🚨 SBF: Arrested 🚔

In today's edition: SBF is arrested, Binance faces probe, and a new show on Silvergate!

December 13, 2022

New Pod Today!

Ram Ahluwalia, CEO and cofounder of crypto-native investment advisor Lumida, and Marc Cohodes, individual investor and former hedge fund manager, have a heated debate about Silvergate, a crypto-friendly bank that plays a key role in integrating crypto with traditional finance and is currently under scrutiny due to its ties with FTX and Alameda. Both Marc and Ram have a vested interest in Silvergate. Marc is shorting the stock, while Ram is longing it. Show highlights:

  • why Silvergate plays such a vital role in the movement of money within the crypto industry

  • whether Silvergate runs proper KYC and AML practices

  • whether Silvergate has a $1 billion hole in its balance sheet

  • whether regulators will go after Silvergate as they are doing with FTX

  • why Marc thinks the FTX collapse wouldn't have happened without Silvergate 

  • whether Silvergate was complicit with FTX’s activities or simply negligent 

  • why Ram believes this case is different from JPMorgan's involvement with Madoff 

  • what regulatory actions might come in the near future for Silvergate 

  • why Ram thinks regulators will go to "great lengths" to avoid a bank failure

  • what would it take for Ram and Marc to change their minds

What’s Poppin’?

Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas as US authorities move to indict the former FTX chief.

FTX’s bankruptcy lawyer will soon offer potentially damning testimony against former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is the subject of a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to a Reuters report on Monday.

Data shows that Binance recorded $902 million worth of outflows over 24 hours, exceeding all other centralized exchanges over the same period.

The Chopping Block streams live this Wednesday at 6pm ET/3pm PT!

What are they going to talk about? 👇 

Should be a spicy one 🌶️

In Other News…✍️✍️✍️

  • Bahamian officials are attempting to determine whether FTX executives were aware of or involved in any customer withdrawals after the exchange's resources were frozen by authorities.

  • Argo, a bitcoin mining company, accidentally published a document that suggested it might file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The firm is actually looking to sell off assets and take out a loan in an effort to prevent bankruptcy. 

  • Justin Sun, the billionaire founder of the Tron blockchain, mimicked Do Kwon’s infamous tweet and said he was “deploying more capital” amid fears that Tron’s USDD stablecoin would depeg. 

  • According to a report, crypto exchange Coinbase received 66% more requests from law enforcement agencies worldwide this year than in the previous year.

  • Ray Youssef, CEO of the peer-to-peer bitcoin trading platform Paxful, has urged customers to transfer their bitcoin off his own company’s platform and store them in self-custody.

Today in Crypto Adoption...

  • Over 5 million NFTs have been minted through Reddit's Collectible Avatars project.

  • Entergy, an Arkansas energy provider, is offering a special tariff to crypto miners in the state in order to reduce costs and better support the industry.

  • MoonPay, a cryptocurrency payments app, has managed to obtain registration with the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), an honor only given out to crypto companies that comply with anti-money laundering rules.

The $$$ Corner…

  • Investment firm Distributed Global led a $20 million seed funding round for Nillion, a startup building a decentralization platform without a blockchain.

  • Evertas, a cryptocurrency insurance firm, announced a $14 million Series A round led by Polychain Capital. 

  • Bitcoin Group (ADE), has agreed to purchase German bank Bankhaus von der Heydt for 14 million euros ($15 million) in cash and 150,000 shares. 

  • TeraWulf (WULF), a Bitcoin miner, has raised approximately $10 million to repay debts and purchase 8,200 new miners from Bitmain.

What Do You Meme

📈 Your Market Update 📉

  • BTC is up 1.28%, trading at $17,201

  • ETH is up 1.13%, trading at $1,268

  • BTC dominance: 37.73%

  • Crypto market cap: $877 billion

*All data as of today, 5 am ET

Recommended Reads

  1. Kristin Smith, Executive Director of the Blockchain Association, on crypto’s reputation.

  2. The DeFi investor on AI crypto projects:

  3. Adam Cochran on EIP-1153:

⛓️ 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: