Crypto Today: Bitcoin Treasury Funding Vote, FTX-Linked Charges, Sports Contracts Ban Push

Today in crypto, France-listed Capital B shareholders approved up to $120 billion in financing capacity to fund future Bitcoin buys. In the US, former FTX executive Ryan Salame’s wife will face campaign finance charges, and gambling industry groups urged the Senate to clarify that the CFTC doesn’t have authority over prediction markets.

Capital B shareholders approve up to $120 billion in financing capacity

France-listed Bitcoin treasury company Capital B’s shareholders approved authorizations allowing the company to raise up to 105 billion euros ($120.4 billion) to fund future Bitcoin purchases.

Over 95% of shareholders approved the establishment of up to 5 billion euros in capital increases, equivalent to as many as 125 billion new shares at the current nominal value, as well as the issuance of up to 100 billion euros in credit instruments, Capital B announced on Wednesday.

The company said the issuance of the new capital instruments will “accelerate its Bitcoin accumulation strategy, focused on increasing the number of Bitcoin per fully diluted share over time.”

Source: Capital B

During its general meeting on Wednesday, Capital B reported 300.65 million in total shares with voting rights. If fully exercised, issuing 125 billion in new shares would result in existing shareholders being diluted to about 0.24% of the company’s ownership.

Wife of FTX exec Salame to face campaign finance charges

Michelle Bond, the wife of imprisoned former FTX executive Ryan Salame, will face illicit campaign finance charges after a judge on Wednesday rejected her argument that prosecutors promised Salame that she would be cleared if he pleaded guilty.

Manhattan federal judge George Daniels denied Bond’s bid to dismiss an indictment alleging Salame crafted a consulting agreement between Bond and FTX to pay her $400,000 to help bankroll her unsuccessful congressional run in 2022.

Michelle Bond (left) and Ryan Salame (right) leaving a Manhattan courthouse in August 2024. Source: YouTube

Bond claimed that then-Manhattan US Attorney Danielle Sassoon told her lawyer in a 2023 meeting that if Salame pleaded guilty, then prosecutors would “conclude the aspects of our investigation that concern” him.

But Judge Daniels said evidence shows prosecutors “had not promised Bond’s immunity by the time Salame entered his guilty plea,” and that one of Bond’s former lawyers admitted she “did not believe Sassoon’s statement was a promise at the time it was made.”

Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, was sentenced in May 2024 to seven and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to make illegal political contributions and operating an illegal money transmitter.

Gaming groups urge Congress to ban prediction markets sports betting in CLARITY Act

Several national gaming and tribal organizations and labor groups have reportedly called on the US Senate to add language “that explicitly prohibits event contracts tied to sports and casino-style gaming” in the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act.

According to a Wednesday Semafor report, groups tied to sports betting, including the Indian Gaming Association and American Gaming Association have united against what they called gambling on prediction markets. They requested that the US Congress use the CLARITY Act now under consideration in the Senate to affirm that “sports betting falls outside the [Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s] remit and cannot be offered through prediction market platforms.”

“While our organizations may differ on other issues, including gambling policy, we are united in our concern that prediction markets have fueled the largest expansion of gambling in US history over the past 18 months — without voter approval or legislative authorization,” said the letter.

The pushback from the groups comes as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) under Chair Michael Selig has claimed “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets. Selig has led the financial regulator in supporting platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket against lawsuits by state-level gaming authorities.