Current laws in the United States do not explicitly protect open source software developers and create the risk of retroactive prosecution. Roman Storm, a developer of the Tornado Cash privacy-preserving protocol, asked the open source software community whether they are concerned with being retroactively prosecuted by the US Department of Justice for developing decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. Storm asked DeFi developers: “How can you be so sure you won’t be charged by the DOJ as a money service business for building a non-custodial protocol?” The DOJ could prosecute a case, arguing that any decentralized, non-custodial service should have been developed as a custodial service, as it did in the case against him, Storm added, citing his recent motion for acquittal, which was filed on September 30. Read more
Jeremy Kranz, founder of Sentinel Global, a venture capital firm, said investors should be "discerning" and read the fine print on any stablecoin. Investors should exercise “discernment” when considering privately-issued stablecoins, which carry all the risks of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) plus their own unique risks, according to Jeremy Kranz, founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Sentinel Global. Kranz called privately-issued stablecoins “central business digital currency,” which feature all of the surveillance, backdoors, programmability, and controls as CBDCs. He told Cointelegraph: Overcollateralized stablecoin issuers, which back their blockchain tokens with cash and short-term government securities, can be subject to “bank runs” if too many holders attempt to redeem the tokens at the same time, Kranz added. Read more
Bitcoin-to-gold ratio hits historic lows that previously preceded major bull runs, with past bottoms preceding 100–600% BTC price rallies. Key takeaways: Gold’s ongoing pullback could trigger Bitcoin’s rebound, according to multiple analysts. Rallying to $150,000–$165,000 by year’s end is still possible, based on technical analysis. Read more