BlockProf
Bankruptcy for Monopoly Man, Told Ya So, Zebras, the Dev
FTX went bankrupt
Sam Bankman-Fried was the legendary founder of FTX. Golden boy of crypto. Everyone seemed to think he had a special sauce as a trader and exchange operator. It turns out he was just a massive fraud.
It’s also becoming apparent that his strategy in dealing with Washington was to donate massively, then convince Congress to pass a bill requiring most crypto trade through a CFTC licensed platform (a bill colloquially referred to as the DCCPA). FTX was the only crypto exchange with such a license. And then the hopeful Monopoly Man went bankrupt, and it came out that his internal controls were out of control.
Eric Voorhees had this guy’s number from the beginning, his response to Sam’s policy machinations is worth a read and he is worth a follow:
Check out my friend Gabe Shapiro, who leaked SBF’s secret bill, which led to the blowback, which led to a media leak of FTX’s broken balance sheet, and the dominoes all fell. Kinda legendary David v. Goliath story.
The Pen Is Mightier Than The Urge to Procrastinate
I have a new regular bi-weekly column in Cointelegraph! Here’s my most recent missive. There is nothing sweeter than telling the SEC “I told you so!
Zebras and Zcash
Readers of this newsletter know that the most important issue in crypto for me is privacy, and that my favorite privacy coin is Zcash (one of their symbols is a Zebra, who maintain privacy by being indistinguishable to non-Zebras).
Zcash was developed by the leading cryptographers in the country working with one of the founders, Zooko Wilcox, who was himself a member of the cypherpunk movement in the 90s to defend the right to encryption and who corresponded with the inventor(s) of Bitcoin.
Legit crypto project whose mission I believe in. That’s rare in these days of scams and bankruptcies. So when a spot on the Zcash Foundation Board opened up I ran for it. This week I won on a vote of 59-58! Not the first tight election this November. Can’t wait to work with a team I admire who are building to defend financial privacy. No more important fight than that.
The Dev
I follow this account, hilarious parody yet insightful about crypto. You should follow The Dev too.
Congrats on the zCash role JW!
Attention to SBF from the policy debate was, I believe, the reason the Alameda balance sheet leak to Coin Desk happened when it did.