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⌐◪-◪ → Celsius is suing Tether for $3.5B over a liquidated Bitcoin loan, claiming Tether liquidated them too early without fair notice.

On the other hand, Tether says the liquidation followed their agreement to cover Celsius’ $815M debt. Not only that, but Tether says the entire liquidation process was directed by the Celsius team, who agreed every step of the way.

Tether’s CEO called the whole thing a baseless lawsuit that “lacks a basic understanding of the concepts of market slippage, block liquidation, and risk management.” Roasted.

Crypto Twitter seems to agree with Tether, calling this nothing more than a cash grab — which at a glance makes sense considering Celsius is the company that blew up while Tether is currently the leading global stablecoin and 3rd largest cryptocurrency in the world.

With that said, the story is still unfolding, and some allege that Tether did in fact break their terms by using Bitcoin collateral to print USDT — which their 2022 terms of service explicitly state they will not do.

Do you think Celsius has a chance here, or is this just a desperate cash grab? Let me know in Specs.Chat!

⌐◪-◪ → The IRS just softened its stance on crypto with a new draft version of the 1099-DA tax form.

The form is how crypto brokers and investors are supposed to report transactions for the upcoming 2025 tax period. The two most notable upgrades are the removal of:

• wallet addresses

• transaction IDs

This is pretty big from a privacy standpoint and will put many crypto investors at ease. If approved, companies like Coinbase will automatically generate these forms for their customers in 2026, making crypto tax reporting a breeze.

This is a big win for privacy if it goes through. I’d like to know more about who led this effort so we can support them with more sensible regulatory clarity.

Will 2025 be the year of “common sense crypto laws”? Let me know what you think in Specs.Chat!

⌐◪-◪ → Crypto startups have received $5.4B in VC funding this year, roughly on par with last year's $10.1B.

That’s over $1B in funding for March, April, and July — it’s nothing compared to the $4B per month we saw during the 2021-2022 hype cycle.

Furthermore, there haven’t been any exits this year, which I’m sure the VC funds and their investors aren’t happy about.

Do you think 2024 for see more or less crypto VC funding than 2023? Let me know in Specs.Chat!