As the true extent of contagion in the market continues to emerge, things may very well get worse before they get better.
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Editor's Note: 2022 Ends with a Bang
Connor Sephton writes...
Welcome back! We hope you had a very restful Christmas and New Year.
It's fair to say that 2022 ended with a bang, not a whimper, and there were several developments you may have missed over the holidays.
SBF has now been released on $250 million bail — with his parents putting up their home as collateral.
Two of his top executives — Alameda Research's former CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang — have flipped on him.
FTX customers have filed class action lawsuits as they battle to be at the front of the queue in getting their money back.
The man responsible for exploiting the DeFi exchange Mango Markets was arrested in Puerto Rico on charges of commodities fraud.
And MicroStrategy announced that it's bought another 2,500 BTC — this time for $45 million. Michael Saylor's company is continuing to buy the dip despite suffering paper losses of about $1.75 billion.
Today marks 14 years since the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain was created. The anniversary comes at a precarious time for the industry, with many miners battling for survival. As the true extent of contagion in the market continues to emerge, things may very well get worse before they get better.
SBF to appear in court today 🚨
If you're expecting fireworks and exciting new developments when disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried appears in court today, you'll be disappointed. But it's still a momentous event. At 2 p.m. ET, Bankman-Fried will walk into courtroom 21B of the federal courthouse at 500 Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan, stand up in court before Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, and say whether he is guilty or not guilty of eight counts that could see him in jail for the rest of his life. He's accused of being "engaged in a scheme to defraud customers of FTX.com by misappropriating customer deposits, and using those deposits to pay expenses and debts of Alameda Research."
What should we expect? 👀
It's highly likely that SBF will plead not guilty. That's because this will kick off the discovery process — giving his lawyers a chance to look at the prosecution's case. That means what evidence they have and especially what the prosecution's two star witnesses have told them as part of their own plea deals. Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, reportedly Bankman-Fried's on-again-off-again girlfriend, and Gary Wang, the co-founder and CTO of the FTX exchange, have pleaded guilty. Both lived with Bankman-Fried in the luxury penthouse in The Bahamas in which the two firms, as well as FTX US and a web of more than 100 other companies and investment vehicles, were run.
Winklevoss writes furious open letter 😡
Cameron Winklevoss has written a furious open letter as he attempts to recover frozen crypto. He's the co-founder of the Gemini exchange, where an estimated 340,000 people have lost access to their savings. Winklevoss claims Digital Currency Group owes Gemini clients a whopping $900 million. And in an open letter, he accused DCG's CEO Barry Silbert of engaging in "bad faith stall tactics." Winklevoss claims single mothers and teachers are among those affected by the suspension of withdrawals — and they deserve concrete answers. It's alleged Silbert has refused to engage in talks, with Winklevoss claiming his behavior is unacceptable and unconscionable — but Silbert claims his proposals have been ignored.
Picture courtesy of Noam Galai/Getty Images for TechCrunch.
