Crypto Market Overview December 19th | Dex-Trade
Alexander Hoptner Is Suing BitMEX for Breach of Contract
The former CEO of Seychelles-registered BitMEX, Alexander Hoptner, sued the trading floor for $3.4 million in damages for breach of contract and wrongful termination. The businessman took over as CEO in January 2021 when top officials of HDR Global Trading Limited, the owner and operator of BitMEX, were involved in a lawsuit that accused the founders of facilitating and preventing unregistered trading in digital assets and derivatives. In October 2022, Hopner left the company and recently announced that he had received a letter of resignation, which included, among other things, that he was accused of misappropriation of funds and failure to fulfill duties. “Such termination is wholly wrongful and without basis,” — Hopner’s lawsuit says. Of the $3.4 million requested by the businessman from BitMEX, $2.4 million is his second year bonus, with the remainder being unpaid relocation and rental expenses, as well as part of his salary. Hopner said he was disappointed that the case went to trial, but that he had "no choice" at the moment. Recall that the crypto exchange recently reduced its staff by 30% and announced its intention to bet on derivatives trading. Meanwhile, Arthur Hayes, who served as CEO of BitMEX before Hopner, was given a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to willfully failing to comply with the exchange's anti-money laundering (AML) program.
Charles Hoskinson of Cardano Called the XRP Community "Toxic" and "Petty"
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson criticized the Ripple project, stating that it “provides no partnership or technical value” and called the XRP community “toxic” and “petty.” Recall that Hoskinson recently felt the animosity from the XRP army after he predicted the end of the lawsuit between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on December 15, citing people familiar with the matter. However, when the case was not completed on that day, some in the XRP community accused him of lying, after which he wrote: “I was accused of lying, and I was accused of yet again creating a flood and trolling. I don’t know how to interact with the XRP community, I think my statements have been historically very measured and supportive.” Hoskinson claimed that he was in fact on the side of Ripple and supporting the XRP army, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to interact with the community. Therefore, he said that he would simply stop commenting on everything related to Ripple. Meanwhile, the two-year legal battle between the SEC and Ripple may indeed soon come to an end, as insider rumors hint at an active search for a settlement.
Edward Snowden Ready for Bitcoin Salary to Become Twitter CEO
After the current head of Twitter, Elon Musk, spoke about the possibility of leaving the post of CEO of the platform and the willingness to consider several new candidates for this important role, Russian spy, Edward Snowden, said that he was not opposed to being paid in bitcoins and take responsibility for the future of the social network. This is Snowden's first statement about his willingness to receive a salary in cryptocurrencies, since previously he only announced support for digital assets and participated in a number of blockchain projects. Some users in the comments under Snowden's statement joked that Elon Musk does not really like remote work, while for Snowden this would be the only option due to his "complicated" relationship with the US government. Recall that in November, Snowden expressed his thoughts on the cryptocurrency market and made an industry-wide forecast, urging his subscribers to start cultivating security in the DEX sector. Since the FTX crash, the flow of funds to decentralized trading platforms has skyrocketed as platforms without centralized control are technically nothing more than a complex system of wallets and addresses linked to each other. However, most of the Twitter community is confident that Musk is unlikely to give Snowden the post of CEO and is likely to choose another candidate, given Snowden's "complicated" relationship with project security and information hygiene in general.
