Are Gemini Users at the Mercy of Genesis? 😟

In today's edition... A new show of The Chopping Block! Plus: Will SBF testify? New base pool on Curve?

December 05, 2022

On the Pod…

Welcome to The Chopping Block! Crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Robert Leshner, Tom Schmidt, and Tarun Chitra chop it up about the latest news. Show topics:

  • highlights of Sam Bankman-Fried's interview with the New York Times

  • whether SBF knew what was going on in his companies, and how that impacts potential prosecution

  • why Genesis and DCG are in financial trouble 

  • whether Genesis will file for bankruptcy or go through a restructuring process

  • revelations from BlockFi's bankruptcy filing

  • new info on why FTX bailed out BlockFi last summer

  • what is going on with Binance’s recovery fund 

  • how Avi Eisenberg tried to pull off an attack on Aave 

  • how the banking industry works and whether Changpeng Zhao is the closest thing to a central bank in crypto

  • how DeFi responds in a crisis, and how it contrasts with CeFi’s recent implosions

What’s Poppin’?

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he is willing to testify before Congress, but he may not be ready before the next hearing on December 13.

Cryptocurrency lending platform Genesis owes $1.8 billion worth of funds to users, with $900 million owed to Gemini Earn users.

The Curve Finance community is voting on a new proposal to create a new Bitcoin base pool on the DeFi platform.

In Other News…✍️✍️✍️

  • Between August 2021 and April 2022, Alameda Research invested $1.15 billion into crypto miner Genesis Digital Assets.

  • Regulators across countries are clashing with FTX in a bid to make sure that their citizens get their money back.

  • Brett Harrison, former president of FTX US, is trying to raise $6 million for a new crypto startup.

  • The Seoul Southern District Court dismissed the prosecutors' warrants for the arrest of Daniel Shin, cofounder of Terraform Labs, and other company executives.

  • The liquidators for bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) seized $35.6 million of the firm’s cash.

  • A record number of digital collectibles were minted on Reddit on Saturday.

  • Crypto exchange Bybit will reduce its workforce due to the bear market. 

  • Coinbase halted the production of a film trilogy related to the popular NFT collection BAYC.

Today in Crypto Adoption...

  • Yahoo might start offering retail crypto trading on Yahoo Finance.

The $$$ Corner…

  • Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital won the bid to acquire GK8, the self-custody crypto firm previously owned by Celsius. 

  • Ngrave, a crypto hardware wallet maker, is looking to raise $15 million in Series A funding at a $60 million pre-money valuation.

What Do You Meme

📈 Your Market Update 📉

  • BTC is up 1.9%, trading at $17,310

  • ETH is up 3.34%, trading at $1,294

  • BTC dominance: 36.89%

  • Crypto market cap: $902 billion

*All data as of today, 5 am ET

Recommended Reads

  1. cryptohoem on using stablecoins to predict market movements 

  2. Bloomberg’s interview with Sam Bankman-Fried:

  3. WSJ’s article on Sam Bankman-Fried saying he cannot explain what happened to the billions of dollars of customer funds sent to Alameda:

⛓️ Join Unchained Premium to get access to:

  • Behind-the-scenes interviews, in which I talk with crypto experts and entrepreneurs to learn all about the latest developments in the industry.

  • A subscriber-only Telegram group, where you can talk with the other members of the Unchained community, build a network in crypto, and talk directly with me and the Unchained team!

  • And now, a new offering: transcripts of all the shows, for subscribers only.

If you liked what you read: