A bit quieter day today in the crpytospace, but that’s normal. The fallout from crypto’s collapse and the subsequent fall of multiple hedge funds and firms continues to plague the space, with hundreds of billions lost or about to be lost.
On the topic of lost billions, who the hell keeps giving hundreds of billions to these consistent failures in the crypto space? Lemonade stands run by 5th graders are more profitable and efficient than these morons.
Today has seen the conclusion of some big rumors with FTX and Robinhood ($HOOD) but ambiguity and unknowns with Celsius’s CEO and, unrelated, Roger Ver’s alleged debt to an exchange.
The closer we get to the July 4th holiday weekend, the quieter it will get as people prepare for beer, brats, explosions, and roughly 24 hours of four-legged pets cowering under covers and beds.
Before we dive into what’s happening in crypto, let’s take a look at how the market is doing:
| Bitcoin (BTC) |
$20,912.80
|
0.36% |
| Ethereum (ETH) |
$1,202.83
|
-2.17% |
| Total Market Cap | $919.30 Billion | 0.05% |
| Altcoin Market Cap |
$520.03 Billion
|
0.12% |
| BNB (BNB) |
$234.3
|
-2.16% |
| Shiba Inu (SHIBA) | $0.00001107 | 4.71% |
| Cardano (ADA) |
$0.489
|
0.43% |
| XRP (XRP) |
$0.355
|
-1.39% |
| Solana (SOL) |
$38.87
|
-1.64% |
| Dogecoin (DOGE) |
$0.073
|
6.52% |
There have been several big rumors that have surfaced between yesterday and today. The first is Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, which is rumored to be looking at buying Robinhood ($HOOD). FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried has a 7.6% stake in Robinhood but denied “… any M&A conversations with Robinhood.”
Second, on the rumor list is embattled Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky attempting to flee the US. Digital Assets Data co-founder Mike Alfred tweeted that authorities stopped the Celsius CEO from leaving the country via private jet.
Twitter user @Zach_HODL_ON, a popular Celsius proponent, tweeted an unverified comment from Celsius. Nothing official from the company confirmed or denied Alfred’s accusations. However, as of today, the tweet from Alfred has since been deleted.
And third, on the rumor list is a good ole’ schoolyard, ‘no I didn’t you did’ argument. It’s funny – not for the two involved – but for the rest of us.
CoinFLEX CEO Mark Lamb accused Roger ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Ver of owing CoinFLEX around $47 million in USD Coin ($USD.X).
Roger Ver owes CoinFLEX $47 Million USDC. We have a written contract with him obligating him to personally guarantee any negative equity on his CoinFLEX account and top up margin regularly. He has been in default of this agreement and we have served a notice of default.
— Mark Lamb 💪 (@MarkDavidLamb) June 28, 2022
Ver tweeted the equivalent of, “nuh-uh, someone owes me, not gonna say who, but you know who you are.’
Recently some rumors have been
spreading that I have defaulted on a
debt to a counter-party. These rumors
are false. Not only do I not have a debt
to this counter-party, but this counter-
party owes me a substantial sum of
money, and I am currently seeking the
return of my funds.— Roger Ver (@rogerkver) June 28, 2022
Lamb’s response was, ‘we don’t owe Ver; he totes’ owes us.’
CoinFLEX also categorically denies that we have any debts owing to him. His statement is blatantly false. It is unfortunate that Roger Ver needs to resort to such tactics in order to deflect from his liabilities and responsibilities.
— Mark Lamb 💪 (@MarkDavidLamb) June 28, 2022
Regardless of who’s telling the truth, does anyone else think it’s a little weird that a crypto exchange CEO would publicly out someone like that? Lamb and Ver have had some spats in the past. 👿
Crypto
Is Tether A Scam Or Legit?
Tether ($USDT.X) is the world’s largest, biggest, and most traded USD stablecoin. If you are reading this Litepaper, it is assumed you know what Tether and a stablecoin are. But to avoid making an ass out of you and me, here’s a quick definition of what a stablecoin is:
A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency pegged to another instrument’s value. That instrument could be a commodity, property, stock, or fiat money. In the case of Tether, it’s pegged to the U.S. Dollar.
Theoretically, every USDT is backed by a real dollar held by the stablecoin issuer, Tether. At least, that’s what Tether claimed.
Tether got into some big doo-doo with the CFTC in October 2021 and had to pay a fine of $41 million for lying to the agency and customers about how USDT is backed. A real USD did not back every USDT. Tether also lied about being audited by third parties.
Fast forward to today, and Tether doesn’t claim that 100% of USDT is backed by USD. Instead, it is backed by Tether’s reserves. So what are Tether’s reserves made out of?
Who the hell knows. Tether is not exactly a glowing beacon of accountability and transparency.
The image above is from the independent accountant’s report from accounting firm MHA Cayman, which confirmed Tether’s unaudited Consolidated Reserves Report.
$82 billion in assets, with $20 billion backed by commercial paper (rumored to be mostly Chinese) and $39 billion in U.S. Treasury bills. And a whopping (insert sarcasm) $4.1 billion in cash and bank deposits.
Not exactly $1 for every USDT that exists. Read the full report here.
USDT lost its peg to the USD for an extremely short period during the collapse of Terra’s stable-lol-coin, UST ($UST.X). Tether’s CTO confirmed that hedge funds attempt to short USDT into the ground, a story confirmed by crypto broker Genesis.
Does the recovery of Tether prove it’s legit? That’s for you to decide. Regardless, for better or for worse, it looks like USDT is here to stay. 🤔
One of the hedge funds at the center of the Celsius ($CEL.X) collapse, Three Arrows Capital, has been formally and legally ordered by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the High Court of Justice in the British Virgin Islands to liquidate. New York-based Teneo was tapped to handle the liquidation.
How that will affect the co-founder’s desire to get a bailout or a buyer is not known. We’ll keep you updated on that.
One’s loss is another’s gain. MicroStrategy ($MSTR) CEO Michael Saylor confirmed this morning that they had purchased an additional 480 Bitcoin ($BTC.X) for roughly $10 million. Now hodling nearly 130,000 Bitcoin with an average cost of $30,664 per Bitcoin. 👍
Bullets From Today
Bullets From Today
💂♂️ The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is pushing warnings to crypto firms about missing criminal behavior on their platforms/services. Regulators have issued similar warnings in the EU and US. The FCA recently denied Binance’s application last year, which triggered UK politicians to worry that crypto would avoid the UK. Read more at Protos.
🚀 The Polkadot network ($DOT.X) announced a new governance model titled “Gov 2”. Set to launch on Kusama ($KSM.X), the “Gov 2” will further democratize the governance process by eliminating the current council-led structure. Get the full story at CryptoBriefing.
🚨 The number of Bitcoin millionaires has dropped sharply. At the beginning of the year, nearly 100,000 BTC addresses were worth more than $1 million. As of today, there are roughly 30,000 BTC addresses worth $1 million – a 70% drop. You can find more details in Finbold.