October 6, 2022 / Unchained Daily / Laura Shin
Daily Bits✍️✍️✍️
- Bankrupt Three Arrows Capital’s NFT collections are now in the custody of its liquidation firm Teneo.
- Robert Miller, Flashbots product lead, said the project is working to reduce its influence in the MEV market.
- Crypto group DeFi Education Fund argued that the CFTC should properly serve Ooki DAO’s actual members, not just the DAO at large.
- The total supply of Circle’s stablecoin USDC has declined by $9 billion in the past three months.
- Yuga Labs, the creator of popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), formed a council to boost initiatives related to the collection.
- Republican lawmakers seek a central bank digital currency assessment from the Department of Justice.
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered the emergency shutdown of a crypto Ponzi firm that raised $12 million from 5,000 investors.
- Russia’s state media regulator and internet censorship agency blocked crypto exchange OKX for unclear reasons.
- After suffering a security incident last month, Polkadot’s parachain Acala resumed its operations.
Today in Crypto Adoption…
- The European Union has agreed on the legal text of the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA).
- Gaming studio Mythical Games announced a DAO and a token to become more decentralized.
- Coinbase, America’s largest crypto exchange, will expand its offerings to Australia.
- Custodian firm Anchorage Digital made five new partnerships to increase offerings in Asia.
The $$$ Corner…
- Crypto miner Greenidge Generation is looking to raise up to $22.8 million in a stock offer.
- GoldenTree, an asset management company, revealed a $5.3 million stake in DeFi Sushi Swap token.
What Do You Meme?
What’s Poppin’?
Do Kwon Denies Reports Claiming He Has Frozen Funds
Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon denied a media report from Korean outlet News1 that South Korean prosecutors have frozen almost $40 million worth of his crypto assets. Afterward, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it would invalidate Kwon’s passport. According to a notice published on a government website, he will have 14 days to return his documents.
“Once again, I don’t even use KuCoin and OkEx, have no time to trade, no funds have been frozen,” Kwon wrote on Twitter. “I don’t know whose funds they’ve frozen, but good for them, hope they use it for good.”
The mention of these crypto exchanges is due to a CoinDesk report last month, which stated that South Korean authorities had requested KuCoin and OkEx freeze $67 million in crypto tied to Kwon, which were also denied at the moment.
Kwon also implied that his case is being used for political aspirations, and said: “It’s no surprise that crypto is most popular in countries that weaponize state institutions against their own people for political gain.”
Kwon also shed more light on why he hasn’t returned to Korea in a Twitter exchange with Unchained host Laura Shin. Shin tweeted, “Do repeatedly has implied that the South Korean government keeps lying about his case.”
Kwon responded to Shin, and they engaged in a conversation via Twitter, in which the Korean developer reassured his funds were not frozen, stated he is aware of the legal risks of his tweets, and also clarified his decision not to return to South Korea based on what guest Zack Guzman had previously stated in last week’s episode of Unchained.
When he was asked why he hadn’t gone back to Korea, Kwon hinted that he would provide an answer in an interview with Laura, so stay tuned.
A week after South Korea said Interpol issued a red notice for him, and despite his active arrest warrant, Do Kwon’s whereabouts are still unknown.
Recommended Reads
- Margaux Nijkerk on MEV-Boost
- Dmitriy Berenzon on application-specific blockchains
- Thor Hartvigsen on Arbitrum
On The Pod…
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, discusses his views on crypto regulation, macroeconomics, and the role of FTX in a decentralized industry. Show highlights:
- whether the market has already bottomed and the influence of macroeconomics
- why Sam thinks regulation could have a significant impact on the crypto industry
- the impact of the Terra collapse, Sam’s thoughts on stablecoins, and the importance of disclaimers
- what the industry can do to prevent high leverage from crypto companies like Three Arrows Capital
- how crypto lenders should manage risk in a sustainable way
- whether the crypto collapses affected the opinion of lawmakers and regulators
- the topics and proposals that Sam is discussing with regulators and his philosophy on financial regulation
- what Sam thinks about building a centralized entity in a decentralized space
- what it would take for FTX to move back to the United States
- why Sam’s political donations more commonly support Democrats, among which are some prominent critics of crypto
- whether he makes political donations based solely on candidates’ crypto stances
- the role of FTX in the TradFi market and whether crypto and TradFi will evolve toward or away from each other
- concerns about potential conflict of interests between FTX and Alameda Research
- the impact of the Merge, the value proposition of Ethereum and whether it affects the narrative of Bitcoin as digital gold
- how FTX is positioning itself in this macroeconomic environment
- the type of acquisitions FTX is interested in
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: http://bit.ly/cryptopians
