Bloomberg Crypto

It’s 2023 and the crypto community is hoping to pull out of its funk this year and put the blowups, bankruptcies and price slumps of the last year in the rear-view mirror. 

While some remain hopeful - churning out ideas for a more fruitful, and perhaps community-driven, crypto future, others are still smarting from last year’s carnage. But now, both groups have a place where they can toast a revival – or drown their sorrows – at a new Bitcoin-themed bar in New York. It’s called PubKey.

Pubkey recently opened in lower Manhattan and it’s a short walk away from New York University’s college campus. The bar is meant to attract a community of Bitcoin enthusiasts along with the Bitcoin curious.  

Bloomberg reporter Vildana Hajric recently went to Pubkey with colleague Muyao Shen. They join this episode to talk about what they saw and what this bar could mean for the Bitcoin community.

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Like most crypto-adjacent firms, fiat banks that diversified into crypto have struggled during the crypto winter. And this was likely the case even BEFORE crypto exchange FTX declared bankruptcy in November 2022. 

We’ll find out exactly how many of them are doing in the coming weeks, as earnings reports trickle out.

But generally, banks that got into crypto benefited during digital currency’s rise, and have struggled since last spring, when the digital asset sector took a downward plunge.

In this episode, Bloomberg’s Max Reyes offers up a pre-earnings preview of these banks, and where they go from here.

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Is crypto back? That’s one question Bloomberg editors and reporters discuss in another This Week in Crypto episode.  Already, the year is packed with digital asset action. Bitcoin is up 30 percent so far in 2023. Lots of smaller tokens are even more than that.  Suddenly, crypto enthusiasts are uttering words like FOMO — Fear of Missing Out - again. 

Then there are some crypto comebacks happening. Or, at least, some crypto comeback attempts. The guys behind 3AC, Three Arrows Capital, the cryptocurrency hedge fund credited in some circles with launching the crypto winter, are seeking funding for a new startup. Crypto Twitter has not been kind.

And also, Heather Morgan, an accused cryptocurrency thief charged along with her husband in the world’s biggest crypto heist, has landed a new tech job!

Bloomberg senior crypto editor Anna Irrera and Bloomberg reporter Vildana Hajric join Phili Lagerkranser in this episode to review and discuss this and all the week’s top digital asset news.

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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You’ve probably heard financial regulators refer to crypto as the "Wild West." But, instead of shoot-outs and sheriffs -  in crypto, you can get financial experimentation, hackers and  pretty extreme risk-taking (in hopes of yielding extreme returns) - in some cases with people investing their hard-earned savings.

People allegedly wronged by crypto are increasingly turning to the law for redress.
The only problem is, how do you fit something so new into laws that are often centuries old? That’s the conundrum lawyers and creditors are confronting in the case of FTX, the crypto exchange that collapsed into bankruptcy last year. 

In this episode, we discuss the legal complexities underlying the FTX bankruptcy. And how the rules change across jurisdictions - from the sunny Bahamas to the cloudy skies of England.

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: Mohsis Andam and Ty Butler. Sound Design/Engineer:  Desta Wondirad.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Western Massachusetts is a very different place from the Bahamas, where the FTX crypto exchange had its headquarters. But the small town of Lenox there is feeling the effects of the FTX bankruptcy nonetheless.

The reason is Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets who was also a major player in the economy of Lenox.

Salame grew up in Berkshire County, of which Lenox is a part. The town has fewer than 10,000 residents - closer to 5000 actually, according to the most recent census. In March 2022, the county’s local newspaper the Berkshire Eagle reported that Salame owned multiple restaurants and other properties in the town.

What’s going to happen to those restaurants now that FTX has filed for bankruptcy and Salame is out of a job? Bloomberg reporter Carly Wanna joins this episode for the latest.

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

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It was an unwelcome ruling for about 600,000 Celsius account holders, who are probably wishing they’d read the fine print more closely before investing. Or put more stock in the crypto mantra “not your keys, not your coins.”

Earlier this month, federal Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn found that when people deposited assets with the now bankrupt crypto lender Celsius - and in exchange received interest on those deposits  - those assets became the property of Celsius. This makes customers of the so-called Celsius “Earn Program” unsecured creditors - unlikely to get all their money back from Celsuis, (again because, well, bankruptcy).

Many investors signed up for these accounts in part because of the potentially high returns Celsius promised on their deposits -  up to 18 percent. That’s far more interest than you’d make at a savings bank. But unlike at a bank, the deposits, held in crypto, were not covered by federal deposit insurance.

To give some context, the value of those accounts back in July topped $4 billion.

This ruling could impact other crypto platform arrangements.

Bloomberg’s Jeremy Hill joins the episode to break down the judge’s opinion and explain its wider implications.

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is observed in the U.S. So the crypto team wanted to present an episode connected to the idea of service. 

The episode, first published last December, focuses on Sam Bankman-Fried's efforts to advance Effective Altruism. SBF used to say he was a man on a mission: to give away more than a billion dollars. It was part of his connection to the Effective Altruism movement. 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. But what happens to those recipients now that FTX is bankrupt?

Bloomberg reporters Sophie Alexander and Laura Davison join this episode with the backstory on SBF and effective altruism. We're back tomorrow with a new episode. 

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Something we say often on the Bloomberg Crypto team is that a week in this asset class can feel like a year. And as we wrap up the second week of 2023, it’s starting to feel maybe more like a decade.

On the proverbial docket this week: a public and ugly fight emerging between Gemini, a crypto exchange that's owned by the Winklevoss twins, and a company called Genesis, which was one of the biggest crypto lenders in the world.

Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen and Patriots owner Bob Kraft popped up in a bankruptcy filing from FTX, the now-defunct crypto exchange associated with Sam Bankman-Fried.

And in this episode, our editors tackle listener questions.

Bloomberg senior editor Dave Liedtka joins the show.

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It’s been a tough winter for Bitcoin miners. As prices of the largest token have fallen from their record highs, there have been bankruptcies and warnings of potential bankruptcy. Billions of dollars in losses. Forced sales of equipment. Regulatory uncertainty in states like New York. Increased criticism of the energy consumption associated with the sector…the list goes on.

One miner even changed its name to try to minimize its association with the sector. The company formerly known as Riot Blockchain changed its name to Riot Platforms after seeing its share price fall around 85% in 2022. So what hope is there for Bitcoin miners in 2023? 

Bloomberg reporter David Pan and Mason Jappa, CEO and co-founder of mining services company Blockware Solutions join the show.

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The United Arab Emirates has spent quite a lot of time — and considerable resources — positioning itself as a crypto-friendly hub. Its efforts have attracted some of the top names in crypto to the region: the CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange - Binance’s Changpeng 'Zhao - known as CZ -has a residence in Dubai. It’s where Su Zhu and Kyle Davies fled to after the collapse of their crypto hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital.

Sam Bankman-Fried travelled to Dubai for meetings with investors just weeks before the collapse of FTX - and FTX was one of the first firms granted a license by Dubai’s regulator for virtual assets. Around 4% of FTX’s global customers are based in the UAE, according to court filings in the firm’s bankruptcy case. That makes it one of the top 10 jurisdictions affected  by the FTX fallout. 

Bloomberg reporters Suvashree Ghosh and Ben Bartenstein join the episode to discuss United Arab Emirates’ crypto ambitions.

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

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