Bankman-Fried has openly admitted that FTX loaned customer deposits to Alameda Research, FTX’s sister hedge fund, although he has characterized this as a mistake that was caused by “confusing internal labeling.” FTX’s terms of service explicitly state that customer funds will never be lent to other financial institutions or used by FTX for proprietary trades. Sam publicly stated in a now-deleted tweet, “We don’t invest client assets (even in treasuries).” The broader crypto markets have bled red in response, and other industry stalwarts now face insolvency risk with the contagion spreading to Genesis, Grayscale and many other firms that held …
The United States House Financial Services Committee has announced it will be holding a hearing to investigate the events around the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. In a Nov. 28 announcement, House Financial Services Committee chair Maxine Waters said lawmakers had scheduled a hearing aimed at exploring the collapse of FTX for Dec. 13. The hearing, expected to be “Part I” in perhaps a series of hearings around the impact of a major crypto exchange declaring bankruptcy, was first announced on Nov. 16 but not scheduled. Following the fall of FTX, the urgent need for legislation has never been greater. …
Before its liquidity issues and bankruptcy filing in November, FTX was well known for its prolific stance on making sponsorship deals. Even with many in and out of the space now associating the exchange with failed financial institutions, traces of the promotional glitter bomb it has unleashed on the world aren’t likely to go away anytime soon. In Abu Dhabi, attendees for the Gumball 3000 motor rally in November noted on social media that wristbands for the event and more than one of the vehicles bore FTX’s logo, as did advertisements around the city. The crypto exchange did not appear …
The collapse of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has put the Singapore prime minister and the ruling government in a hot seat. Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong are set to face grilling questions for their failure to protect retail investors. The Members of Parliament (MP) from the opposition Workers’ party raised 15 questions about Temasek’s investment and FTX collapse. The MPs questioned the government’s credibility in tracking the extent of investments by Temasek and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. The discussions around the government policies while investing in digital assets will be scrutinized further in …
The fall of FTX seemingly had the biggest impact on the crypto ecosystem as Google searches for the CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) hit the roof over in November 2022. Some of the biggest drivers for this trend include mainstream media attention, colossal losses and political ties. On Nov. 2, SBF lost his credibility after his company Alameda Research was found holding a large amount of FTX Token (FTT), an asset issued by FTX. Over the following two weeks, the crypto community investigated and found SBF guilty of manipulating and misappropriating users’ funds, ultimately leading to the fall of the empire …
The Bahamas Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Ryan Pinder has confirmed that the collapsed crypto exchange FTX is the focus of an "active and ongoing" investigation by authorities from the Caribbean nation. In a national statement that was delivered live on the Facebook page of the Office of the Prime Minister on Nov. 27, Pinder explained the "affairs of FTX Digital Markets" are under scrutiny from both "civil and criminal authorities" and Bahamian authorities are working with "a number of specialists and experts and will continue to do so as the need arises." "The Securities Commission, our …
An inside joke about the “insolvency” of Wrapped Ethereum (wETH) over the weekend has forced influencers to explain it was just a “shitpost” after members of the community took it as real. The wETH insolvency FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) seemingly began to make the rounds on Nov. 26, with false rumors alleging that wETH isn’t backed 1:1 by Ether (ETH) and is insolvent. Blockchain developer and contributor to the ERC-721A token standard “cygaar” was one of the first to spread the joke, before confirming in a subsequent post that it was in fact a “shitpost” to see who was …
Ripple’s APAC Policy Director has described the fall of FTX as “incredibly damaging” for the crypto space, but says the industry should stand the test of time if its focus shifts towards building “real utility.” In a statement sent to Cointelegraph, Ripple’s APAC policy lead Rahul Advani said he expects the FTX saga to lead to greater scrutiny on crypto regulations, while governments will re-evaluate “their stance towards crypto and blockchain technology,” adding: “The collapse of FTX is incredibly damaging for the crypto space and once again underscores the need for greater regulatory clarity.” Advani argued that the industry will …
The collapse of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has raised many concerns over unregulated centralized platforms. Investors are now coming to question how safe it is to keep one’s funds on these exchanges and have voiced grave concerns about centralized decision-making without any checks. FTX held one billion in a customer’s fund and was found to be using the customer-deposited crypto assets to mitigate its own business losses. Furthermore, a recent report suggests that the downfall of numerous crypto exchanges over the last decade has permanently taken 1.2 million Bitcoin (BTC) — almost 6% of all Bitcoin — out of …
Many of the centralized cryptocurrency platforms that collapsed this year had something in common: a young, outspoken and cocky leader. Each gained outsized influence not by virtue of outsized intellect or talent but because of their piles of money and large Twitter followings. And each time, misplaced trust in their abilities resulted in disastrous consequences. If crypto wants to avoid similar catastrophes in the future, it’s time for us to rearrange our leadership priorities. We need to ditch the cults of personality. The theater of crypto on Twitter Before FTX collapsed, founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) had garnered a reputation as …
Alameda Research withdrew over $200 million from FTX.US before it filed for bankruptcy, according to analysis from blockchain firm Arkham Intelligence disclosed on Nov. 25. In a Twitter thread, Arkham revealed that Alameda Research, FTX's sister company, pulled $204 million from eight different addresses of FTX US in a variety of crypto assets, the majority of them stablecoins, in the final days before the collapse. Arkham analysed flows from FTX US in the final few days before the collapse, finding that Alameda withdrew the most funds, at $204M. Below is a diagram of withdrawals to Arkham-identified entities from FTX US. …
The monumental collapse of FTX will go down as one of the biggest corporate scandals of all time. But, at least Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF, is sorry. On Nov. 22, the disgraced founder of FTX penned a letter to his former employees describing his role in the company’s bankruptcy. “I never intended this to happen,” he wrote. “I did not realize the full extent of the margin position, nor did I realize the magnitude of the risk posed by a hyper-correlated crash.” Get this: SBF still thinks the company can be saved because “there are billion of dollars of genuine …