Halving is when the amount of bitcoin awarded for mining is cut in half. Mining is a metaphor for how bitcoin goes into circulation — put simply, computers run formulas to verify the code that keeps bitcoin transactions secure, and get shiny new bitcoin as a reward for their work. The reward is currently 6.25 bitcoin and will be cut to 3.125.

Place your bets, folks. Will the fallen crypto wunderkind spend his life behind bars or have a brief stop-over in the big house? 

Driving the news: Sam Bankman-Fried will be sentenced today following his conviction on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors have asked that he get 40 to 50 years, his attorneys have argued for 6.5 years at most, and he could theoretically get over 100.

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

Great question. I have no idea.

*Backstreet Boys voice* Bit. Coin’s. Back. Alright!

Driving the news: Bitcoin reached its highest mark since November of 2021 yesterday, with prices briefly eclipsing $85,000 at one point. Retail investors poured money into bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with BlackRock’s ETF registering a single-day record inflow of US$520 million.

On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Brian Armstrong to talk about what's going on with crypto in Canada and what the future holds for the industry.

As actual winter sets in, “crypto winter” seems like it could be coming to an end.

What happened: A surge has put Bitcoin prices over $56,500, as of the end of the day on Monday. Prices for the cryptocurrency are now up 152% so far this year, returning to price levels seen just before rising inflation led to a sell-off and subsequent crash in April 2022.

It feels like Earth-shattering developments upending the entire crypto industry are becoming a November tradition! Last year, it was FTX’s collapse. This year, it’s Binance paying billions.   

What happened: The world’s largest crypto exchange, will pay US$4.3 billion after pleading guilty to charges of money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting, and sanctions violations. As part of the deal, founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao will step down as CEO.

After securing enough Adderall to finally stand trial, ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was ready to sit before the judge in a last-ditch effort to save himself from the slammer. 

What happened: SBF took to the stand yesterday to testify in his own defence after the prosecution rested its case. In a surprise twist, the jury was not present for it — the judge dismissed them so that he could determine for himself if SBF’s testimony was permissible. 

Lawmakers in the U.S. are cracking down on cryptocurrency to disrupt funding to Hamas, bringing attention (once again) to digital currency’s darker uses.

Driving the news: The U.S. Treasury Department has proposed rules that would classify cryptocurrency mixers — which take funds, mix them with those from other users and return them to make tracing difficult — as money laundering tools that threaten national security.

As the trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried crosses the halfway point, we thought we’d give you an update on how it’s going. Spoiler alert: Not great, for SBF.

Driving the news: It looks increasingly unlikely that SBF will beat the seven federal criminal charges levied against him, multiple former federal prosecutors told The Washington Post.