The Chopping Block on FTX/Alameda: Is Sam Bankman-Fried ‘Crypto Kanye’?

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news concerning the collapse of FTX. 

Show topics:

• • the statements of newly appointed CEO John Ray in the first day declaration
  • why Tarun, Robert and Haseeb think SBF is possibly delusional or at least in denial
  • whether the assets of FTX and Alameda were commingled from the beginning or whether they had been separate and at a certain point, FTX loaned money to Alameda
  • whether the Bahamian government was the ‘FTX’ hacker
  • the theories of why Alameda started falling
  • how regulators and legislators are assessing the failure of FTX
  • whether SBF will get a pardon like Marc Rich and the chances of him being charged criminally
  • whether Genesis will go insolvent and its potential contagion effects

Hosts

• Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly Capital
• Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures
• Robert Leshner, founder of Compound 
• Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly Capital

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Episode Links

Previous coverage of Unchained on FTX:

• Jesse Powell and Kevin Zhou on How FTX and Alameda Lost $10 Billion
• Is the Collapse of Crypto Lending Over, or Is It Just Starting?
• Did the Bahamian Government Direct SBF and Gary Wang to Hack FTX?
• The Chopping Block: Why Lenders Didn’t Liquidate Alameda When It Was Underwater 
• Erik Voorhees and Cobie on Why FTX Loaned Out Customers’ Assets
• The Chopping Block: FTX: The Biggest Collapse in the History of Crypto?
• Sam Bankman-Fried on How to Prevent the Next Terra and 3AC

FTX Collapse:

• First declaration document
• Unchained: FTX Bankruptcy Overseer Says Company’s Collapse Is Worst He’s Ever Seen
• Unchained: Bahamas Regulator Directed SBF to Transfer FTX Assets to Government Wallet
• SBF tweet: FTX files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
• WSJ: FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Cashed Out $300 Million During Funding Spree
• Vox interview with SBF: Sam Bankman-Fried tries to explain himself
• NYT: How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Empire Collapsed
• Arthur Hayes’s article on SBF: ‘White Boy’

NYT: Elizabeth Holmes Is Sentenced to More Than 11 Years for Fraud