Where is Gary Gensler in this FTX debacle, and how did SBF and Alameda end up controlling so much money?
The week in review
It’s been another where it feels like the world is jammed on full throttle and heading into crazy town while screaming as loudly as possible. All I can do is try and make some sense of it – hopefully before we get there.
As ever, the airwaves have mostly been filled with the fallout from the FTX debacle. Sam Bankman-Fried appears to be talking to everyone and anyone, although he’s sometimes vague and he’s clearly uncomfortable with certain questions. Whether he’s genuinely attempting to make amends, protect himself or simply face the music on his own terms we can’t be sure at the moment, but in any case we can be sure it’s making his lawyers very nervous.
The wider implications of this event are becoming clear and, in retrospect, the whole thing is utter madness. How was it possible for these twenty somethings (SBF and Caroline Ellison of Alameda Research) to end up controlling vast sums of money – money that had been effectively generated out of thin air via the FTT token – and using it to bankroll losses created by either a total lack of business acumen or outright fraud? And where was Gary Gensler in all of this?
These questions, and many others, were addressed by a fully revved-up Max Keiser on the Tucker Carlson show this week. If you like a colourful, forceful, but ultimately well informed, opinion, it’s worth a watch, even if you don’t agree with every point.
FTX, however, is a story that’s going to rattle on for a while and I suspect a film or Netflix mini-series is inevitable. In fact, there was a rumour that Jonah Hill and Maisie Williams were pegged to the play SBF and Caroline Ellison a couple of weeks ago (a genius bit of casting if I may say so) but this has since been debunked.
Meanwhile, Twitter has become… strange. I am no longer able to view ‘latest’ tweets properly on my favourite search terms, see the feeds of the people I follow the most (meaning I now have a list of profiles I have to go to daily to see their latest posts) and I’ve noticed the number of promoted tweets has increased significantly. This is not looking good for Elon Musk’s latest adventure and I’m wondering if we’re witnessing the beginning of the end of Twitter. I hope not.
This week also saw the publication of an embarrassingly bad bit of research concerning Bitcoin’s future written by Messrs Ulrich Binseil and Jurgen Schaaf who appear to have got themselves stuck in 2017. The result was an explosion of ridicule across Twitter feeds (well, the ones I could actually see of course) and an entertaining open letter in response.
Why the fuss? This was published on the official blog of the European Central Bank and the authors are proponents of Central Bank Digital Currencies. Agenda, much?
In Europe, Russia lost another 3,850 square kilometres of control over the last few weeks and now only occupy 16.6% of Ukraine, barely 10% more than they did before February 24. All at a cost of approaching 90,000 Russian and 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers, plus civilian casualties, refugee migration and negative impact on the global economy. Worse, we’re now back in the exact same trench warfare we saw in the First World War, having seemingly learned nothing in the last 100 years.
We can only hope that common sense prevails, although that does seem to be in short supply right now. I rather suspect that’s why Satoshi Nakamoto made sure we humans were entirely out of the picture when it came to the operation of Bitcoin and why it’ll probably outlast all of us in the end.
After all, even the most reliable humans get it wrong sometimes. Just ask the German football team.
Have a great weekend!
Want to learn more about what’s going on in our global financial system and how Bitcoin fits in to it? Come to my next free webinar on December 14 at 6pm to find out, ask any questions, and grab some free Bitcoin*. Click here to register.
Yesterday’s Crypto AM Daily in association with Luno
In the markets
The Bitcoin economy
*Data can be found at https://terminal.bytetree.com/
Total crypto market cap
The total capitalisation of the entire cryptocurrency market at time of writing is currently $853.427 billion.
What Bitcoin did yesterday
We closed yesterday, December 1 2022, at a price of $16,967.13. The daily high yesterday was $17,197.50, and the daily low was $16,888.39.
Bitcoin market capitalisation
Bitcoin’s market capitalisation at time of writing is $326.2 billion. To put it into context, the market cap of gold is $11.984 trillion and Tesla is $605.71 billion.
Bitcoin volume
The total spot trading volume reported by all exchanges over the last 24 hours was $21.392 billion. High volumes can indicate that a significant price movement has stronger support and is more likely to be sustained.
Volatility
The price volatility of Bitcoin over the last 30 days is 54.39%.
Fear and Greed Index
Market sentiment today is 27, in Fear.
Bitcoin’s market dominance
Bitcoin’s market dominance today is 40.30. Its lowest ever recorded dominance was 37.09 on January 1 2018.
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
The daily RSI is currently 40.23. Values of 70 or above indicate that an asset is becoming overbought and may be primed for a trend reversal or experience a correction in price – an RSI reading of 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition.
Convince your Nan: Soundbite of the day
“Bitcoin is digital energy. Eventually the world will figure this out. Until they do, you have an advantage.”
Michael Saylor Founder & Executive Chairman Microstrategy
What they said yesterday
B is for Bitcoin…
Good news is we’re still early…
HODlers getting creative…
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Crypto AM: Editor’s picks
Sam Bankman-Fried: A tissue of lies soaked with fake tears?
Three-in-four wealth managers are gearing up for more cryptocurrency exposure
Crypto.com granted FCA licence to operate in UK
Q&A with Duncan Coutts, Principal Technical Architect at IO Global
Jamie Bartlett – on the trail of the missing ‘Cryptoqueen’
MPs are falling silent over potential of cryptocurrency
Erica’s ‘Crypto Wars’ handed honours in Business Book Awards
‘Let people invest’: Matt Hancock makes case for liberal crypto rules
Explained: Why the Treasury is so sold on stablecoins
Fears crypto is used to avoid sanctions ‘misplaced,’ says Matt Hancock
The cryptocurrency fundraisers behind Ukraine’s military effort
Crypto AM: Features
Crypto AM: Founders Series
Crypto AM: Industry Voices
Crypto AM: Contributors
Crypto AM: In Conversation with James Bowater
Crypto AM: Tomorrow’s Money with Gavin S Brown
Crypto AM: Mixing in the Metaverse with Dr Chris Kacher
Crypto AM: Visions of the Future, Past & Present with Alex Lightman
Crypto AM: Tiptoe through the Crypto with Monty Munford
Crypto AM: Taking a Byte out of Digital Assets with Jonny Fry
Crypto on the catwalk
Crypto AM: Events
For those of you who missed the Crypto AM DeFi & Digital Inclusion online summit 2021 – you can now watch the event in two parts via YouTube
Part One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvqNMNZTIDE
Part Two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXhX_-Tr5j0
Cautionary Notes
It’s definitely tempting to get swept up in the excitement, but please heed these words of caution: Do your own research, only invest what you can afford, and make good decisions. The indicators contained in this article will hopefully help in this. Remember though, the content of this article is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or any form of recommendation or invitation. City PM, Crypto AM and Luno always advise you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.
All information is correct as of 08:00 BST