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Ben Weiss

Ben Weiss

Ben Weiss is a writer based in Brooklyn. He previously reported on crypto for Fortune and has published work with WIRED, the Guardian, Slate, PBS NewsHour, Gizmodo, and elsewhere.

Stories by Ben Weiss

  • Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles. Image: Shutterstock

    Crypto.com President: Sports Sponsorships Have 'Trade Offs'

    Editor’s note: This article was first published on April 14th, and updated on April 15th to incorporate follow-up remarks from Eric Anziani. Crypto.com may not be the biggest crypto exchange by trading volume, but it’s certainly one of the most well-known. Lebron James plays in an arena named after the company, and the exchange has sponsorship deals with the Philadelphia 76ers, Formula 1, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, among others. But those splashy sponsorship deals come with...

    NewsBusiness
    5 min read
    Ben Weiss
  • Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Siu. Image: TechCrunch Disrupt/Flickr

    NFTs Lag Behind Bitcoin's Boom—But Animoca's Yat Siu Is Still a Believer

    In March, just as Bitcoin reached an all-time high price, the NFT market lagged behind. Monthly sales volumes for NFTs totaled approximately $1.4 billion, a steep drop from a high of about $6 billion in January 2022, according to data from CryptoSlam. Yat Siu, chairman of Animoca Brands, one the biggest investors in Web3 startups, isn’t worried. In an interview with Decrypt during Paris Blockchain Week, Siu said that he’s still invested—literally and figuratively—in the future of NFTs and the me...

    NewsNFTs
    3 min read
    Ben Weiss
  • Artist's interpretation of Sam Bankman-Fried. Image: Shutterstock

    Inside the Courtroom Where Sam Bankman-Fried Was Sentenced to 25 Years Behind Bars

    On a rainy Thursday in New York City, the saga of Sam Bankman-Fried came to an end—for now, at least. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced the co-founder and former CEO of FTX to 25 years in prison, with three years of supervised release and the forfeiture of more than $11 billion in ill-gotten gains. Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said they intend to appeal. The hearing where Kaplan pronounced his sentence, though, was not a 15-minute formality. Arguably, it started the evening prior, when R...

    NewsLaw and Order
    5 min read
    Ben Weiss
  • FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried outside Manhattan federal court. Photo: Decrypt/André Beganski

    FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

    Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced on Thursday to 25 years in prison. The hearing puts an end to a months-long sentencing process that began shortly after the Department of Justice successfully argued in court that the one-time crypto wunderkind had used FTX as his personal piggy bank. Bankman-Fried siphoned more than $8 billion in customer funds to fund moonshot venture investments, paid sponsorships with celebrity athletes like To...

    NewsLaw and Order
    2 min read
    Ben Weiss