Former FTX executive Ryan Salame received a 7.5-year prison sentence on May 28. A memecoin created by ChatGPT has reached a valuation of $638 million in a little over a year. Meanwhile, Bitcoin dropped slightly after shuttered exchange Mt. Gox moved billions.

Former FTX Executive Sentenced to Prison

On May 28, former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison by Judge Lewis Kaplan in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Salame was convicted of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and engaging in fraudulent campaign financing, having pleaded guilty to the charges in September 2023.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated, "Ryan Salame agreed to advance the interests of FTX, Alameda Research, and his co-conspirators through an unlawful political influence campaign and an unlicensed money transmitting business, which helped FTX grow faster and larger by operating outside of the law." Salame exposed FTX's fraud in November 2022, shortly before Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March.

ChatGPT-Coded Memecoin Reaches $638 Million Market Cap

A memecoin created using OpenAI's ChatGPT, with an initial budget of $69, reached a valuation of $638 million just over a year after its launch. On May 28, the memecoin named Turbo hit a new all-time high price of $0.009302, bringing its market capitalization to approximately $638 million, according to CoinGecko.

The token saw substantial gains over the past three months, increasing from a $27 million valuation to over $600 million, representing a 2,262% rise in market capitalization. Digital artist Rhett Mankind, the creator of Turbo, attributed its success to its decentralized nature, noting that its popularity surged due to his minimal involvement in its management. Mankind created the Turbo memecoin in April 2023, using AI prompts to guide the chatbot in developing what he called "the next great" memecoin.

Bitcoin Dips as Mt. Gox Wallets Move Over $7 Billion

Bitcoin fell 2% on May 28 after the collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox moved over 107,000 BTC, valued at nearly $7.3 billion, to a single unknown wallet. This move preceded Mt. Gox's plan to return BTC to creditors before October.

Blockchain tracking account Whale Alert reported six on-chain transactions between 3,999 BTC and 32,499 BTC occurring within hours. Arkham Intelligence showed that multiple Mt. Gox cold wallets moved 2,000 BTC at a time, sometimes more, to a single address holding 107,547 BTC worth around $7.29 billion at the time. Bitcoin's price dropped about 2% following these transactions, trading at $67,875.