November 10, 2022 / Unchained Daily / Laura Shin
What’s Poppin’?
FTX May File for Bankruptcy After Binance Walks Off the Deal
Without a bailout from Binance, FTX could be forced to file for bankruptcy. Enter Justin Sun.
FTX Needs $8B to Meet Investor Withdrawals: Report
Sam Bankman-Fried told investors that FTX would need $8 billion to meet withdrawal requests on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Tron Founder Justin Sun Says He Is Working With FTX on a Solution
A surprise tweet from Justin Sun left users wondering whether he could be the unlikely hero in crypto’s hour of need.
TRX Trades 1500% Higher on FTX After Justin Sun’s Proposed ‘Solution’
TRX traded at a premium on FTX after Justin Sun’s offer to redeem Tron related tokens on a 1:1 basis.
US DOJ Joins SEC and CFTC Probe of FTX
by Samyuktha Sriram
The U.S. DOJ has joined the SEC and CFTC in an investigation into FTX’s practices.
FTX-Issued Wrapped Solana Tokens Could Add to DeFi Contagion: wBTC Creator
Solana DeFi participants are worried about the effects of an unbacked wrapped SOL token and an impending token unstaking event on Thursday.
Sequoia Capital Writes Off $214M FTX Investment to Zero
Sequoia Capital marked down its entire FTX investment to zero, but maintained that its funds are still in good shape.
In Other News… ✍️✍️✍️
- Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius filed a motion to extend the time it needs to submit a reorganization plan.
- Binance added more funds to its SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users), which acts as insurance for investors’ money.
- The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned addresses that are allegedly tied to the sale of illegal drugs.
- Crypto trading and lending firm Genesis Trading lost $7 million after hedging against market volatility.
- Maple Finance, an undercollateralized lending protocol, denied Alameda access to loans back in May due to “weaknesses.”
Today in Crypto Adoption…
- MetaMask, the most popular crypto wallet, launched a new feature that will aggregate bridge services to transfer tokens across different chains.
The $$$ Corner…
- Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs raised $70 million in a Series B funding round.
- U.K.-based startup Ramp Network closed a $70 million Series B funding round co-led by Mubadala Capital and Korelya Capital.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
- Ryan Berckmans on why ETH could reach $20K
- Arthur Hayes, cofounder of Bitmex, on the collapse of FTX
- Chris Burniske, partner at Placeholder, on Solana and the market reaction
On The Pod…
Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi and Tom Schmidt were joined by Nic Carter, reformed Bitcoin Maxi, and Laura Shin, CEO of the show, to chop it up about Binance’s buyout of FTX. Show topics:
- Haseeb’s tl;dr of Binance’s possible acquisition of FTX
- whether Alameda is the new Three Arrows Capital
- the implications of FTX’s collapse for regulators and lawmakers
- what will happen to all the companies that lent money to Alameda
- Sam Bankman-Fried’s emergency effort to raise billions of dollars
- whether there could be criminal charges against FTX
- why FTX was not as profitable as other derivative exchanges
- what the probabilities are of Binance actually buying FTX
- whether the enterprise value of FTX is negative
- Tom’s concerns about the concentration in the industry
- how FTX’s implosion will impact crypto venture capital firms
- whether Solana can survive without SBF’s support
- how the lack of transparency kicked off this situation and how blockchains help solve this issue
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
