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Judge bins $28m Black Thursday lawsuit, Solana crashes, SBF seeks bail negotiation extension

Judge bins $28m Black Thursday lawsuit, Solana crashes, SBF seeks bail negotiation extension
Steven Goldfelder, co-founder of Offchain Labs and Arbitrum, has reason to smile after his layer 2 overtook Ethereum in daily transactions last week.

Solana restarted twice over the weekend

The Solana blockchain suffered major disruptions over the weekend, requiring two network restarts. The network first went down on February 25, with users reporting transaction failures following an update release only hours prior. Validators were then instructed to reboot the blockchain from a specific pre-bug period.

The first attempt to restart the network failed, but a second attempt made on Sunday saw operations resume and the issue declared resolved. The blockchain’s native token, SOL, saw minimal downside due to the event, with prices staying within 3% of pre-bug levels. The root cause of the outage was still unknown on Monday morning.

Judge tosses $28 million Maker ‘Black Thursday’ lawsuit

A US judge has dismissed the so-called “Black Thursday” lawsuit, which alleged that DeFi protocol Maker misled investors. The class action lawsuit claimed Maker was responsible for $8.3 million in losses following a March 2020 market-wide crash and sought $20 million in damages.

The lawsuit was filed in April 2020 against the Maker Ecosystem Growth Foundation, a now-dissolved entity which was replaced by the decentralised autonomous organisation, MakerDAO. The federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, citing the original entity’s dissolution as well as the lead plaintiff’s failure “to allege facts sufficient to support each of his claims for relief.”

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FTX founder requests extension on bail negotiations

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has asked a judge to extend the deadline to negotiate his bail terms. In a letter on Friday, he asked the judge to give him until March 3 to hash out the bail terms.

Among other things, Bankman-Fried wanted more time to find a technology expert to educate the court about his use of a VPN. Prosecutors have pressed US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan to restrict Bankman-Fried’s internet access for the duration of his bail, alongside other bail restrictions.

The request to extend the deadline comes after prosecutors slammed Bankman-Fried with four more charges last week. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges.

Mango Markets beefs up security following $114m exploit

Decentralised exchange Mango Markets will introduce new security features following an October exploit that drained $114 million in funds from the protocol. The developers have imposed new limits on Mango’s multi-sig wallet, which they claim will allow them to better mitigate against future threats. Mango handled $28 billion in transactions before freezing operations in October. Avraham Eisenberg, the man accused of bringing down the exchange, is undergoing bail negotiations following his December arrest in connection to the exploit.

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Secret high school crawlspace miner pleads not guilty

A suspect pleaded not guilty to charges related to a secret crypto mining operation in a crawlspace under a high school on Friday. The assistant facilities director entered the plea after being charged with “fraudulent use of electricity” and vandalism at Cohasset High School, near Boston. The operation, which ran from April to December 2021, allegedly cost the school an estimated $17,500.

Arbitrum surpasses Ethereum in daily transactions

On Tuesday, Arbitrum surpassed the long-dominant Ethereum network in daily transactions – and did it again the next day. Arbitrum, a layer 2 blockchain that works atop the Ethereum network, is the leading layer 2 in a rapidly-growing market. The feat is good news for the company as well as the Ethereum network, as it represents an industry-wide effort to scale existing blockchains while slashing transaction fees. Layer 2s work on top of Ethereum and other layer 1 blockchains using “rollup” technology, which handles much of the processing power required for large volumes of transactions.

More weekend crypto news from around the web...

London hosts largest Crypto & Blockchain Conference - EU Reporter

Crypto firms brace for ‘carpet-bombing moment’ in US as Europe beckons - Politico

IMF wants more regulations for private cryptocurrencies - Bloomberg