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🤡 FTX is making a comeback

WHAT’S MOVING CRYPTO
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Aakash Athawasya
Tryna write some stuff @doodhwaladaily (will buy you milk if you ask nicely)
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🤡 FTX is making a comeback

WHAT'S MOVING CRYPTO

Gm, it’s Friday ya’ll. You know what that means. Insta-block the boss! ✋

Welcome to the new subscribers who have joined us this week. If you’re reading this but haven’t subscribed, join our community of smart, savvy, and informed investors.

Comebacks are hard. Not everyone can pull a Jordan; come back from retirement and win 3 NBA championships.

Comebacks are…well…harder if you’ve stolen billions in customer funds.

That’s exactly what’s happening with FTX, the famed crypto exchange that went from owning multiple sports arenas to becoming the poster child of the crypto bear market. FTX is planning a comeback with “FTX 2.0.”

Speaking of scammy exchanges, a recent Reuters report alleged that Binance is commingling customer funds with corporate funds. But is this all FUD? And is Binance really not SAFU?

Alright, let’s get into it:

  1. FTX the new comeback kid

  2. Binance’s latest accusation

  3. Bitcoin Pizza Day brings rug pulls

🤡 FTX the new comeback kid

Remember FTX?

Yes! The crypto exchange that:

  • took over $10 billion in customer funds and traded it

  • was run by a bunch of orgy-loving, drug-abusing weirdos

  • created a token, pumped it, and put it on their balance sheet

Yeah, that one. 🤡

It’s making a comeback. 🤣

How do we know this?

Well, recent legal billings made by new CEO John Ray III, made a mention of “FTX 2.0.” This might be the worst sequel since Titanic II (yes, there’s a sequel to Titanic, but instead of an iceberg, it’s a tidal wave!).

FTX’s new management has hinted at a plan to restart operations for some time now. Reports have suggested FTX managed to recover close to $7 billion in assets and is planning on re-launching in Q2 of 2024. Some VCs are even lining up to lead the new funding round, should FTX 2.0 raise capital.

Will it work tho?

We don’t really know until FTX 2.0 launches, but the crypto community is not hopeful.

Back in February, when FTX’s Japanese entity opened up customer withdrawals (due to stricter regulation for crypto exchanges in Japan) over $50 million was withdrawn in less than 48 hours. So, it’s clear users have no faith in FTX! 

What would you do if FTX 2.0 launched?

💀 Binance accused of commingling funds [AGAIN!]

🚨 The New York Department of Financial Services.

🚨 The Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

🚨 Reuters News.

These ☝️ 3 entities have come after Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, in 2023. And everyone has more or less used the same accusation – ‘Binance is doing something shady, and we’re gonna get to the bottom of it.

The latest accusation comes from Reuters. According to the news agency – Binance is commingling customer funds with company funds. This is an alarming dog whistle in crypto because this is EXACTLY what FTX did in 2022.

And no one, not even FTX wants to be FTX 2.0 🤣

Reuters made 3 allegations against Binance:

  • Binance commingled customer funds in 2020 and 2021 worth $35 million

  • Binance did this through Silvergate (a crypto bank that is in the process of winding down operations)

  • Binance moved its registered entity from country to country to reduce and avoid tax obligations

To be fair, in the report itself, Reuters alleged that Binance mixed customer funds but stated that no customer funds were lost. Here’s an excerpt from the report:

Reuters found no evidence that Binance client monies were lost or taken.

Binance’s response?

The Head of Comms at Binance called the Reuters journalist “desperate,” and the story, “weak,” “1000 words of conspiracy theories,” and “negative.”

Oh, and they also said the article had hints of “xenophobia.”

🍕 Bitcoin Pizza Day brings Memecoins and Rug Pulls

May 22 was Bitcoin Pizza Day!

Why?

Back in 2011, a man named Laszlo Hanyecz bought 2 pizzas with 10,000 Bitcoin.

(in today’s prices, this would be $260 million 🤯)

This was the first ever commercial transaction for Bitcoin ever! And every year since May 22 is celebrated as “Bitcoin Pizza Day” filled with a bunch of pizza giveaways from cryptocurrency companies.

However, this year was different.

This year, Bitcoin Pizza Day was filled with – memecoins and rug pulls.

Over 14 pizza-relegated memecoins were created out of thin air, pumped into the market with little liquidity, traded on decentralized exchanges (or DEXes), and as the hype faded, dumped.

These coins included:

🍕 $PIZZA🍕 $BPIZZA🍕 $ETHPIZZA🍕 $BTCPIZZA

And a bunch more.

Some coins even reached $270,000 in market capitalization.

How did you end up spending Bitcoin Pizza Day? Let us know by replying to this email.

📈 Chart of the week: NFTs are so not back

NFTs.

It’s those digital pictures that were all the rage back in 2021.

But now they aren’t.

In April 2023, monthly NFT transaction volume (on Ethereum) dropped below $1 billion for the first month of 2023. One year, ago, monthly NFT transaction volume was well over $3 billion!

Check out the massive fall 👇

🤣 Meme Of The Week

👀 What else we Grittin’ On?

COIN. Coinbase seeks legal action challenging the SEC for crypto regulation transparency. Your move Gary!

GPT. Solana integrates ChatGPT plugin, launches an AI accelerator for enhanced functionality. AI finally meets crypto?

SHAQ. Shaquille O’Neal is served with 2 lawsuits for promoting FTX and an NFT project Astrals. From breaking boards to breaking portfolios!

VEE. Gary Vee is betting big on NFT as a ticketing service at his conference VeeCon 2023. FYI: VeeFriends NFTs is down 90%!

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