DEEPSEEK
DeepSeek is an AI company and a family of large language models based in Hangzhou, China. It was founded in 2023 and funded by High-Flyer, a well - known quantitative asset management giant. DeepSeek is dedicated to developing advanced large language models and related technologies. It has released several models, including DeepSeek LLM, DeepSeek Coder, DeepSeekMath, and DeepSeek - VL. The latest version, DeepSeek - V3, which was launched in December 2024, has 67.1 billion parameters and was trained on a dataset of 14.8 trillion tokens. It uses FP8 training and open - sources the native FP8 weights. Benchmark tests show that it outperforms Llama 3.1 and Qwen 2.5 while matching GPT - 4O and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. In addition, DeepSeek - R1, which was officially released on January 20, 2025, performs on a par with OpenAI O1 in terms of mathematics, code, and natural language reasoning tasks. DeepSeek's models have a wide range of applications, such as chat and coding scenarios, multilingual automatic translation, image generation, and AI painting. With their high performance and low cost, DeepSeek's models have quickly gained popularity. For example, on February 2, 2025, the DeepSeek app climbed to the top of the download charts in 140 countries on the Apple App Store and also topped the Android Play Store in the United States
FTX Founder's Lawyers Consider Delaying Criminal Trial
Lawyers representing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried have hinted that they may need to delay his criminal trial due to a lack of evidence from the Department of Justice (DOJ). The trial, which is scheduled to begin on October 2, will focus on fraud charges against Bankman-Fried. His lawyers have stated that they are still waiting for a "substantial portion" of evidence to be handed over to them, including evidence from devices belonging to former FTX employees who have pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Silvergate Bank Voluntary Liquidation Sparks Controversy in Crypto Industry
The recent announcement of Silvergate Bank’s voluntary liquidation has led to a heated debate in the crypto industry, with some lawmakers labeling the sector as “risky” and “volatile.” Crypto executives and commentators have criticized these remarks and suggested that government investigations and legal attacks hastened the bank’s collapse. As Silvergate winds down, some crypto firms are seeking alternative banking partners amid concerns of regulatory crackdowns and proposed tax law changes.
US Crypto Holders Trust Banks and Exchanges for Custody
A recent survey by Paxos revealed that a majority of US crypto holders still trust banks, exchanges, and mobile payment apps for custody of their assets. Despite high-profile collapses and poor risk management practices, crypto owners continue to trust intermediaries for holding crypto assets. The survey also found an increasing desire among consumers to purchase Bitcoin and other digital assets from traditional banks, presenting a significant untapped opportunity for banks to expand their offerings.
Thailand Waives Taxes on Investment Tokens
Thailand's cabinet has agreed to waive corporate income tax and VAT for companies issuing investment tokens, encouraging alternative capital raising in addition to conventional methods. The government hopes to generate 128 billion Thai baht from investment token offerings over the next two years.
Ripple CEO Warns SEC's "Enforcement" Approach May Hurt US Crypto Industry
Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, has suggested that the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approach to regulation is putting the US at risk of missing out on being an attractive hub for the next evolution of blockchain and crypto innovation. Garlinghouse noted that the SEC's case against Ripple is the SEC simply playing "offense" and "attacking" the industry as a whole. He added that the crypto industry has "already started moving outside" of the US given its crypto regulation process is "behind" other countries such as Australia, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Switzerland.
Robinhood Receives Investigative Subpoena from SEC Over Crypto Business
Robinhood disclosed in a recent 10-K filing that it received an investigative subpoena from the SEC in December 2022 regarding its supported cryptocurrencies, custody of cryptocurrencies, and platform operations. The subpoena was in response to the bankruptcies of several major cryptocurrency trading venues and lending platforms earlier in the year, including FTX, Three Arrows Capital, Voyager Digital Holdings, and Celsius Network. This follows previous subpoenas from the California Attorney General's Office and scrutiny from the Massachusetts Securities Division. Robinhood's crypto division was also fined $30 million by the New York District of Financial Services in August 2021 for failing to invest the proper resources and attention to develop and maintain a culture of compliance.
BlueWallet is Sunsetting Its Lightning Node Connection to Lndhub
Don't worry—BlueWallet is just another step toward self-custody and lightning nodes.
Binance Australia Derivatives Closes Accounts After False Classification
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission would "target" the company's "classification of retail and wholesale customers."
Scammers Target Australians in Cryptocurrency Call Center Scheme
An Israeli-run cryptocurrency fraud targets Australians, according to a raid on Eastern European scam call centers.
Forsage Founders Indicted for Alleged $340 Million "Global Ponzi" Scheme on Ethereum Blockchain
Oregon's federal grand jury indicted Forsage's founders. "Global Ponzi and pyramid scam" investors lost $340 million on the site.