Newly-bankrupt crypto lending platform BlockFi has filed a lawsuit against Sam Bankman-Fried’s holding company Emergent Fidelity Technologies seeking his shares in Robinhood that were pledged as collateral earlier in November. The suit was filed on Nov. 28 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey just hours after BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the same court. As per the filing, BlockFi is demanding Emergent turnover collateral as part of a Nov. 9 pledge agreement that saw Emergent agree to a payment schedule with BlockFi that it has allegedly failed to pay. BlockFi names the …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The crypto market is often referred to as the Wild West of the finance world. However, the events that have unfolded within this space recently would put to shame even the hardiest of cowboys from the day of yore. As a quick refresher, on Nov. 8, FTX, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world till about a month ago, faced an unprecedented liquidity crunch after it came to light that the firm had been facilitating shady deals with its related firm Alameda Research. In this regard, as 2022 continues to be rough on the global economy, the crypto sector, in …
Assets belonging to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have been seized by the country’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board, locally known as MASAK, following the collapse of his main business. An official announcement from Turkey’s MASAK outlined preliminary findings and actions taken against Bankman-Fried following bankruptcy proceedings of its core business. MASAK began investigations on Nov. 14. Cointelegraph translated the latest announcement from MASAK, which highlighted three key points from the investigation. The Turkish investigatory body found that FTX failed to safely store user funds, embezzled customer funds through shady transactions and manipulated supply and demand in the market by having …
The bankruptcy proceedings of cryptocurrency exchange FTX have revealed many new aspects of its unethical practices. The latest revelation around its stake in one of the smallest United States banks from rural Washington has raised fresh concerns about its operations and alleged misuse of banking loopholes. Farmington State Bank in Washington State, now renamed Moonstone, is the 26th smallest bank in the U.S. with a single branch and three employees. FTX invested in the rural bank through its now-bankrupt sister company Alameda with an investment of $11.5 million in its parent company FBH in March 2022. The Alameda investment was …
Binance intends to allocate $1 billion for a proposed industry recovery fund while its CEO revealed intent in a new bid for assets of bankrupt cryptocurrency lending firm Voyager by its U.S.-based business. Speaking to BloombergTV on Nov. 24, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao touched on a number of topics in what has been a tumultuous month for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Chief among them was Binance’s proposed industry recovery fund which is aimed at providing financial support to promising projects in financial distress. The exchange’s founder introduced the idea in the wake of FTX’s now-infamous collapse. Related: Binance CEO denies report …
As the FTX debacle still creates waves in the crypto industry and beyond, the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has suspended the license which allows FTX to make preparations to service the local market. In an announcement posted on its official website, VARA mentioned that it has revoked the approval of FTX MENA's Minimum Viable Product (MVP) license. Citing the bankruptcy filing of FTX-related entities including FTX exchange and Alameda Research, VARA confirmed that FTX MENA’s license was suspended before any clients were exposed. According to the regulator, FTX MENA was still in the preparatory phase. The authority clarified …