Episodes
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BlockFi - The 55 million Robinhood shares SBF pledged to Zac Prince are being called into bankruptcy, and the BlockFi lawyers are suggesting this is a bad faith move to make the situation more complex. It's been estimated that BlockFi owes up to $10 billion to more than 100,000 customers, and the top three creditors are owed $1.3 billion alone.
Celsius - The UCC in Celsius is trying to enforce clawbacks from retail users who withdrew funds within 90 days before the bankruptcy.Anti-CBDC Act - Crypto-friendly congressman Tom Emmer just introduced a new Bill that will block the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC in the US, working on a CBDC in private, or using a CBDC to control the economy. Operation Choke Point - a description of all the pressure to the crypto industry from banks in the past few months.
Full blog here.
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BlockFi sent an email to creditors indicating that the court approved the procedures for the claims process. - If you disagree with the amounts they sent out, you need to file a Claims Form by March 30. The court has agreed to redact creditor names. UCC committee is objecting to the release of the funds that were in the non-interest-bearing wallets.
For customers - the claims process must bolster your personal position as much as possible.
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Missing episodes?
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)âs complaint against Kraken alleges that Kraken sold an investment contract to the general public where investors transferred certain assets to Kraken for staking in exchange for annual investment returns (Kraken Staking Program). Kraken settled this action with a $30 million fine, 66.6% of its revenue from American users.
Full blog here: https://www.hodder.law/post/sec-s-enforcement-action-against-kraken -
FTX: - SBF was ordered not to use signal. He's been contacting Rayne Miller asking to reconnect and collaborate. - Bankman-Fried's lawyer, Mark Cohen, objected to the prosecution's proposed amendments to his client's bail, saying his client needed to communicate with some former employees, including his therapist, George Lerner. - Mr. Cohen also moved to eliminate an existing bail condition prohibiting Bankman-Fried from accessing or transferring any Alameda or FTX assets, including any cryptocurrency held in FTX. BlockFi - Still waiting on the judge to decide the fate of the non-interest bearing wallet holders. Celsius - Celsius Examiner's report showed Mashinsky pocketed nearly $70 million and used the word "ponzi" seven times. Bitcoin - Ordinals are causing a blocksize debate amongst maxi's.
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A new report from CNBC.com shows that BlockFi had over 1.2 million tied up with FTX. Almost half of Blockfiâs assets were tied to FTX.
The lawyers for Celsius said the bids were lowball, and they didnât consider selling the assets. Instead, they are trying to create an equity offering, so creditors get equity in the mining company, similar to what Simon Dixon proposed in the summer. There would be a fund that would have access to all litigation recovery, and the recovery token could pay dividends.
Celsius said they would not apply for licenses, so they need to find a partner to help facilitate the reorganization.
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Internet censorship has been happening in communist countries like China, Iran, and North Korea for years, but now itâs coming to the western world too. The US, Canada, the UK, and Europe all have online speech-censoring legislation pending.
Full Blog here.
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Blockfi published a presentation outlining its coming bankruptcy proceedings. It said it reached out to 106 potential buyers shortly after its first bankruptcy hearing and will seek the courtâs approval for the bidding to begin on January 30, 2023.
Full blog here.
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Check out the 2023 Crypto Predictions from:
Sasha Hodder
Rare Scrilla (2:48)
Layah Heilpern (4:20)
Theo Goodman (5:26)
Lyn Ulbricht (8:50)
Tone Vays (10:00)
Mike in Space (11:11)
Leah Wald (12:30)
Ido Alexander (14:25)
Doug TenNaple (15:00)
Bill Wise (19:04)
Bitboy (19:44)
Remo (20:10)
Gideon Heilpern (22:10)
Constant (22:46)
Crypto Lama (23:55)
Johnny Dollar (25:00)
Tatiana Moroz (25:35)
Vakeraj (26:00)
David Foox (27:00)
Leon Siegman (28:00)
Kane Mayfield (29:45)
Droplister (31:00)
Eric Hess (33:00)
Nathan Holowaty (34:00)
Guy Malone (34:34)
Sketch McGuinney (35:40)
Thomas (36:00) -
BlockFi filed for Ch 11 Bankruptcy in NJ on Cyber Monday, after halting withdrawals on November 10. The SEC and various state regulators put a real damper on their business when it was sued for $100 million, and forced to shut down its interest accounts in the US. BlockFi nearly went bankrupt in July, and FTX swooped in and offered a $400 million line of credit, and an offer to buy the Company for up to $240m.
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Talking with BitBoy Crypto about the FTX Collapse, the regulatory ramifications, twitter, Kanye West, and more.
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This episode of the HODLCast was recorded on Wed, Nov 9, 2022. The FTX exchange has imploded, it turned out they were gambling with user's funds while lobbying for industry regulation in DC. FTX global, US, and Alameda Research all filed bankruptcy on Friday, and then got hacked late in the evening, draining all accounts to zero. Decentralized exchanges fix this intermediary risk. People can hold their own assets, and transactions are fully transparent and operate on code. Anyone in DC who actually cares about protecting people should promote self-custody. Sadly, this type of situation gives the takeaway that crypto is the wild west and needs policing. However, perhaps this situation can be an example of the industry settling its own issues. FTXâs insolvency was exposed by the market and maybe it will be solved by the market.
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Bill Wise & I discuss the evolving crypto regulatory landscape with a focus on the SEC's investigation of Yuga Labs, Kanye's censorship by JP Morgan, and Chainalysis's Cybercrime report. Follow Bill on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-wise...
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Josh and I discussed the chilling future of Central Bank Digital Currencies. Joshua Scigala is the founder of TheStandard.io & Vaultoro.com. http://TheStandard.io is a decentralized stablecoin protocol that enables users to lock up crypto and or physical gold to generate multiple fiat-pegged stablecoins. FollowJosh on Twitter: @JScigala Movie suggestions: In Time, 1981 Early Warning, 1981 They Live, 1988 Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter here! https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/s... More information at www.hodder.law
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Bobby Lee is the founder and CEO of Ballet, a startup that provides user-friendly physical wallets for storing cryptocurrency. His first startup was BTCChina, China's first Bitcoin exchange. He exited the business after its successful acquisition in January 2018. Mr. Lee also serves on the board of the Bitcoin foundation. We discussed Ballet Wallet, the future of Bitcoin, and how this asset will impact the global economy. Make sure to follow Bobby on Twitter: @bobbyclee & @balletcrypto âThe Promise of Bitcoinâ- now available for sale at http://Amazon.com and http://bobbylee.com
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The Celsius Saga continues. - Users were Doxxed & Scammed - Insiders like Mashinsky allegedly withdrew hundreds of millions - The Independent Examiner is conducting an investigation - Dates are being set for the sale of assets - Restructuring plans need to be submitted fast Check out my full blog here: https://www.hodder.law/blog
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The CFTC filed a complaint against the Ooki DAO protocol as an âunincorporated association.''
The Commission served the lawsuit through a post in an online discussion forum. A lazy and highly unconventional approach compared to an in person delivery by a process server. The Commodities Exchange Act does not give them proper jurisdiction for this action so instead they relied on state case law involving a slip and fall case. Shameful regulation by enforcement.
Read my full blog here. https://www.hodder.law/post/cftc-v-ooki-dao
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Coinbase filed a complaint against OFAC due to the Tornado Cash Sanctions.
Tornado Cash, including the purported entity, the website tornado.cash, 37 smart contracts, and an address that was used to accept donations to develop the project, were added to the OFAC SDN List on August 8, 2022. This was the first ever sanction against open source code. OFAC alleged that the mixer was used to launder money. The lawsuit challenges the addition of Tornado Cash to the SDN List because itâs an unprecedented, overbroad action that exceedâs OFACâs statutory authority and infringes on their constitutional rights and the ability of law-abiding Americans to engage freely and privately in financial transactions. Appreciate Coinbase stepping up to the plate - even though itâs probably in their financial interest to do this, itâs also good for the overall industry.
This sanction could lead to a slippery slope, and the best time to nip it in the bud is with the first.
Full blog here.
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The Whitehouse released a new report on the climate and energy implications of crypto assets that suggested the Biden administration will seek to limit proof of work (PoW) mining. The report was lazy, they didn't do any of their own research, and their citations weren't even good enough for the Bitcoin wiki page.
PoW creates multiple layers of security for the bitcoin network, and it's being done largely with renewables.
PoW incentivizes:
All the energy producers worldwide to secure the network because itâs the highest-value use of energy in the world. Technological innovation because the miners are continually building better equipment that is more energy efficient. Politicians in the mining regions because it brings massive revenue and jobs to the locations. Wall Street because the mining companies are largely financed there. Mining decentralizes the Bitcoin network geographically because they canât all be located in the same area or there wouldnât be enough energy in that spot. The hundreds of miners have a major vested interest to defend the network.
Full Blog here: https://www.hodder.law/post/bitcoin-m... -
On August 29, 2022, the federal reserve announced that by next summer, they will begin the FedNow pilot, with over 120 companies signed up to participate, including every major US bank. This is the rails for a new and dangerous Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), They can be created out of thin air with no supply cap. It's a private ledger based system that will be linked to each personâs identity - maybe even via a microchip system. It will allow the central bank to easily expand or restrict the monetary supply. With this programmable money, it can be added to peopleâs wallets easily in the form of universal basic income or other welfare checks, and it can also be deducted for any kind of parking ticket, or tax. Every purchase you make will be recorded, if you buy a gun/bitcoin/a book in 2025, and that thing becomes illegal in 2026, your wallet could be turned off until you comply by turning in that certain asset to the government. Likewise, it will make forced medical procedures âin the name of public safetyâ a lot easier to enforce. If climate change continues on its current trend, the CBDC will allow the government to cap its peopleâs spending on activities that it deems high ESG risks, like steak dinners, or traveling. Leran more here: https://www.hodder.law/post/the-chill...
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On August 8, 2022, OFAC sanctioned the Tornado.Cash protocol, which was used by the North Korea hackers to launder stolen funds.
Adding a protocol to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list is a new and slippery slope. Historically, the SDN list is composed of individuals or businesses that are cut-off from the American economy because they are suspected to be terrorists or drug king pins. By treating autonomous code as a âpersonâ OFAC may have exceeded its statutory authority.
Learn more here - https://www.hodder.law/post/welcome-to-the-war-on-code - Show more
