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CEO

Layer 1 Self Chain Ousts CEO Amid $50M OTC Scam Allegations

by admin June 23, 2025

Layer-1 blockchain Self Chain announced that it has terminated its CEO Ravindra Kumar after allegations of a $50 million over-the-counter (OTC) scam.

The allegations broke on Friday with claims that Kumar was involved in a string of OTC scams including firms such as Aza Ventures, which published the allegations on Telegram.

Kumar responded at the time by posting: “I’ve been accused of serious wrongdoing, which is completely false. My legal team and I are working on a statement to address this matter. Stay tuned for updates.”

An OTC transaction is one that takes place outside of an exchange in order to avoid slippage on larger transactions. It often involves the buyer, seller and a middleman brokering the deal.

The Self Chain token (SLF), which trades on Binance, is now down by 35.9% in the past week after selling off in relation to the allegations.

“Ravindra Kumar’s role as CEO has been formally terminated,” Self Chain wrote in a Monday tweet. “He will no longer hold any position, responsibility, or association with Self Chain in any capacity going forward.”

No Self Chain founding members have ever been authorized to engage in OTC deals involving $SLF,” it continued. “Any other deals circulating in the market have not been officially approved or sanctioned by the team in any way whatsoever.”

Kumar retweeted Self Chain’s tweet and removed reference to himself as CEO from his profile.

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June 23, 2025 0 comments

Solana Etf ‘'90% Likely This Year,” Says Upexi Ceo &Amp; Cso

Crypto Trends

Solana ETF ‘’90% Likely This Year,” Says Upexi CEO & CSO

by admin June 21, 2025

Upexi is betting big on Solana, and they’re not shy about it. In a recent podcast conversation hosted by The Block’s Tim Copeland, Upexi CEO Allan Marshall and CSO Brian Antolin broke down their entire Solana-driven crypto treasury strategy, while also voicing strong support for the long-anticipated spot Solana ETF.

“We’re excited about this,” said Upexi CEO Allan Marshall when asked about the possibility of a spot Solana ETF. “We’re looking at it squarely as a big positive catalyst.”

Solana ETF in 2025?

The conversation quickly shifted to the timeline for a potential spot Solana ETF approval. Marshall didn’t make a firm prediction but hinted at hurdles.

“I think that the staking revenue is actually causing a little issues,” Marshall explained. “What I heard is that how them figuring out how to stake it is causing a little bit of an issue.”

Upexi’s CSO Brian Antolin was more optimistic. “I’ve seen a lot of ETF experts saying, you know, we’re in the 90% range for getting one this year. There were just some headlines out two days ago basically saying that it could happen this month,” he noted. “So we’re hopeful that it will happen sooner rather than later… but just like Allan said, it’s a bit TBD.”

Upexi’s Solana Treasury Strategy

So why did Upexi dive headfirst into Solana in the first place?

“We added the treasury strategy to our business because, as we watched over the years the value MicroStrategy’s created, we were trying to figure ways to bring Upexi into its next stage,” said Marshall. “When we were looking at raising capital and doing something creative, we decided on some sort of treasury strategy… and then us having to meet with GSR and then Brian—what we learned in that relationship was just the value of how it was created.”

That’s where Antolin stepped in with deeper insights.

“Digital asset treasury companies, when done right, can just create an enormous amount of value and might be the best way to invest in a digital asset for a lot of different investors,” Antolin said.

He went on to explain Upexi’s model by drawing parallels with traditional banking.

“If you think about it, a bank will take a deposit, make a loan—they earn the spread between the yield on the loan and the cost of deposits. We’re the exact same way. We raise funds from the capital markets, we invest in Solana, and then we earn the return between—or the spread between—the return on Solana and our cost of capital.”

But it’s more than just buying and holding.

“As Allan mentioned, we are staking our SOL and we’re turning our treasury into this productive asset rather than letting it sit there idle,” Antolin explained. “We are buying locked SOL at a discount for built-in gains for shareholders.”

Antolin emphasized what he calls a “capital markets flywheel.”

“In my opinion, most of this magic actually emanates from… capital markets arbitrage. When the market awards us a premium to the underlying value of our digital assets, we can actually monetize that for the benefit of shareholders,” he said.

Following MicroStrategy’s Playbook, With a Twist

The comparison to MicroStrategy came up more than once. Antolin made it clear that Upexi is not only following the playbook but trying to improve it.

“We’re just basically employing that same model… and actually trying to improve on it,” he said.

So why should Upexi, and others like it, trade at a premium to their digital asset holdings?

That’s part of what Antolin believes makes this Solana strategy so compelling: it’s not just a bet on price appreciation, but on how financial structure and capital efficiency can create long-term shareholder value.

Also Read: Solana Price Crash: ETF Hopes Fade as SOL Breaks $140 Support

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky Forfeits All Claims to Bankruptcy Proceeds

by admin June 20, 2025

In brief

Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky and three related entities waived rights to bankruptcy distributions from the defunct crypto lender.
The move allows Celsius to distribute funds previously tied up by competing claims.
Celsius has already paid out over $2.5 billion to creditors this year.

Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky has agreed to forfeit all claims to the bankrupt crypto lender’s assets, clearing the way for additional creditor distributions.

The agreement, filed Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, prohibits Mashinsky and three related entities (AM Ventures Holdings Inc., Koala1 LLC, and Koala3 LLC) from receiving any bankruptcy proceeds.

All of Mashinsky’s claims submitted or scheduled on his behalf be “withdrawn, disallowed, and shall receive no distribution” under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. With the agreement, Mashinsky and entities related to him would be permanently barred from receiving any recovery in the Celsius bankruptcy, allowing those reserved assets to be redistributed to other creditors.

The court retained jurisdiction over all matters related to the stipulation, ensuring continued oversight of the distribution process while Mashinsky served his sentence for defrauding the very customers now awaiting their funds.

Road to recovery

Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, following a liquidity crisis that exposed the platform’s risky lending practices. The company reached two settlements to exit bankruptcy proceedings a year later, transitioning to a recovery-focused entity dedicated to maximizing creditor returns.

Last month, Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for defrauding Celsius customers and manipulating the price of the CEL token.

At the time, prosecutors said he used customer funds to enrich himself and repeatedly misled investors about the company’s financial health.

Prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence, which Mashinsky’s lawyers characterized as a “death-in-prison sentence,” arguing his military service and December guilty plea warranted leniency.

By August 2024, over $2.5 billion had been distributed to around 251,000 creditors across several payout rounds, covering 93% of total claims including nearly two-thirds of eligible creditors from 165 countries.

Still, according to the August 2024 court filing, roughly 121,000 eligible creditors have yet to claim their funds, most of whom are owed less than $100.

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Bitcoin doesn’t budge on Israel-Iran war, for now: NoOnes CEO

by admin June 20, 2025

Geopolitical tensions are escalating, but Bitcoin hasn’t seen major price action. NoOnes CEO Ray Youssef explains why.

Rising tensions in the Middle East are exposing a flaw in how some traders view Bitcoin (BTC). Instead of acting as a hedge, Bitcoin is behaving more like a tech stock, says Ray Youssef, CEO of NoOnes, a crypto peer-to-peer payments and trading platform.

“Markets usually don’t like surprises — but lately, crypto doesn’t seem to react much. Over the past week, we’ve seen a major hack targeting Iran’s biggest crypto exchange, growing tensions in the Middle East, and even signs of digital warfare. Yet crypto prices have barely moved,” Ray Yossef, NoOnes.

Yossef also highlighted the $100 million breach of Nobitex, Iran’s biggest crypto exchange. The hack, likely performed by Predatory Sparrow, a hacking group with ties to Israel, would have sounded alarm bells earlier.

Escalating tensions are usually positive for hedge assets. However, Bitcoin’s reaction was muted, continuing to trade around $105,000. At the same time, Ethereum (ETH) also traded between $2,120 and $2,330, now for the seventh week in a row. This is despite significant whale inflows, amounting to 871,000 ETH over one week.

Bitcoin fails as a hedge asset for now: Yossef

Bitcoin’s lack of movement, according to Youssef, suggests that its hedge-asset narrative is losing traction in today’s market.

Bitcoin no longer appears to function as a hedge asset; instead, it behaves more like a high-beta tech stock, caught in the macro winds but not really steering its own ship. The link between BTC and the Nasdaq 100 is still strong at 0.68,” Ray Yossef, NoOnes.

Still, Youssef notes that geopolitical risk is driving a shift within the broader crypto landscape. Bitcoin dominance is approaching 66%, as traders retreat from riskier altcoins. If global tensions continue to mount, this rotation into BTC could accelerate, especially if capital controls, sanctions, and infrastructure disruptions enter the mix.

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Meta to Hire Ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman for AI Team: Reports

by admin June 20, 2025

Meta Platforms, the company behind Facebook, is in discussions to bring on Nat Friedman, the former CEO of GitHub, to strengthen its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts. This news comes from a report by The Information, which spoke to someone familiar with the matter.

Meta is also reportedly talking to Daniel Gross, who is Friedman’s partner in their investment firm NFDG. The company may want both of them to join its growing AI team. The company is considering buying part of the NFDG investment fund.

These efforts are part of Meta’s bigger push to stay competitive in the AI space. Tech companies around the world are racing to lead in AI, and Meta is investing heavily. Just last week, it announced a $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI,s its second-biggest investment ever.

Meta also brought on Alexandr Wang, the CEO of Scale AI, to help lead a new team focused on “superintelligence.” Friedman is not new to Meta. He is already part of the company’s external Advisory Group, which gives input on technology and product development. So far, Meta hasn’t officially commented on the talks.

Also Read: WhatsApp Now Supports Bitcoin with Sati Wallet

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Palantir’s CEO Throws Money Behind Andrew Cuomo in NYC Mayoral Race

by admin June 18, 2025

Alex Karp, the billionaire CEO of creepy defense contractor Palantir, has taken a side in New York’s closely watched mayoral race. Karp, who once bragged that his company kills people, recently gave a large sum of money to a Super PAC that is supporting the campaign of former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo is currently running against Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old assemblyman for the city’s 36th district in Queens. The race between the two candidates has become a referendum on New York’s future, with both candidates offering drastically different visions for housing and economic policy. Mamdani has described himself as a democratic socialist, while Cuomo is campaigning on a promise to bring sensible centrism back to the city after the fiasco that has been Eric Adams’s administration.

Politico notes that Karp recently donated $90,000 to Fix the City, which is backing Cuomo’s campaign. The contribution further cements a picture of Karp’s politics that leans rightward, though Karp has, in the past, referred to himself by a variety of political labels—even calling himself a “socialist” or a “neo-Marxist.” We can surely call BS on that now, since Karp is currently using his money to defeat an actual socialist.

Indeed, Karp is just one of several billionaires who are pouring money into Cuomo’s campaign in an apparent effort to stave off a more populist form of government in the city. Despite Cuomo’s promise to fight Trump, a number of MAGA fixtures, like Trump fan Bill Ackman, have thrown their support behind the former governor. Cuomo’s campaign has rested on a series of vague promises about improvements for city services and the bragging point that he “knows how government works.” Of course, NYC is a city where Republicans have a tough time in modern politics, so the Democratic primary is where the action is.

Mamdani, meanwhile, has championed many leftist economic policies, including the establishment of government-owned and operated supermarkets to bring down food prices. He has also championed rent freezes in a city where the cost of living just keeps going up. His critics have noted that Mamdani has substantially less government experience than Cuomo and, prior to his political career, was a rapper for several years known as “Mr. Cardamom.”

Cuomo notably served as the governor of New York from 2011 until 2021, when his administration combusted as a result of several scandals, including allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him by former female aides. A criminal case against Cuomo was brought over the allegations, but the charges were dropped in January of 2022, with authorities citing a lack of evidence.

Palantir, meanwhile, has increasingly wedded itself to the Trump administration and is assisting the government with its deportation efforts, as well as in a controversial data centralization effort that has drawn criticism from privacy and civil liberties advocates.

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June 18, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Why Sandeep Nailwal Is Betting on Himself as Polygon CEO

by admin June 18, 2025

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is charting a new course for the network, backing a singular leadership model as essential to its future.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Nailwal said the shift away from board-led governance isn’t just a structural change but a strategic response to inefficiencies that have slowed Polygon’s momentum.

On June 11, he announced he would take over as CEO of the Polygon Foundation, describing the decision as necessary to bring “clear direction and focused execution” to the project’s next chapter.

Now under his sole leadership, the Ethereum scaling project will sunset its zkEVM chain and focus on real-world assets (RWAs) and stablecoin payments through Polygon PoS while using its AggLayer to pursue its dream of building the internet of blockchains.

Polygon claims to be in good financial condition. Source: Sandeep Nailwal

Nailwal on the “servitude mentality” driving Polygon

In January, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stirred debate by declaring sole authority over decisions regarding the Ethereum Foundation’s leadership.

“It’s exactly the same, except I said that I am the director,” Nailwal told Cointelegraph, referring to his own role.

After Polygon’s rise in 2021 and 2022, the project sought to “institutionalize” by mirroring the structures of large companies. The Polygon Foundation was overseen by a board — a model that has now been dissolved, leaving Nailwal as the sole decision-maker.

POL (formerly MATIC) is down to a $1.7-billion market cap from a peak of around $20 billion. Source: CoinGecko

“Things were definitely taking a lot of time. Decisions that should’ve been made in two weeks were sometimes taking two months,” he said.

Nailwal said streamlining decision-making doesn’t mean abandoning empathy. He still has what he calls a “servitude mentality,” a leadership style shaped by his upbringing. Both of his grandfathers were servants in a wealthy household, where they met and arranged the marriage of his parents.

“I think that history gave me this ingrained tendency to keep everyone happy, and I still feel that way. When someone’s happy, you get a dopamine hit — every human does — but in my case, it’s deeper.”

He credits this instinct with helping build Polygon’s early community. Nailwal was one of the few founders of a top-tier protocol who personally engaged with retail users, often replying to messages on Telegram himself. Only recently has he put up guardrails on his personal accounts.

Related: Crypto ownership isn’t just lambos and bros anymore

“With retail, if the token’s up, they’re happy. If it’s not, they’re angry,” he said. “It took me two or three rounds of that cycle to realize I can’t pour all my energy into it.”

According to Nailwal, the crypto industry is evolving, too — moving away from valuing theoretical research, like early zero-knowledge proof development, and toward rewarding real-world traction and revenue.

“Everybody thought that eventually will happen, but I think recently it has started happening more than before,” he said

Polygon’s zkEVM sunset and RWA drive

Following Nailwal’s announcement, questions have surfaced about the health of zkEVM, which is set to be phased out by 2026. Once known as Hermez Network and acquired in 2021 for 250 million MATIC (POL) (now POL and worth about $250 million at the time), zkEVM was Polygon’s bid for Ethereum equivalence.

Community members question zkEVM’s financial damage to Polygon. Source: Lorenz Lehmann

“It launched with a lot of fanfare because all the research; people were like, ‘This is beautiful.’ Vitalik [Buterin] and everybody said that this is amazing,” Nailwal claimed.

“But when the end-users came to use it, it fell short of expectations in terms of the experience. We did not incentivize a lot of user growth in zkEVM for the longest time,” he added.

Assets locked on zkEVM have dropped from over $35 million in July 2023 to just $2.75 million. The chain has struggled to generate fees and has reportedly operated at a loss, according to DefiLlama data.

Polygon’s zkEVM chain revenue turned negative around the second quarter of 2024. Source: DefiLlama

With zkEVM fading, Polygon’s attention turns to its PoS chain and AggLayer infrastructure. PoS still hosts over $1 billion in total value locked, ranks among the top chains for non-fungible token (NFT) transactions and is home to roughly $1 billion each in USDC (USDC) and Tether’s USDt (USDT).

Though the NFT market has collapsed, Nailwal said meaningful NFTs will continue to endure. He compared speculative NFTs to memecoins, saying the “hype phase” has passed, clearing space for higher-quality projects. He added that the underlying NFT technology remains a key player for tokenizing assets, which can either be fungible or non-fungible.

Related: ETF filings explode in 2025, heating hopes of an ‘altcoin summer’

“NFT technology will absolutely be used in tokenization and in broader RWA applications,” he said.

“Our focus on actual NFTs — not the speculative, fake ones — has paid off. It’s now very clear that stablecoin payments and tokenization are going to be the two big use cases.”

Polygon’s bet on these two blockchain use cases aligns with global trends. The US Senate passed the GENIUS stablecoin bill on June 17 as global discussions on regulation intensify. Meanwhile, RWAs are drawing institutional interest, including from BlackRock, which runs its tokenized money market fund across multiple chains, including Polygon.

Polygon’s road to 100,000 TPS

Polygon tried to fit into the institutional trend by forming a board after raising $450 million in a 2022 investment round that included Sequoia Capital, SoftBank and Tiger Global.

But it is now back to the zero-to-one startup phase. Nailwal dismantled the board in pursuit of streamlined execution. But with zkEVM on its way out and the industry’s attention shifting fast, the burden of proof now rests squarely on whether singular leadership can deliver real-world results.

“We need to get back to actual product building. Your product has to be good, and people should be willing to pay for it,” Nailwal said.

For him, that also means his evolution as a leader — from keeping everyone happy to looking out for Polygon’s best interests.

“That will make some people, both in our community and outside, unhappy. But we don’t have any other choice,” he added.

Polygon’s plan to reach 100,000 TPS under the Gigagas roadmap. Source: Polygon

Nailwal and Polygon are betting it all on its “Gigagas” roadmap, which aims to scale its network to 100,000 transactions per second. That matches modern rivals that are scaling their networks or launching faster blockchains.

So far, the community reaction to Nailwal claiming sole leadership of Polygon has been mixed. Some praise his wartime CEO stance, while others point to the costly zkEVM detour.

Still, Nailwal believes that a faster decision-making process is what the moment demands: “Life gave me a chance to play at the global level. I have to be that 25-year-old kid again who was ready to go all in.”

Whether that bet on himself pays off will likely become clear by the end of the year, as the network races to hit its TPS milestone and prove its relevance in a maturing crypto ecosystem.

Magazine: Slumdog billionaire: Incredible rags-to-riches tale of Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal

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June 18, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

CEO Acquitted Months After Stabbing Incident

by admin June 18, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

A South Korean court has acquitted Lee Hyung-soo, CEO of crypto investment firm Haru Invest, of criminal fraud charges linked to the alleged mismanagement of investor funds amounting to over $650 million.

The decision, issued on Tuesday by the Seoul Southern District Court, comes nearly a year after Haru abruptly froze customer withdrawals and shut down operations in mid-2023.

The ruling follows intense scrutiny from prosecutors, investors, and the broader public, as the case became one of the country’s most prominent crypto-related legal battles.

Lee and several executives at Haru Invest and its parent company Blockcrafters were accused of misrepresenting investment risks while offering high-yield returns—allegedly up to 25% annually, before the company suspended operations.

Prosecutors initially estimated damages at over $1 billion affecting 16,000 users but later revised the figure to roughly $650 million tied to around 6,000 investors. The prosecution had sought a 23-year prison sentence for Lee, arguing the investment model constituted deliberate fraud.

Court Finds Lack of Criminal Intent Amid Broader Market Fallout

The court determined that while there was managerial failure, Lee’s actions did not fulfill the criteria for criminal deception under South Korean law. The judgment referenced external factors such as the collapse of the FTX exchange and subsequent crypto market turbulence, which contributed to Haru’s inability to meet investor obligations.

According to report, the court supported Lee’s claim that Haru’s business model involved legitimate investment strategies and generated real profits, distinguishing the case from deliberate Ponzi-style operations.

Co-CEOs of Blockcrafters, identified only by their surnames Park and Song due to South Korean privacy norms, were also acquitted of fraud charges. Kang, Blockcrafters’ chief operating officer, was cleared of fraud but found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to two years in prison.

The verdict leaves open the path for civil litigation, as the court emphasized that the ruling only pertains to criminal liability and does not absolve the defendants from financial accountability to affected investors.

In a separate but related incident, Lee was physically attacked during court proceedings in August 2023 by an individual claiming to have lost 100 BTC, worth millions of dollars, in Haru’s failed investment platform.

The attacker was sentenced to five years in prison in April 2024. Lee survived the stabbing with non-fatal injuries and has continued to maintain that he is working toward compensating victims through bankruptcy recovery efforts.

Wider Implications for South Korea’s Crypto Regulation

The outcome of the Haru Invest case may influence future legal interpretations of crypto fraud in South Korea, especially in cases where business failure is driven by external market shocks rather than intentional deception.

South Korea has been actively updating its regulatory stance on digital assets, and this high-profile ruling may prompt further legal clarification around custodial responsibilities and investor protection in the crypto industry.

Lee’s acquittal, while relieving him of criminal charges, leaves unresolved concerns for thousands of investors still awaiting compensation. The bankruptcy proceedings and potential civil lawsuits will likely continue to shape the aftermath of one of South Korea’s most significant crypto collapses to date.

The global digital currency market cap valuation. | Source: TradingView.com

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView

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June 18, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Amazon CEO says it will cut jobs due to AI’s ‘efficiency’

by admin June 18, 2025

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says advancements in AI will “reduce” the company’s corporate headcount over the next few years. In a memo to employees on Tuesday, Jassy writes that Amazon expects the change due to “efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company,” without specifying how many employees would be affected.

“As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” Jassy says. “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.”

He notes that workers should also “be curious about AI” and how to use it to “get more done with scrappier teams:

Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company.

Other companies have shared statements about how they expect AI to impact their workforce as well. In April, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke told employees asking for more headcount or resources that they should explain why they “cannot get what they want done using AI.” Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn also stated that the company plans on replacing contract workers with AI as part of a new “AI-first” approach.

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June 18, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Binance CEO Unveils Three To-Do List Items in Crypto Space: Details

by admin June 17, 2025

Richard Teng, Binance CEO, has offered a concise guide to investors in the crypto space that could help them succeed in their investments. He shared the insights on the social media platform X with users in the community.

Reasons Teng’s rules matter on crypto market

According to the update, traders and investors must follow three key steps to success. The first is to “set the rules.” This implies establishing clear principles or guidelines for any asset one intends to engage in the crypto space.

Voice of reason in shifting market

Finally, Teng urged all crypto market participants to “keep emotions out of decision-making.” Notably, reacting impulsively in the industry is dangerous to investment.