currently examining the incident and has identified several X and Telegram addresses of the hackers. The team confirmed that law enforcement officials have been contacted and are now engaged with the case.

TRX market cap currently at $24.4 billion. Chart: TradingView.com

Dispute Between Sun And OKX Over Freeze Request

TRON founder Justin Sun requested that OKX freeze a wallet that was associated with the hack. In a deleted tweet, Sun stated that funds stolen in the hack had been transferred to the exchange and alleged that law enforcement had already sent a freeze notice to OKX’s official channel.

Dear Mr H.E. Justin Sun, we are still waiting for enforcement request document. Thanks for deleting all confusing public communications! https://t.co/JfcFwVKbxT

— Star (@star_okx) May 3, 2025

But OKX CEO Star Xu reacted in public, dismissing that the exchange had received any formal request. He claimed that the legal team of the company scanned all post-mail, including spam folders, and could not find anything.

Image: TRON DAO YouTube channel screenshot

Xu then challenged Sun to produce evidence by posting a screenshot of the request. This public exchange might have compelled Sun to delete his initial post.

TRON Pushes On With Kant Upgrade

In spite of the incident, TRON has been busy on the development front. The network recently rolled out a new version of its Kant mainnet upgrade. The update features a redesign of its contract event system and enhanced API and node performance. These improvements are anticipated to enhance the way the blockchain interacts with Ethereum and make it more secure and efficient in the background.

Though these changes likely won’t go unnoticed by general users, TRON explained that they’re key to long-term development. They said their aim is to enable larger-sized operations and the network to become more robust as a settlement framework.

Featured image from Advance Innovations, chart from TradingView

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US President Donald Trump’s administration may be shelving plans for a formal “Crypto Council” in favor of a series of informal summits featuring a rotating cast of industry leaders. The change, first reported by Unchained Crypto on February 13, is thought to reflect both strategic policy considerations and an attempt to defuse growing internal tensions across the digital asset industry.

Crypto Council On Ice, Summits In Play

According to Unchained, three anonymous sources familiar with the administration’s decision-making process revealed that these proposed summits would likely tackle distinct policy issues, ranging from banking and payments to data centers and Bitcoin (BTC) mining.

In a portion of its report, Unchained stated: “The Trump administration may not launch a formal ‘crypto council’ after all. Instead, the White House will likely gather a rotating group of crypto leaders for a series of ‘summits’ on specific crypto policy issues, according to three sources familiar with the decision-making process.”

It remains unclear how many summits the White House is considering or exactly when they would take place. Two of the sources told Unchained Crypto that industry trade associations have been weighing in on potential formats and discussion topics.

The prospect of these ad hoc summits appears to stem from the Trump team’s desire to steer clear of power struggles within the broad crypto ecosystem. Industry players have increasingly splintered into factions, including “Bitcoin maximalists,” proponents of decentralized finance (DeFi), backers of centralized exchanges, and others with differing visions of integration with traditional finance.

Many in the digital asset space had previously expected the launch of a “presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets (the ‘Crypto Council’).” That expectation was fueled by a December post from President Trump on Truth Social in which he described plans for an advisory group “composed of luminaries from the Crypto industry.”

Under the initial proposal, Crypto and AI Czar David Sacks would serve as chair, and former congressional candidate Bo Hines would act as executive director. While Hines has kept a low profile since December, one unnamed source told Unchained that he has been meeting with lawmakers and lobbyists in Washington to assess alternatives. According to this same source, the summits could be explained to the public as “a no-brainer way to have America’s brightest minds weigh in on their areas of expertise.”

Not everyone sees the pivot as a purely strategic move. In Unchained’s coverage, one unnamed individual expressed skepticism: The summits might be “purely a way to avoid conflict” and could allow Trump to gather insider information “he could use to make money for himself.” Another source described Trump’s personal crypto ventures, including the TRUMP memecoin and involvement in World Liberty Financial, as “an embarrassment.”

Just last week, The New York Post leaked several potential candidates for the Trump administration’s Crypto Council. Among them were former Kraken general counsel Marco Santori, Ripple co-founder Brad Garlinghouse, podcast host Frank Chaparro, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek.

Is Ripple To Blame?

Fueling rumors further, Andrew Parish (@AP_Abacus), founder of x3, shared what he claimed was a statement from an alleged insider. Parish’s posted on X: “Should be obvious at this point. And sources confirming late last night: ‘Ripple pressed too hard, no chance XRP makes it into any fed level reserve,” and ‘Focus remains on Bitcoin and best path to an SBR […] ‘SBR isn’t simple, will take time; have to avoid law of unintended consequences […] Trump is smart, trusts Bitcoin first thesis.’”

These remarks suggest that Ripple’s lobbying—or perceived overreach—might be pushing the Trump administration away from giving Ripple a prominent role in government-level discussions. However, Parish’s posts are based on anonymous sources and remain unverified.

Several prominent figures in the Bitcoin community have offered their take on the rumored developments. Julian Fahrer, co-founder of Apollo, stated via X: “Trump is considering abandoning the Crypto Council. Not surprising. Imagine what Ripple’s contribution has been so far: ‘Here’s our plan for dumping XRP on the American people in perpetuity.’ Shocking that this brain trust isn’t working out!”

Meanwhile, Steven Lubka, Head of Swan Private, also posted on X: “Ripples posturing may have nuked the entire crypto council with Trump leading towards summits instead.”

At press time, XRP traded at $2.54.

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com