Roland Guirdonan
Roland is a Public Relations & Communications guru with an immense passion for the blockchain and crypto industry. A fusion of his expertise and passion led to the dawn of Optimisus in 2020.
Articles by Roland Guirdonan
1 year ago
1 min read
Do Kwon, one of the founders of Terraform Labs, is reportedly in Serbia after leaving Singapore and Dubai. The South Korean Ministry of Justice is attempting to contact the Serbian government for aid in extraditing Kwon back to South Korea, as the two countries have signed the European Convention on Extradition. This comes after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and the subsequent investigations and lawsuits that followed. Kwon has had his passport rendered invalid, making it extremely difficult for him to travel. Prosecutors allege that he is fleeing to avoid an inquiry, though he has denied this allegation in
1 year ago
1 min read
At the All Core Developers meeting on December 8, 2022, Ethereum developers decided to launch the Shanghai upgrade, called Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4895, on March 2023. This upgrade came in response to the successful completion of the Ethereum Merge on September 15, 2022, and will enable validators to withdraw their staked ETH from the Beacon Chain consensus layer. Moreover, it will set the stage for a scalability upgrade, which will significantly increase the network’s transaction throughput. Marius van der Wijden, a developer, has announced that full and partial withdrawals are now functional on two private Ethereum testnets, with a public
1 year ago
1 min read
Ripple (XRP) whales showed undeterred confidence in the midst of turbulent times as 143 million XRP tokens, amounting to $55.96 million, were transferred via the network. Whale Alert reported this large transaction. Prior to this transaction, the whale tracking profile had noted various significant XRP transfers. In December 2022 alone, more than 100 million XRP was moved between wallets. Afterward, Ripple’s network growth was not able to recover, having been on a decline since 4 December, according to Santiment data. At the time of writing, it had dropped to 611. An analysis of this situation revealed that there were very
1 year ago
1 min read
The Schall Law Firm is taking up the cause of duped investors who lost money in the FTX Token (FTT) scam. It is estimated that around one million people have been financially ruined by the alleged fraud of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The firm is investigating the company for possible violations of securities laws, including issuing false or misleading statements or failing to disclose essential information. If successful, the firm intends to pursue legal action against FTX to help the investors recoup their losses. Schall Law Firm revealed that multiple media sources had documented the issues within FTX-Alameda’s operations and
1 year ago
1 min read
Starbucks has introduced Starbucks Odyssey, a beta version of their loyalty program, to select customers and staff in the US. This program will allow participants to go on “Journeys” with interactive activities that will provide them with collectible NFTs, named “Journey Stamps”, and Odyssey Points that can be used to obtain exclusive benefits and experiences. According to the company, the Odyssey program is an opportunity for the company to further integrate Web3 and NFTs. Starbucks announced a new program, an extension of its Rewards program, which utilizes Web3 technology. Members will be able to participate in ‘Journeys’ consisting of interactive
1 year ago
1 min read
SBF stated that he is willing to testify before the House Committee on Financial Services in Washington, D.C. next Wednesday despite not having access to his data. He Tweeted, “Though I won’t be as helpful as I’d like, the committee still finds this useful, so I am willing to testify on the 13th.” In a tweet thread, he apologized and promised to provide details on FTX US’s solvency and pathways that could return value to international customers, as well as what he believes caused the crash and his own missteps. He admitted, “I had thought of myself as a model
1 year ago
1 min read
Polygon (formerly known as Matic Network) is a blockchain platform that provides a suite of tools and services for building and deploying decentralized applications (DApps). Polygon is designed to be an easy-to-use and scalable platform that enables developers to quickly and efficiently build and deploy DApps on the Ethereum network. Polygon uses a hybrid proof-of-stake and proof-of-authority consensus mechanism, which allows for faster and cheaper transactions than other networks. The platform also offers a range of services, such as security audits, developer tools, and community support, to help developers build and launch DApps on the Polygon network. Overall, Polygon is
1 year ago
1 min read
Manhattan federal prosecutors have initiated an inquiry into whether Sam Bankman-Fried deliberately drove up the prices of two cryptos this spring, resulting in their downfall and, eventually, the downfall of his own crypto exchange last month. According to crypto media outlets, Bankman-Fried may have manipulated the prices of TerraUSD and Luna, both of which are connected to his companies FTX and Alameda Research, in an effort to benefit them. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and federal prosecutors are conducting an inquiry into whether FTX’s transfer of consumer money to Alameda was unlawful. Furthermore, they are assessing whether FTX breached
1 year ago
2 mins read
Sam Bankman-Fried has become the subject of numerous lawsuits and investigations following the collapse of FTX crypto exchange. Many class-action suits have been filed against the former FTX CEO, with the most recent being filed on April 22. These lawsuits range from claims of market manipulation to fraud, and are separate from the ongoing investigations into the company and SBF. Along with the Federal Election Commission’s likely investigation into Bankman-Fried’s dark money donations to the Republican Party, SBF has been under intense scrutiny for his role in the collapse of FTX. Gregg Podalsky and four other former FTX customers have
1 year ago
1 min read
In the months leading up to FTX’s collapse, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, had approached Taylor Swift to work out a lucrative sponsorship deal estimated to be worth over $100 million. According to the Financial Times, the meeting revolved around ticketing arrangements for NFTs related to the pop star. However, Swift eventually backed out from the agreement prior to FTX’s financial troubles. Sources have claimed that FTX’s unorthodox internal decision-making, internal disputes among Bankman-Fried’s team, and the hiring of external executives may have all contributed to the downfall of the deal. At first, Bankman-Fried and Claire Watanabe, a senior
1 year ago
1 min read
A ruling issued Wednesday by Chief Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ordered crypto lender Celsius Network to return around $44 million worth of crypto to customers, even if the funds were not placed in Celsius’s interest-bearing accounts. According to Bloomberg, the parties involved in the case had determined that the funds belonged to users, not Celsius. Before its bankruptcy this summer, Celsius moved more than $200,000 worth of assets into custodial accounts, thus raising the possibility that it could claim ownership of those funds. However, Glenn ruled that Celsius was not obligated to return crypto assets worth less than $7,500 each,
1 year ago
1 min read
Binance US has announced that users can now trade Ethereum (ETH) without any fees, expanding the “zero fee price model” it introduced for Bitcoin transactions months ago. The crypto exchange now offers zero-fee trading on four ETH spot market pairs: ETH/USD, ETH/USDT, ETH/USDC, and ETH/BUSD. Starting immediately, the US exchange will no longer charge gas fees on all Ethereum transactions made through its “Buy & Sell” feature. This follows the footsteps of Robinhood, which began zero-fee crypto trading in 2018, and Binance US, which removed all Bitcoin spot market trading fees for BTC/USD, BTC/USDT, BTC/USDC, and BTC/BUSD in June. Binance
