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☆ New FTX chief says bankrupt crypto exchange could restart - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is looking into the possibility of reviving its business, Chief Executive Officer John Ray told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Ray, who took over the reins in November, has set up a task force to explore restarting FTX.com, the company's main international exchange, he said in an interview with the WSJ. "I'm glad Mr. Ray is finally paying lip service to turning the exchange back on after months of squashing such efforts!" "I'm still waiting for him to finally admit FTX US is solvent and give customers their money back," Bankman-Fried added. Bankman-Fried has been accused of stealing billions of dollars from the exchange's customers to pay debts incurred by his crypto-focused hedge fund, Alameda Research.

☆ An FTX executive flagged worries about Alameda Research's use of customer funds to Sam Bankman-Fried as early as 2020, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A senior FTX exec raised concerns about Alameda Research's use of customer funds as early as 2020. CEO Sam Bankman-Fried dismissed the concerns saying the funds were backed by FTX's cryptocurrency, FTT. This information, the Times reports the governments documents as saying, led the executive to believe Alameda was "inappropriately using FTX.com customer funds," and to take that information to Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried dismissed the concerns, the Times report says, because the money was backed by FTX's cryptocurrency, FTT. Insider previously reported how the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint against SBF revealed that Alameda's FTX account had special treatment.

"FTX in my view now gets painted as a crypto problem. I think if you really peel enough onion layers, it's not really a crypto ... problem to happen here, it's fraud. "We talk about this as a crypto problem. But really, this is just fraud, and I think in some ways, not that dissimilar than Bernie Madoff," said Garlinghouse. "When Bernie Madoff occurred, we didn't totally restructure how we thought about oversight and regulation of hedge funds."

☆ An AI rival to ChatGPT passed a university level law and economics exam, and did better than many humans, professor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An AI received a marginal pass in a law and economics exam, economics professor Alex Tabarrok said. Tabarrok, a professor at George Mason University, said the AI's answer was "better than many human responses." The AI, known as Claude, was built by Anthropic, a company part-funded by Sam Bankman-Fried. Tabarrok said the exam was graded blind and that he considered Claude "a competitor" and "improvement" to OpenAI's GPT3, the tech underlying viral sensation ChatGPT. There has been an explosion of interest in AI capabilities since the launch of OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT in November.

☆ In Africa, FTX Posed as Haven From Tumbling Currencies, Inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Alexandra Wexler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Weeks before cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy, dozens of young Nigerians in skintight dresses and brightly colored suits shimmied under limbo bars, posed for photos in front of the company’s logo and sipped expensive liquor at a swanky beachfront venue. The party in Lagos, Nigeria, was part of the Bahamas-based exchange’s push into Africa, where, in the final days before its implosion, FTX was aggressively recruiting new customers whose funds are now stuck in bankruptcy proceedings. U.S. prosecutors have charged FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried , with fraud for allegedly stealing billions of dollars of customer funds from FTX and of defrauding investors and lenders to his trading firm, Alameda Research. He has pleaded not guilty.

☆ FTX lost $415 million worth of crypto in hacker heists, the collapsed exchange's new bosses say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX lost $415 million worth of crypto to hackers, its new bosses said Tuesday. "It has taken a Herculean investigative effort from our team to uncover this preliminary information," acting CEO John Ray said. Around $415 million of the assets for recovery had been lost in crypto hacks, FTX's new bosses said. Hackers stole $323 million from the Bahamas-based parent company FTX.com, $90 million from FTX, and $2 million from sister trading firm Alameda Research, according to the presentation. As well as the exchange's crypto and cash holdings, they identified $253 million worth of real estate in the Bahamas as potential assets for recovery in Tuesday's presentation.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried says FTX's lawyers overlooked $428 million in cash – and the bankrupt crypto exchange has the funds to make US customers whole
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The collapsed crypto exchange's new bosses said FTX.US hasn't got enough funds to return customers' money. But Bankman-Fried pushed back and said they hadn't included $428 million of cash in the calculations. "Investigation has confirmed shortfalls at both International and US Exchanges," the exchange's lawyers Sullivan & Cromwell said in a presentation Tuesday. FTX.US filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, alongside FTX International and its sister trading firm Alameda Research, among other companies under the FTX umbrella. Read more: FTX lost $415 million worth of crypto in hacker heists, the collapsed exchange's new bosses say

☆ Wall Street is feeling bearish, but a rare stock market pattern is hinting at a bull rally to kick off 2023.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Traders gather on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, March 18, 2016. There is little optimism for stocks among Wall Street's foot soldiers, according to the latest fund manager survey from Bank of America. As BofA pointed out, that means the so-called "pain trade" in the stock market is higher, and any sudden rally would catch investors off-guard. But Wall Street survey be damned, stocks seem to be on the brink of a rare, bullish trifecta. The surge has pushed the world's most largest crypto token to levels not seen since before the fall of FTX.

☆ Crypto publication CoinDesk hires Lazard to explore sale as crisis deepens at parent company DCG
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Crypto trade publication CoinDesk is exploring a potential sale, hiring advisors at Lazard to weigh a move that would remove it from Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group. The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the media company's hiring of Lazard. That reporting sparked a downward spiral at crypto exchange FTX, ultimately leading to the collapse of the company in November, the arrest of Bankman-Fried and multiple regulatory probes. Genesis is also the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission charge alongside crypto exchange Gemini. Worth said Lazard will help CoinDesk "explore various options to attract growth capital to the CoinDesk business, which may include a partial or full sale."

☆ FTX says $415 million in crypto was hacked
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of FTX is seen at the entrance of the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida, U.S., November 12, 2022. REUTERS/Marco BelloJan 17 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX said in a report to creditors on Tuesday that about $415 million in cryptocurrency had been stolen as a result of hacks. Some $323 million in crypto had been hacked from FTX's international exchange and $90 million had been hacked from its U.S. exchange since it filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, CEO John Ray said in a separate statement on Tuesday. FTX told a bankruptcy judge in Delaware last week that it had recovered over $5 billion in crypto, cash and liquid securities, nine weeks after declaring bankruptcy. The crypto assets recovered to date include $685 million in Solana, $529 million in FTX's proprietary FTT token and $268 million in bitcoin, based on crypto prices on Nov. 11, 2022.

☆ Bitcoin has now recovered all its losses since FTX collapsed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Bitcoin has held steady above $21,000 for the last two days, bringing it back above the price it was when Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange, FTX , began its slide toward bankruptcy. Since Monday, Bitcoin has held largely steady above $21,000, well above its Nov. 2 price of $20,283. The price of bitcoin has jumped over 22% in the last seven days, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin fell by that same amount in less than a day, between Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, as investors struggled to assess the impact of a potential FTX collapse and the likelihood of a Binance-backed FTX bailout. A potential rescue deal with ChangPeng Zhao's Binance fell apart on Nov. 8, and FTX and Alameda both declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11.

☆ What's next for Goldman following deep cuts and organization overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On tap we've got stories on JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon fielding questions about the bank's acquisition strategy, another bank plans to make cuts, and fast food options that won't completely crush your diet. On Wednesday the bank conducted a majority of its cuts, reducing its global workforce by about 6.5%. A few days later, on Friday, the bank reported losses of more than $3 billion since 2020 in the unit that houses the bank's consumer lending business. Meanwhile, some of the recently axed Goldman employees have been left in the dark on what's next for them, according to reporting from Hayley and Emmalyse Brownstein. Here are some fast food options that won't completely wreck your diet.

☆ FTX says $415 million of crypto was hacked
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bankrupt crypto firm FTX said on Tuesday that $415 million worth of crypto was hacked from the exchange's accounts, representing a sizeable portion of the identified assets the company is trying to recover. However, that includes "unauthorized third-party transfers" of $323 million out of FTX.com (the international business) and $90 million out of FTX US, the company said in a statement. Another $2 million of hedge fund Alameda Research's crypto was also stolen. At the time, the stolen crypto was valued at $477 million, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. FTX's advisors are also reviewing a $2.1 billion share repurchase payment from FTX to crypto exchange Binance in the third quarter of 2021.

☆ Human skeletal remains discovered in a vacant building on University of California Berkeley campus
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Human skeletal remains were discovered in a vacant building at the University of California, Berkeley. Police said it was unclear how long the remains had been there. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyHuman skeletal remains were discovered in a vacant residential building at the University of California, Berkeley, on Tuesday. "Although the remains are skeletonized, it is not clear how many years they have been there," a University of California, Berkeley spokesperson said in a statement shared with ABC News. Both the UCPD and the Alameda County Coroner's Office have opened investigations into the remains, according to CNN.

☆ Human skeleton found in building on UC Berkeley campus
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: 1 min

BERKELEY, Calif. — A human skeleton was discovered Tuesday in an unused building on a University of California, Berkeley, campus, officials said. It’s unclear how many years the remains were in the shuttered building on the Clark Kerr Campus, which is a residential hall complex and event space that’s about a mile (1.61 kilometers) from the main campus, the university’s police department said in a statement. There are no outstanding cases of missing persons from the Berkeley campus community, the statement said. The building “has not been occupied for many years.”The Alameda County coroner will determine the cause of death. The university is about 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) from downtown San Francisco.

☆ Tips for investing in 2023 as a potential recession looms large
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Callie Cox: The biggest risks include whether the Fed can get inflation down, and whether we enter a recession. The job market and corporate earnings are the two catalysts that make me think we can avoid those risks. CC: The Fed will be more responsive to what's happening in the job market, because the job market directly impacts inflation. Services inflation — think rent, haircuts, insurance prices — is still growing at a 7% clip annually, which is way too high in the Fed's mind. And the kicker here is that services inflation is the type of inflation that the Fed can best control through the job market.

☆ Alameda liquidators just lost $72,000 on a DeFi lending platform while trying to recover funds for creditors, analytics firm says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Alameda liquidators lost $72,000 worth of crypto while trying to recover funds, per a report from Arkham Intelligence. Essentially, liquidators have been trying to consolidate assets from Alameda into a single wallet to simplify managing its holdings. As the team was trying to move funds and exit positions, they accidentally liquidated themselves on Aave, a DeFi lending protocol. Around $1.4 million worth of tokens have been returned to the central wallet from various Alameda wallets over the past two weeks. The wallet holds around $19.6 million worth of ether and $140 million of various other cryptocurrencies, The Block reported Thursday.

☆ Billionaire investor Bill Ackman says the public shouldn't 'rush to convict' Sam Bankman-Fried
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bill Ackman, known for his lucrative bet on COVID-19 crashing the market, extolled due process for SBF. He said defendants like Sam Bankman-Fried deserve the presumption of innocence at this stage. "Let's not sacrifice our core values in a rush to convict @SBF_FTX as it does no one any good," he wrote. After FTX's bankruptcy filing in November, Ackman tweeted in support of cryptocurrency, saying it could still "enable the formation of useful businesses and technologies." In his own Substack post this week, former FTX CEO Bankman-Fried insisted that he "didn't steal" from the company.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried is now writing his own newsletter while under house arrest at his parents' $4 million property: 'I didn't steal funds'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Presumably writing from his parents' $4 million property in Palo Alto, California near Stanford, Sam Bankman-Fried published a lengthy newsletter yesterday, titled "FTX Pre-Mortem Overview." One statement stood out to me: "I didn't steal funds, and I certainly didn't stash billions away." In the note, Bankman-Fried highlighted that both FTX and Alameda Research were raking in billions in profits in 2021. A key to the collapse, he explained, was 2022's crypto bear market that left just about every token worth dramatically less than the year prior. Well, Bankman-Fried yesterday outlined two versions of the hedge fund's balance sheet, one from each of the past two years.

☆ Scaramucci says SkyBridge can buy back FTX stake this year, alleges SBF 'committed fraud’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

FTX bought a 30% stake in SkyBridge in September, before the crypto company filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11. We'll of course have to let the legal system determine all of those things," Scaramucci told CNBC. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to eight federal charges including fraud and money laundering. Meanwhile, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison, the former co-CEO of Alameda Research, have both pleaded guilty to federal charges connected with FTX's collapse and are working with investigators. Alameda Research was the crypto hedge fund started by Bankman-Fried and affiliated to FTX.

☆ Bank earnings are under way. Here are the biggest storylines everyone on Wall Street is focused on.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Starting today, the six big US banks (Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo) report their Q4 and year-end earnings. But instead of a boring preview on what to expect, I figured I'd have some fun by setting gambling lines on some of the biggest storylines heading into earnings. OK, let's get into the biggest storylines and their odds:David Solomon discusses the recent headcount reduction at Goldman Sachs. What'll be interesting is if he teases even more cuts coming down the line as the bank looks to cut costs. (-150)Background: The bank got ahead of this one by announcing its plans to step back from mortgages earlier this week.

[1/4] The logo of FTX is seen at the entrance of the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida, U.S., November 12, 2022. Companies facing wide-ranging investigations often hire pool counsel for employees. The use of pool counsel suggests that federal prosecutors in Manhattan probing FTX's collapse may be interested in questioning a deep roster of employees. The use of pool counsel enables a single legal team to gain expertise in the case, making it more efficient than having each employee retain individual lawyers, Krissoff said. The arrangement does not mean Covington is representing FTX, which has turned to Sullivan & Cromwell, another law firm.

NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Eight major media outlets on Thursday asked the U.S. judge overseeing Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal case to make public the names of two people who helped guarantee the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder's $250 million bond. Saying the public interest "cannot be overstated," lawyers for the outlets, including Reuters, said the public's right to know Bankman-Fried's guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights. Media seeking to identify Bankman-Fried's sureties also include the Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, the Financial Times, Insider and the Washington Post. Cohen and Everdell also represented Maxwell in her criminal case. In seeking to keep the sureties' names under wraps, Bankman-Fried's lawyers said their client's parents, who co-signed the $250 million bond, had been harassed and received physical threats since FTX's early November collapse and bankruptcy.

Sam Bankman-Fried published an extensive blog post Thursday morning attempting to explain the collapse of FTX, the crypto platform he co-founded, and denying allegations that he stole any funds. “I didn’t steal funds, and I certainly didn’t stash billions away,” Bankman-Fried wrote in the blog post. NBC News has not verified any of the various balance sheets Bankman-Fried published in the blog post. Bankman-Fried wrote: “FTX International has many billions of dollars of assets, and I am dedicating nearly all of my personal assets to customers. In the blog post, Bankman-Fried called the move by Zhao “a targeted attack” on Alameda.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Supersized Bet: $1 Billion for a Bitcoin Miner on the Kazakh Steppe
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Eliot Brown | Yuliya Chernova | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Just before crypto markets plunged last year, Sam Bankman-Fried ’s hedge fund made a $1 billion bet on Genesis Digital Assets, a Cyprus-registered bitcoin miner rigged to consume a small city’s worth of electricity in Kazakhstan. The cash injection from Mr. Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research LLC was supersized even for the red-hot crypto startup world, and it dwarfed the FTX founder’s other investments in private companies.

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