**Second Circuit Tosses Prisoner’s Late Appeal Bid** A federal appeals court in New York just slammed the door on inmate Lindsay Applewhite’s bid to challenge his denied compassionate release, ruling his notice of appeal arrived six days past the deadline—even with prison mail perks. This procedural smackdown underscores the ironclad timelines in criminal appeals, a…
**Pothole Slip Shields NYC from Liability Trap** A Manhattan man tripped into a pothole next to a gas cap, suing New York City for negligence—only for the Second Circuit to slam the door on his claims yesterday, affirming summary judgment for the city. This non-precedential ruling reinforces NYC’s ironclad “Pothole Law” shield, demanding prior written…
**Second Circuit Shields Life Sentences from Firearms Collateral Attack** A convicted racketeer and murderer serving life plus 85 years lost his bid to vacate gun convictions in a Second Circuit summary order that upheld the concurrent sentence doctrine. Pedro Narvaez challenged his 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) firearms counts under the Supreme Court’s Davis ruling, but…
**Second Circuit Slaps Down Ecuadorian Asylum Bid in Immigration Rout** The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied asylum to Ecuadorian family Felix Minagua-Yaucan and relatives, upholding an immigration judge’s rejection of their claims for persecution, withholding of removal, and torture protection. Petitioners failed to properly brief their appeal, abandoning key challenges and recycling debunked…
**Court Enforces Loan “Traps” in Non-Recourse Blowout** The Second Circuit just slammed the door on guarantors dodging a $42 million real estate loan default, upholding their liability for principal and interest after unauthorized ownership transfers nuked the non-recourse shield. In a sharp win for lenders, the ruling enforces ironclad contract terms under New Jersey law,…
Weekly Prediction Market Volume Skyrockets as Several Competitors Square Off Weekly prediction market notional volume topped $5 billion in back-to-back weeks, closing out 2025 above $5.3 billion and then repeating the feat in the first week of 2026. The final week of 2025 marked a new high for the sector, with weekly notional volume clearing…
Congress Slams SEC’s Crypto Retreat — Oversight Concerns Raised by House Democrats House Democrats are pressing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over what they describe as a retreat in the agency’s crypto enforcement posture, raising concerns that recent decisions to drop cases and delay actions could undermine investor protection. In their message to the…
Ethereum Maintains Structural Strength Despite Resistance Near $3,400 Ethereum continues to show resilience, holding its ground above key support levels even as price faces firm resistance near the $3,400 zone. After a recent advance, the asset has so far managed to retain its gains rather than quickly giving them back, a sign of a steadier…
Michael Saylor signals potential new Bitcoin buying as Strategy faces tightening funding dynamics Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of Strategy, posted “Bigger Orange,” a message that has been widely read as a hint that the company may have added to its Bitcoin position. The post follows last week’s disclosed purchase, suggesting continued emphasis on expanding…
Meme Coins Show Resilience After 2025 Shakeout, With PEPE and BONK Among Survivors A broad market downturn in the October quarter of 2025 erased an estimated $19 billion from the crypto market and led to a sharp contraction in the meme token sector, with nearly 8 million coins disappearing from circulation. In the aftermath of…
Robinhood Offers Prediction Market “Custom Combos” for Pro Football Outcomes Robinhood said Friday it is enabling “Custom Combos” for users wagering on professional football outcomes, expanding the company’s prediction market features as U.S. gambling activity rises alongside the NFL postseason. The rollout builds on Robinhood’s partnership with Kalshi, a regulated prediction market platform that lists…
Tom Lee’s BitMine adds pressure to Ethereum staking queue as backlog hits $8.3 billion Ethereum’s staking pipeline is growing more congested, with more than 2.55 million ether (ETH) now waiting to be activated. At current valuations cited in the data, that backlog is worth roughly $8.3 billion and implies an estimated wait time of more…
Manhattan DA Pushes Criminal Penalties for Unlicensed Crypto Operators Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg urged state lawmakers Wednesday to criminalize unlicensed crypto operations, arguing that gaps in oversight are being exploited by criminals to move illicit funds. Bragg said a “$51 billion criminal economy” is thriving in regulatory blind spots, enabling money laundering tied to…
Saylor’s ‘Bigger Orange’ Hint Has Strategy Closing in on 700,000 BTC Strategy, the bitcoin treasury company led by Michael Saylor, is edging closer to a major milestone in its accumulation strategy. At present, Strategy holds around 687,410 BTC, valued at a touch north of $65 billion. Saylor signaled the latest move in an X post,…
Charles Hoskinson Critiques US Government on Crypto Objectivity Charles Hoskinson, founder of IOHK and the Cardano blockchain, criticized a recent US government announcement he said blurred the line between regulation and procurement. In his view, government messaging risked mixing two separate functions: setting rules for the crypto industry and purchasing or using crypto-related services or…
A16z fundraising, Powell–Trump tension, and a flat crypto market set the tone into Monday Crypto markets opened the week with little movement, even as major headlines in venture capital and U.S. politics competed for attention. According to the provided notes, crypto majors were mostly flat heading into the Monday open, with bitcoin described as “even”….
Charles Hoskinson Critiques US Government on Crypto Objectivity Charles Hoskinson, the founder of IOHK and Cardano, criticized a recent US government announcement, arguing it blurred the line between regulation and procurement. In his view, policy efforts meant to set rules for the crypto sector should be clearly separated from any government decisions to buy or…
Customers are benefitting from the global stablecoin arms race — but that won’t last forever Stablecoins posted a record-breaking year as governments and large companies increased efforts to encourage their use around the world, highlighting how quickly this corner of digital finance is becoming more mainstream. Michael Abbott, senior managing director and global banking lead…
Polygon Labs said to have laid off 60 staff following new $250 million acquisition Polygon Labs, the firm behind the Ethereum scaling network Polygon, has laid off 60 staff following its acquisition of Coinme and Sequence for more than $250 million, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to CoinDesk. The layoffs…
South Korea Tightens Crypto Access as Google Play Blocks Unregistered Exchanges Android users in South Korea will soon lose access to apps from overseas cryptocurrency exchanges that are not registered locally, after an update affecting Google Play availability. Beginning January 28, users in South Korea will no longer be able to download or update apps…
