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PANews, December 30 — According to Bloomberg, Alt5 Sigma, a small fintech company linked to the Trump family crypto project, dismissed its auditor Victor Mokuolu CPA PLLC on Christmas Day, less than three weeks after hiring the firm. This marks the latest sign of turmoil at the company. According to regulatory filings submitted on Monday, its new auditor is L J Soldinger Associates LLC, headquartered in Deer Park, Illinois. In a letter attached to the regulatory filing submitted to the US SEC on Monday, Victor Mokuolu CPA PLLC confirmed it is no longer the company's auditor and stated there was no disagreement with Alt5's announcement. Alt5's appointment of L J Soldinger Associates as its new auditor means the company has changed auditors three times in less than two months. According to related documents, Hudgens CPA, which had provided audit services since 2023, resigned in late November due to the impending retirement of its sole partner. Previously, Alt5 missed the deadline to submit its quarterly financial statements due to untimely responses from its audit firm. On Monday, managing partner William Hudgens stated that he has not retired, but the firm is planning to exit the public company audit business and had informed Alt5 of this plan in June. In early December, Hudgens also said the company unfairly made his firm a "scapegoat" for its internal issues.

PANews, December 30 — According to The Block, the Deputy Director of the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who played a key role in shaping the agency's approach to cryptocurrency regulation, is set to retire. On Monday, the SEC announced Cicely LaMothe's retirement in a statement. The SEC stated that over the past year, LaMothe participated in drafting several important staff statements related to cryptocurrency, including one clarifying that meme coins are not securities and another explaining the agency's stance on staking. In addition to cryptocurrency-related matters, LaMothe also led policy recommendations for draft prospectuses submitted by companies.

According to Odaily, Meta has acquired Butterfly Effect, the company behind the development of AI application Manus, for several billions of dollars. This is Meta's third largest acquisition since its founding, with the expenditure second only to WhatsApp and ScaleAI. It is understood that prior to Meta's acquisition, Manus was conducting a new round of financing at a valuation of $2 billion. "It happened so quickly that we even wondered if it was a fake offer," said Liu Yuan, partner at ZhenFund and angel investor in Butterfly Effect. The acquisition negotiations were completed in an extremely short period, taking just over ten days in total.