The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced that “Mutant Ape Planet” NFT developer Aurelien Michel pled guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution. The Attorney's Office noted that Michel and co-conspirators marketed the NFTs to purchasers by falsely promising them numerous rewards and benefits designed to increase demand for, and the value of, their NFTs. However, Michel and others failed to deliver on these promises and diverted millions of dollars for their personal benefit.

The SEC released its enforcement results for FY 2023, with the agency filing 784 total enforcement actions, and obtaining orders for nearly $5 billion in financial remedies. In the crypto asset space, the SEC highlighted enforcement actions related to fraud schemes, unregistered crypto asset offerings, platforms, and intermediaries, and illegal celebrity touting.

Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) introduced an amendment to H.R. 6322, the End Financing for Hamas and State Sponsors of Terrorism Act, during a House Financial Services Committee markup of 11 bills targeting Iran and Hamas. The amendment would require the Treasury Department to include in its report the total amount Hamas receives in digital assets. The amendment was rejected with all Committee Republicans voting against it, and Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC) called the amendment premature.

FTX filed a lawsuit against Bybit to recover $953 million in assets that Bybit and its affiliates withdrew in the days before FTX collapsed and filed for Chapter 11 protection last November.

A New York federal judge reversed a Utah magistrate judge’s decision to grant bail and ordered SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony to be transferred to the New York district and held there. Karony will be permitted to make another bail motion once in New York, but will be detained there in the meantime.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced a symposium on the tokenization of real-world assets and liabilities, which will be held on February 8, 2024. The symposium will feature multiple panel discussions with thought leaders, academics, community groups, and the banking industry. Topics of focus are set to include the legal foundations for digital asset tokens, tokenization use cases, and risk management and control considerations. Registration is open until January 22, 2024.

On November 13, the IRS held a hearing to discuss the agency’s proposed digital asset broker reporting requirements. Crypto stakeholders and industry participants offered criticisms of the rule, including arguments that the definition of “broker” is too broad, and the original 60-day comment period was too short. Firms including Coinbase, advocacy groups such as the Blockchain Association, as well as individuals presented their views on the proposal from the IRS and Treasury Department. The newly proposed tax rule also received more than 124,000 public comments.

The CFTC is reportedly working on a draft proposal to ensure that more derivatives exchanges keep client funds separate from their corporate cash, to prevent circumstances similar to those of FTX. The draft would expand the scope of existing regulatory defenses to apply to exchanges that let customers trade without going through a brokerage.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) tweeted about the need for a regulatory structure that allows the crypto industry to operate in the US. She also emphasized that "Crypto accounts for < 1% of all illicit finance activity," and the proportion could be even lower with regulations.