CoinMarketCap News, Mar 1: FTX Exec 'Unbelievably Sorry' For His Role in Collapse

A third FTX executive has pleaded guilty to criminal charges, as the walls continue to close in on Sam Bankman-Fried. Nishad Singh was the doomed exchange's head of engineering, and there had been reports he was looking to cut a plea deal. FTX co-founder Gary Wang — and Caroline Ellison, the CEO of the platform's sister trading firm Alameda Research — have also entered guilty pleas. Singh will now cooperate with prosecutors as they continue to compile a case against SBF, and a trial is due to begin in October. According to Reuters, he said that he was "unbelievably sorry for his role in all of this" — and admitted that he knew in the middle of 2022 that Alameda Research had been borrowing customer funds from FTX without their knowledge.

A "centuries-old castle in the scenic Czech highlands" was purchased using FTX funds, according to Forbes. The news outlet says that the now-shuttered FTX Foundation donated $4.5 million to an obscure organization with ties to "effective altruism."  SBF had long claimed that he was a big believer in this movement, which champions philanthropy and encourages the rich to give away most of their wealth. The 30-year-old himself had long vowed to give away most of his fortune, but that vanished in the blink of an eye as FTX crashed into bankruptcy. The castle is reportedly called Chateau Hostacov, and it was snapped up by a non-profit called the European Summer Program on Rationality, or ESPR for short.

An executive has denied reports that Visa is planning to slam the brakes on partnerships with crypto firms following a slew of devastating bankruptcies. Reuters had reported that the credit card giant was abandoning plans to collaborate with digital asset firms in the wake of BlockFi, Voyager, Celsius and FTX going under. But Visa's head of crypto Cuy Sheffield has said the story is "inaccurate" — and partnerships were ongoing to improve fiat on-ramps and off-ramps. He tweeted: "Despite the challenges and uncertainty in the crypto ecosystem, our view has not changed that fiat-backed digital currencies running on public blockchains have the potential to play an important role in the payments ecosystem."

Nine years after an audacious hack, Mt. Gox's victims are about to start getting some of their Bitcoin back. A whopping 850,000 BTC was stolen back in 2014 — bringing the shutters down on what was the world's biggest crypto exchange at the time. While only 142,000 BTC ended up being recovered, a huge surge in its value means those owed money are still in line for a substantial windfall. UBS says it doesn't believe the unlocking of this crypto stash will lead to mass sell-offs and drag down prices. Many of those who had invested in Bitcoin back then were early adopters and firm believers in the digital asset's potential, making them less likely to sell. And not everyone will opt to receive a payout right now, analysts noted.