Crypto Weekly: Watchdogs bite Binance

STORY: From U.S. regulators getting tough on exchanges, to why Lindsay Lohan is the latest celeb with crypto-regret,

these are the week’s big stories in the world of alternative money.

U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday unveiled a new indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried, accusing the FTX founder of directing the transfer of at least $40 million of cryptocurrency to benefit Chinese government officials.

The 31-year-old former billionaire had previously pleaded not guilty to eight counts over the collapse of FTX.

U.S. regulators are suing Binance for what they call “willful evasion” of the law.

They say it’s guilty of illegal trading and sham compliance.

Company founder Changpeng Zhao says the move is “disappointing”, and based on incomplete facts.

Bitcoin has jumped around 40% since early March, amid the market turmoil over banks.

But data provider Kaiko says liquidity is drying up, with few of the coins available to trade.

Some market players say that’s at least partly down to the collapse of crypto-friendly banks Silvergate and Signature.

Lower liquidity also tends to drive volatility, which some think explains part of the recent price jump.

And more celebrities are counting the cost of promoting crypto.

Lindsay Lohan and rapper Soulja Boy were among eight accused of promoting tokens without disclosing they were paid to do so.

Lohan and most others have agreed to settle, but Soulja Boy is one of two holding out.

Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun is accused of fraud over the scheme to promote the Tronix and BitTorrent tokens.