November 11, 2022       /       Unchained Daily       /       Laura Shin

What’s Poppin’?

Seeking $9 Billion, Bankman-Fried Apologizes as Insider Details Emerge

by Juan Aranovich

Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly seeking over $9 billion, while employees describe a chaotic environment.

The Bahamas Loophole: FTX Users Buy KYC Accounts to Withdraw Crypto

by Samyuktha Sriram

Some FTX users are paying Bahamas residents for their accounts and withdrawing funds from the exchange.

BlockFi Halts Withdrawals Amid FTX Crisis

by Samyuktha Sriram

Crypto lender BlockFi has stopped withdrawals on the platform, raising questions about the separation of FTX.US from the offshore entity.

FTX US Says Trading May Be Halted

by Samyuktha Sriram

FTX US warned that trading may be halted in the next few days and asked traders to close positions as they see fit.

Bahamas Securities Commission Freezes FTX Assets: Report

by Samyuktha Sriram

The Bahamas Securities Commission has allegedly frozen FTX’s assets and suspended all powers of directors of the company.

Tether Freezes $46M of FTX’s USDT on Tron

by Samyuktha Sriram

Tether has frozen millions of USDT belonging to an FTX wallet on the Tron blockchain.

In Other News… ✍️✍️✍️

  • Tron DAO announced a purchase of over $1 billion of Tether’s USDT amid de-pegging fears.
  • October’s inflation came lower than expected and crypto prices rocketed.
  • The Grayscale Bitcoin Fund (GBTC) hit a record-low 40% discount.
  • OpenSea announced it will continue to enforce creator royalties on its platform.
  • Qenta, a firm that uses blockchain technology to tracks precious metals, is going public following a merger with SPAC Blockchain Coinvestors Acquisition Corp.
  • Coinbase said it will lay off more than 60 employees that work on onboarding and recruiting to “operate as efficiently as possible.”
  • DFX Finance, a Polgyon-based decentralized exchange protocol for fiat-pegged stablecoins, was hacked for $7.5 million in assets.

Today in Crypto Adoption…

  • Layer 1 blockchain Aptos partnered with Google Cloud, which will validate nodes in the Aptos mainnet.

The $$$ Corner…

  • Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management ETF purchased 237,675 more shares in crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN).

What Do You Meme?

Recommended Reads

  1. Sander Lutz on the SEC going after exchanges
  2. Ishan B on how he predicted FTX would fall
  3. Can Gurel on a new approach to algorithmic stablecoins

On The Pod…

Erik Voorhees, founder of ShapeShift, and Jordan Fish, aka Cobie, crypto investor and host of UpOnly, talk about the collapse of FTX. Show highlights:

  • the links between FTX and Alameda and what kickstarted the blowup of FTX
  • why Erik and Cobie think that Bankman-Fried’s behavior was “sociopathic”
  • why the $10 billion hole is so shocking to Cobie considering the advantages that FTX had as a company
  • whether this would have ever happened if the prices hadn’t plummeted in the bear market
  • why Erik believes that SBF’s donations to both political parties are bribery
  • the likelihood that this will result in criminal charges
  • how blockchain technology is the solution to the problem of centralized exchanges doing things in the dark
  • Erik’s response to Bitcoin maximalists who say FTX was caused by altcoins
  • how big the contagion could be in the industry
  • Erik’s message to regulators and whether SBF was aligned with the values and the ethos of crypto

Book Update

My book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze, which is all about Ethereum and the 2017 ICO mania, is now available!

You can purchase it here: https://amzn.to/3CvfrbE