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Microsoft and Apple have decided against joining the board of Open AI. Ethereum ETFs are “close to the finish line,” says crypto asset manager Bitwise CCO Katherine Dowling. Meanwhile, sentencing for a pair of former FTX executives is scheduled for October and November of this year.
Microsoft and Apple renounce OpenAI board membership
Technology giants Microsoft and Apple have reportedly decided not to take up board seats at the artificial intelligence firm OpenAI amid increasing regulatory scrutiny.
Microsoft has sent a letter to OpenAI announcing its withdrawal from the board, Bloomberg reported on July 10, citing an anonymous person familiar with the matter.
The withdrawal came about a year after the Windows software maker made a massive $13 billion investment in OpenAI in April 2023.
“Over the past eight months we have witnessed significant progress from the newly formed board and are confident in the company’s direction,” Microsoft reportedly wrote in its memo to OpenAI, adding:
In contrast to recent reports that Apple would also get an observer role on OpenAI’s board as part of a landmark agreement announced in June, OpenAI will have no board observers after Microsoft’s departure, the company reportedly said.
“We’re grateful to Microsoft for voicing confidence in the board and the direction of the company, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership,” OpenAI stated.
The news comes amid the increasing regulatory pressure on Big Tech firms over its potential impact on AI and industry dominance.
Ethereum ETFs are “close to the finish line” — Bitwise CCO
A roster of eight spot Ether (ETH) ETFs is inching closer to a final launch date as the amount of back and forth between prospective fund issuers and the SEC begins to slow down, says Bitwise chief compliance officer Katherine Dowling.
“We’re seeing in the S-1 amendments that there are fewer and fewer issues that are being vetted back and forth between issuers and the SEC,” Dowling said on July 9.
“So that points all signs in the direction that we are close. We’re close to the finish line on the launch.”
Bitwise’s chief investment officer Matt Hougan speculated the spot Ether ETFs could attract up to $15 billion in inflows in the first 18 months of trading — roughly the same amount that the spot Bitcoin ETFs have mustered in since launching six months ago.
Sentencing for former FTX execs set for the fall
A U.S. federal judge who oversaw the trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has scheduled sentencing hearings for Gary Wang and Nishad Singh for later this year.
According to a July 9 docket entry in the U.S. Southern District of New York, Judge Lewis Kaplan said Singh’s sentencing would be held on Oct. 30 and Wang’s on Nov. 20. Gary Wang was the co-founder of the defunct crypto exchange, while Singh served as the company’s engineering director at the time of its collapse.
Wang was among the first to plead guilty to charges related to his role in the FTX collapse. In February 2023, Singh also pleaded guilty to several felony accounts, including fraud and money laundering.
The fallout from the FTX collapse also saw the former co-CEO of FTX Markets, Ryan Salame, sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in May of this year.
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