The criminal trial of the crypto industry’s poster-boy-turned-pariah begins in New York City today, and its outcome could help shape the future of digital currency.

Here’s what you can expect:

Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange he founded. But…

• Federal prosecutors accuse him of using the now-bankrupt FTX to steal billions of dollars from customers and investors.
• They say he used that money partly for real estate purchases and to plug losses at his risky crypto trading firm, Alameda Research…all while touting FTX as safe and buying endorsements from familiar faces like Tom Brady and Larry David.

Prosecutors plan to introduce 1,300 pieces of evidence, including financial records, text messages, and an audio recording from an internal meeting where Alameda CEO (and SBF’s ex-girlfriend) Caroline Ellison allegedly says Bankman-Fried signed off on pumping Alameda with FTX customer funds.

Ellison and two FTX co-founders already pleaded guilty to fraud and will testify against their former leader.

Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried’s defense attorneys are expected to argue that he was just following the advice of FTX’s lawyers and didn’t have criminal intent. They’ll also likely try to pin blame on Ellison. Bankman-Fried has probably been advised not to testify, though he was very talkative after FTX collapsed.

If convicted on all counts, SBF could get 110 years in prison. He’s been in jail since August after the trial judge revoked his $250 million bail for alleged witness tampering: leaking Ellison’s diary entries to the New York Times. Before that, he was staying at the Palo Alto home of his parents (who are being sued by FTX), where they got him a dog and planned to install a pickleball court.

Looking ahead…the collapse of FTX intensified the government’s ongoing crackdown on crypto, bringing heat to other exchanges like Binance and Coinbase. For now, if you can’t get enough of SBF’s meteoric rise and fall, Michael Lewis’s biography of SBF came out today with details like the crypto king considering a plan to offer Donald Trump $5 billion not to run for president.—ML

For further reading, you can check out our deeper dive into the cast of characters involved in the trial here.

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Trump trial kicks off. SBF won’t be the only one with a famous hairstyle standing accused of fraud in a New York courtroom this week. The trial in the New York attorney general’s civil case against the former president began yesterday. The judge already found Trump liable for fraud for allegedly inflating the value of his real estate assets, but the trial will decide the remaining claims and any penalty (the AG is seeking $250 million). The case, which Trump has labeled a “witch hunt,” could shed light on how much money the ex-prez really has. The trial is expected to last through December and may involve hundreds of witnesses, starting with Trump’s accountant yesterday and potentially including Trump’s adult children. There’s no jury because, as the judge pointed out, neither side asked for one.

Matt Gaetz tries to oust McCarthy as speaker. The government may still be open, but things among members of Congress remain as tense as between two teens who showed up to prom in the same dress. As he had previously promised, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, unhappy with fellow Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to work with Democrats to keep the government running, made a motion to vacate. The procedural move triggers a vote on whether McCarthy should remain the leader of the House within days. The vote would require a majority to boot McCarthy, and there are ways it could be averted. But if it does take place, McCarthy might need support from Democrats again to keep the top job.

Microsoft’s CEO says Google has an unfair advantage. Testifying yesterday in the government’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the search giant’s deals making it the default on Apple devices have helped lead to a ubiquity that makes it hard to create a true rival—even with AI. “Despite my enthusiasm that there is a new angle with AI, I worry a lot that this vicious cycle that I’m trapped in could get even more vicious,” Nadella said. The case against Google is the biggest tech anti-monopoly case since, well, the government tried to break up Microsoft 25 years ago.

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine yesterday. You may not know their names, but you know their work: Their study of mRNA led to the development of the Covid-19 vaccine.

For Karikó, the path to the Nobel was an uphill climb. Originally from Hungary, she joined the University of Pennsylvania as a research assistant professor in 1989 to study mRNA. Her grant proposals were constantly rejected, while the rest of the scientific community was slow to catch on to her groundbreaking research. She was never paid more than $60,000 a year. And it was only through a chance encounter at the photocopier that she began to work with Weissman, currently the director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation.

The two collaborated for years before they made the discovery of a lifetime in 2005—that mRNA can be manipulated and injected into the body to activate an immune response. But it was to no applause: The major academic journals Science and Nature rejected their paper, which received little fanfare even after being published in a less prestigious journal.

So, in 2013, Karikó left Penn for a job at BioNTech (of the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine), where she still works today. And, of course, their breakthrough came in handy during the global pandemic.

The genetic code that keeps on giving. Thanks largely to Karikó and Weissman, mRNA vaccine technology, has more potential than a first-round draft prospect. Moderna and BioNTech are working on mRNA vaccines for RSV, HIV, Zika, malaria, shingles, flu, and cancer.—CC

Taylor Swift may have turbocharged the US economy with her tour, but Katy Perry inadvertently inspired a campaign to amend the nation’s real estate laws.

The Protecting Elder Realty for Retirement Years (PERRY) Act, soon to be introduced in several states, would give home-sellers aged 75+ up to 72 hours to change their mind about parting ways with a personal residence, Semafor reports.

• It stems from a lawsuit that went to trial last week against the Queen of Camp and her fiancé, Orlando Bloom.
• The suit was filed by Carl Westcott, the octogenarian who founded 1-800-FLOWERS decades ago and father-in-law of Real Housewife Kameron Westcott.

Golden Coast drama

Westcott, who suffers from a rare neurodegenerative disease, agreed to sell his Santa Barbara mansion to the celebrity couple for $14.2 million in 2020 but then tried to renege on the sale a few days later. He claims that when he signed the paperwork, his judgment was clouded by post-surgery painkillers he was taking.

Strangely, this isn’t the first real estate lawsuit involving Katy Perry and senior citizens: A few years ago, the singer won a case against elderly nuns over her attempt to purchase a former convent.

Zoom out: Wescott’s family now wants the PERRY Act passed, and they say 37 elected officials nationwide are on board.—SK

Stat: We always assumed that worms’ greatest contribution to our diets was being the perfect shape for gummy candy, but a new study published in Nature Communications found that earthworms help produce 140 million metric tons of food per year by making soil more fertile. That’s more than the 120 million metric tons Russia expects to produce this year and would make the creepy crawlers the fourth largest global producer if they were a country, according to The Guardian. The slimy guys contribute to 6.5% of the world’s grain harvests and 2.3% of legumes, the study said.

Quote: “Hi, I’m Jay Powell, I’m the chair of the Federal Reserve.”

Hoping to, erm, raise interest in a whole new way, the Fed has joined the Gram. The central bank posted its first Reel yesterday featuring the chair. In an effort to educate the public, the Fed will also make content for the two or three folks still checking Threads. The two new accounts bring the total number of social media platforms where you can follow the Fed up to seven, including Facebook, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn. It’s not on TikTok yet, but we’re looking forward to seeing JPow’s POV any day now.

Read: Why your $7 latte is $7. (Vox)

Watch: How commercials got so absurd.

Find your light: Get luminous vibes from this map of lighthouses.

Listen: AI helps you imagine a world where the original singers cover Weird Al parodies.

Rewrite the rules: This video offers an original take on the game Guess Who?

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