Summary
TLDR: Closing arguments in Avraham “Avi” Eisenberg’s criminal fraud trial wrapped up, with the jury deliberating overnight and expected to reach a verdict this afternoon. Eisenberg is accused of illegally manipulating markets and stealing $110 million through trades on the DeFi platform Mango Markets. Prosecutors claim he knew he was committing crimes, while the defense argues it was all legal. The case highlights lax KYC rules in crypto trading. Meanwhile, the upcoming halving event for bitcoin miners is causing uncertainty on Wall Street, with analysts debating whether it’s a buying opportunity. In the GameFi sector, Axie Infinity’s NFT format is popular, despite setbacks like a $625 million raid on its token bridge. Sky Mavis’s Ronin network is rebounding with growing on-chain economy and active addresses. WorldCoin plans to launch its own layer-2 chain, and Ivy League students are dropping out to pursue crypto careers.
Key Points
1. Closing arguments in Avraham “Avi” Eisenberg’s criminal fraud trial wrapped yesterday. The jury was given the case around 3:30 pm ET and called it a night after an hour of deliberations. They will resume this morning and a verdict is expected this afternoon.
2. Prosecutors say the 28-year-old crypto trader illegally manipulated markets when he made off with $110 million in October 2022 following a series of trades on DeFi trading platform Mango Markets. Eisenberg has been charged with commodities fraud, commodities manipulation and wire fraud.
3. His defense team said this week that it’s all a big misunderstanding. Eisenberg just made some good trades. Plus, he had $13 million on the line.