• The US court ruled that using emojis related to rocket ships, stock charts, and money bags could be classified as investment advice.
• Former SEC branch chief Lisa Braganca warned the public against using certain emojis in promotional materials following the court ruling.
• Dapper Labs was accused of promoting NBA Shot Moments as investment opportunities through its marketing materials with carefully selected emojis.

Court Ruling: Emojis Can Be Used As Investment Advice

The US court ruled on February 22 that using emojis relating to rocket ships, stock charts, and money bags could be classified as investment advice. This ruling came from a lawsuit filed against Dapper Labs and its CEO Roham Gharegozlou for allegedly violating securities laws by offering its NBA Top Shot Moments.

Former SEC Branch Chief Warns Against Using Certain Emojis

Following the court ruling, former SEC branch chief Lisa Braganca warned the public against using certain emojis in promotional materials via Twitter. The plaintiffs accused Dapper Labs of promoting NBA Shot Moments as investment opportunities, through its marketing materials with carefully selected emojis. The tweets contained rocket ship, stock market, and money bags emoji to show market performance.

What are NBA Top Shot Moments?

NBA Top Shot Moments are non-fungible tokens (NFT) that capture key highlights and video clips from NBA games. They are digital collectibles which have gained immense popularity recently due to their scarcity and collectability factor.

Dapper Lab’s Arguments

Dapper Labs has argued that the use of the emojis in the tweets was intended to provide accuracy to market data and not a means of promoting sales. However, several members of the crypto community have argued that Emojis could mean different things to different folks; hence a rule on its usage could impede freedom of speech.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that using certain emojis when promoting investments can lead to legal implications if it is seen as an attempt at providing financial advice or encouraging buyers/investors to purchase/invest in a particular asset or product without disclosing all relevant information about it first. Therefore caution should be taken when utilizing them for potential marketing purposes in order to avoid any potential issues with regulators or other entities in the future.

FTX’s Nishad Singh Faces Charges From Prosecutors

• Former top employee of FTX, Nishad Singh, is preparing to reach a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors.
• Manhattan prosecutors are reportedly preparing to file charges against him.
• The CFTC and SEC are also said to plan to file charges against him as well.

Singh’s Role at FTX and Alameda

Nishad Singh was the director of engineering at FTX and played a key role in developing software used to transfer funds between the two companies. He was also involved in campaign financing.

Plea Deal Preparation

Bloomberg reported that Singh plans to plead guilty as Manhattan prosecutors prepare to file charges against him. Reports from Bloomberg on Jan. 10 suggested that authorities had been investigating Singh since Jan 5., and he had discussed a cooperation deal that was likely to lead to a plea deal as well – though he wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing then.

Previous Associates‘ Plea Deals

If Singh reaches a plea deal, he will be the third FTX associate to do so after former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang who pled guilty in December and are cooperating against Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and former CEO of FTX who awaits trial.

Regulatory Agencies Involved

None of the above agencies have publicly confirmed Bloomberg’s statements; however, reports from CFTC, SEC and U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York suggest they are all involved in this investigation into Nishad Singh’s activities at FTX and Alameda Research.

• Four cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms – Coinbase, eToro, Binance, and Kraken – have confirmed that they will not be advertising during Super Bowl LVII.
• Coinbase and eToro advertised during last year’s Super Bowl.
• The companies cited various reasons for not advertising this year, such as prioritizing digital presence and education over a 30-second ad spot.

Cryptocurrency Exchanges Will Not Advertise During Super Bowl LVII

Four cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms have confirmed that they will not be advertising during Super Bowl LVII. Coinbase, eToro, Binance, and Kraken all stated that they had no plans to advertise in this year’s game.

Coinbase & eToro Advertised Last Year

Coinbase and eToro both advertised during last year’s event. A spokesperson from Coinbase said “we are incredibly proud of our first national ad which debuted at last year’s Super Bowl, we won’t be appearing in this year’s game.“ A representative for eToro said „we had no plans to advertise in this year’s Super Bowl.“

Reasons For Not Advertising This Year

Binance criticized the idea that crypto firms should advertise during the event. Patrick Hillmann, the company’s Chief Strategy Officer wrote “We’ve never run a Super Bowl ad because we don’t believe it’s an appropriate vehicle to introduce new users to crypto…Unlike a light beer or a new car model, a lot of education has to be done with new users before they should consider investing in crypto.“ He added that a 30-second ad spot is “not a good use of resources“ and can attract users without properly highlighting risks.

Kraken also chose not to advertise stating „We are not advertising at Super Bowl LVII. We’re always searching for creative ways to bring Kraken into the forefront of consumer’s minds but right now we are focused on strategic execution.“ They emphasized their focus on customer security features, customer support, and service improvements.

Other Companies Contacted by Crypto Slate

Crypto Slate also reached out to Crypto.com, Robinhood, Gemini, Binance.US Grayscale ByBit Blockchain.com but did not receive any response.Conclusion . . . . . . . . . .. . ..                                                   
                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                    It appears that none of these companies will be placing ads during this years‘ Super Bowl after choosing other methods of promotion instead.

• Over $76 million was invested in digital asset products during the week of Jan. 30 to Feb., according to a CoinShares report.
• Around 90% of this inflow was directed towards Bitcoin-related investment products, which equates to over $69 million.
• Total investment assets under management (AuM) have also reached $30.3 billion, which makes a 39% increase year-to-date.

Investment Inflows into Crypto Funds

Over $76 million was invested in digital asset products during the week of Jan. 30 to Feb., according to a CoinShares report. Around 90% of this inflow was directed towards Bitcoin-related investment products, which equates to over $69 million. This marks the fourth consecutive week that recorded inflows to crypto-related investment products and the total amount invested during these four weeks is over $230 million.

Bitcoin Related Products Dominate

BTC-related products collected a total of $68.5 million worth of investment last week, claiming first place in the rankings with Short BTC coming second with $8.2 million, while Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) took third and fourth place with $700,000 and $500,000 respectively. In terms of facilitators, ProShares is ranked first by collecting $37.4 million from investors last week followed by 3iQ and CoinShares Physical with respective amounts of $20.4 million and 16.3 million dollars collected from investors last week .

Total Investment Assets Under Management

Total investment assets under management (AuM) have also reached an all time high at around$30 billion making a 39% increase year-to-date as compared to previous years’ figures .This figure includes investments made in crypto funds , exchange traded notes , index funds etc .

Previous Investment Records

The week of Jan . 23 recorded the most significant inflows since July 2022 , with 117million dollars worth investments being made in various crypto related projects ,signifying growing investor confidence in cryptocurrencies .

Conclusion

Overall , it can be seen that there is steady growth in investments into cryptocurrency related projects and that more money has been flowing into such projects than ever before due to increasing investor confidence . This trend is expected to continue as more people become aware of cryptocurrency’s potential benefits as well as its limitations when it comes to investing one’s money into them or using them for day -to -day transactions etc