Castles Made of Sand Dollars: SBF, FTX, and other Three

By Bitcoin Mekasini - 1 tausaga talu ai - Taimi Faitau: 17 minute
Aso, Tesema 8, 2022 1:19 AM

kiliki iinei e na o le fatuina o lau fa'amatalaga tau fefa'ataua'iga ma amata fa'atau lau crypto fiafia i totonu o minute!

Castles Made of Sand Dollars: SBF, FTX, and other Three Letter Agents

How stablecoins and the unstable con, Sam Bankman-Fried, built a corrupt castle of sand and how it all washed out.

O le tala o Bitcoin has certainly had its fair share of nefarious characters, criminal activity, bad haircuts and worse wardrobes, and yet our anti-hero du jour has seemed to outdo them all. Sam Bankman-Fried, better known by the three letter acronym SBF, burst onto the scene at the peak of the 2017 bubble, founding Alameda Research that September, just four years after graduating from an internship into a full-time position at one of the world’s largest market makers, Jane Street Capital.

SBF is the son of Stanford Law professor and founder of left-wing super PAC Mind The Gap, Barbara Fried, and Stanford professor Joseph Bankman, an expert on tax shelter laws and government regulation. At the start of 2018, SBF had struck digital gold while taking advantage of the arbitrage opportunity presenting itself between a higher demand for bitcoin in the Asian market, colloquially known as the “kimchi premium”. By the end of the year, and after amassing a considerable fortune from this high-volume bitcoin/dollar spread, he officially moved to Hong Kong, formally founding the derivatives exchange FTX in the following spring.

le Bitcoin network that SBF rode from rags to riches and back again was partially launched in direct response to the fiat money experiment rearing its ugly head in the subprime mortgage, real estate and eurodollar crises that culminated into what is now known as the Great Financial Crisis of 2007 to 2009.

“??EThe Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks%”

- Satoshi Nakamoto, January 3, 2009

This now infamous inscription in the genesis block made clear the inappropriate fractional reserve banking and predatory loan fiascos of our regulated banking industry was to be put to rest once and for all by this emergent monetary protocol; a completely transparent and decentralized ledger would de-incentivize fraud and prevent obfuscation of illicit activity. A new competitor to the dollar arose from the ashes of the meltdown, and with it, a new standard for financial fairness, complete with predictable issuance, controlled once and for all by the people for the people. Yet in any system made with good intentions, criminals like SBF and his bought-and-paid-for political and media allies manage to find a way to hurt innocent people for the advantage of an unknown few. Like most intriguing stories of fraudulent financial crimes, this one starts in the Bahamas, and ends with a tidal wave of asset liquidations and broken homes.

"Afai e te manatu ua faʻaleagaina e le Bahamas lau faiga o lafoga a le lalolagi, o loʻo i ai sau faiga faʻapitoa o lafoga a le lalolagi."

- Steven Dean, Summer 2020 [1]

Tatalaina le Stablecoin, CBDC Tu'uga i lalo

O le Bahamas e foliga mai e le afaina, ae o loʻo i ai se talaʻaga umi o le aloese mai lafoga a le US, faʻamaeʻaina ma taʻavale taʻavale i le taimi o le faʻasaina. O le faʻaauauina o lenei tu masani, o nofoaga autu o teugatupe a le Caribbean, e aofia ai le Bahamas ma le Cayman Islands, e oʻo mai ia Aukuso 2022, o le fa o le tele o tagata mai fafo o loʻo umia faʻamaufaʻailoga tupe, i tua atu o Iapani, Saina ma Peretania E leʻi umi talu ona maeʻa le taimi na faavaeina ai, FTX. na fa'aaogaina atoatoa le vaitau o tupe maua fua lea na amata i le fa'alavelave 2008 ma sa lagolagoina e le maualalo-i-zero tului na aumai e le Trump administration.

These rate cuts were started by the Trump-nominated and Biden-renominated Jerome Powell and were further exacerbated by both of their administrations’ COVID responses. An unprecedented pumping of all things dollar denominated occurred, with real estate, stock indexes, bitcoin and a whole bunch of unregistered securities known as altcoins reaching new highs across the board. In June 2019, one month after the founding of FTX, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced Libra, a digital currency based on a basket of international currencies; a novel take on stablecoins. This launched the stablecoin and CBDC race in earnest, and coincidentally enough, the Central Bank of the Bahamas became the first such institution to announce its own CBDC, the sand dollar, in October 2020. The sand dollar itself was pegged to the Bahamian dollar, which is itself pegged to the United States dollar, and thus with its government-sanctioned launch, the birth of the first central bank-issued stablecoin dollar came to be on the sandy beaches of SBF’s new home.

"What is the reserve currency of the crypto economy going to be? Right now it's unambiguously the USD. And interestingly it's USD whether or not you're looking at the American crypto economy."

- Sam Bankman-Fried, November 5, 2021

E ui o le malo o Amerika na faafoliga le fefe i tulaga lamatia i lena taimi, na malamalama le malo o Saina o le Libra project o se tala i tua o tupe G7 na talatala e aofia ai i lana ato. O le Metaverse na umia le 1985 Plaza Accord, o lenei fuafuaga o le faamaopoopoina o teugatupe tutotonu o le a faasalalau atu ai tagata e faaaogāina fesootaiga i luga o le initaneti i luga o le tele o fesootaiga i luga o le initaneti, faatelevaveina i le saoasaoa maualuga o loo maua i tupe faafuainumera tutotonu ma le lalolagi atoa e ala i le natura e leai se tuaoi o le faavae o tagata faaaoga Facebook. .

The digital yuan was trialed in April 2021 with great haste in reaction to this development, and by the Winter Olympics 2022, had launched for foreign attendees in Beijing. Not to be outdone by these new-look, same-shit fiat cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin made its own financial history when President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador took to the stage at Bitcoin 2021 to announce the legal tender aspirations of his small but dollarized nation. On March 9, 2022 President Joe Biden signed Executive Order #14067–”Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets”, which included aspirations for mitigation of financial risks in digital asset markets, as well as a clause stating that within 210 days, the attorney general, in consultation with the secretary of the treasury and the chairman of the Federal Reserve, must provide a formal proposal for a government-issued CBDC.

I lenei tulaga, o le Bitcoin financial system had been utterly and properly dollar-ified, with billions of dollars in liquidity of dollar-denominated trading pairs making up the lion’s share of market activity. The same can be said for the Ethereum network, which has seen its compliance-driven perversion by non-native assets taking the wheel from its token Ether, as stablecoin and other dollar derivatives now uphold the majority of economic weight of the system. Both stablecoin giants Circle, issuer of USDC, and Tether came out in support of the merge, further ossifying their stake in the now-nearly-70%-OFAC-compliant blockchain. [2] As of this article’s writing, over 15.5 million ether are currently staked without active withdrawals in the Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain, worth nearly $18 billion dollars.[3] Fortunately for Bitcoin, the consensus weight of its system is not manipulated by user stake, and thus the Bitcoin market has been seemingly unaffected – negatively anyway – by this decade-long development. At least until scammer Do Kwon and his ponzi-scheme Luna wreaked havoc on investors at the start of May of 2022.

"[Crypto] e manino lava le ogaoga ... e te manaʻo e fai saʻo i totonu o le avanoa faʻatonutonu."

- President Bill Clinton, April 27, 2022 (Allegedly) [4]

Fa'ama'i Sosolo

Only a few weeks after SBF hosted a keynote with former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bill Clinton at the FTX-organized Crypto Bahamas conference, one of the largest-ever over-the-counter bitcoin purchases was announced by the LUNA team.

Terraform Labs and the non-profit Luna Foundation Guard, two entities headed by Do Kwon, had begun a campaign to purchase bitcoin as a reserve asset in the event that their algorithmic stablecoin, UST, deviated from its $1 peg. Shortly before their collapse, the plan had ballooned to the lofty goal of stacking over $10 billion in the hardest known digital commodity known to man. This purchase was financed with Three Arrows Capital, or 3AC, and was facilitated by cryptocurrency broker Genesis.

"Terra's remarkable growth has continuously reshaped crypto markets over the last two years”, said Joshua Lim, head of derivatives at Genesis. “Genesis is excited to be a liquidity partner to the Terra ecosystem, connecting it to a broader audience of institutional market participants."

Faatasi ai ma le bitcoin reserves of Luna Foundation Guard totalling 80,394 BTC, valued at over $3.1 billion on May 5, 2022, this purchase placed LFG among the top-10 bitcoin holders in the world. [5] But only for a moment, for while it might feel like a lifetime ago, what happened next should look awfully familiar; the peg was attacked, the recently-purchased bitcoin fortune was liquidated, Binance, led by CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), aptly halted all trading on LUNA and UST pairs – with notable exceptions to their own stablecoin BUSD – and Kwon seemingly fled to outside of U.S. jurisdiction to Asia. [6]

Thus begins our first of many repeatable points of inquiry; where exactly did this bitcoin go? According to an audit released in November 2022, over 33,000 bitcoin were transferred to Binance on May 10, 2022, and sold along with other assets while failing to defend the peg. [7] The same day the nearly $1 billion dollars worth of bitcoin tā Binance’s order books, bitcoin’s USD price broke below $30,000, falling from $40,000 just a week before.

I le aso 13 o Me, na faatauina ai e le SBF se 7.6% o sea i Robinhood, o le tulaga tau fefaʻatauaʻiga na sau i lalo o le suʻesuʻega mo le taofia o fefaʻatauaiga i le taimi o le GameStop fiasco i le amataga o le 2021. Na lipotia mai e Bloomberg e tusa ma le 40% o tupe maua a Robinhood na maua saʻo mai le faʻatau atu o faʻatauga i kamupani faʻapea. e pei o le lua Sigma Securities, ma Citadel Securities. [8] Citadel na sala tupe $700,000 ia Iulai 2020 mo fefaʻatauaʻiga muamua na tuʻuina atu e tagata faʻatau oloa, ma ia Setema o lena lava tausaga, Robinhood lava ia na fesiligia e le US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mo le le saʻo logoina o tagata faʻatau oloa faʻatau atu. i kamupani tau fefa'ataua'iga lauiloa.

I le taimi muamua ia Tesema 2020, na malilie ai Robinhood e totogi le $65 miliona e foia ai moliaga o faʻamatalaga sese ona o le le mafai ona faʻaalia a latou lisiti o tupe totogi mai kamupani fefaʻatauaʻiga. [9] Ina ua faailoa atu e le failautusi fou o le Matagaluega o Tupe Janet Yellen ia Peresitene Joe Biden faatoa filifilia e uiga i lenei feteenaiga o aia ia Fepuari 2021, o ia lava na tatau ona maua se faʻamalologa faʻamaonia ona o le mauaina o le itiiti ifo i le $ 700,000 i totogi o failauga mai Citadel LLC i le tausaga. muamua. [10] Na faailoa mai e le SBF lenei faatauga e ala i le faila o le Faamatalaga 13-D ma le SEC, e $648.3 piliona tala ma tuuina atu ia te ia le 2.8% malosiaga palota i le latou fausaga o sea vasega lua, i lalo o le faalapotopotoga Emergent Fidelity Technologies; o se igoa fai mai e fai fa'afuase'i. [11]

"I le aso 13 o Iulai, Coinbase Exchange o le a tuʻufaʻatasia tusi faʻatonu USD ma USDC. I le avea ai o se vaega o le faʻagasologa o le tuʻufaʻatasia, o le a tuʻufaʻatasia tusi faʻatonu a le USDC i lalo o tusi faʻatonu a le USD e fausia ai se faʻataʻitaʻiga sili atu, sili atu ona lelei fefaʻatauaʻiga ma le loloto o le suavai mo le USD ma le USDC.

- Coinbase Exchange Twitter, June 29, 2022 [12]

Circle, o le kamupani i tua atu o le USDC stablecoin ua faʻaaogaina, na faʻalauteleina muamua a latou taulaga faʻavaomalo ma se faʻalapotopotoga faʻapitoa e faʻavae i Bermuda ma se faʻasalalauga na faia ia Iulai 22, 2019. [13] O lenei faʻalapotopotoga, na faʻauluina i lalo o le Digital Assets Business Act of 2018 ( "DABA") o lona uiga o le Li'o o le kamupani muamua lea na tu'uina atu le stablecoin tele na maua se Vasega F ("Full") DABA laisene lea e aofia ai le latou fa'agaioiga o le tausiga, auaunaga totogi, fefa'ataua'iga, fefa'ataua'iga ma le tele o auaunaga tau tupe i totonu o le malo o aseta numera. O isi pa'aga faletupe a le Circle, Signet, Signature Bank ma Silvergate Capital na faia ni nonogatupe USD i Celsius, Voyager, Block Fi, Three Arrows Capital ma Alameda Research. E oo atu i le taimi na tusia ai lenei tusiga, ua faila uma mo le gaumativa. E lua isi a latou pisinisi fai pisinisi, Galaxy Digital ma Kenese, na lipotia mai foi le tele o gau i le FTX pa'ū, ma tala o isi faʻamaʻi pipisi o loʻo oʻo mai. Coinbase, o se fefaʻatauaʻiga faʻasalalau lautele i lalo o le ticker $COIN, na faʻasalalau i lana tusi a le au fai sea Q2 2022 e toeitiiti atoa le tasi vaetolu o le aofaʻi o tupe maua na maua mai le tului i luga o le USD-denominated umia, e aofia ai se tulaga tele USDC:

"O tupe maua tului e $33 miliona, i luga 211% faʻatusatusa ile Q1. O le si'itaga na mafua mai i la matou gaioiga USDC, faʻapea foʻi ma le maualuga o tului aʻo matou faʻatupuina tului i tupe faʻapolopolo a tagata faatau… i le faaiuga o le Q2, e $6.2 piliona le aofaʻi o punaoa $USD. E le gata i lea, na matou maua le $428 miliona o aseta crypto. [14]

Ina ua tatalaina le tusi i le faaiuga o Aukuso 2022, o le tului i luga o USDC umia mo le 12 masina na oʻo atu i le 4.7%, ae o le tasi le masina e maua mai i le 4%. E oo atu i le aso 16 o Novema, 2022, ua pa'ū le fua o le USDC i le 0% i taimi uma.[15]

“1) Binance converts USDC --> BUSD, and we see the change in supplies. Thus begins the Second Great Stablecoin War.”

- @SBF, October 23, 2022 [16]

I Setema 4, 2022, Binance announced that it would be auto-converting all USDC, USDP and TUSD, three major dollar stablecoins, into its self-issued BUSD, effective in just 25 days. [17] This led to continued concerns about Binance’s solvency with the preceding few months, especially July 2022, seeing the largest known outflows of bitcoin in the exchange’s history, eclipsing even March 2020’s black swan bottom.

I le aso 11 o Oketopa, 216 aso talu ona maeʻa le faʻatonuga a Biden ma le fuaiupu e 210 aso, BNY Mellon, le faletupe sili ona tele i le lalolagi e sili atu i le $ 43 miliona i luga o tusi, ma faʻafuaseʻi, na faʻaalia e le leoleo o tupe faʻaagaga a le Circle USDC, le faʻalauiloaina polokalame puipuia aseta numera. [18] Faʻatasi ma le sili atu i le 20% o aseta faʻapitoa a le lalolagi, o le faletupe na faavaeina e le failautusi muamua o le tupe, Alexander Hamilton, sa lisiina foi o se paaga i le pailate FedNow. [19]

Despite these institutional developments, a continued bear market weighed heavily on the now-plummeting bitcoin price. Paradoxically, more and more Bitcoin hash rate poured onto the network. These concurrent movements saw Bitcoin’s hash price plummet to an all-time low, spurring a massive liquidation of bitcoin liabilities off mining operators books. On October 26, Core Scientific, then the largest Bitcoin mining operation in the world, filed for bankruptcy with millions of dollars in debt liabilities, thousands of ASICs, and yet in their filings, held only 24 bitcoin total when the circus came to town. [20] Where exactly did all this bitcoin go? On that same day, barely two weeks before the FTX collapse, Binance saw its largest single day outflow, with 71,579 coins, totalling over $1.1 billion in dollar terms. [21] This pushed net outflows to nearly 95,000 coins from the world’s largest exchange since just that July. Again, where exactly did all this bitcoin go? The very next day, October 27, 2022, SBF appeared on The Big Whale and announced future plans for FTX to launch its very own stablecoin. [22]

E sili atu le oneone nai lo tala

"O le CIA ma Mossad ma pedo elite o loʻo faʻatautaia se ituaiga o fefaʻatauaʻiga faʻafeusuaiga faʻafefe faʻatauvaʻa mai Puerto Rico ma atumotu o Caribbean. O le a latou fa'alava a'u i se komepiuta feavea'i na totō e lo'u uo tuai o se sipai. Latou te fa‘asauā ‘iā te a‘u se‘ia oti.”

- Nikolai Muchgian, October 28, 2022 [23]

O Oketopa 24, 2022, na faʻamaonia ai e le MakerDAO se talosaga a le nuʻu e taofia le toeitiiti $1.6 piliona USDC ma Coinbase Prime. [24] E fa aso mulimuli ane, Nikolai Muchigan, o le na faavaeina le MakerDAO ma le tagata suʻesuʻe o Rai, o se DAI-fork stablecoin, tweeted e faapea o lona ola na lamatia ona o se motu o le Caribbean blackmail ring, e faapea na lagolagoina e Isaraelu ma le US intelligence agents. . I le tolu aso mulimuli ane, i le Halloween, na maua ai le 29 tausaga le matua coder Muchigan, ma malemo i le sami i le Condado Beach i Puerto Rico. [25]

Two days later, on November 2, 2022, CoinDesk reporter Ian Allison released findings that over a third of all assets – around $5.8 billion of $14.6 billion – on the balance sheet of SBF’s Alameda Research was intrinsically, and soon to be fatally, linked to FTX’s exchange token FTT. A “bank” run commenced, and after three days of nearly $6 billion in withdrawals, FTX was left with literally one single bitcoin. Where exactly did all this bitcoin go? The next day in an interview with Fortune, Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong made note that USDC will become the de facto central bank digital currency in the U.S. [26]

"O le a faʻatulagaina e le au fai tulafono i le US le faʻavae e manaʻomia ona mulimulitaʻia ina ia mafai ai e le maketi tumaoti ona fatuina ni fofo, ma o le tupe USD ua matua televave le faʻatupulaia ... ia i ai i tulaga o le faʻatupulaia o lenei pisinisi ma atonu e oʻo lava i le toe faʻaleleia o tau i le itu saʻo"

- Brian Armstrong, November 3, 2022

On November 6, CZ announced Binance would liquidate a remaining portion of FTT it had acquired from exiting FTX’s equity, having received around $2.1 billion in BUSD and FTT. Minutes after his announcement, Caroline Ellison, SBF’s partner and the CEO of Alameda Research, offered to purchase the tokens at $22 each, in an over-the-counter fashion. [27] By November 8, CZ and SBF had a phone call and seemingly came to a tentative deal for acquisition, reserving the right to back out of the deal at any time, while interestingly also leaving both U.S.-based proprietary exchanges, Binance.us and FTX.us, outside the scope of the deal.

“Things have come full circle, and FTX.com’s first, and last, investors are the same: we have come to an agreement on a strategic transaction with Binance for FTX.com (pending DD etc)”, SBF tweeted. [28]

I se taimi mulimuli ane i lena afiafi, na taofia aloaia ai e le FTX le aveese uma o aseta. I le avea ai o se vaega o tuutuuga o le mauaina, na faamalosia ai le SBF e tatala tusi FTX ma faʻaalia le pito i lalo o ana taga; i le vaaia o le sili atu o le oneone nai lo tala, CZ na solomuli ese mai le fefaʻatauaiga. O nai faʻamatalaga taua na faia i totonu ole 48 itula pe sili atu na mafua ai lenei faʻalavelave faʻafuaseʻi, e aofia ai mai le US Securities and Exchange Commission lava ia.

“Liquidating our FTT is just post-exit risk management, learning from LUNA. We gave support before, but we won't pretend to make love after divorce. We are not against anyone. But we won't support people who lobby against other industry players behind their backs. Onwards.”

- CZ, November 6, 2022 [29]

I le aso 7 o Novema, 2022, na aloaia aloaia ai e le SEC le LBRY, poʻo le Library Coin, o se ofo saogalemu e leʻi resitalaina, faʻatulagaina se faʻataʻitaʻiga faʻaleagaina i le faʻalauteleina o maketi cryptocurrency. [30] I le Faamasinoga Faaitumalo a le Iunaite Setete mo le Itumalo o New Hampshire, o le tusi ma le poloaiga na faitauina, "O le Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) e finau e faapea o le LBRY, Inc. na ofoina atu ma faatau atu faamalumaluga e lei resitalaina i le solia o le Vaega 5 o le Securities. Tulafono o le 1933", o le gaioiga lea e taʻua o le Howey Test.

Ona o le LBRY o loʻo faʻasaoina se muaʻi maina e lata i le 400 miliona LBC faʻailoga, ma le iloa o le kamupani e oʻo mai i le taimi nei na faʻaaluina le tusa ma le afa o lana LBC muamua, na fuafuaina e le SEC le atinaʻe masani e faʻamaeʻaina ma le leai o se faʻamatalaga ma le faʻauluina lelei o ana pisinisi. lea ua tu'ua'ia le ofoina atu o le puipuiga e ala i auala mana'omia i le SEC ta'ita'ifono a Gary Gensler. O aʻafiaga o lenei faʻauluina na faʻaalia ai ni faʻalavelave faʻafuaseʻi i luga o le alamanuia faʻailoga muamua, e aofia ai fefaʻatauaiga o loʻo lisiina ai nei faailoga faʻapea foʻi ma faʻalapotopotoga i tua atu o latou tuʻuina atu. O le mea e faigofie ai, o le aso na sosoo ai o Novema 8, palota a le Iunaite Setete, ma le paleni o le senate ma le maota - ma atonu o le ala faʻatonutonu o le pisinisi o aseta numera - ua toe lamatia.

O le su'esu'eina o le FTX i luga ole FEC.gov e maua ai le 456 o sao fa'alauiloa ta'ito'atasi mai le SBF, CEO Ryan Salame, ma isi. [31] O sao a Salame e silia ma le $14 miliona le aofaʻi i sui tauva o le GOP, ae o le "altruism aoga" a le SBF na saofagā i le $20 miliona i foaʻi i faipule o le DNC. I le avea ai ma tagata foaʻi lona lua i le tauvaga a Biden, e oʻo atu i le taimi na faʻasolo mai ai le aofaʻi mulimuli mai le po o le palota, na iu lava ina maua e le faletupe a le SBF ana amioga, ma na ia iloa ai ua toeitiiti lava gau atoa.

By November 9, the day after the elections, SBF had reportedly lost 94% of his net worth, down to $1 billion from more than $15 billion, leaving him with the largest single-day loss by a person according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. [32] Early in the morning of November 10, SBF took to Twitter to explain what happened, writing “I'm sorry. That's the biggest thing. I fucked up, and should have done better”, before making a specific note that “THIS IS ALL ABOUT FTX INTERNATIONAL, THE NON-US EXCHANGE. FTX US USERS ARE FINE!” [33]

mataupu 11

“The administration [...] has consistently maintained that without proper oversight, cryptocurrencies risk harming everyday Americans…The most recent news further underscores these concerns and highlights why prudent regulation of cryptocurrencies is indeed needed.”

- White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, November 10, 2022 [34]

O le aso sefulutasi o le sefulutasi masina, na faila aloaia ai e FTX ma Alameda Research mo le Vaega 11 puipuiga o le gaumativa, ma faamavae ai le SBF mai le Pule Sili. E le gata i lea, e 130 kamupani fa'atasi e feso'ota'i pe feso'ota'i ma le FTX na amatalia fo'i taualumaga tauofo i lalo o le Mataupu 11. [35] Ua alu le tai, ma toetoe lava o tagata uma na a'afia na maua o aau le lavalavā, ona o se galu e le gata o le fa'amaapeina o tupe talā na faia. galuega vave a le SBF's Caribbean Empire.

E ui atonu na amata i le Bahamas le tafe muamua o le tala CBDC, o le timuga o loʻo oʻo mai tulafono faatonutonu ma faʻamaʻi o le Taua Lona Lua a Stablecoin e le o toe mamao. O le tala, ua pa'ū 10% mai le 35-tausaga DXY maualuga talu mai Setema, o loʻo sailia ni auala fou e faʻafouina ma faʻateleina ai maketi i le lalolagi atoa.

On November 15, just four days after the SBF tsunami crashed to shore, BNY Mellon, as well as a dozen or so other banking institutions, announced the start of a twelve-week digital dollar pilot program with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [36] On the very same day, BlockFi announced plans for bankruptcy filings, only five months after taking a $250 million loan from FTX, and Circle announced users would now be able to settle payments by accepting Apple Pay. [37,38] With a significant 43% discount now showing on the highly-regulated Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, further community requests for proof of reserves are growing around Genesis and Grayscale, both owned by the Digital Currency Group, and even their custodian, Coinbase Custody. [39,40] As of this writing, these requests have so far been denied for security reasons.

A'o foliga mai o lo'o tietie i le galu o le fa'atupula'ia o aseta fa'atekinolosi, fa'aputuina fa'amaoniga o tagata ta'uta'ua ma fa'aupufai fa'aupufai, e foliga mai o lo'o malemo le SBF i aitalafu ma tupe fa'aalu sese i le leo tele o le vi'iga. Mulimuli ane i lena masina, i le aso 30 o Novema, na sauni ai le SBF e faʻaalia i le New York Times event, lagolagoina e Accenture, faʻatasi ma le Failautusi Yellen, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Ukraine Peresitene Volodymyr Zelensky, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, TikTok CEO Shou Chew, sa avea muamua ma Sui Peresetene Michael Pence, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Netflix co-founder ma CEO Reed Hastings, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, ma isi; o pepa ulufale mo lea fa'amoemoe sa lisiina i le $2,499 mo le tagata na auai.[41] O le faatalanoaga i le va o le SBF ma Andrew Ross Sorkin na faasalalauina e pei ona faasalalauina, e ui lava i itu uma e lua na tafana mai.

Bitcoin tends to be a ballast of truth, bringing all sorts of ballooning fraud rushing to the surface. FTX and Alameda Research will take their place amongst the seemingly too-big-to-sink players that ended up doing just that. They will certainly not be the last. However the following weeks, months, and years play out, it is clear that SBF was but a small fish in an ocean-sized, dollarized pond. And as he quickly found out, there is always a bigger fish.

"I se taimi atonu e tele atu mea ou te fai atu e uiga i se paaga sparring faapitoa, i se tala. Ae e te iloa, fale tioata. O lea mo le taimi nei, na o le pau lava le mea ou te fai atu ai o le: taʻalo lelei; ua e malo.” [42]

– Sam Bankman-Fried, Novema 10, 2022