As the trial of Anton and James Peraire-Bueno entered its 11th day, a judge may soon decide whether Coin Center can weigh in on the case through an amicus brief. US prosecutors are pushing back against efforts to introduce crypto policy arguments in the case of two brothers accused of exploiting Ethereum using maximal extractable value (MEV) bots. In a Tuesday filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, US prosecutors opposed an amicus curiae — a brief filed by an interested party not directly involved in a case — that could encourage a jury to acquit Anton and James Peraire-Bueno. The two individuals are allegedly behind a $25-million MEV exploit of the Ethereum blockchain in April 2023. The letter addressed to the federal judge overseeing the case suggested that Coin Center, the cryptocurrency advocacy organization behind the amicus brief, should direct its concerns about digital asset policy through Congress rather than the courts. Read more
Analysts say the crypto market has already priced in Wednesday's interest rate cut, but the Federal Reserve remains divided on an additional cut in December. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced a 25 basis point interest rate cut on Wednesday, bringing the target Federal Funds rate down to 3.75%-4%. Wednesday’s rate cut was “fully priced in” by investors, who widely anticipated the decision, according to Matt Mena, a market analyst at investment company 21Shares. Mena also forecast: Asset prices remained flat or fell by modest amounts on Wednesday following the FOMC decision, with the price of Bitcoin (BTC) falling by about 2.4% at the time of writing, following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments signaling that FOMC members are divided on a December rate cut. Read more