749 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

That’s a short list but it’ll do.

[dasmo]

In bankruptcy filings, crypto exchange FTX revealed a curious connection to stablecoin Tether through a small bank in rural Washington. Farmington State Bank is in fact the 26th smallest bank in the US Until this year, it employed three people.

The bank was first formed in 1929 in a sleepy town named Farmington, hugging the Idaho border. It’s home to just over 100 residents, and features zero restaurants, hotels, or pharmacies — it doesn’t even appear to have an ATM.

 

The fact that Farmington State Bank somehow finds itself embroiled in the largest cryptocurrency fraud in history is puzzling, disconcerting, and totally out of place, to say the least.

 

Sam Bankman-Fried’s company now suspected of commingling funds with customers of FTX — had invested $11.5 million in the rural bank.

 

On March 1, 2022, Farmington State Bank trademarked the name Moonstone Bank.
Three days later, it adopted the new moniker.
On March 7, Alameda infused $11.5 million into Moonstone — at the time, more than double the bank’s entire net worth.

 

https://protos.com/t...-aka-moonstone/

[Victoria Watcher]

^ sounds legit!

I love small banks, too.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 November 2022 - 02:04 PM.

[Mike K.]

This is going to continue to get weirder, until it begins to hit too close to home, and the FTX issue will simply disappear.

[Victoria Watcher]

There is a bankruptcy clause that allows some clawback of payments immediately before the declaration. It might affect some media outlets and political donations from FTX.

Media unlikely to report.

Watch Twitter!

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 November 2022 - 02:43 PM.

[spanky123]

What I love about SBF is his willingness now to tank everything and everyone around him. My favorite statement (words to the extent) was the one in which he said his altruism and 'wokeness' was all an act to gain favour with the elites and steal their money. 

 

Lots of great articles now coming out exposing the entire FAANG tech industry as one huge con game with folks more concerned about lining their pockets than any good they pretend to be aspiring towards.  About time.

[dasmo]

The European Union Spent Nearly $400,000 on Its Own Metaverse and No One Came to Its Virtual Party

The next thing: Though the beach party may initially seem crowded with cylindrical limbs, all of the other avatars present appeared to be permanent non-human fixtures—just decorations for the unending loop of techno beats. In the background, a video cycled through a graphic text montage displaying the words “climate,” “education,” “public health,” and “digitization.” I also stopped by some of the video “installations” advertising EU initiatives like the Erasmus Mundus scholarship and global health grants. They were...underwhelming.

https://news.yahoo.c...-161500323.html

[dasmo]

SBF " I had a rough idea of Alameda's assets. By rough I do mean within 10 billion dollars.... " https://youtu.be/AfmBdKoqq1o

Edited by dasmo, 08 December 2022 - 03:19 PM.

[dasmo]

SBF has been arrested apparently

[AllseeingEye]

It remains unclear to me why any semi-savvy 'average' investor - the kind that don't have unlimited funds with cash to burn - with any common sense would invest in crypto more broadly, and especially in something like FRX which screamed 'ponzi'. The mere fact they opted very deliberately to HQ the outfit in the Bahamas should have set off alarm bells for anyone actually considering in parking money in this house of cards.

 

Not only were there red flags elsewhere but in basing the operation in the Bahamas SBK very deliberately based his firm in one of the world’s most notorious offshore $ havens. FTX had a strategy of 'revolving door hires' from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and elsewhere basically to use their knowledge, influence and access at that agency and in Washington specifically to propel FTX’s agenda. That alone should have pinged a few investor radars. And while I'm a distant fan of Tom Brady the athlete.....I don't like the guy that much not to mention he may know how to win a Super Bowl but the day I base an investment decision on a sports figure, will be the day I'm also a 7'2 guy named "Raheem", playing center for the LA Lakers.....

 

The good news for the rest of us about FTXs' implosion is that it's insufficient on its own to threaten the broader financial system the way Lehman Brothers did in 2008. Crypto for most is still that great fuzzy unknown with cool verbiage like "blockchain" - which almost no one can explain without looking it up, and at that they still won't understand the underlying technology - but precious little else; and it remains a minute part of the larger economy and financial market and there will be no systemic impact to that real economy.

 

The bad news OTOH for those who persist and are seduced by crypto is that the market remains largely unregulated, making it the Wild Wild West s*** show of the financial world. And that leaves those investors nakedly vulnerable when something breaks. Way way too many unknowns IMO.

 

Therefore chumps like me continue to avoid that sector like the plague, stick with carefully selected banks and other financial institutions, certain energy, healthcare, telecom, railroads, a splash of key technology stocks - also very heavily scrutinised and considered by the group managing the account, before committing; and I get my very healthy double digit annual return without wondering about soothe-saying reassurances of some nerdy looking tech character out of a South Park episode hiding out in the Caribbean.

Edited by AllseeingEye, 12 December 2022 - 08:53 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Looks like embattled FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried won't be testifying before Congress after all. The Bahamas Attorney General's Office announced Monday that Bankman-Fried has been arrested and is likely to be extradited in short measure back to the US to stand trial. The AG's office noted that his arrest came after, "receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition."

The news of his arrest should come as little surprise given that last Friday the Department of Justice came out and said that it was "closely" examining his role in the multi-billion cryptocurrency exchange's recent collapse, which is expected to harm more than a million individual investors. Justice Department officials made those statements while meeting with the crypto exchange's bankruptcy team to discuss whether FTX had improperly moved hundreds of millions of dollars just ahead of its declared bankruptcy last November.


https://www.engadget...-000800321.html

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 December 2022 - 01:05 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

U.S. prosecutors charged Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with a host of financial crimes and campaign finance violations on Tuesday, alleging he played a central role in the rapid collapse of FTX and hid its problems from the public and investors.

The indictment says Bankman-Fried allegedly committed a years-long fraud by diverting investors' funds to his private hedge fund and using the money to make venture investments, lavish real estate purchases and large political donations.


https://www.cbc.ca/n...arges-1.6683763




FAFO I guess.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 December 2022 - 08:28 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The seasoned restructuring officer revealed that senior FTX management had access to customer assets they were able to redirect, held hundreds of millions of dollars of crypto access absent of security controls or encryption, and that Alameda was able to borrow funds from FTX for its own trading and investments "without any effective limits whatsoever."

"The fundamental challenge we face is we're, in many respects, starting from near zero in terms of the corporate infrastructure and record-keeping that one would expect in a multibillion-dollar corporation," Ray told lawmakers.

Still, the investigation into what happened remains in a "very preliminary stage," Ray said, and it could be a significant period of time until the full extent of what happened is known.

What is known, according to Ray's testimony, is that FTX was gambling with customer assets by commingling them with Alameda's and engaging in margin trading.

Further, Ray revealed, the FTX group went on what he called "a spending binge" in late 2021 through this year shelling out roughly $5 billion on an array of businesses and investments that "may be worth only a fraction of what was paid for them." He also wrote that "loans and other payments were made to insiders in excess of $1 billion."

https://www.foxbusin...-alameda-trades

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 December 2022 - 09:38 AM.

[dasmo]

And now how about those who accepted money to promote them as safe and effective like Kevin O’Leary?

[Victoria Watcher]

And now how about those who accepted money to promote them as safe and effective like Kevin O’Leary?

He is being sued.

[Victoria Watcher]

Fox News:

 

FTX collapse under the microscope at Senate hearing; celebrity pitchman Kevin O'Leary to testify

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 December 2022 - 07:44 AM.

[spanky123]

Shopify paying rent on 300K sq ft of downtown Toronto office space that sits empty.

 

https://www.theglobe...fice-vacancies/

[Victoria Watcher]

Shopify paying rent on 300K sq ft of downtown Toronto office space that sits empty.

 

https://www.theglobe...fice-vacancies/

 

 

The Ottawa-based e-commerce company was supposed to be the major tenant in the Well Tower, a massive, newly built office, residential and retail skyscraper owned by real estate investment trusts Allied Properties and RioCan. But Shopify has abandoned plans for the move even though it has a 15-year lease that legally requires it to continue paying rent on the space.

 

Shopify spokesperson Alex Lyons confirmed the decision in an e-mailed statement to The Globe and Mail. The news was first reported by the Toronto Star, which recently moved into the Well Tower.

 

 

If Shopify stopped paying rent, Allied and RioCan could sue the company for breaking its lease.

 

But Allied chief executive Michael Emory said Shopify has not defaulted on its lease obligations. “Shopify is paying the rent and it will not be allowed to break its lease, nor is it trying to break its lease,” he told The Globe. “Shopify is a reputable and honourable organization, as are Allied and RioCan.”

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 December 2022 - 08:37 AM.

[Mike K.]

Haven’t these guys ever heard of a sub-lease? Shopify isn’t too worried about the situation, I’m sure.

Geez Louise. I guess we’ll have to wait for that revelation next week (after the weekend).

[Victoria Watcher]

RioCan is likely unworried too. They will find a sublease tenant too, for a fee.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 December 2022 - 09:00 AM.