Former SafeMoon CEO Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison

2 hours ago

**February 11** — The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday sentenced former SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony to 8 years in prison, per Coindesk. Karony was convicted last year on multiple federal charges tied to investor fraud in his digital asset business. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges he manipulated the SafeMoon (SFM) token’s price, illicitly controlled the company’s liquidity, and stole millions of dollars. Following a three-week trial, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Co-conspirator Thomas Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in February 2025 and is currently awaiting sentencing. Another alleged co-conspirator, Kyle Nagy, remains at large in connection with the SafeMoon fraud case. SafeMoon (SFM) launched in March 2021 amid the meme coin and DeFi craze of the prior bull market. Its tokenomics impose a 10% tax on all transactions: ~5% is automatically redistributed to token holders, another portion is added to the liquidity pool or burned to drive deflation, and a third portion funds project development. The design aimed to “reward holding, punish selling,” letting holders earn coins passively in hopes the token would “safely reach the moon.” At its peak, SFM had a $1 billion market cap, drawing massive retail investors and FOMO-fueled traders. Subsequent contract exploits, fraud allegations against the team, liquidity manipulation, and fund misappropriation led to a prolonged decline—its current market value is just $2.08 million.

Add to Favorites Download image Share x Copy link

Relevant content

A whale address transferred 2500 BTC to Binance 1 hour ago

On Feb 11, per LookOnChain monitoring, a whale address 3NVeXm deposited 2,500 BTC to Binance an hour ago — valued at roughly $172.56 million.

4 minutes ago

Base-Ecosystem Meme Coin KellyClaude Hits New All-Time High Market Cap of $14 Million, with a 24-Hour Gain of Approximately 78%

February 11th — According to GMGN monitoring data (via this link), KellyClaude, a meme coin on the Base ecosystem, has been on a steady upward trend since yesterday. It hit an all-time high this morning after its market cap surpassed $14 million. As of now, its current market cap stands at $12.8 million, with a 78% 24-hour gain and $3.6 million in trading volume over the same period. BlockBeats notes that meme coin trading is highly volatile, driven primarily by market sentiment and hype rather than underlying value or practical use cases. Investors should be aware of the associated risks.

4 minutes ago

Robinhood Chain Public Testnet Goes Live for Developers

As of February 11, Robinhood has announced via official sources that its developer-focused Robinhood Chain testnet is now live, enabling builders to construct infrastructure on the network. Robinhood Chain is reportedly a finance-grade Ethereum Layer 2 network built on Arbitrum, engineered to support real-world assets. Per the announcement, the initiative aims to speed up the growth of on-chain financial services—kicking off with tokenized real-world assets and digital assets. Developers can now build on Robinhood Chain’s core infrastructure and test use cases ahead of the mainnet launch.

4 minutes ago

US Crypto Stocks Close Lower on Tuesday, Gemini (GEMI) Down 7.72%, Ethereum Treasury Stocks Retreat

February 11th — Bitget market data shows U.S. equities closed Tuesday’s session with mixed early moves: the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) was up 0.1% initially, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.59%. Cryptocurrency-related stocks were broadly lower, with the following notable moves: - Coinbase (COIN): Down 2.83% - Circle (CRCL): Down 0.58% - MicroStrategy (MSTR): Down 3.93% - Gemini (GEMI): Down 7.72% - Bit Digital (BTBT): Down 3.87% - Strategic Elements (BMNR): Down 6.99% - SharpLink Gaming (SBET): Down 6.47% - ETHZilla (ETHZ): Down 7% - ALT5 Sigma (ALTS): Down 6.21% - American Bitcoin (ABTC): Down 4.76% - Kindly MD (NAKA): Down 4.91% - Solana Co (HSDT): Down 6.64%

4 minutes ago

Hyperliquid's HIP-3 daily trading volume hit $5.2 billion on February 5, marking a new all-time high.

On February 11th, Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 permissionless perpetual contract market reported a daily trading volume of $5.2 billion on February 5th—its highest single-day record since the protocol launched in October 2025. As the leading market maker on HIP-3, TradeXYZ holds nearly 90% of total trading volume via its perpetual contracts across precious metals, stock indices, and individual stocks. TradeXYZ’s silver perpetual contract alone generated $4.09 billion in volume on February 5th, accounting for roughly 68% of that day’s total HIP-3 activity. This surge is tied to the commodity’s price volatility, which has drawn traders seeking alternatives to crypto assets.

4 minutes ago

J.P. Morgan Chase Lowers Coinbase (COIN) Price Target Significantly to $290, But Still Sees 75% Upside Potential

JPMorgan analyst Ken Worthington cut his Coinbase price target to $290 from $399 on Feb. 11, ahead of the crypto exchange’s Q4 earnings report due this Thursday. Worthington noted he’s still bullish on the stock— the revised target implies 75% upside from Coinbase’s current $165.5 share price. He forecasts adjusted EBITDA of $7.34 billion, down from Q3’s $8.01 billion, marking a sharp sequential decline driven by lower trading volume, softer crypto prices, and slower USDC stablecoin balance growth. Worthington projects Q4 spot crypto trading volume at $2.63 trillion. He also flagged a drop in circulating USDC and sees stablecoin-related revenue at $3.12 billion. Those headwinds are partially offset by revenue from Deribit— the crypto derivatives exchange Coinbase acquired last August— which contributed to full-quarter results. Including Deribit, JPMorgan’s model forecasts total trading revenue of $10.6 billion— with Deribit contributing ~$1.17 billion from an estimated $586 bi