Behind The Crypto Scam - "Complete Absence Of Trustworthy Financial Information"
Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism, who called everything crypto 'prosecution futures', provides the latest FTX bankruptcy filing:
John J. Ray III, the newly appointed CEO of bankrupt crypto player FTX’s sprawling empire who played the same role in the then-biggest-evah Enron bankruptcy and other big corporate implosions, filed his formal initial assessment with the Delaware bankruptcy court in the form of declaration, embedded below.
As expected the FTX and the companies related to it are a huge criminal mess.
In point 5 of his filing the new CEO is not holding back:
Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here. From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented. ...
"Potentially compromised individuals" might refer to rampant use of drugs at FTX. But it could also point to some darker connections.
More from Yves:
At the stage of this filing, Ray could only make an approximate description of the business, putting operations into four “silos” and describing the major legal entities and activities in each.
Let us look at the things FTX did not have:
- Balance sheets that showed crypto customer funds as liabilities. The only customer holding on the consolidated balance sheets are fiat currencies!
- Digital asset controls: “The FTX Group did not keep appropriate books and records, or security controls, with respect to its digital assets.”
- An accounting department
- Audited financials for all businesses. Only one “silo” used a recognized audit firm. The biggest customer-facing silo had its books prepared by a no-name flake (office in the Metaverse, you cannot make this up), two had no audited statements
- Record of bank accounts and signers on those accounts
- Centralized cash management
- Record of employees and their employment terms
- Meaningful disbursement controls
- Board meetings and/or “audited by flaky auditor” financials for many FTX entities
- Records of most decisions
So far, Ray has found only $564 million of cash and have moved $760 million of crypto to cold wallets.
That's only $564 million of real money in an 'exchange' that just months ago was valued at $32 billion and cashed in hundreds of millions as new capital.
Source: Bloomberg - bigger
Several billions of the customer funds the company was supposed to hold had been 'lent out' to Sam Bankman-Fried, the main owner and CEO, for 'personal use'.
How could BlackRock, Softbank, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and other real world investors give money to these people? What does it say about their credibility?
Keep in mind, [FTX & Co] are the entities into which some of the smartest and best known venture capital firms on the planet threw billions of dollars. These are the entities around which countless journalists fawningly editorialized, spilling untold gallons of digital ink in the service of lionizing a would-be messiah. These are the entities that were glorified on a weekly basis by the most widely-followed mainstream financial media outlets on Earth.The suggestion that this was so elaborate a ruse that no one — neither the most seasoned VCs nor the investigative arms of media conglomerates run by billionaires — could’ve known it might end in tears, beggars belief. The fact is, nobody looked, because nobody wanted to see.
According to Web3 is Going Great some 12 other crypto 'exchanges' and 'funds' have so far closed down or halted all withdrawals of customer funds as a consequence of the downfall of the FTX scam. More will follow.
Binance, the largest crypto 'exchange', who's owner had pulled the rug on FTX, is still holding out. It is like FTX a scam and pyramid scheme that will eventually come down:
Binance is an enormous crypto exchange run by Changpeng Zhao, more commonly known as CZ. No one really knows where Binance is headquartered, or why some person who’s claimed to be a low-level staffer is listed on official documents. A 2018 document exposed that Binance had come up with an elaborate plan to create a US entity that would be used to distract regulators, while behind the scenes they helped US-based customers evade geographic restrictions on the highly leveraged crypto derivatives trading that the US regulates.
All super normal, above-board stuff. Nothing to see here.
The small crypto traders who use Binance as 'exchange' and who have 'wallets' with crypto 'coins' at Binance do not have custodial agreements with it. They are thereby unsecured creditors, the last in line who will not even receive pennies for dollars when the bankruptcy curtains come down.
Nouriel Roubini @Nouriel - 8:48 UTC · Nov 16, 2022To be precise I literally said that Crypto is 7 C’s:
1. Concealed
2. Corrupt
3. Crooks
4. Criminals
5. Con men
6. Carnival barkers
7. @cz_binance#binance
Matt Stoller asks why these scams are allowed. He also gives the answer - political corruption:
And behind all of these [regulatory] fights was the money and political prestige of some most powerful people in Silicon Valley, who were funding a large political fight to write the rules for crypto, with everyone from former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers to former SEC Chair Mary Jo White on the payroll. (Even now, even after it was all revealed as a Ponzi scheme, Congress is still trying to write rules favorable to the industry. It’s like, guys, stop it. There’s no more bribe money!)
I don't think that crypto should be regulated in any way. It would only give legitimacy to a huge scam that has little to do with the real economy. It would also lead to calls for bailouts when the next crypto pyramid scheme goes down. Potential bailouts are probably why Sam Bankman-Fried also tried to get some friendly regulation for his schemes.
But those entities that are currently regulated - banks, listed companies and funds - should be prohibited from 'investing' in anything crypto. Should they fall down because some other crypto hick-up occurs the real economy would take some damage.
Congress now promises to look deeper into the crypto scam:
The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing next month to investigate the collapse of top crypto exchange FTX, lawmakers announced Wednesday.Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the top lawmakers on the committee, said in a statement that they expect disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to appear before Congress.
Right idea - wrong people:
SBF @SBF_FTX - 21:14 UTC · Dec 8, 20211) A huge thanks to @MaxineWaters , @PatrickMcHenry , and the whole House Financial Services Committee for having us today to talk about the future of digital assets.
The meeting was productive and I'm really grateful for the engagement and thoughts from policymakers.
via Jordan Schachtel - bigger
bigger
chochaymon @ElliottFryback - 20:29 UTC · Dec 8, 2021Maxine Waters just blew @SBF_FTX a kiss. Safe to say that went well.😘
Embedded video
So how big were the bribes Maxime Waters, Patrick McHenry and others received from Sam Bankman-Fried and his companies?
And what about the media that kept writing friendly puff pieces about Sam Bankman-Fried and the false 'effective altruism' ideology he represented even after his companies came down?
Yellen, Zelensky and Zuckerberg Will Speak at [New York Times'] DealBook Summit - Oct 18, 2022
The conference, scheduled for Nov. 30, will bring together the biggest newsmakers in business, politics and culture.
...
Among the speakers: President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s co-founder, chairman and C.E.O.; Shou Chew, TikTok’s C.E.O.; Mike Pence, former vice president of the United States; Andy Jassy, Amazon’s C.E.O.; Reed Hastings, Netflix’s co-founder and co-C.E.O.; Mayor Eric Adams of New York; Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and C.E.O.; Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s C.E.O.; and Priscilla Sims Brown, Amalgamated Bank’s C.E.O.
One wonders how many of the participants still want him to show up.
As Yves Smith closes:
I don’t see how Bankman-Fried does not wind up in jail. The US is very loath to prosecute white collar criminals, but this story has become way too visible, too many small fry lost money, and the conduct was too egregious for this not to be punished. Given the utter chaos of the financials, it may take a prosecutor who can argue jurisdiction and venue to master enough details to gin up a filing and get Bankman-Fried. If nothing else, there’s always mail and wire fraud to get discovery started. If no one else gets there first, expect a group of attorneys general from red states to saddle up.
Bankman-Fried is young, has hundreds of millions stashed away and is connected well enough to have an easy life in jail. Isn't there some better punishment one could think of?
Posted by b on November 18, 2022 at 18:16 UTC | Permalink
next page »i am not sure why people are not allowed to play con games. if it's their money. but it is hilarious what you can find inside a "$32 billion" inflatable doll.
Posted by: dk | Nov 18 2022 18:29 utc | 2
I have read the Sam Bankman-Fried was the second biggest donor in the Joe Biden Campaign for POTUS, Biden's number one donor was George Soros. Bankman-Fried also donate $40 million dollars to the US Democrat party. It also looks like Bankman-Fried gave at least $60 million dollars to the Ukrainian government.
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/11/15/ftx-ukraine-western-aid/
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 18 2022 18:32 utc | 3
The question.
How many more frauds like this are still out there to be discovered?
Posted by: jpc | Nov 18 2022 18:39 utc | 4
Crypto will live on regardless of these shennanigans. Im glad the corrupt and greedy are getting obliterated. But Bitcoin belongs to the people and will continue to live. Its one of the greatest inventions since the Internet.
Its not cryptos fault that these greedy criminals built an entire castle of cards on top of it.
Long live crypto.
Posted by: Comandante | Nov 18 2022 18:41 utc | 5
Yep another well connected unicorn bites the dust and no one goes to jail.
That's the Amerikan system at work;-) or not
Posted by: jo6pac | Nov 18 2022 18:43 utc | 6
I do agree this FTX thing is one of the biggest criminal enterprises in history. I believe it involves tens of billions of dollars.
And in USA it is being under a media blackout. It should be huge yet the MSM is totally ignoring it. I believe this is because the White House and politicians on both sides were in on the scam.
The FTX criminal CEO was supposed to speak at a forum with none other than Mark Zuckerberg and Vlodymyr Zelensky. You cant make this stuff up. Its like every single large criminal scheme involves Ukraine somehow.
Posted by: Comandante | Nov 18 2022 18:53 utc | 7
“Effective altruism” is quite the rabbit hole. Saw someone describe it as “Scientology for techbros”. Lots of strange “institutes”, grifters, and messianic cult leaders.
Like:
https://medium.com/@zoecurzi/my-experience-with-leverage-research-17e96a8e540b
Amateurish frauds flooded with big capital. Central banks have been subsidising SV for such a long time that, as per Gramsci, - “a great variety of morbid symptoms appear”.
Posted by: Moaobserver | Nov 18 2022 19:00 utc | 8
We will not forget
We will not forgive
We are legion
We are crypto
Expect us
Posted by: meow | Nov 18 2022 19:00 utc | 9
Blockchain is an excellent idea ... it's going to put millions of lawyers out of work.
Bitcoin is an excellent idea for drug dealers and money launderers because it's anonymous and secure.
Crypto as an investment??? The fact that crypto is used by drug dealers and criminals for anonymity and un-regulated as a feature should send any honest joe with 2 brain cells to rub together running the other way ... unless of course you want to use it to buy weed or 'shrooms then it's fine.
Serves the greedy f*$&s right.
Posted by: Dave_k | Nov 18 2022 19:07 utc | 11
It is important to realize that FTX employees were encouraged to take drugs.
https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/the-psychopharmacology-of-the-ftx
Just like the cannon fodder in Ukraine ... Better Living Through Chemistry.
Posted by: too scents | Nov 18 2022 19:10 utc | 12
"Bankman-Fried is young, has hundreds of millions stashed away and is connected well enough to have an easy life in jail. Isn't there some better punishment one could think of"
I can : 2 bullets in the head, hanging his cadaver by the feet at some gas station and letting his victims have fun with it. Seize everything from him, his extended family and close friends. Round up his journalists ass licking friends and send them to Kyo-hwa-so No. 12.
It's the only way with these Elon Musk types.
Posted by: Vissarionovich | Nov 18 2022 19:10 utc | 13
@meow | Nov 18 2022 19:00 utc | 10
Don't you want to roar, rather? Cat's don't cut it- even if they are legion.
What if you meet a dog?
Posted by: Anne B | Nov 18 2022 19:23 utc | 14
The Dutch tulpenmanie is regarded as the first speculative bubble to pop, in 1634. FTX, today, is only the needle, not the pop of our magnificent crypto-currency bubble. There remain plenty of fools who think prime numbers a worthwhile investment. Step right up!
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Nov 18 2022 19:27 utc | 15
What fraud? If the SEC and Auntie Max are cool with this, it must be copacetic for ma & pa mainstreet to stash some coin.
I can’t wait to see Fauxcahontas’ fix for this. CBDC, no doubt. Digeree Dollaroos.
Posted by: Cato the Uncensored | Nov 18 2022 19:28 utc | 16
Lol 95% of illegal drug transactions are done in cash. "But but bitcoin is for drug dealers :("
Posted by: Comandante | Nov 18 2022 19:29 utc | 17
Posted by: too scents | Nov 18 2022 19:10 utc | 13
If it walks like a cartel, quacks like a cartel, it is a cartel.
Long gone are the days of “wild west” organised crime. Today it lurks in positions of power, disguised as legitimate. Drugs are at the bottom of every modern ill we have, this crisis included. Much is not known about where drugmoney and its influence flows.
Posted by: alek_a | Nov 18 2022 19:34 utc | 18
b, "That's only $564 billion of real money in an 'exchange' that just months ago was valued at $32 billion and cashed in hundreds of millions as new capital."
$564 million.
Posted by: annie | Nov 18 2022 19:36 utc | 19
About 100 years ago a spate of Ponzi Schemes were operating in NY and globally in a manner very similar to today that helped perpetrate the financial crisis that grew into the Great Depression. Will history somewhat repeat?
Posted by: TERESA T MALTESE | Nov 18 2022 19:39 utc | 20
There might be a better punishment for Sam Bankman Fried: the time he should be spending in prison (virtually a life sentence) can be commuted to, say, a few years on the condition that he spends those years as a soldier on the frontline defending Ukraine, subject to the same conditions and access to equipment and ammunition as the Ukrainian conscripts he'll be fighting alongside.
He wants to help Ukraine so let him.
The other possibility is a prisoner exchange with Russia so Britney Griner can come back - though by this time, she may not be in good enough condition to continue playing in women's basketball and might have to play in the men's sport.
Posted by: Jen | Nov 18 2022 19:39 utc | 21
b:
Typo in paragraph before the first graphic: 564 billion should be 564 million.
Posted by: Zed | Nov 18 2022 19:39 utc | 22
About "Trustworthy Financial Information", the Forbes staff says ...
Forbes Announces $200 Million Strategic Investment From Binance
NEW YORK – February 10, 2022 – Forbes, the iconic business information brand that convenes and curates the most influential leaders driving change, and Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited (NYSE: OPA) (“Magnum Opus”), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, today announced a $200 million strategic investment from Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency and blockchain infrastructure providers.Forbes and Magnum Opus earlier announced plans to pursue a business combination, expected to close Q1 of 2022, through which Forbes would become a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange trading under the ticker symbol “FRBS.” Going public will enable Forbes to further capitalize on its successful digital transformation, using technology and data-driven insights to create more deeply engaged audiences, and associated high-quality and recurring revenue streams.
!!! Magic Beans !!!
Posted by: too scents | Nov 18 2022 19:46 utc | 23
From the lower middle class proletariat to the sheltered upper middle class to the elitist billionaire, those who believe investing money as a viable path to riches are part of the problem.
That only works if only a few are investing and most are, you know, building a profitable business with that investment money.
If everyone invests, who is doing the actual work of running a business & producing something tangible and of value?
When everyone is into investing money as a way to wealth, you have an entire ecosystem of "industries" that just moves money around without adding any value.
Crap like crypto and NFTs are a symptom of this problem.
As long as the problem persists, crap like crypto come and go.
Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Nov 18 2022 19:56 utc | 24
The Fried Bank Robber isn't going to jail. He didn't make the mistakes his predecessor as Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff made.
1. He took great care to buy off the regime in power, acting as their bagman for the Ukranazistan money laundering scheme.
2. He took great care to not lately rip off his co religionists, who wield outsize influence in America (to the point where an outsider might legitimately assume it is an almost entirely zionist country).
And, of course, he must have a substantial amount of blackmail information about the Bidet regime's money laundering scheme.
He's either going to be allowed to flee to a non extradition exile or commit suicide by a bullet to the back of the head.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Nov 18 2022 20:06 utc | 25
A channel called 'Cold Fusion' has done several videos on financial scams, including this FTX one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20BEJouWBgY
He also covers Tech, AI and other interesting topics in his videos, can recommend the channel for those who may have an interest.
Posted by: Et Tu | Nov 18 2022 20:07 utc | 26
Followed link in b's top post red highlighted 'rampant use of drugs. So SBF had Parkinson's. Which is serious. Basic prescription for Parkinson is get some dopamine in your system. SBF was taking a dopaminergic. OK. Wait, basic mechanism of cocaine is dopaminergic. Dopamine is what crackheads crave. For a Parkinson's patient, yes, they need this effect. Any doctor can tell you dopamine is necessary for life and it also affects judgment. Any investor should know that coke addicts and Parkinson's patients cannot be trusted.
If you watch old SBF video it is upfront the guy has a tremor. Parkinson's. I think by now most in the financial world know that abuse of cocaine and amphetamines is rampant in their field..
Cocaine is the drug of salesmen. Cocaine is the drug of conmen. Always best to avoid salesmen. In general salesmen are scum. When the salesman shows faintest indication of being jacked on cocaine walk away. That anyone investing real money could not see this one coming is inexcusable.
Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 18 2022 20:12 utc | 27
just moves money around without adding any value.
Posted by: FieryButMostPeaceful | Nov 18 2022 19:56 utc | 25
---
If you liked commodification you're going to love tokenization.
Posted by: too scents | Nov 18 2022 20:14 utc | 28
@oldhippie;
Bojo, Jacinta Adern, and Sanna Marin are also cokeheads. And not only them
Posted by: Oldhippie | Nov 18 2022 20:16 utc | 29
When Bitcoin suddenly shot up well into the pandemic I was intrigued why, there was more than enough time for people to have decided to make it a pandemic bet or hedge but there wasn't even a little activity, it was flatlined. It wasn't an 'r/WallStreetBets' thing either, it just happened.
Then it suddenly shot up. And that's when after 30 seconds of searching I found out about Tether.
To try to explain the Tether conspiracy.
Tether is a 'stable coin', a cryptocurrency pegged to a fiat currency, in this case the US dollar. This solves the problem of Bitcoin and other crypto being speculative assets and deflationary and thus like hyper-inflation drives people to spend their money before it becomes worthless, hyper-deflation causes people to hoard their crypto and never spend it (Thus paradoxically preventing it ever achieving the widespread use and adoption that represents it's future value they are speculating upon), particularly problematic for a currency which isn't established. Thus by making it pegged to fiat, you create no risk or reward to not spending your crypto.
Crucially you ensure it can have no greater or lesser value than a dollar by generating 1 Tether for every 1 dollar paid to you (Plus a small fee) and redeeming/destroying 1 Tether for a dollar. Since you're accepting 1 dollar for every Tether you make you should always have enough to redeem every Tether you've ever created even if everyone wants to redeem all their Tethers at once.
Though these stable coins have failed to catch on in terms of people using them direct as currencies they have found a use as essentially dollar equivalent intermediate trading tokens to be used on the main crypto market exchanges. (Of which FTX was the second biggest) This was even more useful since it also enabled US customers to onramp dollars onto these exchanges despite it being illegal to do so directly.
The problem with Tether is, you don't directly buy Tether from them. You buy Tether from the exchanges, most prominently Bitfinex, which is owned by the same parent company as Tether and which shares it's CTO with Tether, a very shady former ponzi guy, Paolo Ardoino. Tether supposedly sells Tether in large tranches to the exchanges. At this point you might suspect the problem. If we assume every Tether is a proxy for a dollar of intended invested and thus demand we will generate a spot price based on this assumption. But if each Tether was not truly created after receipt of a dollar deposit, if Tether instead printed Tether and that Tether was given away (As Bitfinex does in 'promotions' to it's normal users) or simply deposited into an account controlled by somebody at Tether or Bitfinex, then you can induce fake demand on the exchange and since these exchanges are used to help create the supposed spot price for crypto currencies, you can basically hold or buy crypto when it's low and then print a bunch of fake dollar proxies and use them to buy crypto to push up the price and sell your crypto (That you don't hold on the exchange using the fake dollar tokens) for real money.
It's a bit long in terms of the history of Tether and all it's issues in terms of criminal behaviour and losses but basically that's it, 95% of the trading of crypto on exchanges that are used to calculate the spot prices is done with a token that is totally fraudulent in terms of what it represents and the token is run by admitted fraudsters and ponzi guys. Bitcoin will go below at least 10k maybe a lot more.
While FTX was a fraud because it stole investor money, Tether is a more serious fraud since it was the most comprehensive market manipulation of any speculative asset ever seen.
Posted by: Altai | Nov 18 2022 20:24 utc | 30
He also gives the answer - political corruption
not quite. that's the symptom. the disease is finance capitalism in general. crypto is no more smoke and mirrors bullshit than "credit default swaps" or "shorting" stocks or "collateralized debt obligations" or whatever the next batch of autistic MIT grads come up with for goldman. it just gave small long island dickheads the chance to pretend they could be huge manhattan dickheads.
expecting even modest reform or punishments from US politicians is basically putting teeth under your pillow for a dollar. fantasy that only a very young child could(/should) believe. it would be great if they came down on that isro dipshit with the hand of yahweh but it will. never. happen.
at least it wiped out a ton of tom brady's money. silver linings, amirite?
Posted by: the pair | Nov 18 2022 20:31 utc | 31
"Bankman-Fried is young, has hundreds of millions stashed away and is connected well enough to have an easy life in jail. Isn't there some better punishment one could think of?"
Yes. Siberian Hard Labour Camp. Paying off his debt one back breaking day at a time.
Posted by: Et Tu | Nov 18 2022 20:32 utc | 32
Oldhippie @ 30
With a capital 'O'. That is going to cause some confusion around here if you keep posting. But suit yourself, fine with me.
Yes, I know they are. Very very common among the rich and famous. That our leaders and masters feel the need for the crutch says a lot.
I took snorted cocaine exactly twice. Yuk. Especially yuk to the scene. Later took a prescribed pharmaceutical that stimulated dopamine production as a side effect. Which effect wore off in a month. I sold a years worth of work in that month. Picked up hot babes. Dopamine is great stuff. To live on it is stupid and to trust sales pitches is stupid.
Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 18 2022 20:33 utc | 33
FTX just another example of why only Bitcoin is Bitcoin, and all other PROOF OF STAKE tokens/coins are likely scams or not going to survive long in their present form.
Bitcoin? Open, immutable, distributed ledger, only 21 million will ever be mined.
Shitcoins and fiat currencies? Infinite ability to "print", the public can't see the bank/gov't/corporate ledgers, and those ledgers are not immutable or verifiable by any independent mechanism.
The fact the big corporates alike Goldman etc. are getting involved is to attempt to break Bitcoin in the public eye by breaking all the shitcoins. Bitcoin threatens to hobble the fractional banking scam which all legacy financial institutions and gov'ts depend to maintain control over their subjects. You are no longer citizens, sorry if that offends.
The attacks may work, but kiss goodbye to any hope of ever keeping control of your own finances or savings. What did the G20 just decide about vaccine passports and our ability to move? They hate anyone being able to move "money" if they can't tax it or inflate it away.
You have been warned.
Posted by: Old canadian | Nov 18 2022 20:40 utc | 34
Today's Kunsler on the FTX family ties
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/a-smoldering-fuse/
And the attitude the FTX fraternity perhaps still has facing bankruptcy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vtWB4owdE
Posted by: Dee Plorable | Nov 18 2022 20:44 utc | 35
@oldhippie
That was me, sorry. Typing on phone and it autocorrected and I didn’t notice before posting
Posted by: Moabserver | Nov 18 2022 20:45 utc | 36
Let's hope that one of his unpaid creditors belongs to a certain Neapolitan fraternity.
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 18 2022 20:47 utc | 37
I wonder if Sam Bankman-Fried likes to go swimming at the beach like Nikolai Mushegian.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/09/drowning-death-of-crypto-visionary-fuels-conspiracy-theories/
Posted by: James McFadden | Nov 18 2022 20:51 utc | 38
Do any barflys think humanity would have these crypto scams if finance was a public utility provided by sovereign nations?
Humanity is in a civilization war about public/private finance and those in the West are totally oblivious to that reality as evidenced by the commentary here.
Just a couple of bad apples, nothing to see here structurally. Just remember Hand, The Invisible is doing God's work for you....../s
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 18 2022 20:52 utc | 39
@ Posted by: Old canadian | Nov 18 2022 20:40 utc | 35
Bitcoin threatens to hobble ... fractional banking
It absolutely does not. In fact Bitcoin's apparent "success" reflected by the cryptocurrency bubble has been driven entirely by easy credit and traditional financiers throwing cheap US dollars into any enterprise promising above market returns - like FTX. The ability to actualize those returns is another matter. For a while, when the supply of greater fools was high, pure speculation could bring in enormous returns. Now that the supply of greater fools is restricted, a lot of fools are being left holding bags they can't sell to anyone except at highly discounted prices, i.e. at a loss.
Making inflation your big bugaboo is telling. You care about your net worth estimated in USD. You "beat inflation" by multiplying your BTC holdings with the highest selling price in the market right now. That is financially reckless (there's not enough liquidity for you to cash out all at once if, say, El Presidente Biden and El Commandante Powell decide to ban USD:BTC exchanges) but also tells you everything you need to know about Bitcoin as a pseudo-currency: it flat out doesn't work.
Don't even get me started on the overrated privacy aspects. There's a reason North Korea has a preference for Monero when it comes to laundering US dollars and evading sanctions regimes. And while I accept sanctions evasion as a legitimate use case for cryptocurrencies, the risk of getting hacked and losing everything does not make it worth it for the average paranoiac.
Posted by: fnord | Nov 18 2022 20:56 utc | 40
What it looks like us a turbo charged BLM fund raising / money laundering scam for the big swinging dicks in the Democrat party.
That it collapsed so quickly and so suddenly must be making a few of them get in touch with Joe Biden's diaper supplier.
Posted by: Orchard1 | Nov 18 2022 21:04 utc | 41
Another aspect of this that is overrated is SBF's donations to the Democratic party. He primarily donated to candidates who aligned with his "effective altruism" ideology, so mainly neoliberal Democrats who want a soft approach to financial regulation. But plenty of Republican candidates have been supported from other actors in the cryptocurrency world. The failing "Riot Blockchain" company is a big supporter of conservative luminary Ted Cruz and is largely behind his push to fight cryptocurrency regulation in the Senate.
Take it from the man himself:
Cruz recently toured Riot Blockchain’s Rockdale facility and posted about it on social media. “I am proud to lead the fight of the crypto industry in the Senate,” Cruz said in his post. “Texas will continue to be the center for crypto innovation.”
I believe Marco Rubio, the leading anti-communist "intellectual" in the Senate, is also a big cryptocurrency promoter. Both parties are infected with cryptocurrency enthusiasm. Remember former police chief Eric Adams taking his mayoral salary in Bitcoin? Shit's so stupid.
Posted by: fnord | Nov 18 2022 21:17 utc | 42
12 btc is not anonymous you can track wallet movements. privacy coins are and thats why many countries ban them.
onto FTX . the insider links to FEC people is telling here. daughter of, worked for etc, all high level financial players. seems FTX was created to suck up all toxic liquidity implode then scream regulation as look how bad crypto is. the going consensus was FTX was created for this job by the old guard white guys. cant have competition for CBDC that are just announced roll out. cohencidence maybe, maybe not.
Posted by: hankster | Nov 18 2022 21:17 utc | 43
Posted by: Comandante | Nov 18 2022 18:53 utc | 7
Its like every single large criminal scheme involves Ukraine somehow.
If you have been following the past 30 years Ukraine was repurposed as the new Albania in 1991. Put simply Ukraine is a criminal state. And crypto is a scam ("greatest invention since the internet" LMAO): "I have built a digital NFT blockchain bridge—it's for sale if you want to buy it".
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 18 2022 21:20 utc | 44
@ Posted by: hankster | Nov 18 2022 21:17 utc | 44
This wasn't the first time a cryptocurrency bank run happened. The first one in my memory is Mt. Gox in 2014. The funds from that still have yet to be reimbursed to its creditors, but it'll maybe occur next year.
Barring catastrophic runs on other exchanges I think the possibility of regulation is still remote. Congress, especially the incoming split congress, is not going to have financial regulation in mind. The GOP are still free enterprise dogmatists and will fight for deregulation and a laissez faire economic regime for its own sake.
Posted by: fnord | Nov 18 2022 21:24 utc | 45
Posted by: Zed | Nov 18 2022 19:39 utc | 23
Well duh. That's three comments on a typo that's obvious. Why go to the effort to comment? b is guilty of many more grammatical and language errors but that's part of the charm. Smug pedants.
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 18 2022 21:30 utc | 46
The whole system is full of fraud - especially at the top where the transnational corporations run the show and influence our fake democracies.
Think Too Big to Fail Banks and their incestuous Regulators like Moody's in the 2008-9 Great Financial Crisis. And the incestuous exchange of managers between Regulators and Banks.
Think the DEA and CIA and drug running they're supposed to stop - not 'manage'.
Think the elephant in the room at the moment - the FDA, CDC, NIH, NIAID, WHO and BigPharma who provide those regulators with most of their income - and provide executives at FDA, CDC etc with lucrative consulting pre-retirement jobs for services rendered.
That's why we've had warp-speed gene-therapies marketed as vaccines and mandated to billions of people, while the manufacturers of what Bill Gates says is a cheap easy to scale up manufacturing process (mRNA) have been foisted on all of us. In contrast traditional vaccines are more difficult and expensive to make - albeit with tried and true technologies with better safety and efficacy records - and these have been suppressed in Western nations where BigPharma control BigMedicine.
These gene-therapies are given complete immunity (excuse the pun) from prosecution for adverse events. Meanwhile look at the damage they wreak: http://vaersanalysis.info/
And BigPharma provides most of the advertising revenue for BigMedia in the USA and much of the medical research, medical journals, colleges and post-grad teaching throughout the world.
And they're all cross-owned incestuous entities at the 'higher' levels of the capitalist tree - BigOil, BigPharma, BigBanks, BigMedia, BigMilitaryIndustrial, BigTech.
We live as plebs/serfs in a neo-feudal predatory cannabalistic capitalist-monopolist age.
That's not at all to say that communism is the answer - it's just to acknowledge Marx's insight of where capitalism (when the regulators, politicians and judiciary have all been corrupted by BigBusiness) leads by destroying the free market and destroying trust, fairness and freedom.
Posted by: PJB | Nov 18 2022 21:31 utc | 47
Posted by: Oldhippie | Nov 18 2022 20:16 utc | 30
Out of curiosity, what's your source for Jacinda Ardern's usage?
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 18 2022 21:36 utc | 48
Binance, the largest crypto 'exchange', who's owner had pulled the rug on FTX, is still holding out. It is like FTX a scam and pyramid scheme that will eventually come down
Give a date, put it on the blockchain and place a bet.
Otherwise, all I see is old fogies brigading a new contraption they don't bother tryna understand.
Posted by: Skimmer | Nov 18 2022 21:49 utc | 49
Given FTX's bookkeeping (or lack thereof) and the bankruptcy filing in Delaware (here in the USA) how does the IRS not get involved in this in a very big way?
Posted by: ian | Nov 18 2022 21:56 utc | 50
@ Posted by: Skimmer | Nov 18 2022 21:49 utc | 50
You can't dismantle the master's house with the master's tools ;)
The best way to scare a cryptocurrency shill is to invest conservatively in proven assets and markets and still outperform cryptocurrency "investments" in the long-term.
Posted by: fnord | Nov 18 2022 21:59 utc | 51
Pam and Russ Martens: "Ryan Salame, the Co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamian subsidiary of FTX, dumped $23 million into the campaign coffers of Republicans and a Super PAC he created to support them, American Dream Federal Action." See yesterday's Counterpunch.
It is only Trumpery to turn this all-too-typical capitalist swindle into a Democratic Party/liberal/woke/Communist/Satanic conspiracy.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 18 2022 22:15 utc | 52
Crypto is a protocol for talking about imaginary things. There can only be ecclesiastical 'laws' about it.
On the one side 'fiat' is challenged by the real money such as gold; and on the other side it is challenged by the even more imaginary crypto.
Posted by: siwe | Nov 18 2022 22:25 utc | 53
Bitcoin and Etherum are the bomb. Investing in them like they're a commodity is fundamentally a different game than using them as currency.
Here's proof of concept showing crypto can be a miracle in a hyper-inflationary environment:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/05/-in-bankrupt-lebanon-locals-mine-bitcoin-and-buy-groceries-with-tether.html
The investment shell games people played with crypto, NFTs, etc. They're just a different market slapped on top. Ignore that shit.
Death to fiat. I hate it.
Posted by: GoFast | Nov 18 2022 22:33 utc | 54
Every one of the congress people who took money should be removed from office, must be forced to re-pay to investors any campaign donations that they received from Bankman-Fried tied accounts or through Bankman-Fried accounts. They should be forced to stand for election again because their elections used fraudulent money to help them win. All government officials who received money, goods, or services from him should be forced to repay investors.
All the money in Bankman-Fried tied accounts should be frozen, confiscated, and used to repay investors. He should not be allowed to have access to his accounts for legal services.
All money received by Zelensky should be repaid to the investors. All money that came from tax payers that was involved in payoffs to Congress should be repaid to the US Treasury.
It will never happen, however, because he gave to the power elite. They won't allow him to receive any punishment or to expose any of the corruption. His life, right now, might be in danger.
Posted by: Belle | Nov 18 2022 22:48 utc | 55
Posted by: steven t johnson @ Nov 18 2022 22:15 utc | 53:
It is only Trumpery to turn this all-too-typical capitalist swindle into a Democratic Party/liberal/woke/Communist/Satanic conspiracy.
_________________________________________________________________________
I would agree except for that word "only".
Trumpery is just one example of how the US political system is designed exclusively for the purpose of protecting capitalism at any cost.
Posted by: jinn | Nov 18 2022 23:26 utc | 56
NBA Basketball team Miami Heat renamed its arena, "FTX Arena" for $135 million.
Major League Baseball loved FTX: 6/23/2021, "FTX Strikes Sponsorship Deal With MLB, Umpires to Wear Crypto Exchange’s Logo," Fresh on the heels of the unveiling of the FTX Arena in Miami, the crypto exchange is becoming the “Official Cryptocurrency Exchange brand of MLB,” FTX and Major League Baseball said in an announcement Wednesday....
“FTX.COM and FTX.US are excited to enter this first-of-its-kind partnership with Major League Baseball,” FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in the statment. “We look forward to announcing further details of our long-term partnership throughout the remainder of this year.”...
The data-minded traders at FTX crunched the numbers and found sports naming rights to yield the best return on investment for their marketing spending, a source with knowledge of the matter told CoinDesk....
Under the baseball deal, FTX branding will appear on all umpire uniforms starting at the All-Star Game in Denver on July 13 and continue into the postseason. MLB is calling FTX its “first-ever umpire uniform patch partner.” An MLB spokesman said images of the patch are not yet available....
In a tweet, Bankman-Fried said FTX and MLB have plans on “collaborating on products and experiences together.” The deal includes a provision with the MLB Players Association to “use highlights of players in content creation,” according to Wednesday’s press release."...https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftx-sponsors-mlb-umpires-wear-134603911.html
Naming rights for the Miami Heat arena went for $135 million in a 19-year deal. Financial terms of the MLB sponsorship weren’t disclosed, though an FTX spokesman told CoinDesk it’s a five-year deal."...Coin Desk via Yahoo Finance
Posted by: susan mullen | Nov 18 2022 23:29 utc | 57
hey fnord! how much u being paid to FUD here today?
oldcanadian 35 is right, so cry harder
Posted by: honkhonk | Nov 18 2022 23:31 utc | 58
Posted by: siwe | Nov 18 2022 22:25 utc | 54
On the one side 'fiat' is challenged by the real money such as gold
Out of curiosity, can you explain why you think gold is 'real money'? Bear in mind what Aristotle rightly says about money, that it is by definition an agreed-upon convention. So what exactly is 'real' about gold?
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 18 2022 23:31 utc | 59
Patroklos 60
If I can chime in, Gold was effective for a long time because there was a proof-of-work/scarcity associated with it
A century (or more?) ago, the gold price signal was slowly riddled with disease by the pandemic of dis-honest ledgers that now curse humanity
Got bitcoin?
Posted by: honkhonk | Nov 18 2022 23:42 utc | 60
I can add a bit to b’s mention of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan:
“OTPP says it invested in FTX's international and U.S. arms through its Teachers' Venture Growth platform so it could gain small-scale exposure to this emerging area.
It says any financial loss on its investment in FTX will have limited impact on the pension plan because the investment represents less than 0.05 per cent of its total net assets”
From BNN Bloomberg - https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/ontario-teachers-pension-plan-invested-us-95m-into-failing-crypto-platform-ftx-1.1844825
I used to regularly watch Andrew McCreath, of First Forge Asset Management, on BNN before it was part of Bloomberg. He would explain how the FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google/Alphabet) stocks were clearly overvalued. But he would always say something like he has to be pragmatic not dogmatic with his client’s investments and pragmatically speaking, these stocks were going to go up in the near term, in his estimation, and so he included them in his funds. Just for a perspective on why powerful investors might put money in not-fundamentally-sound stocks.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 19 2022 0:08 utc | 61
Hello! HEre is some guy who mantained non-PC wiki, New Syrian Outlook or ANother Syrian Outlook or something
I lost it again, and it seems Google absolutely blockholed it now...
Can someone give a link ?
Posted by: Arioch | Nov 19 2022 0:42 utc | 62
[email protected] transactions require a lot of physical electricity, and that electricity doesn't come from green energy. Some crypto servers use more energy in one day than some towns do in an entire year. And that energy used, doesn't include the HVAC power required to cool the GPUs.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 19 2022 0:43 utc | 63
Professors were also helping out as late as May 2022. Do they have malpractice insurance
https://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments/ViewComment.aspx?id=69428
Posted by: mk | Nov 19 2022 0:53 utc | 64
A bunch of big money went into FTX. It was not just crypto. Real dollars backed it from the massive amount of excess dollars sloshing around the wealthy.
Crypto still has a home as a medium of exchange and it will survive in some form in my opinion. They are many, many losers coming down the road from here. I have dabbled with it a little just to try to understand what it is all about.
I use a few coins that do some work for me. The trick is being being connected to the survivors. Trading it is a loser. Using it to accomplish something you cannot do otherwise is something else entirely.
Somewhere under this FTX scandal I smell a bunch of Israelis accomplishing a few missions. How to connected the dots out of my busy schedule would be difficult but the collection of rat fuckers never changes. It the same groups hiding behind different faces.
Posted by: circumspect | Nov 19 2022 0:59 utc | 65
63: who mantained non-PC wiki, New Syrian Outloo
Nevermind, found it.
B, fill free to delete both comments
Posted by: Arioch | Nov 19 2022 1:16 utc | 66
"Isn't there some better punishment one could think of?"
Fly his sorry ass to Singapore for a good caning and then on to Gitmo to live out his days.
Posted by: morongobill | Nov 19 2022 1:34 utc | 67
Please tell me the sports teams, umpires etc were paid in crypto👍😁😲💩
Posted by: morongobill | Nov 19 2022 1:45 utc | 68
Patroklos 47
“Smug pedants.”
Smug, no. Pedantic, yeah probably. We’ve all got our talents. Anyway, millions, billions, what the difference? It’s just funny money.
Posted by: Zed | Nov 19 2022 2:15 utc | 69
Cryptocurrency is a 100 percent fraud. Currency creation is a constitutional prerogative. Of course that makes bank created currency a fraud too. The only honest money the US ever had was Greenbacks.
Posted by: Richard | Nov 19 2022 2:16 utc | 70
" Crypto still has a home as a medium of exchange and it will survive in some form in my opinion. They are many, many losers coming down the road from here. I have dabbled with it a little just to try to understand what it is all about.
Posted by: circumspect | Nov 19 2022 0:59 utc | 66 "
Crypto is as valid a means of exchange as gold, sea shells, salt or any other feasible medium. FTX ( possibly F%uck the Christians ) was a massive money operation run exclusively by the members of the Khazar club. One of its objectives is to de-fang crypto currency and place directly under the control of the tribe. Any attempt at a explanation that doesn't begin with these simple facts is bound to fail.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | Nov 19 2022 3:32 utc | 74
It is so easy to understand. People thought they were buying in on the ground floor of another Goldman Sachs
There is conceptually no difference between FTX and hedge funds - black box leveraging. Was LTCM in 1998 so different ?
US needs Showbiz Financiers to create Panem et Circenses
US was built on „the hustle“ even in 1920s era of easy credit
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Nov 19 2022 4:08 utc | 75
Whilst the more mundane conspiracies have been aired eg judeophobia & cocaine by the usual shallow thinking paranoids, I am surprised that no one has thought about a more likely entirely more plausible motivation for this rip.
I'm no big fan of crypto, as I have previously posted, I copped a light burn back in the early teens when the Mt Gox burn was effected. Back then in Aotearoa the only bloke selling crypto for NZD$ was a wannabe financial player who insisted that as per some damn obscure act of parliament, anyone who bought bit coins from him also provide proof of identity, so back then for kiwis the one advantage of bitcoin, anonymity was unavailable. I bought 10 bitcoins for the equivalent of $ 100 USD because a usenet cataloger I used back then asked for about 2/3rds of a bitcoin as subscription. I paid the bloke whose service is still going although it really isn't much good any more. He posts his scrapings but no longer has a team of curries grabbing shows, games & movies then posting them & listing em on his site.
Anyway the 9 'n a bit bitcoins stayed in my wallet, not because I was investing in em but because I couldn't find anything to spend em on.
Then the Mt Gox scam was discovered the prig who insisted on checking out all his customers to the nth degree didn't check out his supplier - no surprise there like all wanna be school prefects he was watching the wrong card. I wrote off the 90 bucks apart from mentioning it here as indication of the flaw in bitcoin, that is the fidelity of the exchanges who stand between the big bitcoin owners and the average Jo/Joe Blow who wants to use bitcoin.
Back then the attraction of bitcoin was that it was so hated by the financial establishment and their offsiders in media & politics. If those types hate & fear it so much then it must be good, eh.
'Cept a lot of people hopped aboard the crypto train and the value of a bitcoin appreciated to ludicrous amounts and those same financial establishment types began buying sorry 'investing' in it. Natch their offsiders also changed their tune.
No one in their right mind could ever believe that the copycats etherium and all the rest were anything but a scam but the original bitcoin maybe still presents a good way of anonymizing certain transactions if you find an exchange which is both anonymous and honest.
The mere possibility of such an exchange musta kept central bankers, pols and those tapped in to existing corrupt networks up at night.
So any old Joe/Jo Blo with smarts could run rings around the laws the elite crooks had spent millions to ensure worked in their favour. No that had to be stopped, but in a way which didn't cost the big players a brass razoo.
Why not set up an exchange which targets them, the masses will pay for it if we hire a few of their heroes, football stars and the like to tell them to buy in to crypto. We can use it for a while taking their money to pay off the pols and maybe even make a coupla bucks on our own dodgy crypto coins hell yeah! Then when the scam ends they will be left screwed once more. What's not to like about that.
After this, IMO public confidence in any crypto is down the toilet and unlikely to ever come back to the point it becomes a major problem.
The only question is sam bankman-fried - smart crook or dumb stooge? I'm goin with stooge at the moment as his relatives also look to me to be more stooge than player but I could be wrong, I mean frontsperson for a dim PAC could benefit from either type depending on what the play is. We will find out one way or another in the next coupla years.
I almost dug me old PC out from the back of the garage (it holds my 'wallet' & keys) when I read that there was gonna be compensation offered to Mt Gox losers, however I don't reckon that's gonna amount to jack shit now. Probably one of the myriad of side benefits from this latest rip. when on yer back foot create confusion - an ethos the finance crooks live by.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Nov 19 2022 4:34 utc | 76
There will be many victims of this crime, suicides, family victims. By their fruit we have to know that Judaism was already off track at the time of Jesus pbuh and he told his followers that after him another would come, who would confirm everything he had
said , and make everything clear.
For his pains they apparently tried to kill him. Many Jews search and strive for their original and true religion, worship of the One God. But they don't understand how that guide and prophet of our time is the great prophet (who is yet to come in the Gospels) and was Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasalam, and their treasured religion is now Islam .
All of the prophets of Islam, the Oneness of God knew that the last great prophet SAW would come. Butvthat information was concealed by Biblical translators by translating the name Muhammad in the scriptures as a transliteration, the highly praised one.
Posted by: Giyane | Nov 19 2022 6:08 utc | 77
@ 78
The racism and bigotry about Qatar hosting the World Cup, which I have never been interested in ever, is now full volume on the BBC reporting.
Thecevent has become a platform for Islsmophobia just as Brexit was a platform for Tory hatred of the French and Germans.
Is the BBC allowed to be a full on mouthpiece for bigotry and anti-religion innit constitution?
Is it in fact a good idea for our national broadcaster to insult another religion?
Antisemitism is not OK but bigotry can be megaphoned across the world with no constraints on the powerful medium of state broadcasting?
Posted by: Giyane | Nov 19 2022 6:25 utc | 78
Nine years ago, when crypto-fraudster @SBF_FTX was 19, his mother, a Stanford professor, wrote a very long article making the case that free will is a myth and that we should not blame people for committing crimes.
https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/barbara-fried-beyond-blame-moral-responsibility-philosophy-law/
Posted by: SeanAU | Nov 19 2022 8:10 utc | 79
Going Full Digital will be a great boon for the "usual profile" of criminals wearing latest fashion in Zurich or today in Bali. To steal at a distance is the ultimate easy peasy mode of shearing the Sheep.
The theft doesn't need to be in thousands or hundreds of thousands of X. I can be 1 from a 100 accounts , 2 in some other, 50 pennies from 100,000 accounts etc. but DONE DAILY across the Globe. Man, that sound down right amazing. Sure, high tech will save us from this. I say people won't notice and those that should know won't say a word.
The Criminals say, "Bring It On". Likewise Bank of America and other BCCI types are at this very moment salivating at the prospect of a glorious Profitable Future Digital will bring them.
Posted by: Tom_12 | Nov 19 2022 8:41 utc | 80
Elizabeth Holmes was just sentenced to 11 years in prison. Theranos's fraud was uncovered more than 6 years ago. For a sense of scale: Theranos raised less than half the money that FTX did.
Theranos's peak valuation was 1/4th of that of FTX's.
*SEC) Gary Gensler blew it again. After his agency failed to warn investors about Terra and Celsius—whose collapses this spring sparked a trillion-dollar investor wipeout—the Securities and Exchange Commission chair allowed an even bigger debacle to unfold right under his nose. I’m talking, of course, about the revelation this week that the $30 billion FTX empire was a house of cards and that its golden boy founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is the crypto equivalent of Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes.
https://fortune.com/crypto/2022/11/11/sbfs-disgrace-could-make-things-awkward-for-gary-gensler-and-the-democrats/
6 months ago the SEC investigated FTX US on multiple matters. They found no wrong doing.
Instead they continued to meet with FTX on giving them a "no-action letter" to broaden reach in the US markets. Given the liquidator CEO says that this was even sloppier than Enron - how was this overlooked? This mess didn't just emerge in the last six months.
The SEC failed at its job while Gensler met directly with SBF to talk favorable access. The SEC is broken and in shambles under its current leadership. It's rule by enforcement approach has put a chilling effect on US innovation, while letting off-shore conmen woo regulators. Congress should make reviewing this a *TOP* priority.
[ Ha, good luck with that, Congress is a joke. The USA is a joke. ]
Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran
Nov 16 1/82 -( a Giant Twitter thread ....)
FTX: Meltdown. The definitive and chronological thread.
https://nitter.net/adamscochran/status/1593020859156865026#m
sound effect - The Simpsons group laughter
Posted by: SeanAU | Nov 19 2022 8:42 utc | 81
Posted by: SeanAU | Nov 19 2022 8:10 utc | 80
IMHO, these people probably have the DNA and lineage of
https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Frankism
Some of the best scam artist operating in the shadows. Today these shylock characters don't even worry that anyone will notice, thus making themselves seen at the highest levels of any finance/government institution.
And People are cheering the "convenience of digital" that is penetrating more and more institutions of Society. I especially see this now in large supermarkets. Using cash there is getting more inconvenient.
So Yeh, it's very convenient to go digital, but most convenient for the crooks to rob you silently and nearly invisibly.
Posted by: Tom_12 | Nov 19 2022 8:56 utc | 82
leaf #1
A careful look at SBF's family and their connections should have let people know from the start how sketchy the entire enterprise was in the first place
Perhaps you can't see the wood for all the trees. Black journalist Isaiah Jackson, who works for CoinDesk 100% noticed.
Sadly, this is the least of what happens when a company fails to implement a diversity hire policy.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 19 2022 9:16 utc | 83
@Tom_12 | Nov 19 2022 8:56 utc | 83
In the case of FTX (and crypto in general) it is misleading to conflate transhumanism with race.
While prosecution futures describes the downside of cryptocurrencies the jackpot believers are betting on is a transhuman payments system.
Practically any human race, culture or religion is organically preferable to the frictionless tokenized transactional system idealized by the misanthropes pushing crypto.
Posted by: too scents | Nov 19 2022 9:27 utc | 84
One of the most bizarre phenomenon of our world nowadays is the Mr Greenshirt, the one and only Elensky (without the Z). Bill Gates is probably very jealous to Elensky who has replaced him as the guy who is invited to speak to every forum possible. The ukrainian cokehead who runs a puppet regime in the most corrupted and bankrupted country is the keynote speaker in top finance (bankster) conferences, in all UN sessions, in G20 (is Ukraine really a G20 state). Mr Voldemort Elensky gives lectures to all western parliaments where the country presidents and MPs wear blue-yellow scarfs and are moved to tears. I must say, either i or the world have become lunatic.
Posted by: Vesa | Nov 19 2022 9:33 utc | 85
One of the most bizarre phenomenon of our world nowadays is the Mr Greenshirt, the one and only Elensky (without the Z).
Posted by: Vesa | Nov 19 2022 9:33 utc | 86
The World Kabuki directors coordinate maximized exposure for this clown to make him look bigger than he is. It's a PR campaign taken to the maximum volume possible.
Chaplin got it right in this clip because we are observing the same at this moment. A clown seeming to be running a country.
https://twitter.com/SPT_NPC/status/1175406984222445569
Just listen to the Cocaine Cowboy.
https://twitter.com/Exusnx/status/1592998089027035136
https://twitter.com/Exusnx/status/1592998089027035136
Posted by: Tom_12 | Nov 19 2022 9:55 utc | 86
Posted by: Tom_12 | Nov 19 2022 8:41 utc | 81
Going Full Digital will be a great boon for the "usual profile" of criminals wearing latest fashion in Zurich or today in Bali. To steal at a distance is the ultimate easy peasy mode of shearing the Sheep.
Going? I thought we went full digital years ago.
Cash has since been an optional formality.
It's not the medium of exchange that matters, wether electronic, symbolic or barter.
What matters is the matrix of control that has been imposed by an elite minority over the individual and the collective: until we escape from that matrix of control there can exist no "noble currency".
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 19 2022 9:57 utc | 87
So far SBfried has avoided the experience of washing up on a beach. Nikolai Mushegian has a dead start by 3 weeks in this losers race.
Something is not healthy in the crypto world, that's for sure.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 19 2022 10:11 utc | 88
Now it is known FTX and Theranos are a scam, do we backward-adjust GDP down?
Posted by: Passerby | Nov 19 2022 10:16 utc | 89
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 19 2022 9:57 utc | 88
We are not at FULL yet.
I still gave coins in my pocket and bills in my wallet. Hang on, we will be there shortly.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/f0248be1-c108-40c4-a914-edc85a249dc8
Posted by: Tom_12 | Nov 19 2022 10:23 utc | 90
@ Patroklos 60
The reality of gold-money is simple: all over the world it's been trusted as a reliable, enduring medium of exchange, starting several thousand years ago, and with unbroken trust since then. Still true today. All sorts and conditions of people continue to trust it - and use it. And as Times get seriously Interesting again, gold will come up mightily in the trust stakes - as usual.
Posted by: Rhisiart Gwilym | Nov 19 2022 10:28 utc | 91
Patrick Boyle is in fine form and reckons FTX: Worse than Enron.
Eighteen humorous minutes on utoob.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 19 2022 10:28 utc | 92
@Comandante | Nov 18 2022 18:41 utc | 5
Excellent point, Comandante. One of the saddest parts of this whole FTX fiasco is that Bitcoin is being dragged down by the failure of the ponzi schemes that have been built on top of its reputation. In truth there is only one decentralized, trustless, blockchain-based digital money, and that is Bitcoin. Unfortunately, most people don't distinguish between Bitcoin and "cryptos".
Bitcoin is engaged in a boxing match of 2 rounds. In round 1, the current round, it is competing with a rag-tail army of centralized, corporate-funded, profit-seeking shitcoins - which will inevitably fall, one by one, until only Bitcoin is left. We should all hope that it survives in reasonably good shape, because the real fight begin in round 2.
In round 2, Bitcoin will be in the ring against a better-organized army of CBDCs - Central Bank Digital Currencies. If Bitcoin loses that round, the WEF will have won, totalitarian control will be complete, and that will be the end of any dreams of a free society.
Posted by: geralds | Nov 19 2022 10:41 utc | 93
I swear I saw SCORPION's posts (VISA research) here to which I wrote a comment. The moment I posted my comment disappeared and so did SCORPIONS that were here. Am I imagining things?
It's way too early in the day for me to be drinking beer.
Posted by: Tom_12 | Nov 19 2022 10:42 utc | 94
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 19 2022 9:57 utc | 88
German banks are hoarding paper currency, expecting blackouts. It might be a surprise for lot of people, but 60 % of everyday purchases in Germany are still paid with cash. They tried an "insta" great reset in India by insta-banning cash some years back - essentially the entire economy froze in terms of finances, and physical goods stopped moving. Fish and meat began to rot inside freezer vans, etc. Electric blackouts would most likely have a similar effect - EU member vassals are utterly screwed with these techno oligarchs running out of control.
https://www.rt.com/business/566565-germany-hoarding-cash-blackouts/
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 19 2022 10:43 utc | 95
Posted by: Giyane | Nov 19 2022 6:25 utc | 79
Yes I am a bit surprised at the timing of all this. Qatar owns Sainsbury in UK a major supermarket chain.......Heathrow Airport, Glencore, Hapag-Lloyd, Harrods, VW, Pulkovo Airport St Petersburg, Barclays, Credit Suisse........
It is largest supplier of LNG to UK - almost twice what Russia supplies and 50% more than USA........
Qatar owns Al-Jazeera
It is so strange for this concerted campaign - Germany too with Habeck making derogatory remarks about Qatar even though he begged them for LNG.........and Sadiq Khan in London now starts......
Looks like they are all getting the Emails from the State Department in Washington with its Global Engagement Center coordinating politicians in Vassal Colonies to keep them on-message
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Nov 19 2022 10:46 utc | 96
The catalyst for enabling crypto market to increase in size has been FIAT-to-crypto exchanges, since they enable incoming money. Crypto money from my POV has some view in being able to used to buy gift cards in some web stores, or able to pay online payments, but in reality it still is used in secondary activities. You still can't (mostly) pay rent, utilities, or food with them. You can't buy gasoline or diesel fuel.
Clearly one could assume that the crypto exchange house of cards is looking they are collapsing. FTX could just be a tip of the iceberg, pretty much all exchanges could be assume to carry the same problems b outlined in this article. And in some EU countries, the tax regulators are not stupid, they clearly see a panic occurring in crypto markets and know people will be trying to convert them back to FIAT and they are hounding banks for information on transactions. It's over for now with cryptos... of course everyone has their own opinion. One alternative is start going crypto to gold.
This mess with exchanges will take a while to clear itself out, and while it does, incoming money into crypto ponzi is quite limited, put mildly.
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 19 2022 11:00 utc | 97
Posted by: meow | Nov 18 2022 19:00 utc | 10
I am at a loss for words to qualify the human debasement required to concoct statements of "we are a payment method"
Imagine anybody saying "We are yen", "We are euro", "we are fiat", "we are checks", "we are visa"
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Lol 95% of illegal drug transactions are done in cash. "But but bitcoin is for drug dealers :("
Posted by: Comandante | Nov 18 2022 19:29 utc | 18
This is like trying to argue that fishing rods are not for fishing because the majority of fish are caught with nets - an abject failure of logic.
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Bitcoin threatens to hobble the fractional banking scam which all legacy financial institutions and gov'ts depend to maintain control over their subjects.
Posted by: Old canadian | Nov 18 2022 20:40 utc | 35
A pipe dream since nothing at all prevents "traditional" capitalists and bankers from using crypto to fuck up the world in just another way.
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Give a date, put it on the blockchain and place a bet.
Otherwise, all I see is old fogies brigading a new contraption they don't bother tryna understand.
Posted by: Skimmer | Nov 18 2022 21:49 utc | 50
"You can't diss smack if you never shot up"
...ridiculous whichever way you look at it.
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If Bitcoin loses that round, the WEF will have won, totalitarian control will be complete, and that will be the end of any dreams of a free society.
Posted by: geralds | Nov 19 2022 10:41 utc | 94
Again, another statement that can hardly be qualified in words fit to print.
"The only way to a free society is making your own currency, with hookers and blow"
This guy here sees a huge case of governmental+international corruption centered around crypto, and then keeps thinking that the brand of crypto he likes is somehow the solution to social ills, as if a digital financial instrument is somehow a workaround for ethics, justice and politics.
Preposterous, really.
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Posted by: Vissarionovich | Nov 18 2022 19:10 utc | 14
Posted by: Et Tu | Nov 18 2022 20:32 utc | 33
I entirely agree with the sentiment and support the motions.
However, the Chongori article is >50% sourced off The Daily NK, whose main partner is the NED, so most of the content there is suspect.
Posted by: Arganthonios | Nov 19 2022 11:35 utc | 98
SBF has Parkinsons together with an immediately notable tremor. Unusual to have the tremor at his age. The most likely way to get early onset Parkinson's is to ingest badly manufactured black market ecstasy. Well known effect. Lab monkeys for Parkinson's research are created this way.
So SBF is a chemistry experiment and any prudent investor knows it. They don't care about prudence. They care about connected. SBF is connected. And those he is connected to are running out of good servants.
Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 19 2022 12:17 utc | 99
I’m not entirely convinced. Crypto like good government (and Western Civilization according to Ghanaian) are nice ideas. To accuse them of being scams just because parasitic scoundrels often seem to end up in charge sounds a bit unreasonable. I don’t want to come across as one of those “communism (or socialism or Christianity) hasn’t failed because real communism (. . .) has never been given a fair try” people but it think that the guy who wrote Black Swan was onto something with his anti-fragility idea.
Posted by: Guy L’Estrange | Nov 19 2022 12:51 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
A careful look at SBF's family and their connections should have let people know from the start how sketchy the entire enterprise was in the first place
Posted by: leaf | Nov 18 2022 18:24 utc | 1