Bob Menendez, a former U.S. Senator and popular Bitcoin critic, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison over corruption charges. 

U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein issued the sentence yesterday after the 71-year-old Democratic Senator was convicted in July 2024. 

Menendez Charges and Sentencing 

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Menendez received an 11-year jail term for his involvement in a fraudulent scheme in which he and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted bribes from two businessmen he helped: Fred Daibes and Wael Hana. 

Notably, they bribed Menendez with gold, cash, and other luxury items in exchange for political favors benefiting Qatar and Egypt. Meanwhile, the judge sentenced Hana and Daibes to eight and seven years in prison for their involvement in the scheme. 

The court has yet to sentence Nadine; her corruption trial will take place on March 18. According to the verdict, Menendez abused his position as a Senator to advocate for policies favoring foreign governments, interfere in legal cases, and compel U.S. officials to protect Hana’s Egyptian business monopoly. 

Prior to his conviction, the FBI raided his home, recovering fiat currencies worth $480,000, gold bars valued at around $150,000, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. While prosecutors pushed for a 15-year jail term, his counsel requested eight years. However, the judge sentenced him to 11 years in prison. 

A Vocal Bitcoin Critic 

Menendez was a senator for 18 years under the Democratic Party but resigned in August 2024 due to his indictment. He was among the U.S. Senators who publicly criticized Bitcoin, referring to it as criminals’ ideal choice.  

In 2022, the former U.S. Senator criticized El Salvador for adopting Bitcoin. He argued that the move opens the door to corruption, including money laundering. 

El Salvador President Reacts 

Amid his criticism of Bitcoin, Menendez’s sentencing elicited reactions within the crypto community. Interestingly, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele reacted to the post with a laughing emoji. 

😂 https://t.co/ciA5IO1k5m

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 7, 2024

In a follow-up post, the pro-Bitcoin President provided an insight into how the former senator accused El Salvador of using BTC for corruption. He added a quote to his tweet, suggesting that anyone inclined to steal always assumes everyone is a thief. 

Electric car giant Tesla reported a profit of $600 million on its Bitcoin stash for the fourth quarter of 2024 following the new FASB accounting rule.

Tesla reported that its 9,720 BTC was worth $184 million for four straight quarters before now. However, the Elon Musk-owned firm disclosed in its Wednesday Q4 2024 earnings attestation that the stash’s value at the quarter’s close was $1.08 billion.

The report pattern changed following the new Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) accounting framework, which took effect in January 2025. The regulation mandated public companies holding Bitcoin to match their stash’s valuation to the market price in its quarterly report.

Tesla Boosts Earnings With $600M Bitcoin Gains

Before now, Tesla reported its Bitcoin holding with a carrying value of $184 million, reflecting its lowest recorded value during its ownership. This left behind all gains the corporate firm accrued by keeping the asset.

Leveraging the new FASB rule, Tesla reported quarterly earnings of $600 million from its Bitcoin bag, bringing its net income to $2.3 billion in Q4 2024. Furthermore, the electric car company disclosed that the rule change boosted its earnings per share by 68 cents.

In reality, Tesla realized about $347 million from its Bitcoin holding in the fourth quarter. This is because its 9,720 BTC had a fair value of $729 million, far higher than the $184 million reported.

Meanwhile, Tesla’s substantial Bitcoin earnings came from its early adoption of the pioneering cryptocurrency. The company acquired $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in 2021 amid its portfolio diversification strategy.

Although it has sold a considerable portion of it, data from the Bitcoin Treasuries shows that it is the sixth-largest public company holding the asset.

Tesla’s Stock Soars Despite Target Miss

Moreover, Tesla’s added advantage from its Bitcoin holding was insufficient to meet Wall Street’s earnings expectations. For context, the electric vehicle manufacturer recorded revenue of $25.71 billion and earnings per share of 73 cents, below expectations of  $27.76 billion and 76 cents.

Despite the modest 2% increase in earnings quarter over quarter, Tesla’s stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) surged hours after the trading session’s close. According to Google Finance, the stock reached $405.25 after the market closed, up over 4% from its closing price of $389.10.

CME Group has announced plans to introduce financially settled options on its Bitcoin Friday futures starting February 24, subject to regulatory approval. 

These new contracts will be the first of their kind within CME’s crypto product lineup, featuring expiration dates every business day from Monday through Friday. The move aims to provide market participants additional flexibility in managing Bitcoin price exposure and refining their trading strategies.

Newly Introduced Options 

With the addition of financially settled options, CME Group expands its existing range of cryptocurrency derivatives. The current offerings include physically settled options on Bitcoin, Micro Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Micro ETH futures. These new contracts are expected to complement the firm’s growing suite of digital asset offerings. 

Bitcoin Friday futures have already gained significant traction in the market. Since launch, the product has recorded over 775,000 contracts traded. The average daily volume has reached 9,700 contracts. A notable 44% of trading activity occurs outside U.S. market hours, reflecting global demand for the futures contract.

In CME’s blog, Jason Urban, Global Head of Trading at Galaxy, said:

“As a major liquidity provider in the digital asset derivatives space, we see CME Group’s introduction of options on Bitcoin Friday futures as a timely, important addition to the market.”

Access Through Mini Bitcoin Futures

In August last year, CME Group introduced the mini-Bitcoin futures contract, known as Bitcoin Friday Futures (BFF), to cater to retail investors. These contracts became officially available for trading on September 30 after receiving regulatory clearance. They were designed to lower entry barriers by pricing each contract at a fiftieth of a quarter of one Bitcoin.

Notably, the weekly contracts follow a cash settlement process, referencing the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York Variant (BBRNY). The settlement price is determined every Friday at the end of the New York trading session. This process helps mitigate investors’ exposure to potential weekend price swings in the Bitcoin market.

Potential Expansion into XRP and SOL Futures

Meanwhile, recent updates on a beta version of CME Group’s website suggest that the exchange is preparing to introduce futures contracts for Solana (SOL) and XRP. However, these futures contracts are pending regulatory approval. 

These futures contracts were scheduled for release on February 10, though CME has yet to confirm the official launch. If approved, these new offerings would align with the broader push for more regulated crypto investment products in the U.S.

Meanwhile, demand for crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continues to rise, with new filings indicating the potential launch of multiple XRP and SOL ETFs.

Despite a hawkish outcome from Wednesday’s FOMC meeting, Bitcoin and crypto have remained largely stable, with BTC surging past a crucial level.

As expected, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell announced a pause in interest rate cuts on Wednesday as inflation remains above the targeted 2%. He disclosed the agency will maintain the federal fund rate at 4.25% to 4.5%, sparking intense volatility in the equity market.

Bitcoin Plays Contrarian; Here’s What It Means

Following this disclosure, Bitcoin remained largely unperturbed by the somewhat hawkish news. In fact, the pioneering crypto asset gained bullish momentum, surging above $104,000 during Powell’s speech, and now trades at over $105,000 per coin.

However, the US stock market faced downward pressure as investors fled to caution. For context, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 137 points, or 0.3%.

Market intelligence firm Santiment highlighted this contrarian play, tying the decoupling to a maturing cryptocurrency sector. It stated in an X post that this is a good sign that Bitcoin has outpaced its earlier status quo as a “high leveraged tech stock” as branded by skeptics.

Notably, Bitcoin has shown a strong correlation with US interest rates in the past five years, reacting accordingly to the Fed’s tone on inflation. This has led to skepticism about Bitcoin’s widely recognized capabilities as digital gold and a hedge against inflation.

Meanwhile, the changing tides highlight Bitcoin’s recent progress. Furthermore, Santiment noted that Bitcoin’s best-performing years came when it relied minimally on the stock market, insinuating bullish momentum for the premier asset.

Banks Perfectly Able to Service Crypto: Powell

A contributing factor to Bitcoin’s bullish momentum is Powell’s signatory that financial institutions can interact with the crypto industry. During Wednesday’s press conference, the Fed chair stated that banks could service crypto firms if they properly decimate risks.

“Banks are perfectly able to serve crypto customers as long as they can understand and service the risks,” Powell said.

He also touched on the debanking myth, insisting that America’s central bank cannot prevent financial institutions from meddling with crypto clients because of the risks associated with the sector.

Interestingly, Powell’s speech followed his earlier comments that the Fed cannot hold Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. The chair had also called the asset a digital gold, stating it would compete with the prominent precious metal.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has surged 2% to $105,167 at the time of writing, with the global crypto market cap rising 2.3% in the past 24 hours to $3.57 trillion.