Eduardo Próspero, Author at tridEX

20th December 2022

Ep08- Uganda – Companion Guide For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast

The production team flew to Uganda for what was supposed to be “The Missing Cryptoqueen’s” last episode. They wanted to show how far the OneCoin scam traveled and what it did to its victims. The results are devastating. As it happened all over the world, people in Uganda couldn’t afford to lose one dollar and ended up falling for OneCoin and losing it all. Dr. Ruja Ignatova is a legend over there. And in this episode, we also get to meet people who still believe in her and the OneCoin project.

Anyway, let’s get into the episode titled “The Technology and the Dream.”

Remember, you can download episodes directly from the BBC, or listen to “The Missing Cryptoqueen” through Apple, Spotify, or iVoox.

About “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” Episode Eight- “The Technology And The Dream”

In this interview-heavy episode, the production team exposes the embarrassment and shame of the victims. Their hopes, their dreams, and the denial that lead to this. The sheer volume of devastation OneCoin caused in Uganda, where people sold everything to get in on the early floors and some of them even got loans. We also learn that at the time of recording, as it happened in Bulgaria, OneCoin was still operational in Uganda. The organization was still working, people were still investing, and marketers were still recruiting.

We get to meet many characters, but the standing out one is Saturday David. He’s a multi-level marketer who made a lot of money selling OneCoin, but also bought a lot himself. When Jamie Bartlett interviews him, he has stopped selling the product but still believes in Dr. Ruja. He also thinks there’s a chance for the money he has put in to multiply as he has promised countless people. Plus, he still believes in cryptocurrencies as a concept and his objective is to build a crypto-friendly city in Uganda.

The Uganda episode was announced as the series’ last, and it ends with a brief summary of all of the participants’ lives and everything. That’s until the producers tell us that their “phone rang one more time.” An anonymous contributor called the show’s helpline and told them that they were too close to finding Dr. Ruja to quit. He confirmed that she’s in Frankfurt, looks like a German lady, and was in attendance at the Miss OneLife pageant as the production crew suspected.

Quotes From The Uganda Episode of “The Missing Cryptoqueen”:

A promoter gives an example of what OneCoin middle-management insiders think happened to Dr. Ruja:

“She went into a safer zone because OneCoin is bigger than what people thought. So when other people got to know that it is fighting the current way of banking. So our leader had to sacrifice herself and go to a safer zone and concentrate on bringing the vision to reality.”

Bartlett on what Dr. Ruja knew about human nature and the historical moment we’re living in:

“Maybe above all, Dr. Ruja understood an even more difficult truth. That the difference between a straightforward scam and the complicated but legal world of finance and money isn’t as clear cut as we think. OneCoin wouldn’t be possible unless we lived at a time when people really do make millions simply by betting on cryptocurrencies, complicated derivatives, and high-frequency currency trading. OneCoin sounds plausible to so many people because it is plausible.”

Bartlett on Dr. Ruja being “the inverse Satoshi:”

“Ten years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency. No one knows where or even who Satoshi is, but it doesn’t matter because the idea Satoshi unleashed of financial freedom through technology is bigger than one person. Dr. Ruja is the inverse Satoshi.

She stands for something too, something that’s more important than where she is. She represents the dark side of rapid technological change. Every new technology creates amazing opportunities and possibilities for people who understand it, but also the chance to exploit the people who don’t.”

Extra Material about Uganda:

Six years ago, our sister site Bitcoinist mentioned Uganda in relation to OneCoin while denouncing the project as a scam:

“OneCoin meanwhile continues to make alarm bells ring throughout the world. Most recently Uganda’s central bank issued a public warning on the risks of investing in it, yet drew no distinction between the scheme and bonafide cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.”

Later on, Bitcoinist pulled no punches while discussing the DealShaker marketplace:

“Recently, an online “marketplace” appeared offering products and services in exchange for OneCoins, which Bitcoinist advises readers not to use under any circumstances.

At the same time, OneCoin’s online website, which poses as an ‘exchange,’ has finally gone offline possibly suggesting that the scam is nearing its endpoint.”

Episode Credits

Presenter: Jamie Bartlett
Producer: Georgia Catt
Story consultant: Chris Berube
Editor: Philip Sellars
Original music and sound design: Phil Channell
Original music and vocals: Dessislava Stefanova and the London Bulgarian Choir

Previous Companion Guides For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast:

Ep. 01 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep01-dr-ruja-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 02 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep02-btc-killer-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 03 – https://www.newsbtc.com/altcoin/ep03-onecoin-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 04 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep04-onelife-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 05 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep05-mlm-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 06 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep06-dealshaker-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 07 – https://newsbtc.com/crypto/ep07-moneyland-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

19th November 2022

NYDIG Analyzed The FTX Collapse And Its Implications. What Did We Learn?

It’s time for NYDIG to chip in. The FTX fiasco is the theme of the month in the crypto world, and the show’s just beginning. The NYDIG research team avoids the temptation to summarize the whole saga and goes straight to the implications of the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire. “Some signs of contagion have appeared but a full accounting of the damage and regaining of investor confidence will likely take time,” they say understating the harsh reality.

Taking a page from NYDIG’s book, let’s skip the intro and go straight to the conclusions.

Contagion Is Around The Corner

Speaking about “signs of contagion,” NYDIG mentions BlockFi and the Genesis/ Gemini combo. However, there might be much more to come.

“Several other service providers have piqued the curiosity of crypto sleuths as potential next dominoes, but we hesitate to speculate too much without hard evidence. Regardless, industry participants are on edge for even the slightest signs of stress and continue to pull balances off exchanges.”

In the contagion section of the paper, we find a rare mention of a conspiracy theory that’s making the rounds in crypto twitter. Rarely do big players bring this up. Of course, NYDIG ends up doubling down on the thesis about Terra/Luna that they put out in a previous paper titled “On Impossible Things Before Breakfast.”

“There have been accusations that Alameda caused the initial de-peg of UST, and while that may have been the case, uneconomic rates paid by the Anchor Protocol and insecure economic design of LUNA/UST ensured its ultimate destruction, destroying $60B worth of crypto wealth in a few short days.”

In the previous paper, NYDIG printed a great segway to the next section. “DeFi is not decentralized. The Terra ecosystem was not decentralized. Terra initially sourced funding from LUNA token issuance apportioned to Terraform Labs at inception.”

FTT price chart on Bitstamp | Source: FTT/USD on TradingView.com

NYDIG On DeFi Vs. CeFi

Even though they’re clearly not fans of DeFi, NYDIG gives them some credit. “Most DeFi protocols operated as advertised through the volatility this year, minus the ongoing hacks within the ecosystem.” True, but the ongoing hacks are not a minor factor. It’s a billion-dollar problem with no apparent solution available. However, according to NYDIG, this time the problem lies with centralized finance, and those companies “did the rest of the damage” by engaging in these behaviors:

“Poor risk controls, conflicts of interest, excessive leverage, unclear accounting, counterparty risks, and poor management were just some of the factors at play. Furthermore, the use of an equity-like token, FTX Token (FTT), as collateral exacerbated the issue.”

Is More Regulation The Answer?

According to NYDIG, the industry was expecting “improved regulatory clarity for US investors.” However, thanks to the FTX crash and Sam Bankman-Fried’s political lobbying, “the path in DC has grown more complicated. Regulators will now be on their toes and increasingly more likely to use their current authority to enforce existing regulations and possibly issue new ones.”

It is what it is, however one has to take into account that “FTX.com wasn’t even a US entity, which raises the question of how impactful improved US regulations would have been, at least with respect to preventing the specific recent events surrounding FTX.” That’s true, but FTX was in business with several US fully regulated entities. If effective, shouldn’t Silvergate’s AML procedures have detected Sam Bankman-Fried’s shenanigans?

A related question would be, shouldn’t the due diligence of the highly regarded entities that invested in FTX have detected that something was off?

Featured Image by Kaleidico on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

18th November 2022

Did The Bahamas’ Securities Commission Take Control of FTX’s Assets? They Did

The Bahamas struck first and struck hard. Yesterday, there were rumors going around that their government was pressuring Sam Bankman-Fried to give them control of FTX’s assets. What sounded like a bizarre story, today is more than confirmed. The Securities Commission of The Bahamas released an official document announcing the takeover. Of course, they did it to protect the interests of FTX’s clients. It was urgent.

The document began:

“On 12 November 2022, the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (“the Commission”), in the exercise of its powers as regulator acting under the authority of an Order made by the Supreme Court of The Bahamas, took the action of directing the transfer of all digital assets of FTX Digital Markets Ltd. (“FDM”) to a digital wallet controlled by the Commission, for safekeeping. Urgent interim regulatory action was necessary to protect the interests of clients and creditors of FDM.”

To accomplish that, The Bahamas completely ignored the bankruptcy procedures opened in the United States. “It is not the understanding of the Commission that FDM is a party to the US Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceedings,” the Securities Commission of The Bahamas said bluntly. And then, they took control of the situation. “Over the coming days and weeks, the Commission will engage with other regulators and authorities, in multiple jurisdictions, to address matters affecting the creditors, clients and stakeholders.”

In case anyone doubts it, The Bahamas clarifies that “The Commission is responsible for the administration of the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges Act.”

FTT price chart for 11/18/2022 on FTX | Source: FTT/USD on TradingView.com

FTX’s New Management Warned About The Bahamas Intentions

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported on FTX’s new management’s concerns with The Bahamas government’s intentions.

“Lawyers for FTX’s new management also said in court papers that the government of the Bahamas is disrupting the exchange’s chapter 11 case, filed last week in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The papers escalate a budding dispute for control of FTX’s insolvency proceedings between its U.S. management and securities regulators in the Bahamas.”

At the time, who would’ve thought that The Bahamas was going to move that fast? Maybe we should have, because on that same article the WSJ informed us that “The Securities Commission tapped lawyer Brian Simms KC to oversee the liquidation of FTX”. Plus, “a Bahamian court approved Mr. Simms’s appointment on Thursday”. And on Tuesday, Simms “filed a chapter 15 petition in U.S.” What is a chapter 15, and what does it imply? Back to the article:

“The chapter 15 filing, if successful, could move at least a portion of FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings to courts in the Bahamas. Mr. Simms said Tuesday in a sworn declaration the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas has sole jurisdiction over FTX Digital and other entities operated from the company’s “substantial office complex” in Nassau, Bahamas.”

Now that the government of The Bahamas apparently took possession of the assets, the U.S doesn’t seem to have a choice but to work with them.

Conspiracy Theory Time

Is Sam Bankman-Fried working with the government of The Bahamas on this? Among the rumors that circulated yesterday, there was one that said that he was being forced to “hack” into FTX and surrender custody of the assets. Plus, Bankman-Fried recently said that filling for Chapter 11 in the US was his biggest mistake so far. Could he be trying to revert the operation with the help of the government of The Bahamas? Something to ponder.

Featured Image by Rinald Rolle on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

18th November 2022

Ep07- Moneyland – Companion Guide For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast

What’s Moneyland? That’s what the first half of this “The Missing Cryptoqueen” episode is about. The second part is about Frankfurt, the city where Jamie and Georgia think that Dr. Ruja might be hiding. In any case, Moneyland is that mythical place where the money that millionaires and corporate entities want to disappear goes. The concept comes from british journalist Oliver Bullough, who “has spent many years investigating the ways illicit money flows around the world, including in Eastern Europe.” He’s this episode’s star guest.

The Frankfurt part, however, is the most exciting segment of the whole podcast so far. The production team really stepped up their investigative game and got closer to Dr. Ruja than any police department ever will. We know our summaries are phenomenal, but we recommend that everyone listens to that second part at least.

Remember, you can download episodes directly from the BBC, or listen to “The Missing Cryptoqueen” through Apple, Spotify, or iVoox.

In any case, let’s go to Moneyland!

About “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” Episode Seven – “In Plain Sight”

Is Dr. Ruja alive? Before even mentioning Moneyland, producer Georgia Catt confirms a possible Dr. Ruja sighting to presenter Jamie Bartlett. The staff of an Athens restaurant remembers someone with Dr. Ruja’s characteristics as part of a party of six. What they’re not sure about is exactly *when* did this happen. Interesting. The possibility of a Dr. Ruja running around Europe might’ve been the catalyst for the Frankfurt part of the episode. But first, let’s get to Moneyland.

After hearing the basic facts of the OneCoin case, journalist Oliver Bullough tells Jamie that once upon a time “Albania descended into anarchy because of a pyramid scheme.” As the crypto world has confirmed lately, these scams can be dangerous. Then, Bullough explains what Moneyland is. Rich and smart people can construct their “assets in such a way that they become invisible.” They can still use them to “buy political influence and nice houses and yachts.”

When it comes to other people trying to find those assets, though, they turn invisible. So, “that’s what Moneyland is, Moneyland is the place where these assets go.” This breaks Jamie, who asks if there’s zero chance of finding them. Bullough tries to cheer him up by saying “It’s not zero chance. It’s, yeah. I mean, it’s been very well hidden, right?” And that’s not the most depressing part of the episode. After that, they inform us that the UK has stopped their investigation into OneCoin. They just gave up.

FTT price chart for 11/18/2022 on FTX | Source: FTT/USD on TradingView.com

Moneyland Leads To Frankfurt

When things look darker, “The Missing Cryptoqueen’s” production team gets into high gear. They turn their investigating arm up a few notches and focus on the Internet. “We put so much online now, and that information can betray us. And that’s what took us to somewhere we think Dr. Ruja might be.“ That somewhere is Frankfurt. Our heroes determine that Dr. Ruja’s ex-husband and her hidden daughter live in the city. Plus, her best friend seems to have visited Frankfurt recently.

They get there and they find nothing, not a single trace. This part is excruciating. However, it leads Jamie and Georgia to a high-luxury neighborhood that feels like the place Dr. Ruja would live. This is where Monelyland leads to. In there, they find a charismatic but annoying postman that might remember the name Ignatova. They leave that storyline open and “The Missing Cryptoqueen” returns to England.

To finish the episode off, Jamie has a very interesting discussion with Cameron, “a UK-based OneCoin promoter.” Is he a true believer or is he just defending an extremely lucrative business? Cameron goes all in and carries the OneCoin party line to the very end. Wow. This might be the most surprising part of the whole episode.

Quotes From Episode Seven of “The Missing Cryptoqueen”:

Oliver Bullough, explaining how money can disappear:

“If you are rich enough and well advised enough or clever enough, you construct your assets in such a way that they become invisible. They still exist, you can still use them to buy things, you can still use them to buy political influence and nice houses and yachts. But when it comes from someone trying to find them, whether that’s a journalist or a police officer, the assets are invisible. And so that’s what Moneyland is, Moneyland is the place where these assets go.”

Jamie Barlett on what led them to Frankfurt:

“There’s one place we haven’t looked, not really looked. And it’s probably the most obvious place of all, the Internet. We put so much online now, and that information can betray us. And that’s what took us to somewhere we think Dr. Ruja might be. Not Athens, Frankfurt. It took weeks of extremely boring internet research and painstakingly going back through everything we’ve learned so far.”

Extra Material, about “Moneyland”:

In The Guardian’s review of Oliver Bullough’s “Moneyland,” they quote a metaphorical definition of the novel term:

“He conceives of it as a secret, parallel world, almost like something from a fairytale: “The very wealthiest people … have tunnelled into this new land that lies beneath all our nation states, where borders have vanished. They move their money … and themselves wherever they wish, picking and choosing which countries’ laws they wish to live by.”

The Guardian also says:

“He is surprisingly successful at getting some of the architects of the offshore world to open up, and is sensitive to the fact that some of its users have good reason to avoid governments, such as rich dissidents fearing the politically motivated confiscation of their assets. He also accepts an argument frequently put to him in notorious tax havens: that wealthier, less criticised countries such as Britain have been equally involved in building and maintaining Moneyland.”

Episode Credits

Previous Companion Guides For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast:

Ep. 01 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep01-dr-ruja-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 02 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep02-btc-killer-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 03 – https://www.newsbtc.com/altcoin/ep03-onecoin-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 04 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep04-onelife-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 05 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep05-mlm-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 06 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep06-dealshaker-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Featured Image: The Missing Cryptoqueen’s logo, from the BBC | Charts by TradingView

11th November 2022

Kraken’s Jesse Powell Blast FTX And Sam Bankman-Fried Without Naming Them

Leave it to Jesse Powell to say what everyone in crypto is thinking. “I’m really trying to control my rage,” the mind behind Kraken tweeted to begin his rant. In the following article, we’ll comment on several of his very interesting points. Make no mistake, though, Jesse Powell thinks this isn’t over and the crypto industry will have to work for years to make up for… some other cryptocurrency exchange’s mistake. “More business failures are sure to come as the contagion spreads,” he warned.

2/ Our good, trusting nature makes us easy targets for con artists. Some even tell us straight up that they're here for profits, not crypto, and we praise them for their honesty.

Yet we're surprised when they turn out to be who they said they are. We need to raise our standards.

— Jesse Powell (@jespow) November 10, 2022

At one point, Powell even gave the best advice possible for future crypto investors. “Don’t trust. Verify.”

What he didn’t do, though, was naming Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, or Alameda Research. We are assuming this is all about them, but it’s just an assumption.

Jesse Powell Allegedly Blast Sam Bankman-Fried

First of all, the head of Kraken doesn’t buy the “I made a mistake” line that Sam Bankman-Fried has been feeding the public via Twitter. And Powell doesn’t mince words while saying he doesn’t.

“This isn’t about aiming high and missing. This is about recklessness, greed, self-interest, hubris, sociopathic behavior that causes a person to risk all the hard-won progress this industry has earned over a decade, for their own personal gain.”

The thing is, Sam Bankman-Fried didn’t only blow up his two billion-dollar businesses. He blew up the whole crypto industry. “We give them power to speak for us but they haven’t earned that privilege. When they blow themselves up, it’s our house, our reputation, our people which bear the brunt of the damage,” Powell tweeted. And he’s probably right about this. Everyone will have to pay for Bankman-Fried’s mistakes.

5/ The damage here is huge. An exchange implosion of this magnitude is a gift to #bitcoin haters all over the world. It's the excuse they were waiting for to justify whatever attack they've been keeping in their back pocket.

We're going to be working to undo this for years.

— Jesse Powell (@jespow) November 10, 2022

Then, in a bizarre turn of events, Jesse Powell brought bitcoin into the mix:

“An exchange implosion of this magnitude is a gift to bitcoin haters all over the world. It’s the excuse they were waiting for to justify whatever attack they’ve been keeping in their back pocket.”

What does the FTX implosion have to do with bitcoin? In fact, out of all the crypto world, bitcoiners are the less affected by all of this. In bitcoin culture, the self-custody of your assets is paramount. And people who make the effort and self-custody aren’t directly affected by exchanges blowing up and losing their customer’s hard-earned money. They are affected by the price movements these black swan events generate, though.

FTT price chart for 11/10/2022 on Binance | Source: FTT/USD on TradingView.com

Are The Media, VCs, And The US Government To Blame?

This is the most interesting part of Jesse Powell’s rant. As bitcoiners denounced Sam Bankman-Fried’s shady business model left and right, the man became a media darling like few others. His frequent political donations, the way he said what the establishment wants to hear about crypto regulation, and the whole myth about him being an effective-altruism vegan were the perfect combination.

“VCs, the media, the “experts” failed. People torched their own reputations vouching for individuals, projects, businesses they had not diligenced.”

We’re pretty sure “diligenced” is not a word, but Jesse Powell’s message stands. The media failed miserably and led retail astray. They will never admit to their wrongdoings, but Sam Bankman-Fried was on the cover of “Fortune” a couple of weeks ago. “The New Warren Buffet?” was the article’s title.

9/ Red flags:* acting like you know everything after showing up to the battle 8 years late* 9 figs buying political favor* being overeager to please DC* huge ego purchases, like 9-fig sports deals* being a "media darling", seeking out puff pieces* EA virtue signaling* FTT

— Jesse Powell (@jespow) November 10, 2022

What about VCs, though? Aren’t they at least partially responsible for financing FTX? Before you answer, read what Jesse Powell has to say about it. He’s got inside information:

“I know for a fact that VCs wrote checks blindly. Why? Because revenues were strong. Were they sustainable? Were they bleeding out money the other side? Was it all predicated on an untenable self-dealing setup, frontrunning clients, misappropriation of user funds? Never asked.”

11/ US lawmakers & regulators have some accountability too. You drove this business offshore because you refused to provide a workable regime under which these services could be offered in a supervised manner. Enforcement wrongfully focuses on convenient, on-shore good actors.

— Jesse Powell (@jespow) November 10, 2022

Last but not least, what about the US Government and its lack of crypto regulation clarity?

“US lawmakers & regulators have some accountability too. You drove this business offshore because you refused to provide a workable regime under which these services could be offered in a supervised manner.”

Jesse Powell is not saying those institutions are as guilty as Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly is, but they really dropped the ball on this one. And, as it always happens, the people suffered.

Featured Image by Luke Jernejcic on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

9th November 2022

Coin Metrics Analyst: “FTX Might Have Provided Massive Bailout For Alameda In Q2”

Did this Coin Metrics analyst uncover the key to the whole Alameda/ FTX story? Because let’s face it, it doesn’t make sense. Both of Sam Bankman-Fried’s businesses were extremely profitable. FTX was the world’s third-biggest exchange and growing, why would anyone risk killing that golden goose? There must have been an underlying cause. Did this Coin Metrics analyst uncover it in the on-chain data? He might have.

The Head of R&D at Coin Metrics, Lucas Nuzzi, ends his thread with a warning: “Important to note that this is my own personal highly-speculative take on what happened based on these on-chain artifacts.” The case the Coin Metrics analyst is making rests on solid on-chain data, but the interpretation of what said data means is “highly-speculative.” So, take it with a grain of salt and don’t go around saying this is exactly what happened, because it might not be.

That being said, yikes!

The Coin Metrics Analyst Makes The Case

Lucas Nuzzi starts with a statement of fact, “I found evidence that FTX might have provided a massive bailout for Alameda in Q2 which now came back to haunt them.” And then, he poses a mystery. “40 days ago, 173 million FTT tokens worth over 4B USD became active on-chain.” Where did those tokens go? You guessed it, Alameda Research. The day was September 28th. A record-breaking $8.6B in FTT moved that day.

2/ That day, September 28, over 8.6 Billion USD worth of FTT was moved on-chain.

That was by far the largest daily move of FTT in the token's existence and one of the largest ERC20 daily moves we ever recorded at Coin Metrics. pic.twitter.com/GnUO1ZcCB7

— Lucas Nuzzi (@LucasNuzzi) November 8, 2022

“That was by far the largest daily move of FTT in the token’s existence and one of the largest ERC20 daily moves we ever recorded at Coin Metrics,” Nuzzi tweeted. What was happening around Alameda and FTX near that time? Nothing special, really.

On August 24th, Sam Trabucco stepped down from the Co-CEO position at Alameda Research. “I will stay on as an advisor, but otherwise will not continue to have a strong day-to-day presence at the company,” Trabucco tweeted.
On September 27th, Brett Harrison stepped down from the CEO position at FTX. “Over the next few months I’ll be transferring my responsibilities and moving into an advisory role at the company,” Harrison tweeted.
This one is the kicker. On September 28th, Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted, “Heads up: rotating a few FTX wallets today (mostly non-circulating); we do this periodically. Might be a few more coming, won’t have any effect.”

If all of this is true, that last SBF tweet will probably make an appearance in court.

FTT price chart for 11/09/2022 on FTX | Source: FTT/USD on TradingView.com

So, What Did Alameda Do With The Money?

Believe it or not, the FTT tokens came directly from the original ICO smart contract. The Coin Metrics analyst “found a peculiar transaction that interacted with a contract from the FTT ICO. This 2019 contract *automatically* released 173 Million FTT from the token’s ICO.” Strange, but both organizations are joined at the hip. There might’ve been legitimate reasons.

Then, things took a bizarre turn. “Alameda then sent that *entire* balance to the address of the deployer (creator) of the FTT ERC20, which is controlled by someone at FTX.”

WHAT?

4/ The recipient of the $4.19 B USD worth of FTT tokens was no one but Alameda Research!

So what? Alameda and FTX were intrinsically connected from day 1 and Alameda obviously participated in the FTX ICO.

But what happened next was interesting…

— Lucas Nuzzi (@LucasNuzzi) November 8, 2022

The Coin Metrics Analyst’s Theory

According to Lucas Nuzzi, Alameda Research wasn’t immune to the crypto contagion that plagued the space in Q2. In fact, the company might’ve blown up with 3AC, Voyager, and Celsius. “It ONLY survived because it was able to secure funding from FTX using as “collateral” the 172M FTT that was guaranteed to vest 4 months later.” That’s an extremely risky move. It almost seems like FTX didn’t have a choice.

8/ The Alameda bailout likely put a dent on FTXs balance sheet to the point where it was no longer solvent.

This would have been fine if the price of FTT didn't collapse and a bank run ensued

This is why Alameda tried their best to protect FTT's price.https://t.co/nX1tphjLNR

— Lucas Nuzzi (@LucasNuzzi) November 8, 2022

They didn’t, because “the FTT ICO contract vests automatically. Had FTX let Alameda implode in May, their collapse would have ensured the subsequent liquidation of all FTT tokens vested in September.” If the scenario the Coin Metrics analyst poses is real, SBF and company had to do it. And they paid a heavy price for it. “The Alameda bailout likely put a dent on FTXs balance sheet to the point where it was no longer solvent. This would have been fine if the price of FTT didn’t collapse and a bank run ensued.”

This Is Where CZ And Binance Come In

In this scenario, CZ And Binance somehow found out about the deal. And the biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume had a heavy FTT bag. “As part of Binance’s exit from FTX equity last year, Binance received roughly $2.1 billion USD equivalent in cash (BUSD and FTT),” CZ tweeted when he announced they were liquidating their position.

What did this heavy FTT bag mean? The Coin Metrics analyst explains, “As large holders of FTT, they could start deliberately tanking that market to force FTX to face a liquidity crunch.”

And they did.

And then, Binance offered to buy FTX and relieve them of their problems.

Presumably for pennies on the dollar.

A master stroke by CZ and team, if true.

But remember the Coin Metrics’ analyst warning, “Important to note that this is my own personal highly-speculative take on what happened based on these on-chain artifacts.” Don’t go around saying this is exactly what happened, because it might not be.

Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay | Charts by TradingView

8th November 2022

The War Is Over!: Binance Announces FTX Buyout And The Market Recovers

Did Binance just do what we think it did? The world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume will likely buy one of its biggest competitors. The market was in turmoil, the players were in panic mode, but this news calmed the waters in a big way. What’s next, though? Will Binance actually go through with the buyout? Is the deal final? And what does this story says about FTX’s business model? Were they fractional-reserving their way to success?

Let that sink in… pic.twitter.com/Whj50bR2Ey

— wolf (@ImNotTheWolf) November 8, 2022

Let’s analyze the official but not abundant information out there and try to reach our own conclusions.

Sam Bankman-Fried Bends The Knee

After a whole morning of radio silence, the mind behind FTX and Alameda Research finally spoke. In a Twitter thread that will live for the ages, Sam Bankman-Fried was as vague as one can be. “We have come to an agreement on a strategic transaction with Binance for FTX.com,” he tweeted. Then, he announced that “our teams are working on clearing out the withdrawal backlog as is. This will clear out liquidity crunches; all assets will be covered 1:1.”

Wasn’t that supposed to be the case from the beginning, though?

2) Our teams are working on clearing out the withdrawal backlog as is. This will clear out liquidity crunches; all assets will be covered 1:1. This is one of the main reasons we’ve asked Binance to come in. It may take a bit to settle etc. — we apologize for that.

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 8, 2022

Then, Bankman-Fried proceeded to effectively declare a winner. “A *huge* thank you to CZ, Binance, and all of our supporters. This is a user-centric development that benefits the entire industry,” he tweeted about his new boss. “Binance has shown time and again that they are committed to a more decentralized global economy while working to improve industry relations with regulators. We are in the best of hands.”

5) I know that there have been rumors in media of conflict between our two exchanges, however Binance has shown time and again that they are committed to a more decentralized global economy while working to improve industry relations with regulators. We are in the best of hands.

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 8, 2022

Is the deal set in stone, though? According to River’s CEO Alexander Leishman, “The DD on this deal is going to take forever. Bankruptcy still on the table if Binance decides they don’t want to touch it after digging deeper.”

BNB price chart on FTX | Source: BNB/USD on TradingView.com

The Binance CEO Announces The Win

Allegedly, CZ knew what he was doing the whole time. After distancing himself from the concept of war and saying Binance was focused on building, today CZ really showed his true colors. “This afternoon, FTX asked for our help. There is a significant liquidity crunch. To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI, intending to fully acquire FTX.com and help cover the liquidity crunch,” he humbly tweeted.

There is a lot to cover and will take some time. This is a highly dynamic situation, and we are assessing the situation in real time. Binance has the discretion to pull out from the deal at any time. We expect FTT to be highly volatile in the coming days as things develop.

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 8, 2022

However, CZ is admitting to a liquidity crunch that shouldn’t be there. And then, he clarifies that the deal isn’t done yet. “There is a lot to cover and will take some time. This is a highly dynamic situation, and we are assessing the situation in real time. Binance has the discretion to pull out from the deal at any time.”

Analyzing the little data we have, DeFinace Capital’s Arthur Ox tweeted, “Given how little time it took to close this deal. It’s likely Binance acquire FTX for nominal/negligible amount and assume all the liabilities of FTX.” And then, he gave advice, “if I am previous round investor of FTX, I will probably start engaging litigation lawyer now.”

The Future For Binance And FTX

The analysts are having a field day with this story. Dylan LeClair, who’s been covering the ins and outs from day one, recently tweeted that the resolution “confirms that FTX is insolvent without a bailout from Binance” and that “Alameda was speculating with user funds.” Those are severe accusations, but he’s got some data to back them up.

"Liquidity crunch"

I thought your deposits were backed 1:1??

Or was your "proprietary trading desk" directionally trading using user funds. We could all see the movements flooding back from Alameda wallets on-chain yesterday as reserves got depleted. pic.twitter.com/f7Y3LsYsqq

— Dylan LeClair (@DylanLeClair_) November 8, 2022

Questioning the liquidity crunch, LeClair asks, “was your “proprietary trading desk” directionally trading using user funds. We could all see the movements flooding back from Alameda wallets on-chain yesterday as reserves got depleted.” Taking it to the next level, economist Tuur Demeester is concerned with the implications, “If Binance buys FTX and hence takes over the claims of its depositors, it seems likely that Binance then would also become (or remain) a fractional reserve operation.”

What a time to be alive.

Featured Image by Candice Seplow on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView

8th November 2022

The Binance Vs. FTX War: Here Are The Most Recent Stats & On-Chain Data

Is this the beginning of the end for FTX and Alameda Research? Or will both organizations come out stronger on the other side? As NewsBTC reported, Binance’s CZ smelled blood in the water and announced his exchange was selling their FTT reserves. That created a sort of a bank-run that left FTX in a dangerous position. Are both of the Sam Bankman-Fried-led organizations’ destinies tied to the FTT token? Or will they be fine even if it falls?

In the most recent Bitcoin Magazine Pro report, they describe the current situation as, “a wave of panic taking shape that questions the solvency of both FTX and Alameda Research. As a result, we’ve seen nearly $1 billion in assets and token values fly out of known FTX and Alameda addresses over the last week.” Not only that, both FTT and BNB are falling. And Alameda and FTX are working overtime to keep FTT over $22.

We’ll cover all of that and more, but first, let’s go to another BM Pro report in which they described the situation that led to all of this. A document detailing Alameda Research’s reserves leaked and the whole world learned that the firm held approximately 90% of the total FTT token supply. Their sister company, FTX, issues that coin. And that’s problematic.

“It’s reported Alameda was holding $5.82 billion of FTT on June 30th, while the market cap of FTT at the time of the report was $4.2 billion. This is a result of some of their asset allocation being held in locked altcoins, which, similar to VC investments and employee stock compensation programs, has a locked/vesting period, only this time it’s using smart contracts. It should be noted that Alameda apparently applied a 50% haircut to all “locked” assets, but one could make the case that this is still generous accounting.”

There are really interesting caveats in there.

FTT price chart on FTX | Source: FTT/USD on TradingView.com

FTX Is Down And Binance Is Up

The bank run seems to be on. Wallets associated with FTX are moving funds like there’s no tomorrow. The exchange’s stablecoin balances “have been depleting at a rapid pace as customers move to get funds off the platform.” And that’s not their only worry, they also have to defend the $22 floor for FTT, but we’ll get to that. This is a zero-sum game, so someone has to be winning while FTX is losing. Back to the latest BM Pro report:

“It’s a stark difference to see $451 million in stablecoins flow out of FTX over the last 7 days versus the $411 million that have flowed into Binance. That tells anyone in the market that the exchange giant (Binance), which already has approximately 60% of the volume in the entire space across both spot and derivatives markets, is out for blood and stands to gain during this FTX situation.”

This all might seem like fun and games between two giants, but the reality is this: if FTX falls, the whole crypto market will tumble. And the contagion effect would probably be tremendous and take several companies and projects down with it. “There’s a broader risk to the market here as we see Alameda unwind many other positions across tokens and bitcoin that will be used to raise additional capital,” BM Pro wrote, “we’re just in the beginning stages on what may play out here.

FTX stablecoin balance 7d: -$451mBinance stablecoin balance 7d: +$411m

per @nansen_ai pic.twitter.com/cwlg29hugz

— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) November 7, 2022

The $22 Level

Why is team Sam Bankman-Fried so determined to defend FTT’s $22 level? Alameda Research’s CEO, Caroline Ellison offered CZ, “if you’re looking to minimize the market impact on your FTT sales, Alameda will happily buy it all from you today at $22!” There’s that number again. Why are they so obsessed with it? According to BM Pro:

“Alameda would likely not have such a vested interest in defending this level if it was not leveraged. Otherwise, they would let the market fall as much as it wants and simply acquire FTT at a lower price.”

Is that undeniable proof that FTX and Alameda are leveraged and their destinies are tied to FTT? Not really. It suggests it, though. “The exchange rate differential between the FTT price on FTX vs. Binance has pushed to historic highs as Alameda and crew attempt to defend their token. Meanwhile, CZ and an army of speculators have begun to sell and go short FTT.”

Feels like I'm watching an emerging market central bank attempting to defend its currency against speculators right now. $FTT pic.twitter.com/hQc0Vh0ARe

— Dylan LeClair (@DylanLeClair_) November 7, 2022

We might be witnessing “a classic speculative attack unfold,” says BM Pro. However, they feel it’s even deeper. “There is a much more important battle going on, and the FTT exchange rate is a matter of solvency for Alameda.” According to analyst Dylan LeClair, the whole situation “feels like I’m watching an emerging market central bank attempting to defend its currency against speculators.”

The question is, can they?

Featured Image by DeSa81 from Pixabay | Charts by TradingView

8th November 2022

Amid Macro Uncertainty, Bitcoin Stabilizes. Incredible October Stats Inside

The world is upside down. Is bitcoin stable now? Or is everything else extremely volatile all of a sudden? As the planet descends into chaos, bitcoin remains in a weird limbo that’s uncharacteristic of the asset and doesn’t seem to end. That’s both what it feels like and what the stats say. In the latest ARK Invest’s The Bitcoin Monthly report, they put it like this, “bitcoin finds itself in a tug of war between oversold on-chain conditions and a chaotic macro environment.”

What about the numbers, though? The stats support the thesis, “for the third month in a row, bitcoin continues to trade between support at its investor cost basis ($18,814) and resistance at its 200- week moving average ($23,460).” Three months in that range seems like too much. Something’s got to give. However, that’s what everyone’s been thinking for the last few months and we’re still here.

The Dollar Milkshake Theory

Bitcoin has been less-volatile than usual, sure, but the main factor here is that the whole world is falling to pieces. Every company is in the red, especially techy ones, and all of the world’s currencies except the dollar fell off a cliff. Are we seeing “the dollar milkshake theory” playing out in front of our own eyes? It sure feels that way. Global central banks have been printing bills like there’s no tomorrow, and that extra liquidity is there for the stronger currency to take.

According to professional investor Darren Winter, the “dollar milkshake theory views central bank liquidity as the milkshake and when Fed’s policy transitions from easing to tightening they are exchanging a metaphoric syringe for a big straw sucking liquidity from global markets.” If that’s what we’re seeing, what happens next? Back to The Bitcoin Monthly, ARK says:

“As macro uncertainty and USD strength have increased, foreign currency pairs have been impacted negatively while bitcoin has been relatively stable. Bitcoin’s 30-day realized volatility is nearly equivalent to that of the GBP and EUR for the first time since October 2016”

BTC price chart for 11/07/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

Bitcoin Vs. Other Assets In October

The macro-environment has been so bad lately, that there’s the perception that bitcoin has been doing better than stocks. The facts are that, for the first time since 2020, “bitcoin’s 30-day volatility is on par with the Nasdaq’s and the S&P 500’s.” And, we know past performance doesn’t guarantee future results, but “the last time bitcoin’s volatility declined and equaled the rising volatility of equitiy indices was in late 2018 and early 2019, preceding bullish moves in the BTC price.”

However, let’s not kid ourselves, bitcoin has not been doing good. The thing is, not much is prospering out there. Especially in the tech sector. “The price drawdowns from alltime high in Meta (-75.87%) and Netflix (-76.38) have exceeded that of bitcoin’s (-74.46%). To a lesser extent, Amazon also suggests a correction proportional to that of BTC’s “usual” volatility (-48.05%).”

According to The Bitcoin Monthly, the situation “suggests the severity of the macroeconomic environment and bitcoin’s resilience against it.”

The only constant is change, however. Bitcoin’s stability suggests a violent breakout, either up or down. The entire world can’t remain the red forever, something or someone has got to rise above the crowd and show everyone how it’s done. We’ve been waiting for a resolution for what feels like ages, and we’ll probably have to wait some more. There will be a movement, though. When we least expect it, probably.

Featured Image: Bitcoin 3D logo from The Bitcoin Monthly | Charts by TradingView

4th November 2022

Lightning Speed: Accelerators And Incubators Focus Their Sights On Bitcoin

You know what incubators and accelerators mean: interest. They say that bear markets are for builders, and the bitcoin ecosystem seems to be getting ready to work. One of the main catalysts is the success of the Lightning Network. The little engine that could went from being constantly mocked to being a key element in the El Salvador story. Nowadays, the Lightning Network is the bitcoin ecosystem’s absolute star and one of the reasons money is pouring in.

The three accelerators and incubators that this article will consider couldn’t be more different from each other, but they share the bitcoin-only ethos. And an unhealthy interest in the Lightning Network. From a Jack Dorsey-funded initiative, to a corporate ultra-deluxe opportunity, to a bunch of technically minded individuals that opened their doors in the name of bitcoin. Pick your poison, there’s probably an accelerator for you here.

The TBD Open-Source Incubation Program

The Jack Dorsey-funded organization that’s working in the decentralized bitcoin exchange TBDex can probably help your bitcoin project. They recently announced the TBD Open Source Incubation Program, but there’s not much practical info on it yet. “TBD Incubation projects are managed by community contributors. They advance the decentralized web and accelerate development and adoption of the Web5 platform,” the company wrote.

They did specify that the program was focused on Open-Source projects and said that TBD will “soon be announcing our first Incubation project!” The announcement also promised that “when projects reach maturity, they may apply to be promoted out of Incubation into a central project,” so the TBD program might turn into an accelerator over time.

BTC price chart for 11/03/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

The Wolf Startup Accelerators Focused Exclusively On Lightning

This is the corporate one. This is the deluxe one. It’s run by “Stone Ridge, owner of an alternatives asset manager that has raised more than $40B since inception and parent of bitcoin company NYDIG.” Among other things, they offer, “transportation to NYC and lodging for the duration of the 8-week program are included from anywhere in the world.” The program is exclusively focused on the Lightning Network.“Wolf accepts applications from individual founders and small teams at the pre-seed idea stage up through those ready for a Series A financing round.”

Introducing Wolf: The first startup accelerator focused exclusively on lightning . Learn more or apply at https://t.co/MC9fJATOt4 #Bitcoin #Lightning pic.twitter.com/2vQ7SoMheI

— Wolf (@_WolfNYC) October 26, 2022

The investments are also deluxe, selected developers get a $250K guaranteed seed funding, so they can focus all of their attention on the project. Also, “at the end of each program, one team will be chosen by a panel of judges to receive an additional $500K in funding.” That, plus all the knowledge you and your team can collect in those eight weeks.

The Pleb Lab Co-Working/ Accelerators

In contrast, Pleb Lab is “a co-working / accelerator in Austin, Texas at the heart of the financial district. We support outstanding projects and teams in several ways.” They are bitcoin-only, with a focus on “the Lightning Network – an essential step towards decentralized finance.” Their other focus is free and open-source development, “the FOSS ethos is at the center of what we do here at Pleb Lab.”

What does the Pleb Lab accelerator do, exactly?

“Working directly with Bitcoin & Lightning startups”
“Granting workspace among other brilliant Bitcoin developers at Pleb Lab”
“Providing startup advisory and mentoring”
“Providing business development, marketing and strategy”

The Austin bitcoin scene is growing by the minute, and Pleb Lab is right there in the middle of it. Apparently, one of its best characteristics is to be in the same room with other bitcoin developers trying to solve similar problems to yours. As you might imagine, they all help each other. This one is not a competition and there are no obvious prizes.

Featured Image: Pleb Lab logo from their website | Charts by TradingView

3rd November 2022

Ep06- DealShaker – Companion Guide For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast

Believe it or not, the DealShaker marketplace is still working. The commerce arm of the OneCoin empire, DealShaker provided a clear and verifiable use case for OneCoin as a currency. The token was real because you could use it to buy things in a specific e-commerce store. Oh, those were the days. The greatest thing about exploring OneCoin and Dr. Ruja’s story is that it reflects how naive the crypto world actually was just a few years ago. In many ways, it still is.

In “The Missing Cryptoqueen’s” sixth episode, we travel to the past. It’s titled “The Überflieger” referring to a “high-flying” person. That’s how teachers of the past described Dr. Ruja, who was definitely the star in all of her classes and was respected and hated for it. What else can Jamie and Georgia learn about Ruja Ignatova by tracing her steps? Let’s find out.

Remember, you can download episodes directly from the BBC, or listen to “The Missing Cryptoqueen” through Apple, Spotify, or iVoox.

About “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” Episode Six – “The Überflieger”

Our blast from the past episode starts in 2009, five years before OneCoin and DealShaker. Bitcoin was entering the scene and so was Dr. Ruja, who bought a factory in Germany. Jamie and Georgia visit the site in 2019 and interview the survivors of that story. They tell them that Ruja Ignatova got there, impressed everybody, and made a lot of promises that she didn’t keep. After that, she disappeared, effectively rug-pulling everybody. Interesting fact, both her father and her mother worked at the factory. Which suggests Ruja Ignatova is a family woman.

When Dr. Ruja disappeared, the factory offices were broken into and a lot of documents went missing, along with her. The factory workers that the podcast interviewed all seem to think that this was staged and that Dr. Ruja took and destroyed some important documents. “It’s exactly the same story,” one of them says comparing OneCoin and DealShaker to the factory in question. When things got tough, Ruja Ignatova sold the company and disappeared. The factory remains closed to this day.

In the next section’s second quote, you’ll sense the magnitude of that first case against Dr. Ruja. She paid the fine and kept it pushing. And, according to the factory workers, she learned that the next time she was going to have to disappear for real.

Quotes From “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” EpisodeSix – “The Überflieger”

In what appears a diary entry, we learn about the young Ruja Ignatova:

“Ruja was always friendly to everyone. She was always well behaved and cheerful, and the teachers were deeply fond of her. She doesn’t drink and she would never degrade herself to eating pizza. Her favorite classes were “p,” she was faultless, and now and then she likes “ari.” Generally, she got on very well with her colleagues. Stop. Maybe we should stick to the truth. Okay, fine. Maybe I did take pleasure in tormenting some students. I was always looking for the chance to spread new amusing stories about them.”

This quote summarizes the consequences of Ruja’s first fraud:

“This time, the law caught up with Dr. Ruja. In 2016, she was convicted in a German court for several crimes. Intentional breach of duty in the event of insolvency, fraud, withholding an embezzlement of employees’ wages, and violation of accounting duties, She received a 14-month suspended sentence and an €18,000 fine. The local newspaper reported that Ruja reappeared to attend the ruling and showed no emotion when the judgment was passed down. She quietly slipped out and returned to Bulgaria, and carried on with OneCoin as if nothing had happened.”

More About Dr. Ruja’s Past

Later in the episode, Jamie and Georgia confirm that Ruja really got a PHD. “She’s smart,” Georgia says. Then, Multi-Level Marketing makes a second appearance. We learn that in 2014, Ruja Ignatova tried to sell… wait for it… bitcoin using MLM techniques. The producers introduce Sebastian Greenwood, a Multi-Level Marketing expert that seems to have created the Dr. Ruja character with Ignatova. She had the charisma, he had the technique. They just needed a product they could control.

Last but not least, we meet Duncan. He once was an integral part of the OneLife organization and it’s the mind behind DealShaker. He says everything in there is rubbish and challenges Jamie to find five things he wants and can pay in OneCoin only. Jamie goes through DealShaker and realizes the already shady characters that sell products through the platform mostly want Euros. Is DealShaker really a OneCoin market?

At the end of the episode, a private detective that the production hired apparently found a lady that could be Ruja Ignatova in Athens. Could it be?

BTC price chart for 11/03/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

Extra Material: OneCoin Responds To The FCA

Approximately six years ago, the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom issued a warning against OneCoin. The company responded and NewsBTC reported the story:

“In the statement, OneCoin has called itself a global software and technology company with offices in Bulgaria, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates. The company has also described OneCoin has a digital currency sharing few features with existing cryptocurrencies. These similarities are confined to the maintenance of all transaction records on a database.

The digital currency company, in the last paragraph of the statement, expresses its full cooperation,

“OneCoin is committed to following good business practices and the relevant rules and regulations in the countries in which it operates. It will co-operate fully with the authorities in pursuit of this objective.”

Episode Credits

Previous Companion Guides For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast:

Ep. 01 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep01-dr-ruja-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 02 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep02-btc-killer-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 03 – https://www.newsbtc.com/altcoin/ep03-onecoin-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 04 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep04-onelife-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 05 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep05-mlm-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Featured Image: The Missing Cryptoqueen logo by BBC | Charts by TradingView

29th October 2022

Ep05- MLM – Companion Guide For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast

It was about time that MLM made an appearance. Multi-Level Marketing explains a lot about the OneCoin story. In this ONE-HOUR episode of “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” we’ll learn about the secret ingredient that catapulted Dr. Ruja from the millions to the billions. We’ll meet interesting people and the plot will thicken. Also, the size of the OneCoin scam will increase significantly. This thing gets bigger by the episode, which is what makes the show so entertaining. What a clusterfuck this was.

It begins by answering the question posed in episode 4. Could an unrecognizable version of Dr. Ruja have been in attendance at the Miss OneLife beauty pageant? The production team shows a UK plastic surgeon pictures from the event. There was a person with OneCoin’s main directors that they suspect might’ve been Ruja Ignatova. He hesitates, but when Jamie Bartlett tells him that the person they’re looking for is a billionaire with an infinite budget, he changes his mind. “It’s possible, those things can be changed,” he says.

That being settled, let’s get into MLM.

Remember, you can download episodes directly from the BBC, or listen to “The Missing Cryptoqueen” through Apple, Spotify, or iVoox.

About MLM And “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” Episode Five – “What Dreams May Come”

This episode’s protagonist was the #1 seller of OneCoin at one point. He’s a professional multi-level marketer with an army of professional MLM salespersons at his disposal. His house is called “What Dreams May Come,” which inspired the episode’s title. This man’s tongue is the main reason this episode is one hour long. His stories are phenomenal, everyone should listen to them. Especially considering we’re going to skip them and stick to the core story.

So, network marketing, MLM, or multi-level marketing is the missing ingredient. When this man’s company started working for OneCoin, they put an army of top-level marketers to push the product. And it sold like hotcakes. “In the first year, it made more millionaires than Amway ever did in their 75 years of history,” he claims. The kicker to this part of the story is that the MLM marketer alleges that he believed Dr. Ruja and put more money into OneCoin than anyone on earth.

According to the released FBI documents we found last time, Dr. Ruja and company called this operation “The B*tch of Wall Street meets MLM.” You can’t make this stuff up. In an archival audio file, we hear her announce that OneCoin was going to inflate the supply 10X and the crowd cheered. Then, contradicting every economic law, she told them that the more OneCoin there were, the best it was for them. They Cheered. Then, by decree, she doubled the amount of OneCoin everyone had in their vaults. People lost their minds.

Besides MLM, two of the most mind-blowing revelations the episode contains are in the following quotes.

Quotes From “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” Episode Five – “What Dreams May Come”

Tim Curry, OneCoin critic, said:

“The math of this is just completely ridiculous. Every minute 50,000 OneCoins are mined, right? Now, the value of those at today’s “price” of €29.95 would be €1.5 million a minute, is what they’re claiming right? And per hour, that’s €89.85 million. And then, per day, they’re creating €2.15 billion out of thin air, right? And so, the logic of it is just ridiculous. Now, if you follow how many coins have been mined for the first quote “Blockchain.” And then, from October 1 to present, it’s nearing about 70 billion coins. If we take 70 billion coins and multiply that by the internal price of 29.95, you’re looking at, I think it’s like $1.8 trillion or $2.1 trillion. Which is greater than all of the US dollars in circulation on earth, which is about $1.67 trillion.”

About the fact that OneCoin did have a certificate saying they were Shariah-compliant that was issued from Pakistan, Amjad Mohammed, scholar from Bradford and OneCoin critic, said:

“What Sharia compliant is supposed to mean, is that somebody has carried out thorough research, gone through all the conditions, gone through all the terms with a fine tooth comb. There was no evidence of any research whatsoever. It was just a blank certificate saying “this is okay.” Amjad issued a fatwa against this, a ruling that OneCoin was not halal. And then, “within weeks, the conditions which I had highlighted as being problematic changed. So, clearly, somebody was keeping a watching brief of what I was doing because I only picked a couple in the initial fatwa. However, OneCoin does not actually exist. So, I can easily make any form of conditions for something, when the actual thing does not exist. It’s a fraud.”

MLM And The Perfect Scam

Near the end, Jamie Bartlett reflects on the story so far:

“There’s something strangely beautiful about the OneCoin scam. It’s like the perfect scam. It combines the hype and terminology of cryptocurrencies and the hard-nosed MLM selling of people like Igor Alberts. It uses glamorous events and household brands to create the veneer of respectability and protects it with a religious-like zeal. And who could ever doubt the intentions of the trustworthy Dr. Ruja.”

The cult-like aspects of the whole ordeal are ever-present in this episode. The whistleblowers tell the producers about the death threats they get like it’s nothing. For people inside of OneCoin, they’re traitors of the highest order. For these religious zealots, Dr. Ruja is still running the whole operation from the shadows, and the people that want to silence her are just jealous “haters.”

Before finishing, Jamie Bartlett explores the idea that, when it mixed with MLM, the OneCoin operation got too big. Maybe Dr. Ruja was scared, as she seems to show in an alleged email. Apparently, this was supposed to be a little scam, but it caught fire. And Dr. Ruja’s backers were not going to let a golden goose die.

Episode Credits

Previous Companion Guides For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast:

Ep. 01 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep01-dr-ruja-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 02 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep02-btc-killer-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 03 – https://www.newsbtc.com/altcoin/ep03-onecoin-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 04 – https://www.newsbtc.com/scams-and-fraud/ep04-onelife-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

25th October 2022

Ep04- OneLife – Companion Guide For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast

What does a OneLife-produced event look like? Is the organization that supports the OneCoin community competent enough to produce a beauty pageant? The answer to those questions might surprise you. For this fourth episode, Jamie Bartlett and Georgia Catt go into the lion’s den. They travel to Bucharest, Romania, and witness the Miss OneLife coronation. Apparently, the event had some of “the world’s most famous brands as sponsors.” However, as it happens with everything Dr. Ruja related, things are not what they seem.

This episode’s guest star is Christi Calina, who’s a OneLife “independent marketing associate” and one of the event’s producers. Since the man’s ghosting them, Jamie and Georgia ambush him at a OneLife event in the same city. The conference “looks like the real deal, just like OneCoin,” Jamie evaluates. There, they get access to the Miss OneLife event and things take a turn for the mysterious.

Remember, you can download episodes directly from the BBC, or listen to “The Missing Cryptoqueen” through Apple, Spotify, or iVoox.

About “The Missing Cryptoqueen’s” Episode Four – “Miss OneLife”

In this episode, Jamie and Georgia go through the charges against Konstantin Ignatov, Dr. Ruja’s brother. They contain some of the FBI documents about the case and include emails between Dr. Ruja and “other top leaders” of the OneLife organization. In those, the people allegedly discuss how the scam works in detail. If those are real, there’s no doubt that OneCoin was a very deliberate scam from the very beginning. They even discuss how to fake the mining of the supposed cryptocurrency.

In those emails, Dr. Ruja discusses a possible exit strategy and proposes they could “take the money and run and blame someone else for this.”

Later on, the FBI claims Dr. Ruja is “directly associated with significant players in the Easter European organized crime.”

It’s important to know that OneCoin disputes all of these allegations. We included part of their denial in the quotes section. We also included concrete information about Dr. Ruja’s disappearance and a new factor that might explain why she fled at the time she did.

BTC price chart for 10/25/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

The Miss OneLife Beauty Pageant

Our heroes go into the eye of the storm. They can barely enter the premises because everyone in the OneLife organization knows exactly who they are. They don’t blend in. Everyone is “smartly dressed.” Bottles of Moet and cigars abound. The production is slick. A stage comes down from the ceiling and Jamie loses his mind. In the end, they both admit that the OneLife organization can throw a hell of an event. It was boring, though. And it doesn’t look like any cryptocurrency-related function that the podcast host has ever attended.

“OneCoin is still going and there’s a lot of money here,” Jamie says before fleeing the event.

Back in London, the producers fact-check everything that happened. The famous brands that were supposedly attached to the Miss OneLife pageant deny sponsorship. They’ve never heard of the event. Then, they contact Forbes and the magazine denies that Dr. Ruja was ever on the cover like the organization made seem in their promotional material. Then, they check on her education claims. As it turns out, Dr. Ruja did go to Oxford and got the degree she claims to have.

To finish the episode off, Jamie interviews Miss OneLife UK. She gives them peripheral information, like the event’s ticketing wasn’t open to the public and one of the prizes was a gift card for cosmetic surgery. Then, Jamie mentions Dr. Ruja. She says that she heard someone important was at the event, but couldn’t remember if it was her.

Is it possible that Dr. Ruja was in attendance at the Miss OneLife event? Apparently, “she’s unrecognizable now.”

This story gets more fascinating by the minute.

Quotes From “The Missing Cryptoqueen’s” Episode Four – “Miss OneLife”

OneCoin’s statement:

“OneCoin disputes all allegations. To our claim that OneCoin is not a cryptocurrency and that its nominal price is not determined by demand and supply, but is manipulated and set internally, they said: “OneCoin verifiably fulfills all criteria of the definition of cryptocurrency, and also those of a transparent pricing that is in line with the common market”. The BBC podcast series, they say, “is based on testimonials of haters, former employees who were either fired or disgracefully dismissed for internal company violations, intellectual property theft, and other violations. Thus, the series will not present any truthful information and cannot be considered objective, nor unbiased.”

Concrete information about Dr. Ruja’s disappearance, and a new factor that might explain why she fled:

“The FBI files also contained valuable new information about Dr. Ruja’s disappearance. “Bulgarian travel records show that on or about October 25th, 2017, Ruja flew on Ryanair from Sofia, Bulgaria to Athens, Greece.” Dr. Ruja was last seen in Sozopol, in around July 2017. That was on her private yacht, the Davina, the one we saw. On October 7th, she then failed to turn up at a OneCoin event in Lisbon. But now we know that her last known whereabouts was in fact Athens on 25th October 2017. And there’s some more clues here.

Last week, I said that the US authorities charged Dr. Ruja in absentia in March 2019. That’s not the whole story. We’ve learned that Dr. Ruja was actually indicted on 12th October 2017, but this indictment was sealed until March 2019. It was just two weeks after that first indictment that Dr. Ruja vanished. Is it possible she could have been tipped off?”

Extra Material And Episode Credits

As you probably know if you’ve gotten this far in the series, Dr. Ruja is on the FBI’s most-wanted list. The text under her name says:

“Ruja Ignatova is wanted for her alleged participation in a large-scale fraud scheme. Beginning in approximately 2014, Ignatova and others are alleged to have defrauded billions of dollars from investors all over the world. Ignatova was the founder of OneCoin Ltd., a Bulgaria-based company that marketed a purported cryptocurrency. In order to execute the scheme, Ignatova allegedly made false statements and representations to individuals in order to solicit investments in OneCoin. She allegedly instructed victims to transmit investment funds to OneCoin accounts in order to purchase OneCoin packages, causing victims to send wire transfers representing these investments. Throughout the scheme, OneCoin is believed to have defrauded victims out of more than $4 billion.”

And finally, the episode’s credits:

Previous Companion Guides For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast:

Ep. 01 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep01-dr-ruja-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 02 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep02-btc-killer-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 03 – https://www.newsbtc.com/altcoin/ep03-onecoin-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Featured Image: The Missing Cryptoqueen’s logo from the BBC | Charts by TradingView

22nd October 2022

The Other Side Of The Do Kwon Story: Fat Man Terra Visits Laura Shin

It’s time to listen to the other side. Fat Man Terra used to be a cog in the Terra machine, but nowadays he’s the protocol’s biggest critic. He’s also a researcher, and his investigation lead him to believe that Terra was a scam from the very beginning. Of course, Laura Shin’s Do Kwon interview rubbed Fat Man Terra the wrong way. So, exercising his right to reply, he went to the same platform and told his side of the story.

If what Fat Man Terra says is true, the Terra/ Luna story is a horror film.

A court will probably decide if he’s right or wrong, though. Let’s explore his allegations, taking into account that this is just the investigator’s interpretation of the facts. He might know more about the Terra/ Luna case than everyone on Earth, though.

This is the introduction to the episode titled “Fat Man Terra Speaks: Do Kwon Is a ‘Sociopath’ and a ‘Charismatic Manipulator”:

“Fat Man Terra, the anonymous Twitter account dedicated to bringing Do Kwon to justice, reacts to my recent interview with Do Kwon and says what he thinks it revealed about his personality.”

This is the video:

Fat Man Terra Presents The Case

According to the pseudonymous investigator, the Terra creators were “unfairly enriching themselves” and failed to disclose critical information to investors. On purpose.
Regarding his interview with Shin, Fat Man Terra thinks Do Kwon was “dancing around questions” and didn’t answer directly several of them.
He thinks Do Kwon was “intentionally lying” about Terra’s breakup with Chai. Both when it happened and during the interview. At best, the situation was “heavily mishandled.”
Fat Man Terra claims that on-chain data shows that TerraForm Labs cashed out billions of dollars. They cashed out throughout Terra’s whole existence.
He also thinks there’s proof that the organization has “hundreds of millions stashed away.”
According to the pseudonymous investigator, at the time Terra claimed that the protocol was attacked, but could not find “proof of fraud.”

The investigator also thinks that Do Kwon is “not able to stick to one story.” That’s a characteristic that fraudsters often exhibit. And he claims there’s a reason that regulators all over the world are looking at Terra specifically. Some things don’t add up, and this case is far from over.

LUNA price chart on Eightcap | Source: LUNA/USD on TradingView.com
Opinions About Do Kwon’s Character

Respectfully, Fat Man Terra goes for the throat. He’s been studying Do Kwon and his diagnosis is that the man is:

A “sociopath with little regard for people’s feelings.”
“Avoiding law enforcement” and “definitely on the run.”
An idiot. Apparently, Do Kwon held all of the company’s bitcoin reserves in a single wallet.
A liar. He knew that his involvement in the failed algorithmic stablecoin Basis Cash was relevant and should have disclosed it.
A thief. Do Kwon was pretending to believe in Terra over everything and promoting it as such to retail. In reality, he was “simultaneously pulling out” hundreds of millions.

According to Fat Man Terra, it all comes down to that. “If you really believe in UST, why did you cash out so much,” he asks Do Kwon. Also, why did he made up statistics and inflated the network’s numbers?

The investigator will “start to believe he’s sorry” when Do Kwon starts making affected Terra investors whole from his own pocket.

Fat Man Terra Is Still Optimistic

The parasites will always be there, surrounding the crypto space. According to Fat Man Terra, if the industry wants to survive we have to start “calling out scammers” and “pushing for justice.” He believes the industry will develop “failsafe mechanisms” to filter out bad actors and, in general, he’s “optimistic about the future of the space.” Make no mistake, though. Despite the optimism, the investigator claims that “Terra was a scam at every level.”

According to Laura Shin, Do Kwon will be back to answer the allegations in the future.

Featured Image: Laura Shin screenshot from the interview | Charts by TradingView

20th October 2022

Meet The UST Restitution Group: Tracking Do Kwon, Looking For Payback

The UST Restitution Group is on Do Kwon’s tail. A few governments and this civilian group are all out looking for the Terra creator, who insists that he’s not on the run. The Terra/ Luna collapse was one for the books, and that book is still open. We will write many more headlines about Do Kwon, and probably a few about the UST Restitution Group also. What’s done is done, some might say, but others will not rest until the case involves a court.

In the FT article menacingly titled “Retail investors become vigilantes in hunt for crypto’s most wanted man,” we get to meet the UST Restitution Group. It’s “an association of nearly 4,400 crypto investors trying to track down Kwon, who is wanted in South Korea on charges of financial fraud.” That’s not Do Kwon’s only legal problem, the UST Restitution Group “launched class action lawsuits against Kwon in Singapore and the US, while Interpol has issued a red notice for him. South Korea is expected to revoke his passport on Wednesday.”

UST Restitution Group: Anons Looking For Do Kwon

According to the UST Restitution Group’s website, “Members have suggested that Kwon could be in Dubai, Russia, Azerbaijan, the Seychelles or Mauritius, among other locations.” A pseudonymous user went further and wrote, “Dubai is friendly to crypto, very international (he would not stand out), and has limited extradition treaties in place. It would seem like the best fit for the 3-5 hour timezone shift apparent in the data.”

Reviewing their impressive methods, another pseudonymous user reveals, “I obviously wouldn’t delve into specifics because publishing our methods would render them ineffective. I think we’re doing more than anyone else, though.” This particular UST Restitution Group member “introduced himself as a 31-year-old Ivy League-educated American,” and goes by the name of Antithesis. “His days are numbered. We have people who are very, very close to Do Kwon,” the person said.

These are very high-level people. They’ve been scorned and they want answers. What will they do to Do Kwon when they find him, though? Another UST Restitution Group member that goes by the name of HKTrader “said he spent a month organising a Singapore class action lawsuit against Kwon and discovered his whereabouts in the country by hiring a private detective.”

Do Kwon is not in Singapore” anymore, though.

UST price chart on Kraken | Source: UST/USD on TradingView.com
How Would They Do It?

The elephant in the room is this: people are not sure how Do Kwon’s trial is going to go. The FT article quotes Seoul crypto expert Choi Hwa-in, “I wonder how effective the legal action against him could be, given the lack of legal ground to punish crypto players. This would just strain the crypto market further, dragging down their value and hurting investors more as a result.”

They also quote an official statement from Terraform Labs themselves, “Recent developments reaffirm that Terraform Labs and its stakeholders remain subjected to a highly politicised and erratic legal environment in South Korea. The facts are on our side, and we look forward to the truth coming to light in the coming months.” Is it possible that Do Kwon and company have it all under control? If so, why is he hidd… oh yeah, because the UST Restitution Group people are literally looking for him.

In a recent interview with journalist Laura Shin, the Terra creator refused to reveal his current location. Apparently, when people knew where Do Kwon was, there was trouble. In the interview, the Terra creator admitted failure and said the cause was the protocol’s “weakness to respond to the cruelty of the markets.” Do Kwon admits to technical and theoretical mistakes, but denies Terra was a scam.

I'm sorry, people, but this is totally not cool. What do they plan to do when they find him? WTF

People are crazy — Do was right when he said on my show that he can't reveal his whereabouts

Seriously, don't do thishttps://t.co/DBRaViSJ0u

— Laura Shin (@laurashin) October 20, 2022

For her part, Laura Shin went to bat for Do Kwon on this issue. “I’m sorry, people, but this is totally not cool. What do they plan to do when they find him? WTF? People are crazy — Do was right when he said on my show that he can’t reveal his whereabouts. Seriously, don’t do this,” the journalist tweeted.

Featured Image by Amy Z from Pixabay | Charts by TradingView

20th October 2022

Ep03- OneCoin – Companion Guide For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast

Good news! Since OneCoin is back on the news and “The Missing Cryptoqueen” already released an 11th episode, proving that they’re back for real, we’re going to double down on our efforts. Starting today, we’ll summarize two episodes a week to catch up with the new developments in Dr. Ruja’s case. We hit the nail on the head on this one, and there’s nothing left to do but let the roulette roll and see where the OneCoin story takes us.

In this episode, we learn that OneCoin’s internal slogan was “the greatest company ever” and Jamie Bartlett travels to Sofia, Bulgaria, to look at Dr. Ruja’s properties. This episode is free of mafia insinuations, it deals with the cultic aspects of OneCoin’s entrepreneurial culture instead. We’re also able to put a number on how big of a scam OneCoin really was. SPOILER ALERT: It was at least €4B big.

Remember, you can download episodes directly from the BBC, or listen to “The Missing Cryptoqueen” through Apple, Spotify, or iVoox.

About OneCoin And “The Missing Cryptoqueen’s” Episode Three

The most exciting thing about “The Missing Cryptoqueen” is the sense of immediacy it conveys. It’s a living and breathing podcast. The story was happening all around Jamie Bartlett and the team. The OneCoin people react to “The Missing Cryptoqueen’s” creation and, through social media, attack the creators with everything they have. And the whole scene is part of the podcast. And this is just episode three. In the end, they even ask for the audience to call and tip them about Dr. Ruja’s whereabouts.

This episode starts with Konstantin Ignatov, Dr. Ruja’s younger brother, personal assistant, and heir to the OneCoin crown. He was arrested by the FBI and charged with money laundering and fraud. The authorities had already declared OneCoin a fraud, even. Surprisingly, when Bartlett and the team visit the OneCoin headquarters, they realize that the company is still “open for business.” People are still buying OneCoin despite the fact that one of their leaders is on the run and the other was arrested.

That leads us to the cult-like aspects of the operation. A faith-like belief justifies the disappearance of the leaders as a conspiracy to stop OneCoin. In the quote below, you will feel the silence while reading the description of the organization’s offices. You’ll feel the Dr. Ruja worship. It’s just one step away from religion and very near a cult. Jamie Bartlett describes OneCoin as “less a cryptocurrency and more like a belief system.” An expert in that field corroborates the hypothesis.

BTC price chart for 10/20/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
The Devastation That They Caused

At one point we, once again, listen to Dr. Ruja’s own voice saying the crypto scammers’ slogan. “In two years, no one will talk about bitcoin.” If you ever hear that, run. In the second episode, we figured out that OneCoin called the critics “haters.” In this one, we learn that the investors and employees are instructed to keep away from them Scientology-style. Another surprising fact is that the second term OneCoin uses the most to describe its critics is “bitcoiner.” Those pesky bitcoiners, always causing trouble.

We learn about the scale of the devastation that Dr. Ruja caused by hearing about the OneCoin Victims Support Group. The victims are broken, they’ve lost everything and then some. We also learn about the scale of the scam by way of a report/ database that producer Georgia Catt got her hands on. From all over the world, the organization was getting €60M a week. From August 2014 to March 2017, OneCoin’s revenue was over €4B. Over €100M were from the UK alone. And that’s where the report stops, the organization was still making money left and right.

Quotes From “The Missing Cryptoqueen ’s” Episode Three – “More Than Just A Coin”

An anonymous witness describing the OneCoin offices:

“At its peak, it was about 50 people working in the Sofia office. Ruja’s office is on the 4th floor. You never saw her without the gypsy earrings, the gowns, the jewelry, everything. Even when she’s just working in the office. Inside the Sofia office, the crypto center is where members of the OneLife network are allowed to meet members of the Sofia staff who are important. If you are out of favor, they won’t let you in, or they’ll keep you sitting there the whole day, waiting.

It’s set up almost like a cathedral. You don’t speak out loud, you whisper to each other. It’s all set in dark tones, everything is gilded. There was a big cardboard cutout of Ruja. You see people touching it and doing that stupid OneCoin sign like it’s an icon. It’s gone now because it eventually fell apart because too many people were touching it. Dr. Ruja! Dr. Ruja! The biggest insult that you can give OneLife is to say: “that’s not Dr. Ruja’s vision.”

Bitcoin-enthusiast Timothy Curry, describing the cult of personality behind Dr. Ruja:

“There were many cultish things that the company did. The repetitive indoctrination. If you look at the top leaders, the way they dress, the way that they showed things off. Ceremonial things, almost like, especially on stage. Everything, from the musical introductions to Ruja, to the theatrics, they really did create a worship behind her.”

OneCoin Material And Episode Credits

Six years ago, while OneCoin conquered the world, NewsBTC quoted the infamous Roger Ver speaking on the case. Then known as a “bitcoin evangelist,” the controversial figure denounced OneCoin for what it is:

“In a recent interview, the owner of Bitcoin.com says he believes OneCoin is a fraud, and that investors should always be wary of new coins and read up before they put their money in things they don’t understand:

“There is never a cryptocurrency without a wallet. This sounds like more evidence of its fraudulent nature. OneCoin isn’t traded on a single exchange anywhere in the world as far as I know.”

OneCoin has been around for over two years, but questions surrounding its authenticity continue to plague the Internet.”

Say what you will about Roger Ver, but the man was right on the money on this one.

And finally, the episode’s credits:

Previous Companion Guides For BBC’s “The Missing Cryptoqueen” Podcast:

Ep. 01 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep01-dr-ruja-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Ep. 02 – https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/ep02-btc-killer-companion-guide-for-bbcs-the-missing-cryptoqueen-podcast/

Featured Image: The Missing Cryptoqueen podcast logo from the BBC | Charts by TradingView

19th October 2022

Laura Shin Asks Terra’s Do Kwon The Tough Questions. What Did We Learn?

This is the Do Kwon interview everyone was waiting for. In the latest episode of Laura Shin’s Unchained Podcast, titled ‘It Was Never Really About Money or Fame or Success’, the Terra creator faces serious scrutiny. Do Kwon denounces media misinformation, denies several serious charges and gives a play-by-play explanation of the organization’s movements during the crash. And he sweats bullets.

Laura Shin did her homework, and relentlessly puts forward the questions most Terra investors have. She does this in a non-threatening, extremely professional way. Do Kwon answers all of her questions. Some better than others, but the man does show his face and answers, which is a lot. Compassionately, Laura Shin also gives Do Kwon a second opportunity to say sorry to Terra’s affected investors and their families. He would’ve come across much worse if she hadn’t offered that second chance.

The episode’s intro says:

“Do Kwon, cofounder of Terraform Labs, discusses the charges against him, gives a message to Terra victims, answers allegations about potential fraud and non-transparent business practices.”

This is the video:

This Do Kwon interview is one for the books, everybody interested in the subject should watch it. Let’s bring out the bullet points and analyze this phenomenal piece of media.

Do Kwon On His Location And “On The Run” Status

He claims he doesn’t live in South Korea anymore and he’s not planning to return to face the alleged charges. He plans to appeal, though.
Do Kwon hasn’t seen a copy of the arrest warrant.
Apparently, cryptocurrencies are securities in South Korea.
His team has been cooperating with South Korean authorities, fulfilling the court requests for different documents.
Do Kwon refuses to reveal his current location because of the difficulties it brings to his living situation. He denies he’s on the run.
He denied frozen funds at the KuCoin and OKX exchanges belong to him, Terraform Labs, or the LFG foundation.

The most important news Do Kwon reveals, though, is that the organization is working with a chain analysis firm to produce a paper on their trading activities. “They should be publishing a report shortly, which I think is going to provide a lot more clarity,” he said. Do Kwon promised the report in “the next couple of weeks.”

LUNA price chart on Kraken | Source: LUNA/USD on TradingView.com
Terra Was a Failure But It Was Not A Scam

Do Kwon claims that his online persona was an alter ego and confesses that he got carried away with the “sh*tposting.”
Terra’s failure was caused by the protocol’s “weakness to respond to the cruelty of the markets.”
He admits to a lot of technical and theoretical mistakes but denies Terra was a scam.
Do Kwon claims that the Anchor developers/ whistleblowers that came forward denouncing the protocol were only interns. Not a line of their code appears in the final product, and this is apparent in GitHub.
Admits to the SDT premine of $1.4B. This was a second stablecoin that the Terra organization used to maintain the UST peg to the dollar. This stablecoin wasn’t even mentioned in the Terra whitepaper. According to Do Kwon, this was because they hadn’t conceived SDT when they wrote it. He claims Terra’s is an “academic whitepaper” and wasn’t supposed to cover all of the technologies’ use cases.
Do Kwon admits they were using market operations to maintain the UST peg to the dollar. In fact, he says this was always the idea. The burning and minting of LUNA was not the only procedure that was supposed to maintain the peg.

Do Kwon And The Other Admissions

Apparently, Terra and Chai haven’t been working together for a long time.
When asked about faking Chai’s numbers and interactions registered in the Terra blockchain, Do Kwon said that the numbers came from Chai. According to him, they were probably “distancing themselves” from the Terra situation but still using the blockchain.

When asked about his participation in Basis Cash, a failed algorithmic stablecoin, Do Kwon distanced himself from the situation. He was just founding the team, but had nothing to do with the actual project. “Basis Cash is not something that I designed or operated. It’s something that I encouraged,” Do Kwon said.
When asked about if he was planning to compensate Terra investors from his own pocket, Do Kwon said, “my personal funds are not significant enough to make a difference.”
He still believes the world needs to work towards a decentralized future and that we need censorship-resistant money.

As for his future plans, Do Kwon says he plans to continue building “highly experimental” projects in the crypto space.

Featured Image: Do Kwon and Laura Shin, screenshot from the video interview | Charts by TradingView

18th October 2022

Kanye West Wears “Satoshi Nakamoto” Cap, Secret Bitcoiner Confirmed?

Who orange-pilled Kanye West? Is the most controversial person in the world a bitcoiner now? Over the last few weeks, the fashion mogul/ rapper has dominated news cycle after news cycle. And it now seems like bitcoin has entered his orbit. Or, did Kanye West enter bitcoin’s orbit? The always-calculated rapper/ performer was photographed wearing a “Satoshi Nakamoto” cap, which sent the Internet into a frenzy.

The whole situation makes sense and the timing works. JPMorgan and West’s Yeezy brand recently ended their business relationship, which lead to the billionaire receiving a slew of bitcoin enthusiast’s messages on Twitter. It also left many to wonder exactly why did the relationship end? Was it just because of West’s controversial opinions and wild antics? Or was this a genuine parting of ways?

The real question, though, is this: does JPMorgan have the ability to turn off their banking service on an individual just because they don’t like his or her political views?

The Kanye West/ JP Morgan Incident

On October 12th, Republican author Candace Owens published a letter from JPMorgan to the Yeezy high command. “Earlier today I learned that Kanye West was officially kicked out of JP Morgan Chase bank. I was told there was no official reason given, but they sent this letter as well to confirm that he has until late November to find another place for the Yeezy empire to bank,” she tweeted.

Earlier today I learned that @kanyewest was officially kicked out of JP Morgan Chase bank. I was told there was no official reason given, but they sent this letter as well to confirm that he has until late November to find another place for the Yeezy empire to bank. pic.twitter.com/FUskokb6fP

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) October 12, 2022

As it happens in politics, the story was quickly refuted. CNBC News Anchor Sara Eisen counterpunched with, “Kanye West announced on CNBC during our interview he was pulling his money out of JPMorgan and switching to Bank of America because Jamie Dimon didn’t call him. This was several weeks ago, September 15. This letter appears to be an acknowledgment of his breakup.”

.@kanyewest announced on CNBC during our interview he was pulling his money out of JPMorgan and switching to Bank of America because Jamie Dimon didn’t call him. This was several weeks ago, September 15. This letter appears to be an acknowledgement of his breakup https://t.co/GZeltMOyi1

— Sara Eisen (@SaraEisen) October 13, 2022

Whichever the case, recognizing a marketing opportunity, bitcoiners everywhere took to Twitter to bombard Kanye West with recommendations. Say what you will about Kanye West, but the man has as much right to banking services as any of us. And he shouldn’t be censored because of his beliefs. The world needs uncensorable, apolitical money, and bitcoin is the only alternative in that regard.

The message seems to have reached Kanye West’s ears.

BTC price chart for 10/17/202 on Saxo | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
The Satoshi Nakamoto Hat

In one of mainstream media’s many daily posts about Kanye West’s sightings, the Daily Mail caught the fashion mogul conveying a particular message. Lately, West had been wearing a “2024” cap, which allegedly refers to something as important as his presidential campaign. Today, he wore a “Satoshi Nakamoto” hat. Reporting the incident, the Daily Mail said:

“The rapper, 45, swapped his usual 2024 cap for a black hat that read Satoshi Nakamoto – a nod to the mysterious bitcoin creator.”

Maybe the JPMorgan story was in the air, or maybe the rapper is this calculated. In the same article, the Daily Mail quotes Kanye West’s recent Drink Champs interview, where he said:

“So when I drive by and I see the Hulu ads and I see the JP [Morgan Chase] ads, I’m gonna let y’all know right now, the devil is a defeated foe – you can’t poison me.”

He probably wasn’t talking about bitcoin at the moment, but he might as well.

Is Kanye West the correct spokesperson for bitcoin, though? The controversial figure has expressed his interest in the technology. He even went so far as to say that bitcoiners have a real perspective on the “true liberation of America and humanity” in his Joe Rogan interview. And now, he might have a reason to use bitcoin. He might’ve seen the problem that centralization, politicization, and weaponization of access bring.

The question is, does bitcoin want Kanye West? The man is surely controversial, to say the least.

Featured Image: Satoshi Nakamoto cap from this store | Charts by TradingView

15th October 2022

Brian Armstrong Will Sell 2% Of His Coinbase Holdings To Fund Scientific Research

It’s time for Brian Armstrong to make his move. While other billionaire CEOs try to buy bankrupt crypto companies on the cheap, the Coinbase leader is focusing his sights on hard science. To announce his new endeavors Brian Armstrong visited Tim Ferriss’ podcast. In that interview, he expanded on the deep topics that the companies he’ll fund deal with. Make no mistake, though. The real announcement was that Brian Armstrong is selling Coinbase stock.

I’m sharing this as I want you to hear it from me first.

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) October 15, 2022

In a recent Twitter thread, the Coinbase CEO wrote, “I’m passionate about accelerating science and tech to help solve some of the biggest challenges in the world. To further this, I’m planning to sell about 2% of my Coinbase holdings over the next year to fund scientific research and companies like NewLimit + ResearchHub.” What are those companies and what do they do? Keep reading to find out.

Considering the alarming amount of crypto CEOs leaving their positions, it’s important that Brian Armstrong cleared this up. “For the avoidance of doubt, I intend to be CEO of Coinbase for a very long time and I remain super bullish on crypto and Coinbase. I’m fully dedicated to growing our business and advancing our mission, but I am also excited to contribute in a different way,” he tweeted.

What are the ideas that excite Brian Armstrong this much? Let’s find out.

Brian Armstrong ’s ResearchHub And NewLimit

So, Brian Armstrong will “fund scientific research and companies like NewLimit + ResearchHub.” What do those companies stand for, though? Well, ResearchHub is “a tool for the open publication and discussion of scientific research. Researchhub’s users are rewarded with ResearchCoin (RSC) for publishing, reviewing, criticizing, and collaborating in the open.” Interesting, an open scientific think tank with a cryptocurrency component.

For its part, ResearchCoin is both a utility token and a governance token. “RSC gives users the ability to create bounties, tip other users, and gain voting rights within community decision making.” This is the project’s Twitter account.

On the other hand, NewLimit is “treating age-related disease to extend human healthspan” and “developing epigenetic reprogramming medicines to treat diseases with large unmet needs.” This is their Twitter account. This one is in the life extension business, but the specifics are harder to grasp. Luckily, NewLimit offers a blog post authored by Brian Armstrong himself in which he goes deep into the topic at hand:

“NewLimit will start by deeply interrogating epigenetic drivers of aging and developing products that can regenerate tissues to treat specific patient populations. We will start by using primary human cells and reference species to develop machine learning models on what chromatin features change with age, which of these changes may be causal to the aging process, and finally develop therapies that could slow, halt, or reverse this process.”

In that same blog post, we learn that the company was “co-founded by Brian Armstrong and Blake Byers with the mission of extending human healthspan.” And thus, we figure out that Coinbase CEO is the money behind both companies.

The relationship between COIN and USDT on Bittrex | Source: COIN/USDT on TradingView.com
The Tim Ferriss Interview

To launch his new endeavors in the right way, Brian Armstrong went to the popular Tim Ferriss podcast. In it, he presented the reasoning behind his investments. “I think we’re kind of in this golden age of software where fortunes are being made. But some of that wealth, even in crypto, is now being directed into hard science, hard science problems, atoms, not bits,” he said.

As to what the company actually does, Armstrong explained that they’re trying to “build a platform that tests a lot of different transcription factors with different cell types and uses machine learning to do that in a virtuous cycle.” He also explained the entrepreneurial spirit behind the whole ordeal.

“We’re trying to help humans live much longer, not just a little bit longer. But I think in any good moonshot company, you want to have intermediate milestones along the way. And so the intermediate milestones are more like, could we get a specific type of cell to be rejuvenated and be younger?”

Thanks to @tferris who I recently spoke with about these interests: https://t.co/0EUdzICfVV

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) October 15, 2022

About ResearchHub, the Coinbase CEO confirmed that it is “another company that I funded and tried to help get off the ground.” What does this one do?

“We’re trying to make it easy for people to sort through all of the millions of papers that are published every year to what are the most impactful. We’re trying to help get things like peer review, Q&A, comments, feedback around research to be more collaborative with people.”

And those are the ideas that Brian Armstrong will dedicate the next part of his life to. While at the same time serving as Coinbase’s CEO, of course.

Featured Image: Screenshot from this video | Charts by TradingView

11th October 2022

Glassnode On Bitcoin Mining: Difficulty Reaches ATH, Profitability Decreases

The latest Glassnode report focuses on the topic of the day: bitcoin mining. While bitcoin’s price has been suspiciously flat for a while, the difficulty adjustment came in and registered an all-time high. Do the miners know something we don’t? Or is there a transfer of power going on behind the scenes? Glassnode poses a working theory on their latest The Week On-Chain. To begin with, Glassnode puts the difficulty adjustment into perspective:

“Bitcoin hashrate has reached a new all-time-high of 242 Exahash per second. To give an analogy for scale, this is equivalent to all 7.753 Billion people on earth, each completing a SHA-256 hash calculation approximately 30 Billion times every second.”

The thing is, we’re in a bear market. The sentiment is fearful. There’s trouble brewing everywhere in the world and bitcoin has been boring for a while now. What could be the reason for a hashrate all-time high? Is it, as Glassnode theorizes, “a new dynamic as more of the hashpower is held by better capitalised publicly traded mining companies”? Or is it just the game theory behind bitcoin at work? Remember that mining revenue is also down and the cost to produce one bitcoin is going up in tandem with electricity prices.

Making the situation more volatile, the miner revenue’s bitcoin is at a low point. This “should, in theory, create elevated income stress on the mining industry.” Add bitcoin’s stable prices to that equation and, what do we have? “It is extremely rare for BTC prices to stay so stationary for long, suggesting heightened probabilities of volatility on the horizon.”

Bitcoin Hashrate All-Time High | Source: The Week On-Chain
Bullish Signal: Bitcoin Hash-Ribbons Unwind

According to Glassnode, “the Bitcoin hash-ribbons commenced an unwind in late August, providing an indication that mining conditions were improving, and hashrate was coming back online.” What does this mean and why is it bullish, though? “Almost all historical hash-ribbon unwinds have preceded greener pastures in the months that followed.”

According to Glassnode, since bitcoin’s price is still flatlining, the “hashrate rise is due to more efficient mining hardware coming online and/or miners with superior balance sheets having a larger share of the hashpower network.” That’s the base of Glassnode’s takeover theory.

Glassnode Proposes “The Mining Halving” Concept

Another of their wild theories, Glassnode poses that “a 66% increase in Difficulty and Hashrate since Oct-2020 corresponds to an approximate halving in revenue per hash.” And to support that, they provide these numbers: “the revenue earned per Exahash has been in a persistent and long-term downtrend, with the BTC-denominated reward currently at an all-time-low of 4.06 BTC per EH per day.”

So, if miners are getting destroyed by market conditions, why is the hashrate recording all-time highs? The answer might lie with the Puell Multiple, “which is a cyclical oscillator that compares the current daily mining revenue to their yearly average.” According to this indicator, the mining business is actually gaining ground against previous performance.

“The Puell Multiple hit the current lows of around 0.33 in June, indicating that miners were earning just 33% of their yearly average revenue. It has since recovered to around 0.63, implying a degree of stress relief, and adjustment to this new pricing regime.” According to Glassnode, this relief might mean that “a true bear market low is established.”

BTC price chart for 10/11/2022 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Glassnode Thinks There’s Still Capitulation Risk

Let’s be clear, bitcoin is walking a tightrope at the moment. The market is about to break and the pendulum could swing either way. Even though there are reasons to be optimistic, the smart investor should prepare for the worst. “By numerous models, we estimate that the average cost of BTC production hovers just below current prices, such that any significant price decline could turn an implied income stress, into acute and explicit stress.”

To assess the risk, Glassnode determined “the aggregate size of miner balances” to 78.4K BTC. The owners of those reserves “may come under income stress,” but “It is extremely unlikely this full amount would be distributed.”

And that’s where we stand at the moment.

Featured Image by Icons8_team from Pixabay | Charts by TradingView and The Week On-Chain