Here’s what happened in crypto today


The United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled charges against Mango Markets operators. Crypto restaking protocol Bedrock presented a job offer to a hacker that stole $2 million from its uniBTC vaults. Meanwhile, Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm is set to face trial in December after losing a motion to dismiss the case against him.

SEC files settled charges against Mango operators

The United States SEC filed settled charges against Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation for “engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of crypto assets called “MNGO” tokens,” on Sept. 27. 

According to the filing, the entities involved raised more than $70 million for their “unregistered” organization, including funding from US-based investors.

The charges against Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation were filed as settled, as the orgs have agreed to pay the SEC $700K in civil penalties, destroy any remaining Mango tokens, and petition markets and holders still in possession of the coins to delist and drop them.

Hacker behind $2M crypto heist receives job offer from victim protocol

Crypto liquid restaking protocol Bedrock lost $2 million to a security exploit. Instead of a legal threat, the hacker was offered a bounty reward and a white hat role to help improve the protocol’s security.

Web3 security firm Dedaub found a smart contract vulnerability within Bedrock’s multiple uniBTC vaults, which could have allowed the hackers to steal up to $75 million.

Bedrock offers a white hat job to the hacker. Source: Etherscan

While the hacker had not responded to the message, the Bedrock team assured the safety of the remaining funds and committed to unpause staking on uniBTC contracts once the vulnerability was neutralized.

Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm case moves to trial as judge denies dismissal

Roman Storm, a developer and co-founder of Tornado Cash, will face criminal trial over his creation of the crypto-mixing platform after a judge denied his motion to dismiss a United States government case.

In a Sept. 26 telephone conference, New York district court judge Katherine Polk Failla denied Storm’s bid to toss three federal charges brought by the Justice Department, saying government prosecutors had lodged plausible allegations against him.

Storm and fellow co-founder Roman Semenov were charged last August with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Judge Failla said at this stage she “cannot simply accept Mr. Storm’s narrative that he is being prosecuted merely for writing code,” adding she was convinced Tornado Cash was different from other financial services or money-transmitting firms.

Storm’s trial is slated for Dec. 2. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 45 years in prison if found guilty on all three charges.