Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Lessons from cryptocurrency and the FTX crypto exchange bankruptcy: How Americans fell for the con
American Thinker ^ | 11/19/2022 | Larry Cesare

Posted on 11/19/2022 7:17:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Cryptocurrency has been touted as an investment alternative for people who want to avoid the risks and swings of markets based on traditional forms of currency. Crypto investing is arguably risky because, aside from being based on buying and selling digital currencies that have no inherent value other than what investors think they do, it occurs within an industry that's largely unregulated. Nonetheless, crypto trading has become very popular, making companies and some individuals who specialize in its purchase and sale very wealthy.

However, the crypto bubble may have recently burst because one of the world's largest crypto trading exchanges, FTX, run by a reportedly charming and persuasive 30-year-old multi-billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried, has recently gone bankrupt after having been discovered to have allegedly been investing company funds into private hedge funds and involved in multiple corrupt influence-buying relationships with various, primarily Democrat, politicians.

Once exposed, FTX investors rapidly pulled their money out, causing it to file for bankruptcy in a matter of a few days and resulting in investors' losses of yet to be totaled billions. This spooked investor confidence, such that the larger digital currency market suffered an almost $800-billion loss of value. Some financial experts say that the sudden collapse of FTX is of such financial magnitude that its ripple effects stand to dwarf Enron's and to threaten global recession.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bankruptcy; bitcoin; cryptocurrency; ftx; sambankmanfried
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-60 next last

1 posted on 11/19/2022 7:17:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Surprise, surprise. (Cue the crypto-mining trolls.)


2 posted on 11/19/2022 7:19:30 AM PST by Scarlett156 (GOP circular firing squad, 2024 edition: ACTIVATED )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

You mean there’s no more free $$$?


3 posted on 11/19/2022 7:19:33 AM PST by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Don’t fret, the fix will be a government controlled, centralized digital currency.

The retards in our country will demand it...


4 posted on 11/19/2022 7:21:28 AM PST by EEGator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Smart investors avoid tulips. And gold ‘certificates’ which are just pieces of paper.


5 posted on 11/19/2022 7:22:28 AM PST by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Every debt cycle seems to lead to such hyped investment and then crash in some investment fad or new tech, to crash and bankruptcy

George Washington lost big money investing in the canal-building boom of the late 1700s. Railroads, autos, internet, dot-com selling, housing, and now “crypto currency” have followed the same pattern

Now its aided and abetted (and made worse) by the the Federal Reserve, totally fiat money and manipulated interest rates.


6 posted on 11/19/2022 7:23:02 AM PST by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EEGator

“The retards in our country will demand it...”

It seems to be an unlimited supply of them. Heck, they even elect their own kind... Fetterman, Biden, etc.


7 posted on 11/19/2022 7:23:38 AM PST by brownsfan (It's going to take real, serious, hard times to wake the American public.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: All

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried opened a “bank” (a crypto exchange), accepted deposits of real money, helped himself to customers’ deposits without their knowledge, and then distributed mountains of cash to friends and, more importantly, Democratic coffers. Indeed, Bankman-Fried ranked as the Democratic Party’s second-biggest individual donor in the 2021–2022 election cycle, pumping an estimated $40 million into various Democratic campaigns and activist groups.

ACTION Among the evidence we seek
<><>all docs and communications among employees or agents of the DNC, and FTX donor list
<><>any and all references relating to the Biden Administration’s control, transfer, storage, or other handling of documents subject to FTX donations.

MUST INCLUDE ALL OF BIDENS MEMOS, NOTES, SNAIL MAIL, EMAIL, CALENDAR NOTES, OFFICIAL ORDERS WRT FTX DONATIONS.

All communications records between BIDENS office and RELEVANT PERSONS SUCH AS OBAMA, THE CLINTONS PELOSI, in connection with FTX.

The FOIA request should seek
all calendar entries,
phone messages,
text messages,
emails,
encrypted app chats,
letter correspondence
long-distance toll records
made from relevant dates.

Office of Information Policy (OIP)
U.S. Department of Justice
441 G St, NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20530
E-mail: National.FOIAPortal@usdoj.gov


8 posted on 11/19/2022 7:23:39 AM PST by Liz (Vox Populi, Vox Dei (the voice of the people is the voice of God))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

Provident Bancorp in Massachusetts stung by cryptocurrency weakness
American Banker ^ | 11/18/22 | Jim Dobbs
Posted on 11/18/2022, 11:46:48 AM by EBH

Provident Bancorp in Amesbury, Massachusetts, is grappling with a sizable cryptocurrency hit that it expects will result in a third-quarter loss.

The $1.8 billion-asset bank this week delayed its latest earnings filing but estimated a third-quarter loss of $27.5 million related to loans to a cryptocurrency miner. That would compare with net income of $5.1 million reported for the third quarter of 2021.

Provident cautioned in a regulatory filing Tuesday the official loss could exceed its estimates. It cited the highly publicized meltdown of the cryptocurrency mining industry in recent months.

The “volatility in Bitcoin and rising energy costs called into question the financial stability of the company’s borrowers who hold digital asset mining loans,” Provident said. “The collectability of all principal and interest related to these loans, as well as the value of the cryptocurrency mining rigs that serve as the underlying collateral,” are questionable, it said in the filing.

The company said its expected loss is linked to a partial writedown on cryptocurrency mining rigs that were repossessed in exchange for the forgiveness of a $27.4 million loan. Excluding that loan, Provident said its digital-asset mining loan portfolio totaled $76.5 million at the close of the third quarter.

The company has reviewed that portfolio and estimated “a majority to be impaired.” It placed the impaired loans on nonaccrual status and said it set aside “significant related specific reserves” for possible losses.

Jim Dobbs Reporter, American Banker


9 posted on 11/19/2022 7:25:46 AM PST by Liz (Vox Populi, Vox Dei (the voice of the people is the voice of God))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

According to some Freepers block-chain will keep your funds safe....

Bwahahahahahaha.


10 posted on 11/19/2022 7:26:14 AM PST by cgbg (Claiming that laws and regs that limit “hate speech” stop freedom of speech is “hate speech”.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

buying and selling digital currencies that have no inherent value other than what investors think they do
____________________

Crypto is nothing! Just some bits of code in some computers.
It is not backed by anything and, the only values is that it is untraceable and easy to store and transfer. Just ideal dirty money tool, if there are enough fools to accept it.
Even the infamous Dutch tulip bulbs had some inherent value. Crypto has inherent value = 0!


11 posted on 11/19/2022 7:27:10 AM PST by AZJeep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The algorithm giveth, and the algorithm taketh away!??


12 posted on 11/19/2022 7:27:56 AM PST by Oscar in Batangas (An Honors Graduate from the Don Rickles School of Personal Verbal Intercourse)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

Ontario Teacher’s pension fund to write down investments of $95 mln in FTX
Reuters ^ | 11-17-22 | Reuters
Posted on 11/18/2022, 3:36:34 PM by dynachrome

Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said on Thursday it will be writing down about $95 million of investments it had made in bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX Group by the end of the year.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


13 posted on 11/19/2022 7:28:18 AM PST by Liz (Vox Populi, Vox Dei (the voice of the people is the voice of God))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
it occurs within an industry that's largely unregulated

"The Wealth of Nations" occurs in a FREE Market Economy, NOT a regulated market economy.

In the 1800's the American economy was largely unregulated, one of the few examples in man's sad and failed history of a market economy FREE from government interference. America came out of the 1800's as the freest, wealthiest, and most powerful nation in the world.

FREEDOM NOT GOVERNMENT makes any nation great and FREEDOM IS WHAT WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!

14 posted on 11/19/2022 7:28:26 AM PST by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Cryptocurrency has been touted as an investment alternative for people who want to avoid the risks and swings of markets based on traditional forms of currency.

No need to read further. Crypto has been called many things, but a stable alternative to traditional investments isn't one of them.

15 posted on 11/19/2022 7:29:06 AM PST by Interesting Times (This space for rent.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I’m still stuck on real money being shiny and yellow.

I agree that it has not done well as an investment, but it can still go in my pocket and the border is only two hours away.


16 posted on 11/19/2022 7:31:10 AM PST by Jim Noble (The Decline of America is a Choice )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Lol. Another con game. Too bad for the investors and their “easy money sure thing”. Lololol. The criminal was just blowing the money left and right. Putting it up his nose... and his pal’s noses Lololol.

Too bad not one of the crooked pols will pay the slightest price.


17 posted on 11/19/2022 7:31:43 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“ Cryptocurrency has been touted as an investment alternative for people who want to avoid the risks and swings of markets based on traditional forms of currency”

Bitcoin… avoid the risks and swings. Yeah that’s what I’ve always been told. lol


18 posted on 11/19/2022 7:31:59 AM PST by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Some people say that the problem wasn’t so much crypto itself as crypto derivatives, but I’m still skeptical about the whole thing. If you want an alternative to government money, there’s always gold.


19 posted on 11/19/2022 7:34:39 AM PST by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
I have always avoided cryptocurrency. Instead, I have invested all my money in old “Whip Inflation Now” buttons. Thanks to Potato Head Joe, I think everybody will want one.


20 posted on 11/19/2022 7:35:48 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-60 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson