Bloomberg Crypto

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 episode with the deeply relatable comment, “we all feel weird.”

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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 around $20,000. 

As the digital-asset industry continues to adapt to a post-FTX reality, what will it mean for Bitcoin’s value?

Bloomberg reporters Olga Kharif and Vildana Hajric join this episode to discuss.

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In a crisis, there are always winners and losers. So, who are some of the players who might emerge stronger from the latest calamity to hit the cryptoverse? And will the fallout rekindle the tense debate over centralized entities versus decentralized protocols? 

Bloomberg reporter Sidhartha Shukla joins Bloomberg managing editor of crypto Stacy-Marie Ishmael to discuss this and more in our latest episode.

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Listen to the fourth 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.

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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.

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It’s been another unprecedented week in the crypto ecosystem. Fast moving information and news about digital assets has kept coming as the market struggles with the repercussions of FTX declaring bankruptcy and the resignation of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Events continue to unfold at lightning speed with great consequences for so many investors.

Bloomberg crypto senior editor Philip Lagerkranser and Bloomberg senior crypto editor for Asia, Sunil Jagtiani join the show to discuss the latest.

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This week on the podcast, we’ve attempted to unpack the spectacular downfall of one of the biggest crypto exchanges and how it has possibly changed the sector forever. A month ago, 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 weigh on the crypto industry, we wouldn't have believed them.

As more details about its general finances emerge, we're starting to better understand how FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried might have managed to change the industry forever. How much of a mess was FTX in? How did nobody notice? And how will this shape the future of crypto? Bloomberg reporters Katie Greifeld and Vildana Hajric ask Bloomberg opinion columnist Matt Levine for the long view.

 Subscribe to the Bloomberg Crypto Newsletter at https://bloom.bg/cryptonewsletter 

This podcast is produced by the Bloomberg Crypto Podcast team: Supervising producer: Vicki Vergolina, Senior Producer: Janet Babin, Producers: Sharon Beriro and Muhammad Farouk, Associate Producers: Mo Andam and Ty Butler. Sound Design/Engineer:  Desta Wondirad.

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Around this time last year, the very first Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund debuted -  the ProShares Bitcoin ETF, which trades under the ticker BITO. The launch marked a milestone for the digital-asset industry:  It opened up the opportunity for more mainstream investors to dip their toes into cryptocurrencies. 

The ETF had a stellar start: it was the second-most heavily traded fund on record, and it gathered more than $1 billion in assets in record time. Back then, Bitcoin was trading at around $65,000 and retail investing in crypto was booming. 

But in hindsight, the timing was … unfortunate. Just two months after its debut, Bitcoin started to crash. Soon after that, a collapse of crypto hedge funds and stablecoins dropped the coin’s trading value to about $20,000. 

Now, BITO has sunk over 70%. Could its future hold more promise? Bloomberg reporter Katie Greifeld joins Vildana Hajric for this episode around BITO one year in.

This podcast is produced by the Bloomberg Crypto Podcast team: Supervising producer: Vicki Vergolina, Senior Producer: Janet Babin, Producers: Sharon Beriro and Muhammad Farouk, Associate Producers: Mo Andam and Ty Butler. Sound Design/Engineer:  Desta Wondirad.

Subscribe to the Bloomberg Crypto Newsletter at https://bloom.bg/cryptonewsletter

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The crypto industry descended into chaos last week after a series of fast moving events. The trouble purportedly started after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted that the crypto exchange would sell off some of rival exchange FTX’s native token, FTT, due to ‘risk management’ issues. That drove the price of FTT down and fueled a selloff. Soon after, FTX was forced to halt withdrawals from the exchange. CEO Sam Bankman-Fried -- or SBF as he’s known -- started shopping around for a bailout. Then Bankman-Fried tweeted that the company had found a savior in its former rival, Binance.

But within a day the deal was off. Binance backed out citing due diligence concerns and FTX’s questionable handling of its customers’ funds. Documents were leaked showing FTX was dealing with significant financial difficulties and appeared close to collapse, which apparently it was: FTX soon filed for bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried resigned as his $16 billion dollar fortune evaporated. A spectacular outflow of money from crypto exchanges ensued and Bloomberg reported that federal probes of FTX and SBF were underway. 

How did it all go so wrong for FTX and what does this mean for the future of digital-assets? We have the latest updates with Bloomberg reporters Katie Greifeld and Vildana Hajric.

This podcast is produced by the Bloomberg Crypto Podcast team: Supervising producer: Vicki Vergolina, Senior Producer: Janet Babin, Producers: Sharon Beriro and Muhammad Farouk, Associate Producers: Mo Andam and Ty Butler. Sound Design/Engineer:  Desta Wondirad.

Subscribe to the Bloomberg Crypto Newsletter at https://bloom.bg/cryptonewsletter 

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It’s a day ending in Y, which means we’re going to talk about crypto hacks. Yes, these are all too common - in October alone, hacks, attacks and clever exploits (more about those in a second) cost the crypto industry an estimated $700 million.  Now when we talk about hacks, you might (correctly) picture sophisticated state-sponsored groups like North Korea’s Lazarus, or more run-of-the-mill attacks on Twitter or Instagram. But there's another kind of exploit that’s really raising eyebrows in crypto these days - one that involves taking advantage of how platforms are supposed to work. 

One type of exploit is a price-manipulation attack - which is what happened to a DeFi platform called Mango. The person who did the exploit initially walked away with a cool $100 million.

To better understand what’s at stake for DeFi,  Bloomberg reporter Muyao Shen joins this episode. Also featured is Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO and founder of Wintermute, a trading platform that was itself hacked for $160 million back in September. 

Subscribe to the Bloomberg Crypto Newsletter at https://bloom.bg/cryptonewsletter 

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