Tausi Insider

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. "Let's say there's a game: 51%, you double the earth out somewhere else; 49%, it all disappears. Would you play that game? And would you keep on playing that, double or nothing?" Tyler Cowen asked Sam Bankman-Fried, the now-disgraced founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, in his podcast back in March 2022 . The vast majority of us would not take the risk of playing that game even once. After all, it seems morally atrocious to take a 49% chance on human civilization disappearing for a 51% chance of doubling the value of our civilization. It's essentially a coin flip. But Sam Bankman-Fried isn't like the majority of people. He responded to this question by telling the podcast host that he is quite willing to play that game — and keep playing it, over and over again. Cowen asked Bankman-Fried about the high likelihood of destroying everything by going double of no...

Canadian crypto exchange Bitvo said on Tuesday it had terminated its deal to be bought by FTX, which filed for bankruptcy last week. Bitvo also said it had no material exposure to FTX or any of its affiliates. https://www.tausiinsider.com/canadas-bitvo-ends-acquisition-deal-with-bankrupt-crypto-exchange-ftx/?feed_id=371666&_unique_id=648ecb7fefce7

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has filed for U.S. bankruptcy court protection, said it owes its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1 billion. The exchange owes about $1.45 billion to its top ten creditors, it said in a court filing on Saturday, without naming them. FTX and its affiliates filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Nov. 11 in one of the highest-profile crypto blowups, leaving an estimated 1 million customers and other investors facing total losses in the billions of dollars. The crypto exchange said on Saturday it has launched a strategic review of its global assets and is preparing for the sale or reorganization of some businesses. A hearing on FTX’s so-called first-day motions is set for Tuesday morning before a U.S. bankruptcy judge, according to a separate court filing. What’s happening at bankrupt crypto exchange FTX? https://www.tausiinsider.com/collapsed-ftx-owes-nearly-3-1-billion-to-top-50-creditors/?feed_id=333568&_unique_id=6480f5d9a2bbd

FTX was run as a “personal fiefdom” of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, attorneys for the collapsed crypto exchange said in its first bankruptcy hearing as they detailed ongoing challenges such as hacks and substantial missing assets. In the highest-profile crypto blowup to date, FTX filed for protection in the United States after traders pulled $6 billion from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal. The collapse has left an estimated 1 million creditors facing losses totalling billions of dollars. An attorney for FTX said at a bankruptcy hearing on Tuesday that the company now intends to sell off healthy business units, but has been the subject of cyberattacks and had “substantial” assets missing. FTX said on Saturday it has launched a strategic review of its global assets and is preparing for the sale or reorganization of some businesses. The hearing was held at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware and was livestreamed to around 1,50...

Bitfront, a U.S. crypto exchange backed by Japanese social media firm Line Corp, said it has suspended new sign-ups and credit card payments and will cease operations in a few months despite efforts to overcome challenges in the rapidly evolving industry. “However, despite our efforts ... we have regretfully determined that we need to shut down BITFRONT in order to continue growing the LINE blockchain ecosystem and LINK token economy,” the California-based company said in a statement on its website on Sunday. Bitfront said the move is unrelated to recent issues among certain crypto exchanges that have been accused of “misconduct”. FTX, which was among the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is now the subject of investigations by authorities for “criminal misconduct”. The company had filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, while cryptocurrency lender BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, hurt by exposure to the collapse of FTX. Bitfront said it has susp...

Turmoil in the cryptocurrency industry has rattled major exchanges and sent the value of digital assets tumbling, but at least one group stands to gain: bankruptcy lawyers. High-profile bankruptcies involving crypto exchange FTX, hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and crypto lenders BlockFi, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital Ltd are generating new opportunities – and big fees – for law firms that counsel troubled companies. Large law firms can rake in more than $100-million in legal fees during a long-running bankruptcy, experts said. “You’ve got to pay the gravedigger,” said Adam Levitin, a law professor at Georgetown University who specializes in bankruptcy law. “These are complicated cases with a bunch of novel issues, and it shouldn’t be surprising that they are going to require a lot of attorney involvement.” The value of bitcoin has dropped 65 per cent so far this year, dragging down other crypto assets and leaving investors reeling. The spectacular implosion of FTX last month s...

A group of media companies is set to argue on Friday to the U.S. judge overseeing the FTX bankruptcy that they should be allowed to request that the collapsed crypto exchange make public the names of its customers. In seeking to intervene in the case, the New York Times, Dow Jones, Bloomberg and the Financial Times said bankruptcy law demands transparency. Letting customer names remain secret could turn bankruptcy proceedings into a “farce” if creditors start fighting anonymously over how much money they should get, the media companies wrote in a Delaware bankruptcy court filing. FTX has argued the usual U.S. bankruptcy practice of disclosing names, addresses and e-mail addresses of creditors, which includes customers, could expose them to scams and could violate privacy laws for those who live in Europe. The company has also said that disclosing identities of as many as 1 million customers would make it easier for a competitor to poach them, undermining the value of FTX’s platform w...

Federal prosecutors are investigating an alleged cybercrime that drained more than $370-million from crypto exchange FTX hours after it filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday citing a person familiar with the case. The criminal probe into the stolen assets, launched by the Department of Justice, is separate from the fraud case against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the report added. A spokesperson for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office said he could not confirm or comment on the issue, while DoJ and FTX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. FTX filed for U.S. bankruptcy last month and Bankman-Fried stepped down as chief executive, after traders pulled billions from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal. The U.S. Department of Justice accused Bankman-Fried of causing billions of dollars of losses related to FTX, which a U.S. prosecutor called a “fraud of epic proportions.” Bankman-Fried founded FTX ...

The lending unit of crypto firm Genesis filed on Thursday for U.S. bankruptcy protection from creditors, toppled by a market rout along with the likes of exchange FTX and lender BlockFi. Genesis Global Capital, one of the largest crypto lenders, froze customer redemptions on Nov. 16 after FTX stunned the financial world with its bankruptcy, fuelling concern that other companies could implode. The company is owned by venture capital firm Digital Currency Group (DCG). Genesis’ lending unit said it had both assets and liabilities in the range of $1-billion to $10-billion, and estimated it had over 100,000 creditors in its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Genesis Global Holdco, the parent group of Genesis Global Capital, also filed for bankruptcy protection, along with another lending unit Genesis Asia Pacific. Genesis Global Holdco said in a statement that it would contemplate a potential sale or a equitization transaction to pay creditors, an...

A group of media companies is set to argue on Friday to the U.S. judge overseeing the FTX bankruptcy that they should be allowed to request that the collapsed crypto exchange make public the names of its customers. In seeking to intervene in the case, the New York Times, Dow Jones, Bloomberg and the Financial Times said bankruptcy law demands transparency. Letting customer names remain secret could turn bankruptcy proceedings into a “farce” if creditors start fighting anonymously over how much money they should get, the media companies wrote in a Delaware bankruptcy court filing. FTX has argued the usual U.S. bankruptcy practice of disclosing names, addresses and e-mail addresses of creditors, which includes customers, could expose them to scams and could violate privacy laws for those who live in Europe. The company has also said that disclosing identities of as many as 1 million customers would make it easier for a competitor to poach them, undermining the value of FTX’s platform w...