Bitcoin, Altcoin and Cryptocurrency Thread

[EngieDiesel]

Some investors on FTX, however, have not been quite so fortunate, including the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan... I mean, seriously?? Imagine gambling a pension pot on a crypto exchange...

Considering how many times pension funds, church investment plans and the like have been put into the hands of clearly dodgy investors who then "invest" the money in their own lifestyle and disappear, I can't say I'm all that surprised.

Depending on when the money was put in it most lilkely seemed like the next sure thing (like housing was a decade ago, and the Internet was before that), but just like Homer putting all his money into pumpkins and forgetting to cash out before Halloween, whoever was managing the fund didn't see that it was obviously time to get out and got crypto-crapped on.

 

[NLxAROSA]

People should have done some ****ing due diligence. FTX's pitch deck mentioned 'high rewards with zero risk' ffs. It's not like insiders that actually did read the prospectus and did do math haven't been warning for around a year that FTX was a scam. But they were ridiculed, mocked and had their families reveiving death threats from one part of the ecosystem while the other part turned a blind eye because all they cared was 'number go up for my bags'.

BTW, FTX was by no means the biggest fraud. There's still at least two left, both way bigger than FTX. And several smaller ones, which I will expect to fall over some time in the upcoming week. With real money no longer flowing in (and especially not after this week), the musical chairs are about to stop. I would not recommend keeping any funds on any exchange at this point in time, even legitimate ones.

Worst week in crypto? To mis-quote Homer Simpson: worst week YET!

 

[EngieDiesel]

BTW, FTX was by no means the biggest fraud. There's still at least two left, both way bigger than FTX. And several smaller ones, which I will expect to fall over some time in the upcoming week. With real money no longer flowing in (and especially not after this week), the musical chairs are about to stop. I would not recommend keeping any funds on any exchange at this point in time, even legitimate ones.

While i don't feel like cryptocurrency at its core was meant to be treated like a Ponzi scheme, the way so many exchanges operated certainly turned it into one. The only way for older top-level crypto holders to realistically get any money out of their tokens anymore is by new people buying in, because mining new tokens is beyond the scope of all but the largest of farms now and the existing community is not moving tokens between themselves, only hoarding to try and protect what value they still have.

I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of next year, the only thing that remains of the the cryptocurrency market is state-sponsored digital currencies and some desperate hangers-on to Bitcoin, still convinced that it'll turn around any day now, just you wait.

 

[NLxAROSA]

I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of next year, the only thing that remains of the the cryptocurrency market is state-sponsored digital currencies and some desperate hangers-on to Bitcoin, still convinced that it'll turn around any day now, just you wait.

I think some of the PoS projects that are building value outside of 'number go up' will stay as well. The rest will be gone.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Looks like other crypto platforms are suspending withdrawls in the wake of FTX collapsing. Meanwhile, what's left of FTX is now under the control of the guy who liquidated the remains of Enron, and the SEC is getting involved.

This is going to be quite the slow motion car crash to watch.

 

[NLxAROSA]

And SBF keeps on Tweeting and doing more stuff that's probably adding on top of his (already lengthy) case. Doesn't he have a good lawyer that told him to STFU, or does he think he's untouchable? (Hint: he's not, he either gets arrested or whacked)

 

[Touring Mars]

(he either gets arrested or whacked)

 

[Blitz24]

And SBF keeps on Tweeting and doing more stuff that's probably adding on top of his (already lengthy) case. Doesn't he have a good lawyer that told him to STFU, or does he think he's untouchable? (Hint: he's not, he either gets arrested or whacked)

I mean he could be getting legal advice from Musk via Twitter DMs.

 

[NLxAROSA]

I mean he could be getting legal advice from Musk via Twitter DMs.

Fun fact: SBF offered a $3B loan to Musk, and Musk sent him away because SBF 'set off his BS detector'. (link)

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

'A Complete Failure of Corporate Controls': What Investors and Accountants Missed in FTX’s Audits

An expert review of FTX’s audited financial statements reveals a series of red flag related-party transactions that should have led to more scrutiny of the company’s operations.

www.coindesk.com

I found this article interesting and it seems to be mainly on point in terms of the bigger concerns. However stuff like this is just standard reporting language:

Both audit firms wrote that their role is to, “Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of [West Realm Shires lnc.'s and FTX Trading Ltd. and subsidiaries'] internal control.”
However, in both cases, “no such opinion [on internal controls over financial reporting] is expressed.”

 

[EngieDiesel]

'A Complete Failure of Corporate Controls': What Investors and Accountants Missed in FTX’s Audits

An expert review of FTX’s audited financial statements reveals a series of red flag related-party transactions that should have led to more scrutiny of the company’s operations.

www.coindesk.com

You know you done screwed up when your operation is being described as worse than Enron. Some of the things mentioned in the report are just straight up howlers:

Ray further notes that the company did not have fund disbursement controls appropriate for a serious business. He explains, "For example, employees of the FTX Group submitted payment requests through an on-line 'chat' platform where a disparate group of supervisors approved disbursements by responding with personalized emojis."

That's the kind of people you want to entrust with $32 billion in wealth, sure.

 

[EngieDiesel]

FTX crypto exchange owes biggest creditors $3.1bn

FTX owes about $1.45bn to its top 10 creditors, according to its US bankruptcy court filings.

www.bbc.com

It is unclear how much people who have funds in the exchange will get back at the end of bankruptcy proceedings, though many experts have warned it may be a small fraction of what they put into the firm.

I'm gonna say that unless they're one of those 50 top level investors that dumped billions into this mess, the amount people are going to eventually get back will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.

 

[Daz555]

Some investors on FTX, however, have not been quite so fortunate, including the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan... I mean, seriously?? Imagine gambling a pension pot on a crypto exchange...

Pension funds spread their investments far and wide. OTPP had $95m in their FTX investment which amounted to about 0.05% of their total $240bn worth of assets.

 

[EngieDiesel]

So, who's hyped for the premiere of FTX: The Mini-series? Anyone?

As much as I find it fascinating personally to see how these stupid cryptobro operations are collapsing under their own weight, I can't imagine corporate malfeasance and financial irresponsibility is going to make for eight episodes of compelling viewing, unless they're going to do the whole Wolf of Wall Street track of just making up stuff to glamorize the gaps between public knowledge.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

It will probably be one of those shows that would've been good if they hadn't stretched 4 episodes into 8. But I'll wait and see.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Uh oh, the fallout is spreading. Crypto lender Block Fi has declared bankruptcy as a result of FTX going under, and 150 other firms have applied for bailouts from FTX competitor Binance as well.