The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced criminal charges against five defendants for allegedly using a phishing scheme to access the confidential data of media and technology companies in order to steal $11 million worth of crypto from digital wallets. According to court documents, from at least September 2021 to April 2023, the defendants conducted phishing attacks by sending mass SMS text messages to mobile phones of numerous victim companies' employees, messages that purported to be from the victim company or a contracted IT or business services supplier of the victim company. The defendants then used the stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access to accounts in order to steal confidential information.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan allowed tech expert Gary Wang to avoid jail time for his role in the FTX fraud, crediting his limited role in the scheme and quick decision to cooperate. Judge Kaplan ordered Wang to be supervised for three years and to forfeit along with his co-defendants over $11 billion. Judge Kaplan noted that Wang testified at trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, stating that Wang "immediately did the right thing."

The SEC has postponed its decision on Franklin Templeton’s proposed crypto index exchange-traded fund (ETF), pushing its decision to January 6, 2025. Franklin Templeton initially filed its application for a crypto index ETF in August 2024, joining several other firms vying to launch such products in the US. Currently, 11 spot BTC ETFs and eight spot ETH ETFs are actively trading in the market.

The SEC announced that it is sending out more than $4.6 million to investors harmed by BitClave’s unregistered initial coin offering. In 2020, the SEC, under former Chair Jay Clayton, sued BitClave, alleging that the sale of its Consumer Activity Token (CAT) violated federal securities laws. BitClave settled the charges without admitting any wrongdoing, and agreed to forfeit the entirety of the money it raised in 2017, in addition to another $4 million in interest and penalties. BitClave also agreed to destroy all uncirculated CAT and request that all exchanges delist it.

Rep. John Rose (R-TN) led a letter with four other House Financial Services Committee Republicans to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, expressing concerns regarding Prometheum’s “soft-launch” of custody services for ETH. The lawmakers argue that "By allowing Prometheum to continue to falsely state or suggest that ETH is a security or has been sold as part of an investment contract and can be custodied by a registered [special purpose broker-dealer] SPBD, the SEC and FINRA are complicit in perpetuating confusion and uncertainty in the marketplace, which ultimately harms market participants and consumers." Other letter signatories include Reps. French Hill (R-AR), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), William Timmons (R-SC), and Mike Flood (R-NE).

The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to conduct oversight of prudential regulators, with testimony from Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr, FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg, National Credit Union Administration Chair Todd Harper, and Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu. Multiple lawmakers focused their questions on digital assets, including Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), who criticized the regulators’ anti-crypto stance, and Rep. French Hill (R-AR), who discussed Operation Choke Point 2.0.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is reportedly circulating a revised text of her digital assets proposal to lawmakers, in an eleventh-hour push to strike a deal on crypto legislation before Republicans take power next year. Stabenow, who is retiring in January, acknowledged that "time is running out," and noted that she would need the support of Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR). The Agriculture Committee has jurisdiction over only half of the digital asset debate, commodities and CFTC functions, while the Senate Banking Committee holds jurisdictional authority over Treasury and the SEC. Stabenow's push is unlikely to result in any notable movement, as Republicans have their sights set on next year when they will have unified control over both chambers of Congress and the White House.

Damian Williams, who has served as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York since 2021 and led efforts to prosecute Sam Bankman-Fried and others in the crypto industry, has privately told people that he will step down before President-elect Trump is inaugurated in January. Trump announced last week that he would tap former SEC Chair Jay Clayton to succeed Williams. The preemptive move will see Williams depart the office on his own terms while Deputy US Attorney Ed Kim temporarily steps into the role.

US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein issued an opinion and order finding that Gemini made alleged misrepresentations to the CFTC about its plan to offer BTC futures contracts, but noted that a jury will have to decide if the statements were materially false or misleading. The finding came in an opinion denying the CFTC's motion for partial summary judgment, "except as to the issue of whether Gemini was the maker of the alleged misrepresentations." However, Judge Hellerstein stated that a jury should decide which statements were materially false or misleading and which were not.