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☆ Exchange operator Cboe gets nod to launch leveraged crypto derivative products
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( John Mccrank | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Cboe Digital to be the first U.S.-regulated crypto exchange and clearinghouse platform to offer leveraged derivatives when the contracts launch in the second half. The margined contracts will let users trade crypto futures while putting less collateralized capital up front, with trades executed and cleared through an approved set of member futures commission merchants, Chicago-based Cboe said. Cboe Digital currently allows trading and clearing of bitcoin and ether futures on a fully collateralized basis, meaning users must provide the full amount of futures contracts upfront. Cboe Digital also supports the spot trading of bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin and USDC. On Oct. 20, 2021, Chicago-based Cboe announced its intention to buy crypto exchange and clearinghouse ErisX.

Persons: Cboe, John Palmer, Jane Street, FTX, John McCrank, Hannah Lang, David Gregorio Our Organizations: YORK, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Cboe, Robinhood Markets, Interactive, Virtu, IG Group, CFTC, Thomson Locations: U.S, Chicago, Washington

☆ Is Goldman Sachs' partnership losing some of its shine?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

As if all that wasn't enough, the leadership at Goldman Sachs had another cross to bear on Tuesday: two of its high-profile partners exiting the bank. (In fact, he made our annual list of rising stars on Wall Street in 2020.) That begs the question: Has Goldman Sachs' partnership lost some of its luster? And here's a running list of partners who have left Goldman Sachs under David Solomon. According to The Wall Street Journal, many of the industry's power players aren't looking forward to Biden-Trump part II.

Persons: Dan DeFrancesco, I'm, we've, Wall Streeter, Goldman Sachs, Sayonara, Goldman, Fred Baba, Dina Powell McCormick, Baba, George Floyd, Jane Street, Powell McCormick, Donald Trump, She's, Goldman alums, Byron Trott, Gregg Lemkau, David Solomon, Jane, Powell, Fred Baba's, Steve Cohen, Point72, Beth Abramson, Jeffrey Cane, Nathan Rennolds Organizations: JPMorgan, Bloomberg, Wall Street, Goldman, MSD Partners, Street, Biden, Trump, Financial Times, Nvidia, Netflix, LinkedIn Locations: NYC, Australia, New York, London

☆ The Goldman Sachs trader known for speaking up about racism is leaving the bank, according to a report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Frederick Baba is leaving Goldman Sachs months after becoming a partner, Bloomberg reports. The Goldman Sachs executive who spoke out about his experience as a Black trader on Wall Street is leaving the firm, according to a new report. Goldman Sachs declined to comment. After graduating in 2010, he went to work for the Global Electronic Trading Co., known on Wall Street as GETCO. That's part of the virtuous ecosystem of Goldman Sachs," he added.

☆ Reports of 2 high-profile Goldman Sachs' partners exiting the firm as more layoffs are seen on the horizon
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

News broke Tuesday of two high-profile Goldman Sachs partners leaving the bank. It hasn't been smooth sailing at Goldman Sachs in recent months. As if all that wasn't enough, the leadership at Goldman Sachs had another cross to bear on Tuesday: news breaking of two of its high-profile partners exiting the bank. The exits come amidst a difficult few months for Goldman Sachs, which has seen a change in strategy, a reorg, disappointment over bonuses, and layoffs. Which begs the question: Has Goldman Sachs' partnership lost some of its luster?

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Fred Baba, Dina Powell McCormick, David Solomon, Baba, George Floyd, Jane Street, Powell McCormick, Donald Trump, She's, Goldman alums, Byron Trott, Gregg Lemkau, Jane, Goldman, Powell Organizations: Morning, Goldman, Bloomberg, Wall Street, MSD Partners, Street

☆ Facing fallout from nickel crisis, LME appoints 'interim' chairman
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) said on Friday it had appointed John Williamson, currently a non-executive director, as interim chairman from the end of April, when current Chair Gay Huey Evans steps down. Williamson's appointment comes as the world's largest and oldest metals forum grapples with slumping nickel volumes after the chaos in March 2022 when the LME suspended nickel trading for more than a week. Metal industry sources are surprised that Williamson's appointment is on an interim basis, which they say creates uncertainty during a tumultuous time. The LME declined to comment on why the appointment was on an interim basis. A lawsuit brought by Elliott Associates and Jane Street Global Trading against the LME for cancelling nickel trades will be heard in a London court on June 20-22.

LME SPECIAL COMMITTEEA day earlier, on March 7, when LME benchmark nickel prices had soared 66% to nearly $50,000 a tonne, the LME's Special Committee had met, Jane Street's document said. The Committee, which has emergency powers, "concluded that the nickel market remained orderly, since there were geopolitical and macroeconomic reasons for the price increases". The next day, however, when nickel prices skyrocketed, the committee did not meet, the document said. Jane Street executed nickel trades from 1:37 a.m. on March 8 and was due total proceeds on those trades of $32.7 million, it said in the document. The LME is also facing fresh lawsuits from ten hedge funds and asset managers for cancelling nickel trades.

[1/2] Traders work on the floor of the London Metal Exchange, in London, Britain September 27, 2018. The world's largest and oldest metals market annulled all nickel trades in March last year after chaotic price action and suspended trading for the first time since 1988. "It does look from the statement that the FCA is not going to look at the cancelled trades," said a regulation lawyer. The LME faces lawsuits from U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates and Jane Street Global Trading, which are suing the exchange for $456 million and $15.3 million, respectively, for the cancelled nickel trades. "Neither the Bank of England or the FCA have been clear about whether the LME should have cancelled the trades," said Harold de Boer, managing director at investment firm Transtrend.

☆ Wall Street trading firms aren't giving up on crypto just yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A bunch of high-profile Wall Street investors just piled into a startup that pledges to fix a major issue in the crypto industry. And while plenty of those bets blew up — the most spectacular of which was crypto exchange FTX — that hasn't stopped Wall Street. Click here to read more about a new crypto startup that's got backing from some of Wall Street's top trading firms. For a breakdown of all the key partnerships between Wall Street and cloud partners, check out our running list of more than 30 deals. Cheman Cheung left Wall Street after his father passed away to recover from a state of "mental chaos."

☆ Crypto exchange C3 aims to fix a big flaw exposed in the collapse of FTX. Its cofounders just raised $6 million from hedge fund Two Sigma's venture arm.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The crypto exchange C3 has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Two Sigma Ventures. A series of bankruptcies — FTX, BlockFi, Celsius, Voyager, Genesis — has exposed major flaws within several crypto financial institutions. Michel Dahdah believes his company, the crypto exchange C3, can fix one big challenge these crypto companies face: the custody question. C3 has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Two Sigma Ventures, the venture-capital arm of the hedge fund Two Sigma Investments. In the traditional finance world, custody and exchange are separate functions, and crypto needs to follow suit, he said.

☆ PE firms' eagerness to recruit junior bankers is blowing up in their faces. Here's why they need to change.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

As Insider's Emmalyse Brownstein reports, some PE firms are scrambling to fill positions that, in years past, would have been locked up for months. Some context on PE recruiting: Firms recruit, interview, and make offers to junior bankers well ahead of their actual start dates. Some junior bankers didn't feel comfortable interviewing for a new role when they had barely settled into their current ones. The fact PE firms need to go back to the well to fill open seats should be a wake-up call. Click here to read more about how PE firms' early recruitment of junior bankers backfired.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried gave $400 million to an obscure crypto-trading firm cofounded by a Jane Street trader just 2 years out of college, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried sent $400 million to Modulo Capital, an obscure crypto trading firm. A spreadsheet shared by the Financial Times in December 2022 showed that Alameda Research, the trading firm cofounded by Bankman-Fried, invested two separate sums in Modulo — $250 million and $150 million. CoinDesk first reported that Modulo's founders used to work at Jane Street Capital, the trading firm where Bankman-Fried began his career, but didn't publish their identities. Court documents reviewed by Insider show that FTX spent $5.8 million at the Albany in nine months up to September 2022. Federal prosecutors have already seized over $500 million from Bankman-Fried, including $50 million kept in the tiny Farmington State Bank, but they're still searching for more.

☆ The former FTX US president just raised money from Anthony Scaramucci and Coinbase Ventures for his new crypto startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former FTX US president Brett Harrison started a new crypto infrastructure trading startup called Architect. The firm raised $5 million in a pre-product financing round, with backing from Coinbase Ventures. After nearly four months since stepping down as president of FTX US, Brett Harrison has raised $5 million for his new crypto trading infrastructure startup. The company, called Architect, is building software that aims to make trading in crypto markets easier for large investors and institutions. He served as FTX US president for 17 months before he stepped down in late September of 2022.

☆ The ultimate insider's guide to the dramatic downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and FTX
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Sam Bankman-Fried is facing criminal charges and is expected to enter a plea on Jan. 3. Read Insider's coverage of Bankman-Fried:FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried gets by on 4 hours' sleep and multitasks on 6 screens. Now hit with 7 criminal charges, Ellison has pleaded guilty and expressed contrition before the New York federal court presiding over the criminal cases involving Bankman-Fried. Sam Bankman-Fried is in jail, but legal watchers are wondering: Where's ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison? Sam Bankman-Fried hit with 8 criminal charges, including fraud and conspiracy for allegedly 'misappropriating' FTX customer fundsThe SEC has charged Sam Bankman-Fried and accused him of 'orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud'The criminal charges against Sam Bankman-Fried carry big penalties and jail time if proven, legal experts sayRead the CFTC complaint against FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates Caroline Ellison and Gary WangThe charges against Caroline Ellison, SBF, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang — in 60 seconds

☆ Judge dismisses demands for LME disclosures on cancelled nickel trades
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AQR Capital Management said after the ruling it would continue to evaluate all legal options. The other claimants in the filing were Winton Capital Management, Capstone Investment Advisors, Flow Traders (FLOW.AS) and DRW Commodities. The London Metal Exchange was represented by global law firm Hogan Lovells, instructing Brick Court Chambers. "Hogan Lovells has today secured an important victory for its client the London Metal Exchange (LME)," it said in a statement. The LME also faces lawsuits from U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates and Jane Street Global Trading, which are suing the LME for $456 million and $15.3 million, respectively, for the cancelled nickel trades.

Dec 22 (Reuters) - FTX founder and former Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces U.S. fraud charges over the collapse of FTX, ran his crypto empire with a number of associates. GARY WANGGary Wang co-founded FTX and Alameda Research with Bankman-Fried, and served as FTX's chief technology officer. He and Bankman-Fried met at a math camp in high school and became college roommates, Bankman-Fried wrote in a now-unavailable FTX blog. Wang worked as a software engineer at Google before co-founding FTX and Alameda, according to an archived webpage for the FTX Future Fund, the company's charitable effort. NISHAD SINGHNishad Singh was a best friend of Bankman-Fried's brother in high school, Bankman-Fried wrote in the deleted blog post.

☆ Six dead, including suspect, after shooting in Canada's Vaughan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 19 (Reuters) - Five victims and one suspect are dead following a shooting at a condominium in Canada's Vaughan city, just north of Toronto, the York Regional Police department said. Another victim is hospitalized in a serious condition, police said in a statement early on Monday. The suspect was shot after an interaction with police and pronounced deceased at the scene, according to the police. An investigation is active and ongoing, the police said in the statement, adding that there is no further threat to public safety. Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu and Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ British court set to hear demand for evidence over LME nickel crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The other claimants in the filing at the London Commercial Court were Winton Capital Management, Capstone Investment Advisors, Flow Traders (FLOW.AS) and DRW Commodities. The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, has rejected the legal action as without merit. The LME is also facing lawsuits from U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates and Jane Street Global Trading, which are suing the LME for $456 million and $15.3 million, respectively, for the cancelled nickel trades. British financial regulators launched a sweeping investigation in April of the suspension of nickel trading while the LME also commissioned its own independent review of the matter. Reporting by Eric Onstad and Nell Mackenzie in London Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried is in jail, but legal watchers are wondering: Where's ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison isn't named in prosecutors' charges against Sam Bankman-FriedBut the SEC's civil suit references her statements on the relationship between FTX and Alameda. Conspiracy charges and civil claims against SBF show others in the crosshairs, legal experts said. But her rise as CEO at Alameda, Bankman-Fried's other crypto company separate from FTX, may certainly put her in investigators' sights. The SEC's complaint on Tuesday claimed that Bankman-Fried "remained the ultimate decision-maker" at Alameda, even after Ellison took over the reins. Since Bankman-Fried's crypto empire began unraveling in November however, Ellison has stayed away from the public eye.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's venture unit reportedly invested in a military drone maker, fertility clinic, and a vertical farming company. Here are some of the defunct crypto giant's biggest and most bizarre b
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried's venture unit placed bets on a military drone maker, a fertility clinic, and a vertical farming company, the FT reported. Alameda Research's private equity portfolio reportedly had over 500 investments. Screenshots of an Excel spreadsheet detail the firm's wide array of investments. The spreadsheet indicates investments in military drone maker BRINC and fertility startup Ivy Natal for $1.5 million. Neither companies immediately responded to Insider's request for comment or listed any Sam Bankman-Fried's investment entities as backers on their websites.

The answer is simple, according to more than a dozen Washington insiders, FTX employees, and crypto industry observers who spoke with Insider. I don't think anyone believed that he was going to fund candidates who were, quote unquote, committed to ending pandemics who were also hostile to the crypto industry." Alex Wong/Getty ImagesRebuffed by the SEC, Bankman-Fried turned his attention to Congress. "It's not that he was welcoming regulation," says the senior figure in the crypto industry who attended meetings with Bankman-Fried. But while Bankman-Fried was busy wooing Washington, FTX was about to become Exhibit A in the case for more effective oversight of the crypto industry.

☆ FTX's former US president is reportedly raising money for a new crypto startup after the crypto exchange's collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Brett Harrison, FTX US's former president, is reportedly raising money for a new crypto startup. Harrison left FTX just weeks before it slid into bankruptcy amid allegations of misused customer funds. Harrison's attempt to raise money comes when many investors are weary of wading deeper into the crypto industry. Before working at FTX, Harrison worked at traditional trading firms, including Jane Street, where he once worked with Bankman-Fried, according to the report. Harrison's attempt to raise money for a crypto startup comes when many prominent investors have grown weary of wading deeper into the industry.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried dismissed ex-staffers' ideas for more rigorous risk controls at Alameda Research, years before its collapse: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried dismissed employees' ideas for more rigorous internal controls, WSJ reported. A group of employees left Alameda Research in 2018 amid concerns over Bankman-Fried's cavalier leadership style, per the report. Bankman-Fried told the Journal that employees left the firm due to personal disputes and their lack of productivity. Before founding Alameda, Bankman-Fried had worked at Jane Street Capital, a tightly controlled quantitative trading firm. In 2018 documents viewed by the Journal, Bankman-Fried does acknowledge Alameda's shortfalls, and how they led to trading losses.

☆ LME had regulatory obligation to be able to cancel nickel trades in March, filings say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Traders, brokers and clerks on the trading floor of the open outcry pit at the London Metal Exchange in London, U.K., on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. The London Metal Exchange (LME), battling a combined $472 million lawsuit from U.S. hedge funds Elliott Associates and Jane Street Global Trading, had a regulatory obligation to be able to cancel nickel trades in March, it said in court filings. "All the actions taken on 8 March were lawful and made in the interest of the market as a whole. Elliott Associates and Jane Street declined to comment. But the exchange counters that its rulebook gave it clear and specific power to suspend the market and cancel existing trades.

☆ The unbelievably fast world of Caroline Ellison where 'someone suggests something' then 'an hour later and it's already happened'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a 2020 FTX podcast, former Alameda Research CEO said she "took a blind leap into the unknown" when she joined Sam Bankman-Fried. WSJ first reported on the remarks, after Ellison has drawn increased scrutiny for her role in the demise of FTX. According to WSJ, critics of the practice say effective altruism encourages excessive risk-taking. "The general idea of effective altruism is trying to do the most good you can and using expected value to measure that good," Ellison explained on the FTX podcast. Ellison was asked about her plans of saving money for future retirement after explaining effective altruism in the 2020 podcast episode.

☆ From $32 billion to criminal investigations: How Sam Bankman-Fried's empire vanished overnight
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +17 min

Alameda's success spurred the launch of crypto exchange FTX in the spring of 2019. A Twitter fight with the CEO of rival exchange Binance pulled the mask off the scheme. Alameda, FTX and a host of subsidiaries Bankman-Fried founded have filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware. On Nov. 2, CoinDesk reported a leaked balance sheet showing that a significant amount of Alameda's assets were held in FTX's illiquid FTT token. On Nov. 6, according to Bankman-Fried, the exchange had roughly $5 billion of withdrawals, "the largest by a huge margin."

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