President Trump’s CFTC chair nominee Brian Quintenz alleged that Tyler Winklevoss attempted to derail his confirmation after Quintenz refused to promise favorable treatment regarding the exchange’s past litigation with the commission.

According to private text messages released by Quintenz on Sept. 10, Winklevoss shared Gemini’s 13-page complaint against the CFTC Inspector General in a July 2025 exchange.

He claimed the agency pursued “dubious false statements charges” and “selectively and unfairly weaponized” enforcement against the company.

Winklevoss described seven years of “lawfare trophy hunting” by the commission in the leaked messages.

Transparency claims

Winklevoss questioned why the CFTC sued Gemini rather than “parties that defrauded us of $10mil” or CBOE. He also questioned why the commission continued pursuing Gemini “after it knew its investigation was started based on a false whistleblower.”

Quintenz consistently refused to make specific commitments, stating that “any decision or response to your complaint should be made by and given the full weight of the confirmed chair.”

He committed only to addressing matters “fully and fairly if and when I am confirmed,” while emphasizing the importance of proper process.

Winklevoss then expressed disappointment that Quintenz hadn’t reviewed their complaint despite previous discussions.

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Additionally, the Gemini co-founder stressed that “cultural reform, which includes rectifying what happened to us, should be the highest priority” and urged Quintenz to align with President Donald Trump’s mandate to end regulatory warfare.

Quintenz explained his approach of waiting for confirmation before forming judgments. He added that he decided “to wait until I can get into the role to get that view as opposed to trying to get it now through current leadership.”

He described having “a very poor experience with that on every important issue or decision so far” when dealing with existing commission staff.

The message release comes two days before Gemini’s planned IPO on Sept. 12.

Quintenz claimed that Winklevoss contacted Trump in an effort to pause his confirmation for undisclosed reasons following their exchange.

He added that he disclosed the discussions with Winklevoss to protect the President from misinformation and demonstrate his commitment to transparency over personal advancement.

Mentioned in this article

Harvard Management Co. (HMC) reported a position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) worth $116,666,260.

According to a Form 13F filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 8, HMC had 1,906,000 shares of IBIT as of June 30.

Based on the values shown on the same page, the Bitcoin allocation represents roughly 8% of the filing’s reported portfolio worth over $1.4 billion, placing it in the same tier as several of Harvard’s largest US-listed holdings.

Notably, HMC now holds more Bitcoin than gold, as its shares of SPDR Gold Trust were priced at approximately $102 million at the end of the second quarter.

The portfolio snapshot is notably selective and concentrated in mega-cap names. Microsoft appears at about $310 million, Amazon near $235 million, Booking Holdings around $182 million, Meta roughly $120 million, Alphabet close to $114 million, and Nvidia about $104 million.

The filing offers the clearest on-the-record sign yet of Harvard’s progression from exploratory crypto exposure to a visible, sized allocation within its US-reportable assets. 

Harvard has reportedly engaged with digital assets over multiple years. The institution was among the early university investors allocating to crypto-focused venture funds in 2018.

Furthermore, a 2019 SEC filing for Blockstack’s qualified token sale documented purchases of Stacks (STX) tied to a fund whose limited partners included Harvard affiliates. Lastly, reports from 2021 2021 indicated Harvard had been buying crypto directly through exchange accounts. 

The IBIT stake formalizes that arc by placing spot Bitcoin exposure in the same table as Harvard’s blue-chip equities and gold.

Form 13F covers only specific US-listed securities and does not represent Harvard’s entire portfolio, but the composition is instructive. 

By adding IBIT at roughly 8% of reported holdings, Harvard has elevated Bitcoin to a core component of its public-markets book for this quarter.

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Pi-hole, a popular network-level ad-blocker, has disclosed that donor names and email addresses were exposed through a security vulnerability in the GiveWP WordPress donation plugin.

Pi-hole acts as a DNS sinkhole, filtering out unwanted content before it reaches the users’ devices. While initially designed to run on Raspberry Pi single-board computers, it now supports various Linux systems on dedicated hardware or virtual machines.

The organization stated that they first learned of the incident on Monday, July 28, after donors began reporting that they were receiving suspicious emails at addresses used exclusively for donations.

As explained in a Friday post-mortem, the breach affected users who donated through the Pi-hole website’s donation form to support development, exposing personal information that was visible to anyone who viewed the webpage’s source code due to a GiveWP security flaw.

The vulnerability stemmed from GiveWP, a WordPress plugin used to process donations on the Pi-hole website. The plugin inadvertently made donor information publicly accessible without requiring authentication or special access privileges.

While Pi-hole didn’t disclose the number of affected customers, the ‘Have I Been Pwned’ data breach notification service added the Pi-hole breach, saying that it impacted almost 30,000 donors, with 73% of the exposed records already in its database.

No financial information exposed

Pi-hole added that no donor financial data was compromised, as credit card information and other payment details are handled directly by Stripe and PayPal. It also clarified that the Pi-hole software product itself was not affected in any way.

“We make it clear in the donation form that we don’t even require a valid name or email address, it’s purely for users to see and manage their donations,” Pi-hole said. “It is also important to note that Pi-hole the product is categorically not the subject of this breach. There is no action needed from users with a Pi-hole installed on their network.”

Although GiveWP released a patch within hours of the vulnerability being reported on GitHub, Pi-hole criticized the plugin developer’s response, citing a 17.5-hour delay before notifying users and what it described as insufficient acknowledgment of the security flaw’s potential impact on donor names and email addresses.

Pi-hole apologized to affected donors and acknowledged potential reputation damage stemming from this security incident, saying that while the vulnerability was unforeseeable, they accept accountability for the resulting data breach.

“The names and email addresses of anyone that had ever donated via our donation page was there for the entire world to see (provided they were savvy enough to right click->View page source). Within a couple of hours of this report, they had patched the bad code and released 4.6.1,” Pi-hole added in a blog post analyzing the incident.

“We take full responsibility for the software we deploy. We placed our trust in a widely-used plugin, and that trust was broken.”

Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, revealed it has amassed roughly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and related digital assets, expanding on an investment strategy disclosed earlier this year.

The company’s July 21 filing comes days after the U.S. House of Representatives advanced a trio of crypto bills, including a stablecoin framework signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The media firm said it began acquiring Bitcoin using proceeds from $2.5 billion in recent fundraising, including $1.5 billion in equity sales and $1 billion in bond offerings.

The disclosure signals a more assertive approach by Trump-aligned businesses in capitalizing on favorable crypto policy momentum. The firm stated that it may continue purchasing Bitcoin and similar assets depending on broader market conditions.

The announcement followed what Republicans dubbed “crypto week” in Congress. While the new law establishes rules for U.S. dollar-pegged digital tokens, additional proposals covering crypto trading infrastructure and central bank-issued digital currencies await Senate review.

Bitcoin briefly traded above $123,000 earlier in the week before retreating to about $116,600 as of press time. The token’s recent rally has been accompanied by increased activity in digital assets tied to Trump’s personal brand.

World Liberty Financial, a stablecoin platform with connections to the Trump family, saw its governance token WLFI more than double in value over the past week following a vote enabling secondary market trading.

Trump issued the landmark executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, a federal stockpile of digital assets, in March.

While early analysis suggested the reserve might consist of crypto seized by law enforcement, recent statements from senior officials have hinted at broader approaches, including monetizing dormant government-held assets.

With legislative backing and market signals aligning, the media firm’s Bitcoin bet reflects a broader push from Trump-linked entities to position themselves at the forefront of the digital asset economy.

Mentioned in this article

President Donald Trump has reportedly pocketed tens of millions of dollars in income from World Liberty Financial (WLFI), his family-backed decentralized-finance platform.

According to a new report from the New York Post, records released by the Office of Government Ethics show that Trump’s stake in WLFI raked in just over $57.3 million for him, one of his largest sources of income in the past year.

WLFI, which was launched last year, was co-founded by Trump’s three sons – Donald Jr., Eric and Barron –  and others as a response to what they say is the growing politicization of the banking system. Previously, Donald Trump Jr. said that his family was debanked after getting into politics and described the banking system as a “pyramid scheme.”

“There was a time… where I could call any single banker in New York City, they’d pick up the phone [and] I’d be able to get a loan for whatever real estate project I was doing across the street. Then we got into politics, and all of a sudden, they wouldn’t take your call. You couldn’t get financing. We were debanked.”

The disclosure reports that Trump’s personal crypto wallet is valued at between $1,000,001 and $5 million while listing millions of dollars worth of royalty payments he received for selling items with his name and likeness.

Some of the President’s noteworthy liabilities include $100 million worth of mortgage loans for various properties, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of lawsuits and tens of thousands of dollars worth of credit card bills.

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US President Donald Trump has disclosed $57.4 million in income from his involvement with World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture he backs alongside his sons Donald Jr. and Eric.

The details emerged in Trump’s 2025 public financial disclosure, filed with the US Office of Government Ethics on June 13. The filing reveals that Trump holds 15.75 billion governance tokens in World Liberty Financial, which also grants him voting rights.

While the document does not elaborate on the precise structure or market value of the governance tokens, the substantial reported income suggests that Trump has monetized some portion of the position or that the tokens were valued for disclosure at a high internal rate.

The filing simply states the income as “$57,437,927” without detailing whether the gain was realized through token sales, staking rewards, or other mechanisms.

Related: Trump Media’s Bitcoin treasury registration ‘declared effective’ by SEC

World Liberty Financial raises $550 million

World Liberty Financial raised $200 million in its first round of public token sale and another $250 million in the second token sale, bringing total fundraising to approximately $550 million, the firm disclosed in March.

The project launched in September 2024 with a focus on DeFi and dollar-pegged stablecoins, presenting itself as a challenger to the traditional financial system.

Major crypto investors have also bought in. Tron founder Justin Sun invested $30 million in November 2024, receiving 2 billion WLFI tokens at the early price of $0.015.

Web3Port followed with a $10 million investment in January, while Oddiyana Ventures also joined as a strategic investor, though the amount was not disclosed.

Related: Trump addresses Coinbase summit to discuss crypto plans

Trump’s broader digital asset footprint

Notably, Trump’s disclosure also reflects his broader digital asset footprint. In past filings, he revealed revenue from NFT-based ventures such as the Trump Digital Trading Cards collection. The latest filing shows no new NFT income.

According to the form, Trump maintains roles in various holding companies tied to digital ventures, including CIC Digital LLC and CIC Ventures LLC, although income from those entities is minimal or inactive.

The ethics filing includes the President’s certification that the information is “true, complete, and correct to the best of [his] knowledge” and is subject to review by the Office of Government Ethics.

Magazine: China threatened by US stablecoins, G7 urged to tackle Lazarus Group: Asia Express

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/trump-discloses-57m-crypto-windfall-from-world-liberty-financial/feed/ 0 41953 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/ivy-league-us-college-brown-discloses-4-9-million-exposure-to-bitcoin-via-blackrocks-ibit-etf/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/ivy-league-us-college-brown-discloses-4-9-million-exposure-to-bitcoin-via-blackrocks-ibit-etf/#respond Sat, 03 May 2025 05:23:32 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/ivy-league-us-college-brown-discloses-4-9-million-exposure-to-bitcoin-via-blackrocks-ibit-etf/

Facebook is warning that a FreeType vulnerability in all versions up to 2.13 can lead to arbitrary code execution, with reports that the flaw has been exploited in attacks.

FreeType is a popular open-source font rendering library used to display text and programmatically add text to images. It provides functionality to load, rasterize, and render fonts in various formats, such as TrueType (TTF), OpenType (OTF), and others.

The library is installed in millions of systems and services, including Linux, Android, game engines, GUI frameworks, and online platforms.

The vulnerability, tracked under CVE-2025-27363 and given a CVSS v3 severity score of 8.1 (“high”), was fixed in FreeType version 2.13.0 on February 9th, 2023.

Facebook disclosed the flaw yesterday, warning that the vulnerability is exploitable in all versions of FreeType up to version 2.13 and that there are reports of it actively being exploited in attacks.

“An out of bounds write exists in FreeType versions 2.13.0 and below when attempting to parse font subglyph structures related to TrueType GX and variable font files,” reads the bulletin.

“The vulnerable code assigns a signed short value to an unsigned long and then adds a static value causing it to wrap around and allocate too small of a heap buffer.”

“The code then writes up to 6 signed long integers out of bounds relative to this buffer. This may result in arbitrary code execution.”

Facebook may rely on FreeType in some capacity, but it is unclear if the attacks seen by its security team took place on its platform or if they discovered them elsewhere.

Considering the widespread use of FreeType across multiple platforms, software developers and project administrators must upgrade to FreeType 2.13.3 (latest version) as soon as possible.

Although the latest vulnerable version (2.13.0) dates two years, older library versions can persist in software projects for extended periods, making it important to address the flaw as soon as possible.

BleepingComputer asked Meta about the flaw and how it was exploited, and was sent the following statement.

“We report security bugs in open source software when we find them because it strengthens online security for everyone,” Facebook told BleepingComputer.

“We think users expect us to keep working on ways to improve security. We remain vigilant and committed to protecting people’s private communications.”

The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) disclosed holdings of more than $13 million in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) at the end of the fourth quarter, marking another sign of traditional financial institutions increasing their exposure to digital assets.

According to a newly filed disclosure with the SEC, BNY Mellon owns 115,108 shares of WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW), valued at approximately $11.87 million, and 25,309 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), worth about $1.4 million.

Wallstreet warming up to Bitcoin

BNY Mellon’s position in Bitcoin ETFs adds to a growing trend among major Wall Street banks cautiously entering the digital asset space.

JPMorgan Chase, for instance, holds nearly $1 million in Bitcoin ETF shares, while Goldman Sachs reported an exposure of over $2 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF holdings at the end of the fourth quarter.

The SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in early 2024, allowing institutional and retail investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without direct custody of the asset. The move has been widely regarded as a pivotal moment for crypto adoption in traditional finance.

Despite increasing participation through ETF investments, regulatory constraints continue to prevent major banks from directly holding or trading cryptocurrencies.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon reiterated in December that regulatory barriers limit banks from direct crypto ownership, stating that while the firm provides advisory services on digital assets, it is restricted from holding Bitcoin as a principal.

Regulatory stance shifting

Despite the current limitations, regulators are starting to shift their stances under the new US administration. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently reaffirmed that the Fed will not block banks from offering crypto services, provided they manage associated risks.

Speaking before Congress on Feb. 12, he noted that many Fed-regulated banks already engage in crypto under established guidelines but warned against excessive exposure. However, he did not discuss banks potentially investing and holding Bitcoin in their treasuries.

Powell’s comments align with a broader shift toward a pro-crypto stance in Washington. Congress recently advanced bipartisan legislation to establish clearer crypto regulations, while the SEC has about-faced on its enforcement-heavy approach by pausing several lawsuits against major crypto firms.

Additionally, the Treasury has signaled openness to stablecoin oversight, and lawmakers continue pressing for regulatory clarity to prevent innovation from moving offshore.

Mentioned in this article

According to a recent filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund currently holds a significant amount in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund). This purchase came in the final quarter of 2024 after asset management firm BlackRock secured the commercial license to operate in Abu Dhabi last November.

Sovereign Wealth Fund Buys Significant Stake In Largest Bitcoin ETF

On Friday, February 14th, a 13F filing with the SEC revealed that Mubadala Investments purchased $436.9 million of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF shares (with the ticker IBIT). Mubadala Investments is one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, which makes investments on behalf of the Middle Eastern city’s government.

In 2024, the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock — with tens of trillions of dollars under management — disclosed its intentions to expand in the Middle East, focusing on the capital city Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. The recent $437 million purchase of its Bitcoin ETF accentuates BlackRock’s mission to work closely with sovereign wealth funds in the region.

Source: SEC

Interestingly, this latest acquisition is hardly the first time Abu Dhabi’s government — through its various investment entities — would dabble into cryptocurrencies. In 2023, the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company and Marathon Digital revealed plans to launch digital asset mining operations in the capital city.

State Of Wisconsin Investment Board Discloses $321 Million Bitcoin ETF Holdings

Interestingly, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF has also enjoyed a fair share of domestic attention in the United States. On Friday, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board also reported an increased exposure to the premier cryptocurrency through the exchange-traded fund.

According to the filing with the SEC, Wisconsin’s pension fund now holds around $321 million in spot Bitcoin ETFs. This represents an estimated 100% increase from the board’s $164 million BTC ETF holdings (previously reported in May 2024).

As of the last filing, the Wisconsin pension fund held approximately 2.4 million (worth approximately $100 million) shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and 1 million shares (valued at $64 million) of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). However, the latest filing shows that the pension fund has allocated all of its BTC exposure into BlackRock’s exchange-traded fund and no longer holds any shares of GBTC.

It is worth noting that the price of Bitcoin has grown by nearly 70% since May 2024. As of this writing, the premier cryptocurrency is valued at around $97,250, reflecting a mere 1% increase in the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, the Bitcoin price is up by roughly 90% in the past year.

The price of Bitcoin on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView