Back in mid-November on the podcast, we were unpacking the spectacular downfall of one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the industry in real time, and how it would possibly changed the sector forever. A month before, if someone would have told us that crypto exchange FTX was potentially mismanaging customer funds, funneling money into its sister trading firm, Alameda Research, and would soon be a cautionary tale from the crypto industry, we wouldn't have believed them. As more details about it...
Dec 27, 2022•33 min
It’s been an extremely messy month or so in crypto since Sam Bankman-Fried’s exchange FTX went bankrupt. But in this episode, we’re discuss something entirely different - an NFT vending machine. NFTs were all the rage last year, but this year prices have dropped along with the rest of crypto. What if you could buy an NFT from a vending machine? Earlier this year, these popped up in central London. The company behind the vending machine - myNFT - said the goal was to eliminate any barriers to ent...
Dec 26, 2022•18 min
Listen to Bloomberg Crypto on the iHeartRadio App , Apple Podcasts or Spotify . It’s been another wild week in crypto, specifically for Sam Bankman-Fried. The crypto founder and former CEO of FTX has been spending time in a Bahamian jail after being denied bail related to multiple criminal charges. On Tuesday, he signed documents formally agreeing to be extradited to the US to face numerous charges, including allegations of fraud and money laundering. The FTX bankruptcy and its aftermath are imp...
Dec 23, 2022•19 min
The Year of 2022 was supposed to be one of crypto regulation. Multiple CEOs, venture capitalists and trade groups for the industry globally had hired lawyers and lobbyists and prepared policy papers and blog posts. Over and over, they said the refrain: “we’re hoping for regulatory clarity.” In the US, the Biden administration announced an Executive Order, [Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets] calling for a national policy on digital assets. It required federal agencies to get thei...
Dec 22, 2022•18 min
Sam Bankman-Fried might not have expected that his time in the Bahamas would include the inside of a jail cell. Bankman-Fried and his inner circle at FTX and Alameda Research relocated operations to the Bahamas from Hong Kong in late 2021. The Nassau-based employees and executives seemed to enjoy a lavish island lifestyle - think yachts and penthouses with ocean views. How much of that lifestyle was funded, ah, improperly is at the center of allegations and charges filed by everyone from the US ...
Dec 21, 2022•20 min
In the aftermath of the FTX collapse - one of the most significant crypto exchanges in the industry, investors and hedge funds are seriously questioning the future of crypto. FTX was once among the top centralized exchanges, a haven for professional and amateur investors. But now, billions of investors’ dollars have disappeared and its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been arrested and denied bond, facing conspiracy and fraud charges. Binance is the largest exchange by volume and a former riva...
Dec 20, 2022•17 min
Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas and US authorities have unleashed some truly stunning charges against him, essentially accusing him of having his entire crypto empire as a personal piggy bank and defrauding customers who put money on FTX. Bankman-Fried himself has said it was all down to sloppy accounting and mismanagement. Which is all the more surprising given that he spent three years at one of the Wall Street shops famous for its level of caution - namely Jane Street . Blo...
Dec 19, 2022•18 min
Just a mere month ago, disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was the undisputed king of the digital asset industry. Now the 30-year-old is under arrest, facing criminal charges from the U.S. The Department of Justice, and civil charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. FTX has declared bankruptcy, and almost a million FTX creditors are unlikely to get their money back. Meanwhile contagion continues to spread through the ecosystem, with...
Dec 16, 2022•20 min
Bitcoin ATMs could be considered symbolic of the state of crypto’s popularity. During the digital asset boom they kept on appearing in what could reasonably be considered unusual locations. Such as Amherst County, Virginia, a place that has no hospital but does have a Bitcoin ATM. Just in case. The number of crypto ATMs in the US peaked in August at just over 34,000 but has begun to fall, according to Coin ATM Radar , a site that tracks global locations of Bitcoin ATMs. Will these makeshift monu...
Dec 15, 2022•18 min
It’s safe to say that 2022 wasn’t the best year for crypto. By late January, Bitcoin had already shed half its value from its all-time high set the previously November - nearly $69,000 . And Bitcoin prices stayed on a downward trend that only accelerated after the first major crisis of 2022, the collapse of an algorithmic stablecoin called TerraUSD. The implosion of what was once considered an ambitious experiment for DeFi sent shockwaves through the industry, ultimately triggering the collapse ...
Dec 14, 2022•29 min
For the last six months or so, the digital asset industry has been knee-deep in the trenches of a ‘crypto winter.’ Now, the demise of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX and Alameda Research have produced a dramatic decline in market liquidity. While these bankruptcies will take years to be resolved in the court system, the effects of the collapse on the market have been swift. Investors and traders are only just beginning to grapple with the consequences. Bloomberg reporter Katie Greifeld joins the show to...
Dec 13, 2022•13 min
What do pandemic stimulus funds have to do with the recent collapse of crypto prices and entities like FTX? According to Bloomberg Opinion writer Robert Burgess, the answer is basically everything. As he wrote in a recent column, “When historians look back on the spectacular rise and collapse of the cryptocurrency market, they will conclude that it couldn’t have happened without the pandemic. And they’d be right.” This isn’t as controversial an opinion as it might seem. For more, Robert joins th...
Dec 12, 2022•14 min
Listen to the final audio excerpt from a special issue of Businessweek magazine, The Crypto Story. Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine uses the full issue to explain where crypto came from, what it means and why it matters. This episode is voiced by Bloomberg Businessweek editor Mark Leydorf. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 11, 2022•23 min
Listen to Bloomberg Crypto on the iHeartRadio App , Apple Podcasts or Spotify . The Sam Bankman-Fried apology tour continued this week, despite a number of high-profile lawyers — including one who represented Bernie Madoff — saying that SBF really needs to stop talking. Speaking of lawyers: as the bankruptcy winds through the courts, the 30-year-old has hired a new lawyer, Marc Cohen. Cohen had previously been one of the lawyers who represented convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell. Also up f...
Dec 09, 2022•18 min
Financial markets can be subject to a fair amount of groupthink. The herd effect. Mob mentality, even. There’s actually some really interesting research into this: check out for example the paper, “Bubbles, Human Judgment, and Expert Opinion ” by Robert J. Shiller. Here's additional research into herd effect: Herding behaviour in digital currency markets: An integrated survey and empirical estimation.] Crypto investors are no exception: and their in-group behavior also features a lot of catchphr...
Dec 08, 2022•20 min
Listen to Bloomberg Crypto on the iHeartRadio App , Apple Podcasts or Spotify . Sam Bankman-Fried used to say he was a man on a mission. That mission: giving away more than a billion dollars in the service of a movement known as “effective altruism." Through personal giving, and through a philanthropic unit called the FTX Foundation, Bankman-Fried appeared to support causes ranging from pandemic prevention to research into climate change. Fast forward a bit, and that message of “using wealth to ...
Dec 07, 2022•18 min
Listen to Bloomberg Crypto on the iHeartRadio App , Apple Podcasts or Spotify . “It’s time to rebuild…” is a catchy phrase often said by crypto industry folks after massive implosions, like the one we just had with FTX. In the aftermath of these moments, investors are known to imagine all the potential for growth after the downturns. But this year in crypto the time for rebuilding has come often far too often, some might say. Nearly every crypto believer is saying let’s rebuild. But a valid ques...
Dec 06, 2022•19 min
The interplay of money and politics in the US is real, and well established. And that includes when that money is either in the form of crypto, or comes from people who made their fortunes in digital assets. The recently concluded US Midterm Elections featured several candidates - including winning ones - whose campaigns were financed in part by crypto-related donors and donations. Among those donors: Sam Bankman-Fried and Ryan Salame of FTX, who supported candidates on opposite ends of the poli...
Dec 05, 2022•18 min
Listen to the sixth audio excerpt from a special issue of Businessweek magazine, The Crypto Story. Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine uses the full issue to explain where crypto came from, what it means and why it matters. This episode is voiced by Bloomberg Businessweek editor Mark Leydorf. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 04, 2022•55 min
The apples are falling from the crypto tree, one by one. The contagion is happening. This week was BlockFi filed for bankruptcy. Also, crypto hedge funds are losing faith in centralized exchanges. In this episode, our crypto editors review what other companies remain vulnerable, and search for any bright spots emerging in the digital asset ecosystem. Hosted by senior crypto editor Philip Lagerkranser, with Bloomberg senior crypto editor Anna Irrera and crypto reporter Tanzeel Akhtar. Subscribe t...
Dec 02, 2022•17 min
A look into the disorganized bankruptcy filing of FTX’s crypto empire with Bloomberg reporter Jeremy Hill. We review why we don’t know the identity of FTX’s top 50 creditors and whether we’re likely to find out. The discussion also considers what other companies could still suffer by their association with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his now bankrupt companies. Listen to Bloomberg Crypto on the iHeartRadio App , Apple Podcasts or Spotify . Subscribe to the Bloomberg Crypto Newsletter at...
Dec 01, 2022•13 min
We’re just going to keep saying this: news moves fast in crypto. To help us stay on top of it, the show take on some of the pivotal but perhaps less well known players in crypto - players whose names all begin with G. Bloomberg reporter Yueqi Yang joins to discuss Genesis, Galaxy, Gemini and more. Subscribe to the Bloomberg Crypto Newsletter at https://bloom.bg/cryptonewsletter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 30, 2022•17 min
For a while, there was a real buzz around owning land in the metaverse. As one theory went, Millennials and Gen Z’ers who’d given up on being able to afford a physical property would splurge on a virtual one instead. Well, it’s not quite turning out that way. Despite the hype - and investments by everyone from Snoop Dogg to the Bajan government - owning property in the metaverse so far hasn’t turned out to be a winning investment. Bloomberg reporter Carly Wanna joins the show to discuss why some...
Nov 29, 2022•19 min
In late 2022, Hong Kong updated its crypto regulations in a way that signaled a goal of increasing retail access to the asset class. In sharp contrast, nearby Singapore tightened regulations after big losses this year for retail investors. Korea, still dealing with the aftermath of the collapse of the Terra / Luna tokens, is currently focussing on enforcement. And India, somewhat uniquely in the region, is using tax policy to drive behavior. Bloomberg senior editor for crypto, Sunil Jagtiani , j...
Nov 28, 2022•18 min
Listen to the fifth audio excerpt from a special issue of Businessweek magazine, The Crypto Story. Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine uses the full issue to explain where crypto came from, what it means and why it matters. This episode is voiced by Bloomberg Businessweek editor Mark Leydorf. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 27, 2022•51 min
Our colleagues on QuickTake, Tim Stenovec and Katie Greifeld , host a weekly video series called QuickTake IRL - In Real Life. Just for listeners of the Bloomberg Crypto podcast, we've got an audio version of their latest episode. Enjoy! Find the full video experience of the shows here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 26, 2022•27 min
We on the Crypto podcast team are taking a short pause to give thanks and spend some time with loved ones. And we wanted to share one of our favorite previous episodes with you. We'll be back with new episodes on Monday. Enjoy! The gaming industry is bigger in revenue terms worldwide than the film and television industries combined. But it also continues to deal with hard and necessary conversations over who benefits from those profits, over work and labor conditions, and (as always) about intel...
Nov 25, 2022•18 min
In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., we wanted to re-up this episode that we really love from earlier in the year. We are thankful for you, our listeners. And to all who celebrate, we wish you a joyful day. Enjoy! Earlier this year, pop music duo The Chainsmokers released 5,000 nonfungible tokens for free. These NFTs gave fans a 1% cut of the streaming royalties from their latest album, as well as priority access to concert tickets and free merchandise. The Chainsmokers aren’t ...
Nov 24, 2022•19 min
Have you heard the one about “the box”? In April 2022, long before Sam-Bankman Fried was tweeting rambling threads about the collapse of his FTX empire, he joined the Bloomberg Odd Lots podcast and talked about “the box”. It was his metaphor for describing the crypto practice of “yield farming”, and his description at the time raised many an eyebrow because it seemed, well, too good to be true. Joining this episode is Joe Weisenthal, co-host of the Odd Lots podcast, who at the time ended that ep...
Nov 23, 2022•17 min
Before chaos broke out in the crypto market with the collapse of FTX, a report by digital-assets researcher CryptoCompare found that Bitcoin’s value…was still dropping. It appeared the industry wasn’t just heading into winter, but a possible “Crypto Ice Age.” Then the stunning downfall of crypto exchange FTX, which halted withdrawals and declared bankruptcy, and the resignation of its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, sparked a wide-ranging market downturn with Bitcoin dropping from its previous plateau of...
Nov 22, 2022•16 min
